The 1973 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 92nd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 82nd season in the National League. The Cardinals overcame an 8–23 start to finish with an 81–81 record during the season and finished second in the National League East, games behind the NL East and eventual NL pennant winners New York Mets. St. Louis' record went to 61–50 (meaning they won 53 of 80 games after their terrible start), then fell to 20–31 to finish the season.

To date, this is the only season the Cardinals have finished at .500 instead of above or below it.

Offseason October 27, 1972: Jerry McNertney was released by the Cardinals.Jerry McNertney page at Baseball Reference

Regular season Pitcher Bob Gibson won a Gold Glove this year.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions May 8, 1973: Al Santorini was traded by the Cardinals to the Kansas City Royals for Tom Murphy.Al Santorini page at Baseball-Reference June 5, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball draft John Tamargo was drafted by the Cardinals in the 6th round.John Tamargo page at Baseball Reference Eric Rasmussen was drafted by the Cardinals in the 32nd round.Eric Rasmussen page at Baseball Reference Bryn Smith was drafted by the Cardinals in the 49th round, but did not sign.Bryn Smith page at Baseball Reference However, he would pitch for the team from 1990 to 1992. August 7, 1973: Wayne Granger was traded by the Cardinals to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later and cash. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Ken Crosby to the Cardinals on September 12.Ken Crosby page at Baseball Reference August 18, 1973: Dave Campbell and cash were traded by the Cardinals to the Houston Astros for Tommie Agee.Tommie Agee page at Baseball Reference August 29, 1973: Eddie Fisher was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Chicago White Sox.

Roster 1973 St. Louis Cardinals Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Ted Simmons 161 619 192 .310 13 91 1B Joe Torre 141 519 149 .287 13 69 2B Ted Sizemore 142 521 147 .282 1 54 SS Mike Tyson 144 469 114 .243 1 33 3B Ken Reitz 147 426 100 .235 6 42 LF Lou Brock 160 650 193 .297 7 63 CF José Cruz 132 406 92 .227 10 57 RF Bernie Carbo 111 308 88 .286 8 40

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI 121 341 91 .267 2 35 Tim McCarver 130 331 88 .266 3 49 Ray Busse 24 70 10 .143 2 5 Bake McBride 40 63 19 .302 0 5 Tommie Agee 26 62 11 .177 3 7 Jim Dwyer 28 57 11 .193 0 0 Bill Stein 32 55 12 .218 0 2 Ed Crosby 22 39 5 .128 0 1 Mick Kelleher 43 38 7 .184 0 2 Tom Heintzelman 23 29 9 .310 0 0 13 21 0 .000 0 1 Dwain Anderson 18 17 2 .118 0 0 Terry Hughes 11 14 3 .214 0 1 Hector Cruz 11 11 0 .000 0 0 Matty Alou 11 11 3 .273 0 1 Bobby Fenwick 5 6 1 .167 0 1 Marc Hill 1 3 0 .000 0 0 Larry Haney 2 1 0 .000 0 0 Tommy Cruz 3 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Rick Wise 35 259.0 16 12 3.37 144 32 224.0 14 10 3.01 122 Alan Foster 35 203.2 13 9 3.14 106 25 195.0 12 10 2.77 142 19 88.2 3 7 3.76 42 Mike Nagy 9 40.2 0 2 4.20 14 Scipio Spinks 8 38.2 1 5 4.89 25 Mike Thompson 2 4.0 0 0 0.00 3

Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Rich Folkers 34 82.1 4 4 3.61 44 6 16.0 0 2 9.56 12

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 65 7 6 17 2.78 93 Al Hrabosky 44 2 4 5 2.09 57 Orlando Peña 42 4 4 6 2.18 35 33 2 4 5 2.78 93 16 1 1 0 4.42 5 Ed Sprague Sr. 8 0 0 0 2.25 2 6 0 0 0 5.40 2 6 2 1 0 1.29 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 1

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tulsa, St. PetersburgJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

External links 1973 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference 1973 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com