1978 St. Louis Cardinals season

1978 St. Louis Cardinals
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkBusch Memorial Stadium
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record69–93 (.426)
Divisional place5th
OwnersAugust "Gussie" Busch
General managersBing Devine
ManagersVern Rapp, Jack Krol, Ken Boyer
TelevisionKSD-TV
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Jay Randolph, Bob Starr)
RadioKMOX
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Bob Starr)
← 1977 Seasons 1979 →

The 1978 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 97th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 87th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 69–93 during the season and finished fifth in the National League East, 21 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies.

Offseason

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Regular season

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In late April, the Cardinals fired manager Vern Rapp, who had started at 7-11. He was briefly replaced by coach Jack Krol for two games (1-1) before giving the job on a permanent basis to their former MVP third-baseman Ken Boyer, who went 61-81 the rest of the way.

On June 16, Tom Seaver of the Cincinnati Reds made history by pitching a no-hitter against the Cardinals. It would be the only no-hitter of his career.

First baseman Keith Hernandez won a Gold Glove.

This remains to date the only 162-game season in which the Cardinals failed to win at least 70 games.

Season standings

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NL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Phillies 90 72 .556 54‍–‍28 36‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates 88 73 .547 55‍–‍26 33‍–‍47
Chicago Cubs 79 83 .488 11 44‍–‍38 35‍–‍45
Montreal Expos 76 86 .469 14 41‍–‍39 35‍–‍47
St. Louis Cardinals 69 93 .426 21 37‍–‍44 32‍–‍49
New York Mets 66 96 .407 24 33‍–‍47 33‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 5–7 6–12 8–10 5–13 5–7 6–6 8–4 2–10 8–10 11–7 5–7
Chicago 7–5 7–5 6–6 4–8 7–11 11–7 4–14 7–11 7–5 4–8 15–3
Cincinnati 12–6 5–7 11–7 9–9 8–4 7–5 7–5 4–7 9–9 12–6 8–4
Houston 10–8 6–6 7–11 7–11 6–6 7–5 6–6 4–8 8–10 6–12 7–5
Los Angeles 13–5 8–4 9–9 11–7 8–4 7–5 7–5 7–5 9–9 11–7 5–7
Montreal 7–5 11–7 4–8 6–6 4–8 8–10 9–9 7–11 6–6 5–7 9–9
New York 6–6 7–11 5–7 5–7 5–7 10–8 6–12 7–11 5–7 3–9 7–11
Philadelphia 4-8 14–4 5–7 6–6 5–7 9–9 12–6 11–7 8–4 6–6 10–8
Pittsburgh 10–2 11–7 7–4 8–4 5–7 11–7 11–7 7–11 5–7 4–8 9–9
San Diego 10–8 5–7 9–9 10–8 9–9 6–6 7–5 4–8 7–5 8–10 9–3
San Francisco 7–11 8–4 6–12 12–6 7–11 7–5 9–3 6–6 8–4 10–8 9–3
St. Louis 7–5 3–15 4–8 5–7 7–5 9–9 11–7 8–10 9–9 3–9 3–9


Opening Day starters

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Notable transactions

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Roster

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1978 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 152 516 148 .287 22 80
1B Keith Hernandez 159 542 138 .255 11 64
2B Mike Tyson 125 377 88 .233 3 26
SS Garry Templeton 155 647 181 .280 2 47
3B Ken Reitz 150 540 133 .246 10 75
LF Lou Brock 92 298 66 .221 0 12
CF George Hendrick 102 382 110 .288 17 67
RF Jerry Morales 130 457 109 .239 4 46

Other batters

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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
Jerry Mumphrey 125 367 96 .262 2 37
Tony Scott 96 219 50 .228 1 14
Mike Phillips 76 164 44 .268 1 28
Steve Swisher 45 115 32 .278 1 10
Roger Freed 52 92 22 .239 2 20
Dane Iorg 35 85 23 .271 0 4
Jim Dwyer 34 65 14 .215 1 4
Wayne Garrett 33 63 21 .333 1 10
Ken Oberkfell 24 50 6 .120 0 0
Terry Kennedy 10 29 5 .172 0 2
Jim Lentine 8 11 2 .182 0 1
Gary Sutherland 10 6 1 .167 0 0
John Tamargo 6 6 0 .000 0 0
Mike Ramsey 12 5 1 .200 0 0
Bob Coluccio 5 3 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
John Denny 33 234.0 14 11 2.96 103
Bob Forsch 34 233.2 11 17 3.70 114
Silvio Martínez 22 138.1 9 8 3.64 45
Pete Falcone 19 75.0 2 7 5.76 28
Eric Rasmussen 10 60.1 2 5 4.18 32

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pete Vuckovich 45 198.1 12 12 2.54 149
John Urrea 27 98.2 4 9 5.38 61
Aurelio López 25 65.0 4 2 4.29 46
Tom Bruno 18 49.2 4 3 1.99 33
Dan O'Brien 7 18.0 0 2 4.50 12
Rob Dressler 3 13.0 0 1 2.08 4

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mark Littell 72 4 8 11 2.79 130
Buddy Schultz 62 2 4 6 3.80 70
Roy Thomas 16 1 1 3 3.81 16
George Frazier 14 0 3 0 4.09 8
Dave Hamilton 13 0 0 0 6.43 8

Awards and records

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League leaders

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Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Springfield Redbirds American Association Jimy Williams
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Tommy Thompson
A St. Petersburg Cardinals Florida State League Hal Lanier
A Gastonia Cardinals Western Carolinas League Buzzy Keller
Rookie Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Nick Leyva
Rookie Calgary Cardinals Pioneer League Johnny Lewis

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References

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  1. ^ a b Frank Riccelli page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Dave Rader page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Ken Rudolph page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Rick Bosetti page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ "1978 St. Louis Cardinals Roster by Baseball Almanac".
  6. ^ Eric Rasmussen page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ John Tamargo page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
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