The 1961 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 80th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 70th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 80–74 during the season and finished fifth in the National League. It was the last season before the NL went to a 162-game schedule the following season to adjust for the new ten-team league.

Offseason

October 11, 1960: Leon Wagner, Cal Browning, a player to be named later, and cash were traded by the Cardinals to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Al Cicotte. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Ellis Burton to the Maple Leafs on January 26, 1961.^[1]
December 29, 1960: Marv Grissom was released by the Cardinals.^[2]
March 15, 1961: Red Schoendienst was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.^[3]
Prior to 1961 season: Don Taussig was acquired by the Cardinals from the Portland Beavers as part of a minor league working agreement.^[4]

Regular season

On July 6, with the Cardinals at 33–41, manager Solly Hemus was fired and replaced by Johnny Keane. The team went 47–33 under Keane.

First baseman Bill White and third baseman Ken Boyer won Gold Gloves this year.

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	93	61	0.604	—	47–30	46–31
Los Angeles Dodgers	89	65	0.578	4	45–32	44–33
San Francisco Giants	85	69	0.552	8	45–32	40–37
Milwaukee Braves	83	71	0.539	10	45–32	38–39
St. Louis Cardinals	80	74	0.519	13	48–29	32–45
Pittsburgh Pirates	75	79	0.487	18	38–39	37–40
Chicago Cubs	64	90	0.416	29	40–37	24–53
Philadelphia Phillies	47	107	0.305	46	22–55	25–52

Record vs. opponents

1961 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	CHC	CIN	LAD	MIL	PHI	PIT	SF	STL
Chicago	—	12–10	7–15	9–13–1	13–9	11–11	5–17	7–15–1
Cincinnati	10–12	—	12–10	15–7	19–3	11–11	12–10	14–8
Los Angeles	15–7	10–12	—	12–10	17–5	13–9	10–12	12–10
Milwaukee	13–9–1	7–15	10–12	—	16–6	12–10	11–11	14–8
Philadelphia	9–13	3–19	5–17	6–16	—	7–15	8–14–1	9–13
Pittsburgh	11–11	11–11	9–13	10–12	15–7	—	10–12	9–13
San Francisco	17–5	10–12	12–10	11–11	14–8–1	12–10	—	9–13
St. Louis	15–7–1	8–14	10–12	8–14	13–9	13–9	13–9	—

Notable transactions

May 10, 1961: Bob Nieman was traded by the Cardinals to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Morgan, a player to be named later, and cash. The Indians sent Mike Lee to the Cardinals on June 1 to complete the trade.^[5]
May 16, 1961: Duke Carmel was traded by the Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Joe Koppe.^[6]
May 30, 1961: Daryl Spencer was traded by the Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bob Lillis and Carl Warwick.^[7]

Roster

1961 St. Louis Cardinals

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

18 George Crowe

Manager

7 Solly Hemus
5 Johnny Keane

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	Jimmie Schaffer	68	153	39	.255	1	16
1B	Bill White	153	591	169	.286	20	90
2B	Julián Javier	113	445	124	.279	2	41
SS	Bob Lillis	86	230	50	.217	0	21
3B	Ken Boyer	153	589	194	.329	24	95
LF	Stan Musial	123	372	107	.288	15	70
CF	Curt Flood	132	335	108	.322	2	21
RF	Joe Cunningham	113	322	92	.286	7	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
Charlie James	108	349	89	.255	4	44
Don Taussig	98	188	54	.287	2	25
Carl Sawatski	86	174	52	.299	10	33
Alex Grammas	89	170	36	.212	0	21
Carl Warwick	55	152	38	.250	4	16
Daryl Spencer	37	130	33	.254	4	21
Hal Smith	45	125	31	.248	0	10
Red Schoendienst	72	120	36	.300	1	12
Jerry Buchek	31	90	12	.133	0	9
Tim McCarver	22	67	16	.239	1	6
Don Landrum	28	66	11	.167	1	3
Gene Oliver	22	52	14	.269	4	9
Julio Gotay	10	45	11	.244	0	5
Walt Moryn	17	32	4	.125	0	2
Ed Olivares	21	30	5	.167	0	1
Bob Nieman	6	17	8	.471	0	2
Doug Clemens	6	12	2	.167	0	0
George Crowe	7	7	1	.143	0	0
Chris Cannizzaro	6	2	1	.500	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
Ray Sadecki	31	222.2	14	10	3.72	114
Bob Gibson	35	211.1	13	12	3.24	166
Larry Jackson	33	211.0	14	11	3.75	113
Curt Simmons	30	195.2	9	10	3.13	99
Ernie Broglio	29	174.2	9	12	4.12	113

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
Al Cicotte	29	75.0	2	6	5.28	51
Bob Miller	34	74.1	1	3	4.24	39
Ray Washburn	3	20.1	1	1	1.77	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
Lindy McDaniel	55	10	6	9	4.87	65
Craig Anderson	25	4	3	1	3.26	21
Mickey McDermott	19	1	0	4	3.67	15
Ed Bauta	13	2	0	5	1.40	12
Bobby Tiefenauer	3	0	0	0	6.23	3

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	San Juan/Charleston Marlins	International League	Joe Schultz
AAA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Vern Benson and Ray Katt
AA	Tulsa Oilers	Texas League	Whitey Kurowski
A	Lancaster Red Roses	Eastern League	Chase Riddle
C	Winnipeg Goldeyes	Northern League	Grover Resinger and Owen Friend
C	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Owen Friend and Grover Resinger
D	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Ed Lyons, George Kissell, Charlie Frey, Mo Mozzali and Johnny Grodzicki
D	Keokuk Cardinals	Midwest League	Al Unser

References

External links

1961 MLB season by team

1961 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Los Angeles Minnesota New York Washington
National League	Chicago Cincinnati Los Angeles Milwaukee Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis San Francisco
1961 All-Star Game (1st, 2nd) 1961 World Series 1961 MLB expansion draft

St. Louis Cardinals

Established in 1882
Based in St. Louis, Missouri

Franchise

History

Ballparks

Robison Field Sportsman's Park Busch Memorial Stadium Busch Stadium
Spring training:	Whittington Park Herald Park West End Park City Park City Island Ball Park Ninth Street Park Al Lang Stadium Roger Dean Stadium

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

Key personnel

Owner: Bill DeWitt Jr.
President of Baseball Operations: John Mozeliak
General Manager: Mike Girsch
Manager: Oliver Marmol

Minor league
affiliates

Triple-A: Memphis Redbirds
Double-A: Springfield Cardinals
High-A: Peoria Chiefs
Single-A: Palm Beach Cardinals
Rookie: Florida Complex League Cardinals
Foreign Rookie: Dominican Summer League Cardinals

World Series
Championships

pre-MLB	1885 1886
MLB	1926 1931 1934 1942 1944 1946 1964 1967 1982 2006 2011

League pennants

American Association	1885 1886 1887 1888
National League	1926 1928 1930 1931 1934 1942 1943 1944 1946 1964 1967 1968 1982 1985 1987 2004 2006 2011 2013

Division titles

National League East: 1982; 1985; 1987
National League Central: 1996; 2000; 2002; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2009; 2013; 2014; 2015; 2019; 2022

Wild card titles

All Star Games hosted

Seasons (143)
1880s	1880 · 1881 · 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024