1987 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1987 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 106th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 96th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 95–67 during the season and finished first in the National League East for the third and last time before moving to the National League Central in 1994. They went on to win the [1987 National League (baseball)|National League Championship Series|NLCS] in seven games over the San Francisco Giants. In the World Series against the Minnesota Twins, after having fallen behind 2–0 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, they won their next three games at home. However, back at the Metrodome, they lost the last two and fell one game short of a World Series title. It would be the Cardinals' last World Series appearance until 2004.

Offseason

October 31, 1986: Alan Knicely was released by the Cardinals.
December 19, 1986: Bob Forsch was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
January 26, 1987: Skeeter Barnes was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.

Regular season

September highlights included a Terry Pendleton home run during a September 11 game against the contending [1987 New York 1987 New York Mets season|Mets season|Mets] as well as a Tom Herr walk-off grand slam against the Mets on Seat Cushion Night. As St. Louis proceeded into the post-season, they found themselves without clean-up hitter Jack Clark, the team's number-one offensive threat. He damaged his ankle when he caught a cleat in the artificial turf at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Nonetheless, the Redbirds won 95 games to capture the NL East title.

Notable transactions

April 1, 1987: Mike LaValliere, Mike Dunne and Andy Van Slyke were traded by the Cardinals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Tony Peña.
April 6, 1987: Lee Tunnell was purchased by the Cardinals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
June 2, 1987: Jeremy Hernandez was drafted by the Cardinals in the 2nd round of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft.
July 16, 1987: Skeeter Barnes was purchased from the Cardinals by the Milwaukee Brewers.
July 25, 1987: Joe Boever was traded by the Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves for Randy O'Neal.
August 31, 1987: Pat Perry was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for a player to be named later. On September 3, 1987 the Cincinnati Reds sent Scott Terry to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the deal.
September 29, 1987: Doug DeCinces was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.

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		116	384	82	.214	5	44
1B		131	419	120	.286	35	106
2B		141	510	134	.263	2	83
3B		159	583	167	.286	12	96
SS		158	600	182	.303	0	75
LF		151	623	180	.289	3	43
CF		153	620	177	.285	11	105
RF		89	228	65	.285	3	26

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
	116	248	71	.286	1	24
	75	207	43	.208	8	28
	74	179	45	.251	2	19
	101	157	41	.261	3	23
	24	60	14	.233	1	11
	63	59	13	.220	0	7
	30	50	10	.200	0	6
	27	48	9	.188	2	9
	44	47	13	.277	0	8
	14	30	8	.267	1	1
	17	29	4	.138	1	4
	19	25	2	.080	0	0
	4	9	2	.222	0	1
	4	4	1	.250	1	3

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
	31	199.1	11	9	3.88	101
	32	197.2	11	11	3.73	108
	33	179.0	11	7	4.32	89
	27	170.1	9	7	3.54	101
	16	96.0	10	2	3.84	54

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
	67	125.0	8	3	3.82	55
	32	74.1	4	4	4.84	49
	10	40.2	3	2	5.53	22
	6	16.0	1	1	6.75	8

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
	75	8	6	33	2.66	92
	60	5	8	2	4.47	65
	53	9	5	4	2.66	63
	45	4	2	1	4.39	33
	12	1	0	0	6.46	9
	12	0	0	1	1.80	11
	11	0	0	0	3.38	9
	1	0	0	0	1.80	4
	1	0	0	0	27.00	0

Postseason

NLCS

Despite the Cardinals prevailing over the San Francisco Giants in 7 games, it was the Giants' Jeffrey Leonard who won the NLCS MVP award.

World Series

The Minnesota Twins defeated the Cardinals in seven games. This Series was the first in which the home team won each of the seven games. The Cardinals held their own at Busch Stadium, but the crowd noise and the "Homer Hankys" in the Metrodome appeared to give the Twins an edge. The booming bats of the Twins were too much for the Cardinals' "inside baseball" style of offense in Games 1, 2, and 6. In Game 7 it was the Twins' pitching that shut down the Cardinals.
'''AL Minnesota Twins vs. NL St. Louis Cardinals '''

Awards and honors

Terry Pendleton, Third Base, National League Gold Glove
Ozzie Smith, Shortstop, National League Gold Glove, Silver Slugger
Jack Clark, First Base, National League Silver Slugger

1987 St. Louis Cardinals season

Offseason

Regular season

Notable transactions

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Other batters

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

Postseason

NLCS

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5

Game 6

Game 7

World Series

Awards and honors