The

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

1989 season was the team's 108th season in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

and the 98th season in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. The Cardinals went 86-76 during the season and finished 3rd in the

National League East The National League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Along with the American League Central it is one of two divisions to have every member win at least one World Series title. The division was created when the National Leag ...

division. Shortstop

Ozzie Smith Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National ...

and third baseman

Terry Pendleton Terry Lee Pendleton (born July 16, 1960) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played primarily for the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves, but he also spent time with the Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, and Kansas Cit ...

won

Gold Gloves The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

this year. On September 29, team owner

August A. Busch, Jr. August Anheuser "Gussie" Busch Jr. (March 28, 1899 – September 29, 1989) was an American brewing magnate who built the Anheuser-Busch Companies into the largest brewery in the world by 1957 as company chairman from 1946 to 1975.Holian, T ...

died at the age of 90.

Offseason

* October 4, 1988:

Lee Tunnell Byron Lee Tunnell (born October 30, 1960) is an American professional baseball coach and retired player. He played as a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball. He was the bullpen coach for the Milwaukee Brewers ...

was released by the Cardinals. * December 16, 1988:

Steve Lake Steven Michael Lake (born March 14, 1957) is an American former professional baseball backup catcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to for the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Ph ...

and Curt Ford were traded by the Cardinals to the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

for

Milt Thompson Milton Orville Thompson (May 4, 1926 – August 6, 1993), ( Lt Cmdr, USNR), better known as Milt Thompson, was an American naval officer, aviator, engineer, and NASA research pilot. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X ...

Regular season

The over-achieving 1989 Cardinal team almost made the playoffs. Pedro Guerrero finished third in the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

voting while leading the league with 42 doubles and finishing second in RBIs (117).

Joe Magrane Joseph David Magrane (born July 2, 1964) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, California Angels, and Chicago White Sox between 1987 and 1996, and is currently a color commentary broadcas ...

won 18 games while

José DeLeón José DeLeón Chestaro (born December 20, 1960) is a Dominican former professional baseball right-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillie ...

won 16 games.

played in 155 games and hit .290, mostly substituting for the injured

Willie McGee Willie Dean McGee (born November 2, 1958) is an American professional baseball coach and former outfielder who is an assistant coach for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for four teams, over 18 seasons. He ...

. Vince Coleman lead the league in

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

for the fifth straight year. However, it would be the arch-rival Cubs who would claim the division and move on to the playoffs. This team featured three former college football punters -- Vince Coleman, Cris Carpenter, and Matt Kinzer who played one game for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Opening Day starters

Tom Brunansky Thomas Andrew Brunansky (born August 20, 1960), nicknamed "Bruno", is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1981 to 1994 for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and Milwaukee Brewe ...

* Vince Coleman * Pedro Guerrero * Tim Jones *

José Oquendo José Manuel Roberto Guillermo Oquendo Contreras (born July 4, 1963), nicknamed The Secret Weapon, is a Puerto Rican former infielder and current coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He currently serves as Minor League Infield Coordinator of ...

Tony Peña Antonio Francisco Peña Padilla (; born June 4, 1957) is a Dominican former professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Pirates, Cardinals, Red Sox, Indians, White Sox, and Astros. ...

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

* April 24, 1989:

Jeremy Hernandez Jeremy Stuart Hernandez (born July 6, 1966) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with th ...

was traded by the Cardinals to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

for

Randy Byers Randell Parker Byers (born October 2, 1964) is a former Major League Baseball left fielder who played for two seasons. He played for the San Diego Padres for ten games during the 1987 San Diego Padres season and 11 games during the 1988 San Diego ...

Roster

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''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Other pitchers

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

Relief pitchers

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

Awards and honors

* Vince Coleman, National League Stolen Base Leader, 65 * Terry Pendleton, Third Base, National League

Gold Glove The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

* Ozzie Smith, Shortstop, National League

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: ArkansasJohnson, 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

1989 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference1989 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
{{St. Louis Cardinals St. Louis Cardinals seasons St. Louis Cardinals season

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...