Cardinals Postseason

Cardinals Post-Season Play - 1930

With the Depression settling in, baseball owners decided on a significant change that they hoped would increase attendance.

To increase home runs, the ball was livened.
As a result, nine of the 16 MLB teams hit over .300. The entire National League averaged .303.
Both leagues set new highs in home runs and runs scored.
The Yankees became the first team in history to score over 1,000 runs - an average of nearly seven per game. And they finished second in the standings to the Philadelphia Athletics.
The Cardinals also plated more than 1,000 runs -1,004 to be exact.
Naturally, pitchers' statistics suffered. For example, Ray Kremer of the Pirates won 20 games with an ERA of 5.02.
The Phillies hit .315, the third highest average since 1900 but still second to the New York Giants in 1930, but lost 102 games as opponents hit a collective .346 against their pitching staff.

The Cardinals had a new skipper for 1930 - Gabby Street in his first stint with a major league club.

St. Louis got off to a terrible start. After getting swept by the Brooklyn Robins in four games at Sportsman's Park, the Cards found themselves in last place with a 6-12 record.
As expected, pitching was the problem. Two of the losses to Brooklyn were by 11-10 scores.
But the pitching improved, allowing the Cards to won nine games in a row as the homestand against the eastern teams continued. Then after a loss to the Cubs, they reeled off another eight consecutive wins to go from worst to first just like that.
A wave of injuries slowed down the juggernaut. 2B Frankie Frisch, SS Charlie Gelbert, OF Chick Hafey, C Jimmie Wilson, and 1B Jim Bottomley all missed time. So the Redbirds fell below the .500 mark June 8.
On June 16, GM Branch Rickey made a key trade intended to help shore up the pitching staff. He shipped young P Fred Frankhouse and facing hurler Bill Sherdel to the Boston Braves for veteran Burleigh Grimes, one of the last spitballers. He would go 11-8 the rest of the season.

L-R: Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey, Jimmie Wilson, Burleigh Grimes

The Cards were stuck in fourth place the entire month of July and most of August.

A nine-game winning streak edged them into third place August 28 only to fall back to fourth the next day.
Seven consecutive victories moved them up to second as they approached a crucial three-game series in Brooklyn against the Robins, who had seized the top spot with 11 wins in a row.
The Cards swept the series to take over first place with nine games to play. Read about the crucial series ...
They won seven of those last nine to take the flag by two games.

Their World Series foe would be the Philadelphia Athletics, who defended their 1929 pennant.

With a solid league heading into September, Connie Mack sent scouts to get a line on each of the National League contenders.
The A's fielded a lineup packed with .300 hitters and two home run threats in 1B Jimmy Foxx (37 dingers) and LF Al Simmons (36).
The staff boasted two 20-game winners: Lefty Grove (28) and righthander George Earnshaw (22). Grove compiled an incredible 2.54 ERA in a season when hitting prevailed at record levels.

L-R: Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw

Game One: Shibe Park
Attendance: 32,295 Time of Game: 1:48
Athletics 5 Cardinals 2
WP: Lefty Grove; LP: Burleigh Grimes

Grimes pitched well, allowing just five hits. But all five went for extra bases.
Foxx tripled in the 2nd and scored the game's first run on Bing Miller's sacrifice fly.
The Cards took the lead with two off Grove in the third on three singles and two sacrifice flies by Taylor Douthit and Sparky Adams. But they would get no more against the veteran southpaw.
Simmons smashed a homer to deep RF to tie the game in the 4th.
3B Jimmy Dykes doubled home Max Bishop, who had walked, to give the home team the lead.
CF Mule Haas tripled in the 7th and came home on SS Joe Boley's squeeze bunt.
C Mickey Cochrane completed the scoring with a homer in the 8th.

Game Two: Shibe Park
Attendance: 32,295
Time of Game: 1:47
Athletics 6 Cardinals 1
WP: George Earnshaw; LP: Flint Rhem

Cochrane started the scoring in the 1st with his second homer in as many days. Then Simmons singled and came home on Foxx's double.
RF George Watkins smashed a four-bagger over Earnshaw in the 2nd.
The top of the A's order got to Rhem for two more runs in the 3rd on an error, a double by Simmons, and a single by Miller.
A single, a walk, and a double by Dykes plated two more in the 4th and ended Rhem's stint and the scoring.

L-R: Flint Rehm, George Watkins, Ray Blades, Rube Walberg

Game Three: Sportsman's Park
Attendance: 36,944 Time of Game: 1:55
Cardinals 5 Athletics 0
WP: Bill Hallahan; LP: Rube Walberg

With the Cardinals desperately needing a win, Bill Hallahan twirled a seven-hit shutout - no mean feat against the heavy hitting A's.
CF Taylor Douthit smacked a homer in the 4th for break the scoring ice.
Singles by RF Ray Blades, C Jimmie Wilson, and SS Charlie Gelbert produced another tally in the 5th.
Three more one baggers off the bats of Chick Hafey, Watkins, and Wilson doubled the lead in the 7th.
Doubles by Jim Bottomley and Hafey handed Hallahan another insurance run in the 8th.

Game Four: Sportsman's Park
Attendance: 39,946
Time of Game: 1:41
Cardinals 3 Athletics 1
WP: Jesse Haines; LP: Lefty Grove

In one of the lightest-hitting World Series after the heaviest-hitting season in baseball history, Jesse Haines outdueled Grove.
The Cards' 36-year-old starter started shakily, yielding a run in the 1st on two singles around a bunt. But old Jesse drew the line there.
Haines himself tied the game in the 3rd when he singled home Charlie Gelbert, who had tripled.
The home team took a two-run lead in the bottom of the 4th on a double by Hafey, a throwing error, and singles by Wilson and Gelbert.
Only one Athletic got as far as 2B the rest of the game.

Game Five: Sportsman's Park
Attendance: 38,844
Time of Game: 1:58
Athletics 2 Cardinals 0
WP: Lefty Grove; LP: Burleigh Grimes

The tense pivotal game was scoreless until the 9th.
The Cards had runners on 1st and 2nd in the 3rd and again in the 7th but couldn't score.
The A's didn't get a runner past 1st base until the 8th when they loaded the bases on two singles and a walk with one out. But Bishop hit into a forceout at home and Dykes grounded out.
After trying small ball with no success in the 8th, the A's went to power in the 9th to win the game. Cochrane walked, and Foxx deposited the ball in the LF bleachers.
Grove got the win after pitching the last two innings in relief of Earnshaw, who gave up only two hits.

Game Six: Shibe Park
Attendance: 32,295
Time of Game: 1:46
Athletics 7 Cardinals 1
WP: George Earnshaw; LP: Bill Hallahan

After a travel day, Mack came back with Earnshaw, who completed one of the most impressive pitching records of any World Series.
IP 25, H 13, ER 2, ERA 0.72, K 19, BB 7
Unfortunately, Hallahan was not nearly as effective as he was in Game Three. He lasted only two innings, giving up two hits, three walks, and two runs.
The A's got two in the 1st on doubles by Cochrane and Miller.
Simmons greeted Syl Johnson with a long home run to make it 3-0 in the 3rd.
Dykes crashed another round-tripper with a man on base in the 4th.
Haas's sacrifice fly scored Foxx, who had doubled, to make it 6-0 going into the 6th.
Another sac fly, this one by Cochrane, added the final run in the 6th.
The Cards avoided a shutout in the 9th on Andy High's single and Hafey's double.