1979 St. Louis Cardinals season
The 1979 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 98th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 88th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 86-76 during the season and finished third in the National League East, 12 games behind the eventual NL pennant and World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.Offseason
First baseman Keith Hernández won the MVP Award this year, along with Willie Stargell, batting.344, with 11 home runs and 105 RBIs. Hernández also won the Gold Glove. Left fielder Lou Brock collected his 3,000th career hit and played his final season in MLB.
Pete Vuckovich and Silvio Martínez each won 15 games. Garry Templeton became the first switch-hitter to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate and led the league in triples for a third consecutive season.Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day starters
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 |
1B | | 161 | 610 | 210 | .344 | 11 | 105 |
LF | | 120 | 405 | 123 | .304 | 5 | 38 |
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 |
| 44 | 97 | 22 | .227 | 1 | 6 |
| 34 | 31 | 8 | .258 | 2 | 8 |
| 11 | 23 | 9 | .391 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 15 | 3 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 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 |
| 33 | 218.2 | 11 | 11 | 3.83 | 92 |
| 32 | 206.2 | 15 | 8 | 3.27 | 102 |
| 31 | 206 | 8 | 11 | 4.85 | 99 |
| 20 | 146 | 10 | 6 | 2.53 | 75 |
| 13 | 67 | 4 | 3 | 6.18 | 35 |
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
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| 48 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4.07 | 22 |
| 27 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4.23 | 27 |
| 25 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4.45 | 14 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
Awards and honors
- Lou Brock, Hutch Award
League records
- Garry Templeton, National League record, league leader in triples for three consecutive seasons
League leaders
- Garry Templeton, National League leader, triples
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Arkansas