St. Louis Cardinals

For the National Football League team that played in the city of St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, see St. Louis Cardinals (NFL). For the current NFL team, see Arizona Cardinals.

St. Louis Cardinals
2024 St. Louis Cardinals season
LogoCap insignia
Major league affiliations
Current uniform
Retired numbers
Colors
  • Cardinal red, navy blue, yellow, white[1][2]
           
Name
  • St. Louis Cardinals (1900–present)
  • St. Louis Perfectos (1899)
  • St. Louis Browns (1892–1898)
  • St. Louis Browns (1883–1891) (AA)
  • St. Louis Brown Stockings (1882) (AA)
Other nicknames
  • The Cards
  • The Redbirds
  • The Birds on the Bat
  • The Baseball Cardinals (1960–1987)
Ballpark
Major league titles
World Series titles (11)
NL Pennants (19)
AA Pennants (4)
Central Division titles (12)
East Division titles (3)[d]
Pre-modern World Series (1)
Wild card berths (5)[e]
Front office
Principal owner(s)Bill DeWitt Jr.[4]
PresidentBill DeWitt III
President of baseball operationsJohn Mozeliak
General managerMike Girsch
ManagerOliver Marmol
Mascot(s)Fredbird, Rally Squirrel
Websitemlb.com/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 have played their home games at Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. One of the nation's oldest and most successful professional baseball clubs, the Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships, the most of any NL team and second in MLB only to the New York Yankees.[5][6] The team has won 19 National League pennants, third-most of any team behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. St. Louis has also won 15 division titles in the East and Central divisions.

In 1881, entrepreneur Chris von der Ahe purchased the Brown Stockings barnstorming club, renamed it the St. Louis Browns, and made it a charter member of the American Association baseball league. The team won four league championships, qualifying them to play in the era's professional baseball championship series, a forerunner of the modern World Series.[7] In two of these championships, the Browns met the Chicago White Stockings, now the Chicago Cubs, launching the enduring Cardinals–Cubs rivalry.

In 1892, the Browns – also called the Perfectos – joined the National League. In 1900, the team was renamed the Cardinals. (Two years later, an unrelated St. Louis Browns team joined the American League.)

Notable Cardinals achievements include manager/owner Branch Rickey's invention of the farm system, Rogers Hornsby's two batting Triple Crowns, Dizzy Dean's 30-win season in 1934, Stan Musial's 17 MLB and 29 NL records, Bob Gibson's 1.12 earned run average (ERA) in 1968, Whitey Herzog's Whiteyball, Mark McGwire's single-season home run record in 1998, the 2011 championship team's unprecedented comebacks,[8] and Albert Pujols’ 700th home run. The Cardinals have won 105 or more games in four seasons and won 100 or more nine times. Cardinals players have won 21 league MVPs, four batting Triple Crowns, and three Cy Young Awards. Baseball Hall of Fame inductees include Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Rogers Hornsby, Tony LaRussa, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Branch Rickey, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie Smith, Ted Simmons, Bruce Sutter, and Scott Rolen.

In 2018, Forbes valued the Cardinals at $1.9 billion, the 7th-highest among MLB clubs and far more than the $147 million paid in 1995 by owner William DeWitt Jr.'s investment group. In 2017, the team took in revenue of $319 million on an operating income of $40.0 million.[9][10][11] John Mozeliak is the President of Baseball Operations, Mike Girsch is the general manager, and Oliver Marmol is the manager.[12][13] The Cardinals are renowned for their strong fan support: despite being in one of the sport's mid-level markets, they routinely see attendances among the league's highest, and are consistently among the top three in MLB in local television ratings.[14][15]

Through 2024, the Cardinals' all-time win-loss record is 11,285–10,402–152 (.520).[16]

  1. ^ Getzenberg, Alaina (September 18, 2017). "Schmidt's vision inspired iconic red bird logo". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved December 2, 2018. There are few logos in baseball as closely linked to a team as the "Birds on the Bat" is to the Cardinals. The red birds that are now inseparable from the Cardinal name, however, were not featured by the team in its earliest days. Rather, the name originally referred to the color cardinal red.
  2. ^ "Cardinals announce Stifel as club's first jersey patch sponsor". Cardinals.com (Press release). MLB Advanced Media. May 2, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023. "We are proud to partner with Stifel in unveiling our first jersey patch sponsor," said St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III. "We worked closely with Ron Kruszewski and his team at Stifel on the patch design to make sure it fit tastefully on our iconic uniform, and they even agreed to slightly modify their word mark to fit the red and blue color combination that we use for our classic 'Birds on the Bat' logo. Both Ron and I are confident that this design strikes the perfect balance between preserving the integrity of our uniform while providing great exposure for Stifel."
  3. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals History". ESPN. September 19, 2004. Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  4. ^ "Cardinals Staff Directory". Cardinals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  5. ^ Hechtman, Jim (May 4, 2018). "How the Cardinals Strategy Leads to Success". The Hechtman Group. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  6. ^ Noles, Chris (February 25, 2013). "3 Reasons the St. Louis Cardinals Have Had so Much Homegrown Success". Bleacher Report. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  7. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  8. ^ Eisenbath 1999: 251
  9. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals". Forbes. April 11, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  10. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals". Forbes. March 23, 2016.
  11. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals". Forbes. March 2015.
  12. ^ "Front Office Directory". Cardinals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  13. ^ Langosch, Jenifer (June 30, 2017). "Cards promote Mozeliak, name Girsch GM". Cardinals.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  14. ^ Saunders, Patrick (August 2, 2012). "Cardinals fans get another vote as best in baseball". The Denver Post. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  15. ^ "Busch Stadium facts". St. Louis Cardinals. Archived from the original on December 19, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  16. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 30, 2024.


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