1996 St. Louis Cardinals NL Central Champions
Major league affiliations
National League (since 1892) Central Division (since 1994)
Location
Busch Memorial Stadium (since 1966) St. Louis, Missouri (since 1882)
1996 information
Owner(s)	William DeWitt, Jr.
General manager(s)	Walt Jocketty
Manager(s)	Tony La Russa
Local television	KPLR Prime Sports Midwest (Al Hrabosky, Bob Carpenter, Joe Buck)
Local radio	KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck)
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The St. Louis Cardinals 1996 season was the team's 115th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 105th season in the National League. During the first year of the William DeWitt, Jr. era, the Cardinals went 88-74 during the season and won their first-ever National League Central division title by six games over the Houston Astros. They beat the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, but fell in 7 games to the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS. DeWitt, along with Drew Bauer and Fred Hanser had bought the Cardinals from Anheuser-Busch during the 1995-96 offseason.

Contents 1 Offseason 2 The Makings of a 1996 Club 2.1 Ozzie Smith's Last Season 3 Regular season 3.1 Opening Day starters 3.2 Season standings 3.3 Roster 4 Player stats 4.1 Batting 4.1.1 Starters by position 4.1.2 Other batters 4.2 Pitching 4.2.1 Starting pitchers 4.2.2 Other pitchers 4.2.3 Relief pitchers 5 NLDS 6 NLCS 6.1 Game 1 6.2 Game 2 6.3 Game 3 6.4 Game 4 6.5 Game 5 6.6 Game 6 6.7 Game 7 7 Awards and honors 8 Farm system 9 References 10 External links

Offseason

• December 15, 1995: Willie McGee was signed as a Free Agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.^[1]
• January 9, 1996: Todd Stottlemyre was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals for Allen Battle, Carl Dale, Jay Witasick, and Bret Wagner (minors).
• January 11, 1996: Mike Gallego signed as a Free Agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.^[2]
• February 13, 1996: Dennis Eckersley was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals for Steve Montgomery.

The Makings of a 1996 Club

Ozzie Smith's Last Season

Legendary veteran shortstop Ozzie Smith, announced during the season that it would be his last season in the Major Leagues, and veteran outfielder Willie McGee, brought back to the Cards as a free agent. Though the tension between Smith, and exciting youngster Royce Clayton, acquired in a trade, grew thick and troublesome at times as they shared time at shortstop, both players had good seasons. McGee came off the bench and started when needed.

Regular season

Opening Day starters

• Luis Alicea
• Gary Gaetti
• Ron Gant
• Ray Lankford
• John Mabry
• Willie McGee
• Pat Borders
• Ozzie Smith
• Todd Stottlemyre

Season standings

Central Division	W	L	GB	Pct.
St. Louis Cardinals	88	74	.543	--
Houston Astros	82	80	.506	6.0
Cincinnati Reds	81	81	.500	7.0
Chicago Cubs	76	86	.469	12.0
Pittsburgh Pirates	73	89	.451	15.0

Roster

1996 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers 39 Cory Bailey 52 Brian Barber 44 Rich Batchelor 41 Alan Benes 40 Andy Benes 57 Mike Busby 43 Dennis Eckersley 48 Tony Fossas 32 Rick Honeycutt 29 Danny Jackson 54 Eric Ludwick 33 T. J. Mathews 36 Mike Morgan 31 Donovan Osborne 49 Jeff Parrett 46 Mark Petkovsek 30 Todd Stottlemyre 34 Tom Urbani		Catchers 38 Pat Borders 49 Mike DiFelice 19 Tom Pagnozzi Infielders 18 Luis Alicea 27 David Bell 11 Royce Clayton  8 Gary Gaetti 22 Mike Gallego 68 Aaron Holbert 47 John Mabry 12 Danny Sheaffer  1 Ozzie Smith 24 Dmitri Young		Outfielders 55 Terry Bradshaw  5 Ron Gant  3 Brian Jordan 16 Ray Lankford 51 Willie McGee 35 Miguel Mejia 23 Mark Sweeney		Manager 10 Tony LaRussa Coaches 18 Dave Duncan (Pitching)  9 Mark DeJohn (Bullpen) 28 Ron Hassey (Bench) 25 George Hendrick (Hitting) 39 Dave McKay (First Base) 15 Tommie Reynolds (Third Base)

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

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

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

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

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

NLDS

St. Louis wins the series, 3-0

Game	Home	Score	Visitor	Score	Date	Series
1	St. Louis	3	San Diego	1	October 1	1-0 (STL)
2	St. Louis	5	San Diego	4	October 3	2-0 (STL)
3	San Diego	5	St. Louis	7	October 5	3-0 (STL)

NLCS

Game 1

October 9: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	5	1
Atlanta	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	X	4	9	0
WP: John Smoltz (1-0)   LP: Mark Petkovsek (0-1)   Sv: Mark Wohlers (1) Home runs: STL: None ATL: None

Game 2

October 10: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	1	0	2	0	0	0	5	0	0	8	11	2
Atlanta	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	5	2
WP: Todd Stottlemyre (1-0)   LP: Greg Maddux (0-1) Home runs: STL: Gary Gaetti (1) ATL: Marquis Grissom (1)

Game 3

October 12: Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Atlanta	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	8	1
St. Louis	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	X	3	7	0
WP: Donovan Osborne (1-0)   LP: Tom Glavine (0-1)   Sv: Dennis Eckersley (1) Home runs: ATL: None STL: Ron Gant 2 (2)

Game 4

October 13: Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Atlanta	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	9	1
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	X	4	5	0
WP: Dennis Eckersley (1-0)   LP: Greg McMichael (0-1) Home runs: ATL: Mark Lemke (1), Ryan Klesko (1) STL: Brian Jordan (1)

Game 5

October 14: Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Atlanta	5	2	0	3	1	0	0	1	2	14	22	0
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
WP: John Smoltz (2-0)   LP: Todd Stottlemyre (1-1) Home runs: ATL: Fred McGriff (1), Javy López (1), STL: None

Game 6

October 16: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	6	1
Atlanta	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	X	3	7	0
WP: Greg Maddux (1-1)   LP: Alan Benes (0-1)   Sv: Mark Wohlers (2) Home runs: STL: None ATL: None

Game 7

October 17: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2
Atlanta	6	0	0	4	0	3	2	0	X	15	17	0
WP: Tom Glavine (1-1)   LP: Donovan Osborne (1-1) Home runs: STL: None ATL: Javy López (2), Andruw Jones (1), Fred McGriff (2)

Awards and honors

• Tony La Russa, Associated Press Manager of the Year
• Ozzie Smith, All Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Louisville Redbirds	American Association	Joe Pettini
AA	Arkansas Travelers	Texas League	Rick Mahler
A	St. Petersburg Cardinals	Florida State League	Chris Maloney
A	Peoria Chiefs	Midwest League	Roy Silver
Short-Season A	New Jersey Cardinals	New York-Penn League	Scott Melvin
Rookie	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Steve Turco

^[3]

References

1. ^ Willie McGee Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
2. ^ Mike Gallego Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
3. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links

• 1996 St. Louis Cardinals
• 1996 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Preceded by Cincinnati Reds 1995

NL Central Championship Season 1996

Succeeded by Houston Astros 1997