1947 St. Louis Cardinals

1947 St. Louis Cardinals / Franchise: St. Louis Cardinals / BR Team Page

Record: 89-65, Finished 2nd in National League (1947 NL)

Managed by Eddie Dyer

Coaches: Tony Kaufmann and Buzzy Wares

Ballpark: Sportsman's Park IV

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1947 St. Louis Cardinals have long been accused of having planned a player strike to prevent the integration of Major League Baseball, ushered in by Jackie Robinson joining the rival Brooklyn Dodgers at the start of the season. The story was publicized by Stanley Woodward in an article in the New York Herald Tribune on May 9th, in which he credited National League President Ford Frick with quashing the revolt by threatening to ban any players who refused to take the field against Robinson. The story got some legs because there were many southerners on the Cardinals, who were assumed to be inimical to Robinson, and OF Enos Slaughter for one blamed it for tainting his reputation for many years. However, later investigation leads to the conclusion that the story was much exaggerated by Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, that while some Cardinals players grumbled about Robinson's presence, they were never serious about striking and Frick never intervened with the strong words that Woodward put in his mouth.

Awards and Honors

• All-Stars: Harry Brecheen, Whitey Kurowski, Marty Marion, Red Munger, Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter

Further Reading

• Warren Corbett: "The 'Strike' Against Jackie Robinson: Truth or Myth", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 46, Nr. 1 (Spring 2017), pp. 88-93.
• Mel R. Freese: The St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2007.