1998 St. Louis Cardinals season

Major League Baseball season March 2026 November 2013 St. Louis Cardinals 1998 St Louis Cardinals Cap Insignia.svg National League Central Busch Memorial Stadium St. Louis, Missouri 83–79 (.512) 3rd William DeWitt, Jr. Walt Jocketty Tony La Russa Fox Sports Midwest Joe Buck, (Al Hrabosky, Bob Ramsey)KPLR (Bob Carpenter, Bob Ramsey, Rich Gould) KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck) The 1998 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 117th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 107th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 83–79 during the season and finished third in the National League Central division, 18 games behind the Houston Astros. First baseman Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record this season by hitting 70 home runs, battling with the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa, who finished runner-up in the National League with 66. Offseason December 5: Signed free agent outfielder Willie McGee.Willie McGee Statistics Baseball-Reference.com January 8: Signed free agent pitcher Kent Bottenfield.https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/botteke01.shtml Kent Bottenfield Stats March 30: Traded Craig Shipley to the Anaheim Angels for Chip Hale.Chip Hale Statistics Baseball-Reference.com Regular season On May 8, McGwire hit career home run number 400 in his 4,726th at bat, faster than any other player in history who reached 400 home runs. Facing Liván Hernández on May 16, McGwire hit his longest home run of the season, estimated at 545 feet. McGwire hit home run number 50 of the season on August 20, becoming the first Major League ballplayer in history with three consecutive 50-plus home run seasons. McGwire broke Roger Maris' 37-year-old record of 61 home runs on September 8 with a low line drive over Busch Stadium's left field fence. Known for hitting many long home runs, it was ironically the shortest home run McGwire hit that season. Opening Day lineup Royce Clayton, SS Delino DeShields, 2B Mark McGwire, 1B Ray Lankford, OF Brian Jordan, OF Ron Gant, OF Gary Gaetti, 3B Tom Lampkin, C Todd Stottlemyre, P Season standings St. Louis Cardinals Record vs. opponents STL Notable transactions June 2: Drafted J. D. Drew in the 1st round with the 5th pick of the 1998 amateur draft. Player signed July 3, 1998.J. D. Drew Statistics Baseball-Reference.com April 14: The Cleveland Indians selected David Bell off waivers.https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bellda01.shtml David Bell Stats July 31: Traded Todd Stottlemyre and Royce Clayton to the Texas Rangers for Darren Oliver, Fernando Tatís and a player to be named later. The Rangers sent Mark Little on August 9 to the Cardinals to complete the trade. August 16: Released catcher Tom Pagnozzi.https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pagnoto01.shtml Tom Pagnozzi Stats Scorecard for McGwire's 70th Entering the game on September 27 against the Montreal Expos, McGwire had 68 home runs. In the third inning, McGwire hit a home run off of Mike Thurman, and in the seventh, he got number 70 off of Carl Pavano. The ball was caught by Philip Ozersky.Sports Illustrated, Volume 109, No. 2, July 14–21, 2008, p.122, Published by Time Inc. In January 1999, Todd McFarlane purchased Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from the 1998 season for a record $3 million.Spawn.Com >> Info >> Todd Mcfarlane https://web.archive.org/web/20120921213405/http://spawn.com/info/todd/bio.long.aspx 2012-09-21 September 27, Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri Team123456789RHE Montreal 002100000391St. Louis11100030x692W: Frascatore (3-4)  L: Pavano (6-9)   SV: Acevedo (15)   HRs: Cabrera (3), Tatis (8), McGwire 2 (69, 70)Attendance: 46,110 Time:2:33 U-HP–Rich Rieker, 1B–Joe West, 2B–Kerwin Danley, 3B–Brian Gorman Aftermath of the 1998 home run chase A section of Interstate 70 running through downtown St. Louis was renamed "The Mark McGwire Highway." His record stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. In years following, revelations of the anabolic steroids scandals have possibly tainted these records, but at the time it was great theater and was largely responsible for drawing many fans back to the game after the 1994 players' strike, which had angered and alienated many of them. Roster 1998 St. Louis Cardinals Roster Pitchers 53 Juan Acevedo 38 Manny Aybar 37 Kent Bottenfield 44 Jeff Brantley 54 Mike Busby 61 Rich Croushore 62 Bryan Eversgerd 50 John Frascatore 52 José Jiménez 57 Curtis King 55 Braden Looper 34 Sean Lowe 43 Kent Mercker 35 Matt Morris 32 Darren Oliver 31 Donovan Osborne 28 Lance Painter 46 Mark Petkovsek 40 Cliff Politte 64 Brady Raggio 30 Todd Stottlemyre 36 Bobby Witt Catchers 49 Tom Lampkin 26 Eli Marrero 19 Tom Pagnozzi Infielders 27 David Bell 11 Royce Clayton  7 Delino DeShields  8 Gary Gaetti 12 Shawn Gilbert 13 David Howard 12 Pat Kelly 48 Joe McEwing 25 Mark McGwire 52,23,11 Luis Ordaz 67,27 Plácido Polanco 11,23 Fernando Tatís Outfielders  8 J. D. Drew  5 Ron Gant 21 Brian Hunter  3 Brian Jordan 16 Ray Lankford 58 Mark Little 47 John Mabry 51 Willie McGee Manager 10 Tony La Russa Coaches 18 Dave Duncan (Pitching) 34 Mark DeJohn (Bullpen) 15 Rene Lachemann (Third Base)  4 Carney Lansford (Bench) 39 Dave McKay (First Base) 40 Dave Parker (Hitting) Player stats = Indicates team leader = Indicates league leader Batting Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. SB C Eli Marrero 83 254 28 62 4 20 .244 6 1B Mark McGwire 155 509 130 152 70 147 .299 1 2B Delino DeShields 117 420 74 122 7 44 .290 26 3B Gary Gaetti 91 306 39 81 11 43 .265 1 SS Royce Clayton 90 355 59 83 4 29 .234 19 LF Ron Gant 121 383 60 92 26 67 .240 8 CF Ray Lankford 154 533 94 156 31 105 .293 26 RF Brian Jordan 150 564 100 178 25 91 .316 17https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/1990.shtml 1990 St. Louis Cardinals Statistics Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. SB David Bell 4 9 0 2 0 0 .222 0 J. D. Drew 14 36 9 15 5 13 .417 0 Shawn Gilbert 4 2 0 1 0 0 .500 1 David Howard 46 102 15 25 2 12 .245 0 Brian Hunter 62 112 11 23 4 13 .205 1 Pat Kelly 53 153 18 33 4 14 .216 5 Tom Lampkin 93 216 25 50 6 28 .231 3 Mark Little 7 12 0 1 0 0 .083 1 John Mabry 142 377 41 94 9 46 .249 0 Joe McEwing 10 20 5 4 0 1 .200 0 Willie McGee 120 269 27 68 3 34 .253 7 Luis Ordaz 57 153 9 31 0 8 .203 2 Tom Pagnozzi 51 160 7 35 1 10 .219 0 Plácido Polanco 45 114 10 29 1 11 .254 2 Fernando Tatís 55 202 28 58 8 26 .287 7 Pitching Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO. = Strikeouts; BB = Bases on balls Player G IP W L ERA SO BB Kent Mercker 30 161.2 11 11 5.07 7253 Todd Stottlemyre 23 161.1 9 9 3.51 14751 Matt Morris 17 113.2 7 5 2.53 79 42 Donovan Osborne 14 83.2 5 4 4.09 60 22 Darren Oliver 10 57.0 4 4 4.26 29 23 Cliff Politte 8 37.0 2 3 6.32 22 18 José Jiménez 4 21.1 3 0 2.95 12 8 Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; BB = Bases on balls Player G IP W L ERA SO BB Kent Bottenfield 44 133.2 4 6 4.44 98 57 Mark Petkovsek 48 105.2 7 4 4.77 5536 Manny Aybar 20 81.1 6 6 5.98 57 42 Bobby Witt 17 47.1 2 5 4.94 2820 Brady Raggio 4 7.0 1 1 15.43 3 3 Sean Lowe 4 5.1 0 3 15.19 2 5 Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; BB = Bases on balls Player G IP W L SV ERA SO BB Juan Acevedo 50 98.1 8 3 15 2.565629 John Frascatore 69 95.2 3 4 0 4.14 49 36 Lance Painter 65 47.1 4 0 1 3.99 39 28 Jeff Brantley 48 50.2 05 144.444818 Rich Croushore 41 54.1 0 3 8 4.97 47 29 Curtis King 36 51.0 2 0 2 3.53 28 20 Mike Busby 26 46.0 5 2 0 4.50 33 15 Bryan Eversgerd 8 6.0 0 0 0 9.00 4 2 Braden Looper 4 3.1 0 1 0 5.40 4 1 Gary Gaetti 1 1.0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 McGwire's 70 Number Date Pitcher Length103-31-1998Ramón Martínez364'204-02-1998Frank Lankford368'304-03-1998Mark Langston364'404-04-1998Don Wengert419'504-14-1998Jeff Suppan424'604-14-1998Jeff Suppan347'704-14-1998Barry Manuel462'804-17-1998Matt Whiteside419'904-21-1998Trey Moore437'1004-25-1998Jerry Spradlin419'1104-30-1998Marc Pisciotta371'1205-01-1998Rod Beck362'1305-08-1998Rick Reed358'1405-12-1998Paul Wagner527'1505-14-1998Kevin Millwood381'1605-16-1998Liván Hernández545'1705-18-1998Jesús Sánchez478'1805-19-1998Tyler Green440'1905-19-1998Tyler Green471'2005-19-1998Wayne Gomes451'2105-22-1998Mark Gardner425'2205-23-1998Rich Rodriguez366'2305-23-1998John Johnstone477'2405-24-1998Robb Nen397'2505-25-1998John Thomson433'2605-29-1998Dan Miceli388'2705-30-1998Andy Ashby423'2806-05-1998Orel Hershiser409'2906-08-1998Jason Bere356'3006-10-1998Jim Parque409'3106-12-1998Andy Benes438'3206-17-1998José Lima437'3306-18-1998Shane Reynolds449'3406-24-1998Jaret Wright433'3506-25-1998Dave Burba461'3606-27-1998Mike Trombley431'3706-30-1998Glendon Rusch472'3807-11-1998Billy Wagner485'3907-12-1998Sean Bergman405'4007-12-1998Scott Elarton415'4107-17-1998Brian Bohanon511'4207-17-1998Antonio Osuna425'4307-20-1998Brian Boehringer452'4407-26-1998John Thomson452'4507-28-1998Mike Myers408'4608-08-1998Mark Clark374'4708-11-1998Bobby Jones464'4808-19-1998Matt Karchner398'4908-19-1998Terry Mulholland409'5008-20-1998Willie Blair369'5108-20-1998Rick Reed393'5208-22-1998Francisco Córdova477'5308-23-1998Ricardo Rincón393'5408-26-1998Justin Speier509'5508-30-1998Dennis Martínez501'5609-01-1998Liván Hernández450'5709-01-1998Donn Pall472'5809-02-1998Brian Edmondson497'5909-02-1998Rob Stanifer458'6009-05-1998Dennys Reyes381'6109-07-1998Mike Morgan430'6209-08-1998Steve Trachsel341'6309-15-1998Jason Christiansen385'6409-18-1998Rafael Roque423'6509-20-1998Scott Karl423'6609-25-1998Shayne Bennett375'6709-26-1998Dustin Hermanson403'6809-26-1998Kirk Bullinger435'6909-27-1998Mike Thurman377'7009-27-1998Carl Pavano370'Mark McGwire's Seventy Home Run Season by Baseball Almanac Awards and honors Mark McGwire, Franchise Record, Most Home Runs in One Season (70) Mark McGwire, Major League Baseball Home Run Champion Mark McGwire, Major League record, Most home runs through July 31 (45)Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.260, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, 978-0-451-22363-0 Mark McGwire, First player to hit 50 home runs in three straight seasons: 1996–1998 http://www.allsports.com/players/mark-mcgwire/ Mark McGwire Career Biography and Statistics AllSports.com September 7, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081007142507/http://www.allsports.com/players/mark-mcgwire/ October 7, 2008 dead mdy-all Mark McGwire, Associated Press Athlete of the YearAssociated Press Athlete of the Year (male) Mark McGwire, First Base, Silver Slugger Award Mark McGwire, Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year All-Star Game Mark McGwire, first base, starter Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Memphis Redbirds Pacific Coast League Gaylen Pitts AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Chris Maloney A Prince William Cannons Carolina League Joe Cunningham, Jr. A Peoria Chiefs Midwest League Jeff Shireman A-Short Season New Jersey Cardinals New York–Penn League José Oquendo Rookie Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Steve TurcoJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007 References 1998 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference 1998 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Almanac Mark McGwire's 70 Home Runs on Baseball Almanac Category:St. Louis Cardinals seasons Category:1998 in St. Louis St. Louis Cardinals season Saint Louis Cardinals