1996 St. Louis Cardinals season

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 the National League Central division. 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.

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, and McGee was absolutely playing off the bench and starting when needed.

Season recap

The team needed time to get used to La Russa, and to each other.

La Russa took encouragement that in the team's five losses to that point of the road trip, the Cardinals had either led or been tied at some point. "What I'm worried about," he said, "is the guys getting discouraged and getting depressed and losing that little edge. We've got to make sure they keep their hear in the right place. it's okay to lose agame. It's not okay to lose your heart."

They showed soon enough they still had it. In Houston.

The Cards went into the Astrodome directly from Denver and swept three games from Central Division rival Houston. Osborne pitched a complete-game 5-3 victory in the opener. He got offensive help from Luis Alicea's three hits. Lankford's key tie-breaking single in the seventh, Gaetti's three hits and Mabry's two-run homer.

Two days later, rookie Alan Benes-Andy's brother- completed the sweep with a 5-2 triumph. Jordan had atwo-run double and a homer and made two outstanding plays in the outfield. Mabry had another home run to give him a 10-game hitting streak, and the Cardinals were only one game behind the division-leading Astros.

September 2

The true turning point came on Labor Day at Busch Stadium, when the Astros arrived in St. Louis for the beginning of a three-game set. The Cardinals trailed 7-3 in the fourth inning, when presidential and vice presidential candidates Bob Dole and Jack Kemp had to leave the game.

Ozzie Smith, 41 years old, scored four runs-including a home run. Willie McGee, 37, had four hits and drove in three runs. The most biggest came in the bottom of the 10th, more than four hours after the game had started. Smith had singled earlier and seemed to have driven pinch-runner Miguel Mejia home, but Mejia's too-wide turn around third cost him and he was out at the plate. McGee followed with a chopped hit up the middle that drove Smith home from second for the win.

"I'm going out, hopefully, the way I Came in," Smith said. "I've always tried to respect this game. I've given my all each and every day... I think everybody should be juiced up in the pennant race. if you (aren't), then you shouldn't be here."

The Cardinals, who won 11 of 13 meetings with the Astros during the entire season (including all six played at Busch Stadium), swept the demoralized Houston club after that and took over first place for good. They won the Central title by six games and thus earned a match up against the San Diego Padres in the first round of the postseason.

Regular season

Opening Day starters

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

Season standings

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Other batters

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

NLDS

St. Louis wins the series, 3-0