After a four-season experiment, the inner outfield fence is removed.
Only 49 home-runs had been hit into the 10 foot space.
Metric distances are painted on the outfield walls. 101 meters down
the lines, 118 in the alleys, and 126 to center.
Ball girls are used for the first time to assist with on-field equipment.
St. Louis singles
out injuries and youth for its 72-90 record last season, the Cardinals’
second-worst since 1924. More experience and an active winter in the
trading market should move the Cards up a notch to fourth place. Ken Reitz
is back from San Francisco to plug a hole at third, and center
fielder Bake McBride (.335) and second baseman Mike Tyson (.286) are
recovered from the hurts that kept them sidelined for a total for 186
games. First baseman Keith Hernandez (.289) and right fielder Hector Cruz
(13 homers, 71 RBIs) who struggled defensively at third, should be even
better in their second full seasons. Twenty-one-year-old Garry Templeton
has shown he can hit major league pitching, batting .291 in 53 games, but
his 24 errors proved he cannot yet field major league hitting.
The two most
dependable – and durable – Cardinals are left fielder Lou Brock, beginning
his 17th season with a .296 career average, and catcher Ted
Simmons, starting his 10th year at .297. This season should be a
triumphant one for Brock, who needs only 28 more stolen bases to reach 893
and surpass Ty Cobb’s major league career record. “I might go to 892 and
stop. “ says Brock, “just to keep Cobb and me in the record book
together.”
St. Louis tried to
bolster its pitching staff during the off-season by picking up John
D’Acquisto from San Francisco, Larry Dierker from Houston and reliever Clay
Carroll from the White Sox. But Dierker, who was 13-14 with the Astros, was
injured in spring training – he will be out until May – and D’Acquisto is
coming off a dismal season (3-8 with a 5.35 ERA), so the Cardinals will
again have to rely mainly on their only two pitchers with winning records
last year, John Denny (11-9 and a league-leading 2.52 ERA) and Hrabosky
(8-6, 13 saves). Hrabosky at first threatened to sue if Rapp did not let
him grow his hair back. “This has upset my mental state,” he says, “I
can’t scare anybody anymore. Guys are laughing at
me, telling me how pretty I look.”
(Sports Illustrated, 4/11/77 “Special Baseball issue” – taken from
the NL east preview article (Larry Keith))
Garry Templeton becomes the first
Cardinal switch-hitter to lead the NL in triples (18).
Garry Templeton scores 5 times on a
21-3 rout of the Cubs at Wrigley Field on 4/27.
When former Cardinals
pitcher John Denny posts a NL-best 2.52 ERA, he tied for the
youngest ever to win an ERA crown. He is 23.
Roger
Freed blasts a 9th inning pinch-hit three-run HR capping a 8-6 come from
behind victory on 8/22.
Pinch-hitter Roger Freed batted .398 in 83 at-bats, only dipping below .400
on the last day of the season.
Ken
Reitz broke the NL record by committing only 9 errors in 157 games.
1977
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