1990 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1990 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 109th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 99th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 70–92 during the season and finished in sixth place of the National League East division, 25 games behind the NL East champion Pittsburgh Pirates. It was the first time the Cardinals had finished in last place since 1918. This was the most recent season the Cardinals finished in last place until 2023.

1990 St. Louis Cardinals
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Busch Memorial Stadium
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	70–92 (.432)
Divisional place	6th
Owners	Anheuser-Busch
General managers	Dal Maxvill
Managers	Whitey Herzog, Red Schoendienst, Joe Torre
Television	KPLR-TV (Al Hrabosky, Ken Wilson)
Radio	KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon)
Seasons

Offseason

• November 28, 1989: Bryn Smith was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
• November 30, 1989: Danny Cox was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
• December 6, 1989: Jim Lindeman and Matt Kinzer were traded by the Cardinals to the Detroit Tigers for Bill Henderson (minors), Marcos Betances (minors), and Pat Austin (minors).
• February 27, 1990: Alex Cole and Steve Peters were traded by the Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for Omar Olivares.

Regular season

Shortstop Ozzie Smith won a Gold Glove this year.

Opening Day starters

• Tom Brunansky
• Vince Coleman
• Pedro Guerrero
• Joe Magrane
• Willie McGee
• José Oquendo
• Terry Pendleton
• Ozzie Smith
• Todd Zeile

Season standings

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	95	67	.586	—	49‍–‍32	46‍–‍35
New York Mets	91	71	.562	4	52‍–‍29	39‍–‍42
Montreal Expos	85	77	.525	10	47‍–‍34	38‍–‍43
Chicago Cubs	77	85	.475	18	39‍–‍42	38‍–‍43
Philadelphia Phillies	77	85	.475	18	41‍–‍40	36‍–‍45
St. Louis Cardinals	70	92	.432	25	34‍–‍47	36‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

1990 National League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	6–6	8–10	5–13	6–12	6–6	4–8	5–7	5–7	8–10	5–13	7–5
Chicago	6–6	—	4–8	6–6	3–9	11–7	9–9	11–7	4–14	8–4	7–5	8–10
Cincinnati	10–8	8–4	—	11–7	9–9	9–3	6–6	7–5	6–6	9–9	7–11	9–3
Houston	13–5	6–6	7–11	—	9–9	5–7	5–7	5–7	5–7	4–14	10–8	6–6
Los Angeles	12–6	9–3	9–9	9–9	—	6–6	5–7	8–4	4–8	9–9	8–10	7–5
Montreal	6–6	7–11	3–9	7–5	6–6	—	8–10	10–8	13–5	7–5	7–5	11–7
New York	8–4	9–9	6–6	7–5	7–5	10–8	—	10–8	10–8	5–7	7–5	12–6
Philadelphia	7-5	7–11	5–7	7–5	4–8	8–10	8–10	—	6–12	7–5	8–4	10–8
Pittsburgh	7–5	14–4	6–6	7–5	8–4	5–13	8–10	12–6	—	10–2	8–4	10–8
San Diego	10–8	4–8	9–9	14–4	9–9	5–7	7–5	5–7	2–10	—	7–11	3–9
San Francisco	13–5	5–7	11–7	8–10	10–8	5–7	5–7	4–8	4–8	11–7	—	9–3
St. Louis	5–7	10–8	3–9	6–6	5–7	7–11	6–12	8–10	8–10	9–3	3–9	—

Notable transactions

• April 23, 1990: John Costello was traded by the Cardinals to the Montreal Expos for Rex Hudler.
• May 4, 1990: Tom Brunansky was traded by the Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox for Lee Smith.
• May 5, 1990: Terry Francona was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
• July 2, 1990: Ernie Camacho was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
• August 29, 1990: Willie McGee was traded by the Cardinals to the Oakland Athletics for Félix José, Stan Royer, and Daryl Green (minors). However, McGee would win the NL batting title (he had enough plate appearances to qualify for it despite this trade).

Roster

1990 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers 62 Ernie Camacho 44 Cris Carpenter 61 Stan Clarke 50 John Costello 46 Ken Dayley 48 José DeLeón 35 Frank DiPino 43 Ken Hill 42 Howard Hilton 49 Ricky Horton 32 Joe Magrane 53 Greg Mathews 41 Tom Niedenfuer 55 Omar Olivares 63 Mike Pérez 56 Tim Sherrill 36 Bryn Smith 47 Lee Smith 37 Scott Terry 39 Bob Tewksbury 30 John Tudor		Catchers 19 Tom Pagnozzi 54 Ray Stephens 27 Todd Zeile Infielders 58 Rod Brewer 15 Dave Collins 28 Pedro Guerrero 22,8 Tim Jones 11 Jose Oquendo 60 Gerónimo Peña  9 Terry Pendleton  1 Ozzie Smith 21 Denny Walling 12 Craig Wilson		Outfielders 23 Tom Brunansky 29 Vince Coleman 23 Bernard Gilkey 10 Rex Hudler 40 Félix José 16 Ray Lankford 51 Willie McGee 33 John Morris 25 Milt Thompson		Manager 24 Whitey Herzog  2 Red Schoendienst 22 Joe Torre Coaches 26 Steve Braun (hitting)  7 Rich Hacker (third base)  3 Dave Ricketts (bullpen)  5 Jim Riggleman (first base)  4 Mike Roarke (pitching)  2 Red Schoendienst (bench)

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	Todd Zeile	144	495	62	121	.244	15	57	2
1B	Pedro Guerrero	136	498	42	140	.281	13	80	1
2B	José Oquendo	156	469	38	118	.252	1	37	1
3B	Terry Pendleton	121	447	46	103	.230	6	58	7
SS	Ozzie Smith	143	512	61	130	.254	1	50	32
LF	Vince Coleman	124	497	73	145	.292	6	39	77
CF	Willie McGee	125	501	76	168	.335	3	62	28
RF	Milt Thompson	135	418	42	91	.218	6	30	25

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
Tom Pagnozzi	69	220	20	61	.277	2	23	1
Rex Hudler	89	217	30	61	.281	7	22	18
Tim Jones	67	128	9	28	.219	1	12	3
Denny Walling	78	127	7	28	.220	1	19	0
Ray Lankford	39	126	12	36	.286	3	12	8
Craig Wilson	55	121	13	30	.248	0	7	0
Félix José	25	85	12	23	.271	0	3	4
Bernard Gilkey	18	64	11	19	.297	1	3	6
Dave Collins	99	58	12	13	.224	0	3	7
Tom Brunansky	19	57	5	9	.158	1	2	0
Gerónimo Peña	18	45	5	11	.244	0	2	1
Rod Brewer	14	25	4	6	.240	0	2	0
John Morris	18	18	0	2	.111	0	0	0
Ray Stephens	5	15	2	2	.133	1	1	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	BB	SO
Joe Magrane	31	203.1	10	17	3.59	59	100
José DeLeón	32	182.2	7	19	4.43	86	164
John Tudor	25	146.1	12	4	2.40	30	63
Bob Tewksbury	28	145.1	10	9	3.47	15	50
Bryn Smith	26	141.1	9	8	4.27	30	78
Ken Hill	17	78.2	5	6	5.49	33	58
Greg Mathews	11	50.2	0	5	5.33	30	18

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	BB	SO
Omar Olivares	9	49.1	1	1	2.92	17	20

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	BB	SO
Lee Smith	53	68.2	3	4	27	2.10	20	70
Frank DiPino	62	81.0	5	2	3	4.56	31	49
Ken Dayley	58	73.1	4	4	2	3.56	30	51
Scott Terry	50	72.0	2	6	2	4.75	27	35
Tom Niedenfuer	52	65.0	0	6	2	3.46	25	32
Ricky Horton	32	42.0	1	1	1	4.93	22	18
Mike Pérez	13	13.2	1	0	1	3.95	3	5
Cris Carpenter	4	8.0	0	0	0	4.50	2	6
Ernie Camacho	6	5.2	0	0	0	7.94	6	7
Tim Sherrill	8	4.1	0	0	0	6.23	3	3
John Costello	4	4.1	0	0	0	6.23	1	1
Stan Clarke	2	3.1	0	0	0	2.70	0	3
Howard Hilton	2	3.0	0	0	0	0.00	3	2
Tim Jones	1	1.1	0	0	0	6.75	2	0

Awards and honors

• Willie McGee, outfielder: Batting title (.335)
• Ozzie Smith, shortstop, National League Gold Glove

All-Stars

• Ozzie Smith, starter, shortstop

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Louisville Redbirds	American Association	Gaylen Pitts
AA	Arkansas Travelers	Texas League	Dave Bialas
A	St. Petersburg Cardinals	Florida State League	Joe Pettini
A	Springfield Cardinals	Midwest League	Keith Champion
A	Savannah Cardinals	South Atlantic League	Rick Colbert
A-Short Season	Hamilton Redbirds	New York–Penn League	Luis Meléndez
Rookie	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Mark DeJohn
Rookie	AZL Cardinals	Arizona League	Larry Milbourne

External links

• 1990 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference
• 1990 St. Louis Cardinals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com