Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Feldman vs Cooper
St. Louis 7 New York 4
Having already clinched the National League title, St. Louis is just playing out the season series finale with the New York Giants and getting ready for the NL playoffs. Of interest is whether Stan Musial can finish the season at .400. He goes into game 1 with a .397 average. The Cardinals score single runs in the 1st, 2nd and 5th for a 3-1 lead thru 5 and then add 3 more in the 6th and one in the 8th to take game 1 7-4. Ray Sanders has 3 hits and 3 RBI to lead the Redbirds while Johnny Hopp contributed 3 hits, 2 RBI and 2 runs from the leadoff spot. "The Man" goes 2 for 4 to raise his average to an even .400. Mort Cooper finishes the season with a 6-2 and 2.09 ERA.
Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Mungo vs Gumbert
New York 7 St. Louis 6 (11 Innings)
Harry Gumbert made his first start of the year for St. Louis and he got off to a rough start as the Giants got 4 hits and a walk in the first inning to put 3 runs on the board. Facing New York's ace, Van Mungo, made things even more difficult for St. Louis. He retired the home town team easily through the first 3 innings and then gave up an unearned run in the 4th. In the 5th, Mungo got wild and gave up 2 hits and 3 walks as the Cardinals tied the game. It looked like Mungo would get out of the inning when he struck Musial out with the bases loaded for the second out but then walks to Sanders and Kurowski tied the game. The Giants regained the lead with 2 runs in the 7th and one more in the 8th for a 6-3 lead. St. Louis got one back in the 8th to narrow the score, 6-4. That is how it stood until the bottom of the 9th. The Giants Ace Adams was on in the 9th to try and nail down the win and after he retired the lead off batter and got Musial to force the runner at 2nd for the second out things looked pretty good for New York. And then, just like lightening, Ray Sanders takes the first pitch he sees from Adams and deposits it in the right field stands to tie the game 6-6 and bring the St. Louis fans to their feet with cheers that shook Sportsman's Park. The teams move into extra innings with both sides failing to score in the 10th. The Giants Johnny Rucker leads off the 11th inning with a homerun to dead center field, his first of the year. This time New York's Adrian Zabala was able to retire the Cards in order for a 7-6 Giant win. The first 4 batters for New York went 13-23 as the team had 17 hits. As for Musial, he went 1-5 and his average dipped to .393.
Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Brewer vs Lanier
St. Louis 9 New York 5
Cardinal starter Max Lanier was cruising for 6 innings as his team mates spotted him with a 5-0 lead entering the 7th inning. Then the usually reliable St. Louis defense let Lanier down in the 7th as 2 errors, a walk and an infield hit lead to 2 Giant runs and the game suddenly tightens to 5-2. After the Cards are retired in the bottom of the inning the New York bats come alive in the 8th. Lanier gets the first batter out but when Ernie Lombardi follows with a base hit Al Jurisich relieves Lanier and immediately gives up a walk, a double, a SF and a single to tie the game at 5. Only a perfect throw from Musial in RF to nail the runner at the plate kept the Giants from taking the lead. But what has been the case more often than not this season the Cardinals put up 4 late inning runs in the bottom of the 8th and win game 3 9-5. Besides his 3 hits, Marty Marion played outstanding defense to help win the game from both sides of the plate. Mort Cooper also had 3 hits and Ray Sanders had 4 RBI. Everyone in the Cardinal lineup had a hit except for Musial, who went 0-4 (1-9 in last 2 games) to drop his average to .383 and reduced his chances of a .400 season.
Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Maglie vs Wilks
St. Louis 6 New York 5
In the last game of the regular season the teams were playing for different reasons. The New York Giants were out of the playoffs and were playing for pride; the St. Louis Cardinals, already having wrapped up the National League title, were playing to keep their momentum rolling into the playoffs. It appeared that the New York team wanted the game more in the early going as they jumped on Ted Wilks for 3 runs in the 1st on doubles by Whitey Lockman and Mike Schemer to go along with a George Hausmann triple. The Cardinals got one back in the bottom of the inning and then Wilks and Sal Maglie settled down for a good old fashion pitcher's duel for the next 5 innings as neither team could plate a run. Finally the Giants broke the ice when the scored 2 runs in the 7th to make it a 5-1 game and look more and more like they would get a series split. St. Louis notched a run in the 7th and, like the previous game, put 4 more on the board in the 8th against Ace Adams and a 6-5 lead. Blix Donnelly, who had come on in the 8th for the Cards, retired the Giants in the 9th and the St.Louis Cardinals finish the regular season with a sparkling 32-8 record. Johnny Hopp lead the Cardinal offense with 3 hits and to RBI. Any slim hope that Stan Musial had to hit .400 ended when he went 1-3 to finish at .382.
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