1998 St. Louis Cardinals season

The St. Louis Cardinals 1998 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.

1998 St. Louis Cardinals
League	National League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Busch Memorial Stadium
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	83–79 (.512)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	William DeWitt, Jr.
General managers	Walt Jocketty
Managers	Tony La Russa
Television	Fox Sports Midwest Joe Buck, (Al Hrabosky, Bob Ramsey) KPLR (Bob Carpenter, Bob Ramsey, Rich Gould)
Radio	KMOX (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck)
← 1997 Seasons 1999 →

Offseason

• December 5: Signed free agent outfielder Willie McGee.^[1]
• January 8: Signed free agent pitcher Kent Bottenfield.^[2]
• March 30: Traded Craig Shipley to the Anaheim Angels for Chip Hale.^[3]

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

v t e NL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Houston Astros	102	60	0.630	—	55–26	47–34
Chicago Cubs	90	73	0.552	12½	51–31	39–42
St. Louis Cardinals	83	79	0.512	19	48–34	35–45
Cincinnati Reds	77	85	0.475	25	39–42	38–43
Milwaukee Brewers	74	88	0.457	28	38–43	36–45
Pittsburgh Pirates	69	93	0.426	33	40–40	29–53

Record vs. opponents

1998 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Team	AZ	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LA	MIL	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Arizona	—	1–8	5–7	4–5	6–6	6–2	4–5	4–8	6–3	2–7	4–5	2–7	6–3	3–9	5–7	2–7	5–8
Atlanta	8–1	—	3–6	7–2	5–3	7–5	4–5	8–1	7–2	6–6	9–3	8–4	7–2	5–4	7–2	6–3	9–7
Chicago	7–5	6–3	—	6–5	7–2	7–2	4–7	4–5	6–6	7–2	4–5	3–6	8–3	5–4	7–3	4–7	5–8
Cincinnati	5–4	2–7	5–6	—	4–5	9–0	3–8	5–4	6–5	8–1	3–6	4–5	5–7	1–11	2–7	8–3	7-6
Colorado	6–6	3–5	2–7	5–4	—	6–3	6–5	6–6	4–7	7–2	3–6	5–4	5–4	5–7	7–5	3–6	4–8
Florida	2–6	5–7	2–7	0–9	3–6	—	3–6	4–5	0–9	5–7	5–7	6–6	3–6	4–5	0–9	4–5	8–8
Houston	5–4	5–4	7–4	8–3	5–6	6-3	—	3–6	9–2	7–2	5–4	7–2	9–2	5–4	6–3	5–7	10–4
Los Angeles	8–4	1–8	5–4	4–5	6–6	5–4	6–3	—	5–4	5–4	3–5	5–4	7–5	5–7	6–6	4–5	8–5
Milwaukee	3–6	2–7	6–6	5–6	7–4	9–0	2–9	4–5	—	6–3	1–8	4–5	6–5	3–6	5–4	3–8	8–6
Montreal	7–2	6–6	2–7	1–8	2–7	7–5	2–7	4–5	3–6	—	8–4	5–7	2–7	4–4	3–6	3–6	6–10
New York	5–4	3–9	5–4	6–3	6–3	7–5	4–5	5–3	8–1	4–8	—	8–4	4–5	4–5	4–5	6–3	9–7
Philadelphia	7-2	4–8	6–3	5–4	4–5	6–6	2–7	4–5	5–4	7–5	4–8	—	8–1	1–8	2–6	3–6	7–9
Pittsburgh	3–6	2–7	3–8	7–5	4–5	6–3	2–9	5–7	5–6	7–2	5–4	1–8	—	5–4	2–7	6–5	6–7
San Diego	9–3	4–5	4–5	11–1	7–5	5–4	4–5	7–5	6–3	4–4	5–4	8–1	4–5	—	8–4	6–3	6–7
San Francisco	7–5	2–7	3–7	7–2	5–7	9–0	3–6	6–6	4–5	6–3	5–4	6–2	7–2	4–8	—	7–5	8–5
St. Louis	7–2	3–6	7–4	3–8	6–3	5-4	7–5	5–4	8–3	6–3	3–6	6–3	5–6	3–6	5–7	—	4–9

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.^[4]
• April 14: The Cleveland Indians selected David Bell off waivers.^[5]
• 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.^[6]

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.^[7] In January 1999, Todd McFarlane purchased Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from the 1998 season for a record $3 million.^[8]

September 27, Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Montreal	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	9	1
St. Louis	1	1	1	0	0	0	3	0	x	6	9	2
W: 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

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	17

^[9]

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	72	53
Todd Stottlemyre	23	161.1	9	9	3.51	147	51
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	55	36
Manny Aybar	20	81.1	6	6	5.98	57	42
Bobby Witt	17	47.1	2	5	4.94	28	20
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	2.56	56	29
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	0	5	14	4.44	48	18
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	Length
1	03-31-1998	Ramón Martínez	364'
2	04-02-1998	Frank Lankford	368'
3	04-03-1998	Mark Langston	364'
4	04-04-1998	Don Wengert	419'
5	04-14-1998	Jeff Suppan	424'
6	04-14-1998	Jeff Suppan	347'
7	04-14-1998	Barry Manuel	462'
8	04-17-1998	Matt Whiteside	419'
9	04-21-1998	Trey Moore	437'
10	04-25-1998	Jerry Spradlin	419'
11	04-30-1998	Marc Pisciotta	371'
12	05-01-1998	Rod Beck	362'
13	05-08-1998	Rick Reed	358'
14	05-12-1998	Paul Wagner	527'
15	05-14-1998	Kevin Millwood	381'
16	05-16-1998	Liván Hernández	545'
17	05-18-1998	Jesús Sánchez	478'
18	05-19-1998	Tyler Green	440'
19	05-19-1998	Tyler Green	471'
20	05-19-1998	Wayne Gomes	451'
21	05-22-1998	Mark Gardner	425'
22	05-23-1998	Rich Rodriguez	366'
23	05-23-1998	John Johnstone	477'
24	05-24-1998	Robb Nen	397'
25	05-25-1998	John Thomson	433'
26	05-29-1998	Dan Miceli	388'
27	05-30-1998	Andy Ashby	423'
28	06-05-1998	Orel Hershiser	409'
29	06-08-1998	Jason Bere	356'
30	06-10-1998	Jim Parque	409'
31	06-12-1998	Andy Benes	438'
32	06-17-1998	José Lima	437'
33	06-18-1998	Shane Reynolds	449'
34	06-24-1998	Jaret Wright	433'
35	06-25-1998	Dave Burba	461'
36	06-27-1998	Mike Trombley	431'
37	06-30-1998	Glendon Rusch	472'
38	07-11-1998	Billy Wagner	485'
39	07-12-1998	Sean Bergman	405'
40	07-12-1998	Scott Elarton	415'
41	07-17-1998	Brian Bohanon	511'
42	07-17-1998	Antonio Osuna	425'
43	07-20-1998	Brian Boehringer	452'
44	07-26-1998	John Thomson	452'
45	07-28-1998	Mike Myers	408'
46	08-08-1998	Mark Clark	374'
47	08-11-1998	Bobby Jones	464'
48	08-19-1998	Matt Karchner	398'
49	08-19-1998	Terry Mulholland	409'
50	08-20-1998	Willie Blair	369'
51	08-20-1998	Rick Reed	393'
52	08-22-1998	Francisco Córdova	477'
53	08-23-1998	Ricardo Rincón	393'
54	08-26-1998	Justin Speier	509'
55	08-30-1998	Dennis Martínez	501'
56	09-01-1998	Liván Hernández	450'
57	09-01-1998	Donn Pall	472'
58	09-02-1998	Brian Edmondson	497'
59	09-02-1998	Rob Stanifer	458'
60	09-05-1998	Dennys Reyes	381'
61	09-07-1998	Mike Morgan	430'
62	09-08-1998	Steve Trachsel	341'
63	09-15-1998	Jason Christiansen	385'
64	09-18-1998	Rafael Roque	423'
65	09-20-1998	Scott Karl	423'
66	09-25-1998	Shayne Bennett	375'
67	09-26-1998	Dustin Hermanson	403'
68	09-26-1998	Kirk Bullinger	435'
69	09-27-1998	Mike Thurman	377'
70	09-27-1998	Carl Pavano	370'

^[10]

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)^[11]
• Mark McGwire, First player to hit 50 home runs in three straight seasons: 1996–1998 ^[12]
• Mark McGwire, Associated Press Athlete of the Year^[13]
• 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

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
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 Turco

^[14]

References

1. Willie McGee Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
2. "Kent Bottenfield Stats".
3. Chip Hale Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
4. J. D. Drew Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
5. "David Bell Stats".
6. "Tom Pagnozzi Stats".
7. Sports Illustrated, Volume 109, No. 2, July 14–21, 2008, p.122, Published by Time Inc.
8. Spawn.Com >> Info >> Todd Mcfarlane 2012-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
9. "1990 St. Louis Cardinals Statistics".
10. Mark McGwire's Seventy Home Run Season by Baseball Almanac
11. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.260, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
12. . Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
13. Associated Press Athlete of the Year (male)
14. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

• 1998 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Reference
• 1998 St. Louis Cardinals at Baseball Almanac
• Mark McGwire's 70 Home Runs on Baseball Almanac