If you want to understand the soul of St. Louis baseball, don’t look at the 1967 World Series trophy or the 2011 comeback. Look at 1974. Honestly, the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals are the ultimate "what if" team in a franchise that usually finds a way to win. They were talented. They were fast. They had a lineup that could make a pitcher sweat through his jersey before the national anthem ended. But they finished a heartbreaking game and a half behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East, and that narrow gap remains one of the most frustrating chapters in Busch Stadium history.
It was a weird year.
Baseball was changing. The "Big Red Machine" was idling in the NL West, waiting to explode, and the Cardinals were trying to prove that their brand of "Whiteyball"—before it was actually called that—could still dominate. They won 86 games. That isn't a bad number, but in '74, it wasn't enough. People remember Lou Brock’s historic season, sure, but they often forget how close this squad came to upending the entire postseason landscape.
The Year Lou Brock Became a God
You can't talk about the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals without talking about the basepaths. Lou Brock didn't just run; he dismantled the psyche of every catcher in the league. On September 10, 1974, against the Phillies, Brock slid into second base for his 105th steal of the season, breaking Maury Wills’ modern record. He finished the year with 118 stolen bases.
Think about that.
118.
Most teams today don't hit that number as a collective unit.
Brock was 35 years old. He was supposed to be slowing down, yet he was playing like a man possessed by a need for 90 feet of dirt. He hit .306 and scored 105 runs because, basically, if he got to first, he was going to second, and if he was at second, he was probably going to third. It forced pitchers like Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver to hurry their deliveries, which played right into the hands of the guys hitting behind him.
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But here is the kicker: Brock’s greatness almost makes us overlook the rest of the roster. Ted Simmons was behind the plate, putting up numbers that should have had him in the Hall of Fame decades before he actually got the call. Simmons hit .272 with 103 RBIs. For a catcher in the 70s, those were gargantuan figures. He was the backbone. Then you had Reggie Smith, who the Cardinals had picked up from Boston. Smith was a monster in '74, posting a .309 average and a .916 OPS. When you look at the middle of that order—Brock, Smith, Simmons, and a young Keith Hernandez—it’s genuinely baffling that they didn't win 95 games.
Why the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals Fell Short
If the offense was a Ferrari, the pitching staff was a reliable but aging station wagon. Bob Gibson was still there, but he wasn’t Bob Gibson anymore. He was 38. The fire was there, the scowl was definitely there, but the ERA had climbed to nearly 4.00. He managed 13 wins, but you could tell the legendary right-hander was fighting his own body as much as the opposing hitters.
Lynn McGlothen was actually the ace that year, winning 16 games and making the All-Star team. He was solid. He was gritty. But the rotation lacked that secondary punch to shut down the Pirates during the stretch run.
The bullpen was a different story. Al Hrabosky, "The Mad Hungarian," was in his prime. If you never saw Hrabosky pitch, you missed a theatrical masterpiece. He would turn his back to the batter, slam the ball into his glove, and psych himself into a frenzy before firing a fastball. He posted a 2.35 ERA over 88 innings. He was the ultimate weapon, but he couldn't pitch every night.
There were these tiny, agonizing moments that defined the season. A blown lead in August. A late-inning error in September. The Cardinals actually led the NL East by a game and a half in early September, but they went into a tailspin, losing eight of ten games. It was a collapse. Not a spectacular, headline-grabbing collapse, but a slow leak that eventually drained the season dry. They finished 86-75. The Pirates finished 88-74. Just a handful of plays. That’s all it was.
The Keith Hernandez Factor
One of the most fascinating "human" elements of the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals was the arrival of Keith Hernandez. He was a 20-year-old kid getting his first real taste of the Bigs. He only played 30 games that year, but you could see the foundation of the MVP he would become.
There was tension, though.
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Manager Red Schoendienst was a legend, but he was old-school. Hernandez was... different. He was cerebral, a bit moody, and he struggled initially to find his footing in a clubhouse dominated by veterans like Gibson and Brock.
Hernandez hit .294 in that short stint, showing the elite contact skills and the legendary defensive prowess at first base that would eventually lead the Cardinals to a title in 1982. But in '74, he was just a piece of the puzzle that didn't quite fit in time to save the season. It’s a reminder that championship windows are incredibly fragile. You can have a legend like Brock at his peak and a future superstar like Hernandez arriving, and still, the timing can be just slightly off.
The Forgotten Context of 1974
People forget how much the city of St. Louis needed that team. The economy was a mess, the country was reeling from Watergate, and Busch Stadium II—with its cookie-cutter shape and scorching AstroTurf—was the escape.
The turf was a character in itself.
Playing on that stuff was like playing on a parking lot covered in thin green carpet. It made the ball hop higher and faster, which played perfectly into the Cardinals' speed-based game, but it also destroyed the knees of the players. You wonder if the late-season fatigue that hit the pitching staff was exacerbated by the 100-degree heat reflecting off that synthetic grass.
It was a tough era of baseball.
There were no specialized middle relief roles. Pitchers went deep. Hitters didn't wear body armor at the plate. Every run felt earned. The Cardinals actually led the league in team batting average at .272. They outscored their opponents by nearly 100 runs over the course of the season. By almost every statistical measure, they were a better team than the Pirates. But baseball doesn't care about your run differential in October. It cares about who won on a Tuesday night in July when the humidity was so high you could barely breathe.
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Legacy of the '74 Squad
What do we do with the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals today?
We should probably view them as the bridge. They were the bridge between the glory of the 60s and the "Runnin' Redbirds" of the 80s. They proved that you could build an entire offensive philosophy around putting the ball in play and causing chaos on the basepaths.
When you look at the stats of that team, the lack of home runs is striking. They only hit 75 home runs as a team. For context, some modern teams hit that many by the All-Star break. But they made up for it with 172 stolen bases and a refusal to strike out. It was a high-contact, high-pressure style of play that forced the opposition into making mistakes.
It’s also worth noting that 1974 was the last truly great year for the Brock-Gibson duo. Within a year, Gibson would retire. Brock would continue to play, but the magic of the 118 steals would never be replicated. 1974 was the sunset of an era.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Historians
If you're looking to dive deeper into this specific era or understand why this team still holds weight in St. Louis lore, here is what you should do:
- Study the Box Scores of September 1974: Specifically, look at the head-to-head matchups with Pittsburgh. You’ll see exactly where the division was lost—often in one-run games where the Cardinals left runners in scoring position.
- Watch Al Hrabosky Highlights: To understand the energy of this team, you have to see "The Mad Hungarian" in action. It explains the "us against the world" mentality the Cardinals were trying to cultivate.
- Re-evaluate Ted Simmons: If you still think Johnny Bench was the only catcher that mattered in the 70s, look at Simmons' 1974 stats. He was a switch-hitting anomaly who drove the bus for this team.
- Visit the Cardinals Hall of Fame: They have specific artifacts from Brock’s '74 season. Seeing the size of the bases and the equipment from that year puts 118 steals into a much more physical, impressive perspective.
The 1974 season remains a beautiful, frustrating anomaly. It was a year of individual records and collective heartbreak. It was the year the Cardinals were the best team in the division on paper, but the second-best in the standings. Sometimes, that's just how the game works.