• Even though is was most unusual that so many of the Cardinals had good season together in 1964, the odds would have been great against all eight regulars dropping in batting average in '65. But that's precisely what happened as the Redbirds sank farther than any world champion in this century - all the way to seventh place.

  Curt Flood had another great year that included club leadership with a .302 mark at the plate, but it was still a drop from his .311 last year. Lou Brock, bothered by injuries, slipped from .315 to .281, and along the way, his 123 strikeouts fell two short of the club record established by Steve Bilko before the schedule was increased. The king-sized dropoffs came in the infield, where all four '64 incumbents sank in RBI's as well as batting percentage. Of course, injuries hampered Ken Boyer, Bill White and Julian Javier. Boyer, the 1964 MVP, tumbled from .295 to .277, from 24 home runs in successive seasons to 13, and from 119 RBI to 76. Bill White dropped from .303 down to .253 and his RBIs from 102 to 80. Dick Groat who like Mike Shanaon was healthy all season but skidded from .290 to .232 and went from 70 RBI to 44. Shannon, a disappointment from the start of this year, fizzled to .190 with two homers and 27 RBI after a .261 mark with nine homers and 43 RBI.

• Bob Gibson reached the 20-victory goal for the first time when he defeated the Astros twice in the final weekend of action. Gibson appeared in relief in Saturday's 4-2 win and was credited with the victory after Jerry Buchek's ninth-inning two-run triple rallied the Redbirds. Gibson took a more direct route for his twentieth - a two-hit masterpiece in a 7-0 blanking of Houston. Gibson also broke his own club strikeout record with 257 this season.

• A wholesale shakeup in personnel, a sure bet for the Cardinals, got under way when Mickey Vernon, first base coach and batting instructor, handed in his resignation on September 30. When Red Schoendienst was rehired as manager for 1966 early in August, it was announced that the matter of the coaches would be taken up later.

Copyright © 2007, A Second Time through the Order. All Rights Reserved.

This is a re-creation of the 1965 baseball season using software by Diamond Mind Baseball. All quotes attributed to players and coaches are actual quotes from The Sporting News. All player photos shown are copyright by the Topps Baseball Card Co, and all action photos are copyrighted by Corbis. The attendance figures used here were obtained free of charge from and are copyrighted by Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at 20 Sunset Rd., Newark, DE 19711.

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