Much like the 2017 St. Louis Cardinals, the 1981 Redbirds were “close but no cigar” when it came to making the offseason. The Whitey Herzog led Cards finished 59-43 during the strike shortened 1981 season. This version of the St. Louis Cardinals, much like the 2017 version, was a decent but unremarkable team. Also, both teams barely missed the playoffs.
The story of the strike shortened 1981 season is too long and complicated to go into for the purposes of this piece. However, during the off-season, General Manager Whitey Herzog was aggressive in building his roster for the 1982 season.