St. Louis Browns (1902-1953)

Also Played As:
Milwaukee Brewers 1901
St. Louis Browns 1902-1953
Baltimore Orioles 1954-Present

Nickname:
The Browns name is shortened from Brown Stockings, which was also the original name of the Cardinals. The name simply refers to the colors the team wore.

Team Colors:
Brown, Orange, and White

Managerial History:
Jimmy McAleer 1902-1909
John O'Conner 1910
Bobby Walker 1911-1912
George Stovall 1912-1913
Jimmy Austin 1913
Branch Rickey 1913-1915
Fielder Jones 1916-1918
Jimmy Austin 1918
Jimmy Burke 1918-1920
Lee Fohl 1921-1923
Jimmy Austin 1923
George Sisler 1924-1926
Dan Howley 1927-1929
Bill Killefer 1930-1933
Allen Sothoron 1933
Rogers Hornsby 1933-1937
Jim Bottomley 1937
Gabby Street 1938
Fred Haney 1939-1941
Luke Sewell 1941-1946
Zack Taylor 1946
Muddy Ruel 1947
Zack Taylor 1948-1951
Rogers Hornsby 1952
Marty Marion 1952-1953

Stadium History:
Sportsmen's Park 1902-1953

All Star Games Hosted: (1)
1948

World Championships:
None

World Series: (1)
1944

Hall of Famers: (15)
Jim Bottomley 1B 1936-1937
Jesse Burkett OF 1902-1904
Dizzy Dean RHP 1947
Rick Ferrell C 1941-1943
Goose Goslin OF 1930-1932
Rogers Hornsby 2B 1933-1937
Heinie Manush OF 1928-1930
Satchel Paige RHP 1951-1953
Eddie Plank LHP 1916-1917
Brach Rickey MGR/GM 1913-1915
George Sisler 1B 1915-1927
Bil Veeck Owner 1951-1953
Rube Waddell LHP 1908-1910
Bobby Wallace SS 1902-1916

Rookie of the Year: (1)
1949 Roy Sievers OF

MVP: (1)
1922 George Sisler 1B

Cycle Hitters: (5)
8/8/1920 George Sisler
8/13/1921George Sisler
4/17/1924 Bill Jacobson
5/23/1929 Oscar Melillo
7/19/1941 George McQuinn

No Hitters: (4)
8/30/1912 Earl Hamilton
5/5/1917 Ernie Koob
5/6/1917 Bob Groom
5/6/1953 Bobo Holloman

Best Season: 1922 93-61
Worst Season: 1939 43-111

Historical Moments:
1902: When the Milwaukee franchise moved to St. Louis in the American League's 2nd Season, they lured several valuable players from the city's NL Cardinals, including 1901 batting champ Jesse Burkett, star shortstop Bobby Wallace, and the Cards 3 best pitchers. They also took on the Cardinals' discarded nickname, becoming the new St. Louis Browns. The Browns would go to finish a solid second place record of 78-58.

1903: The Browns second season was not quite as impressive, the team struggled all year and finished in 6th Place with a 65-74 record.

1906: The Browns end a 3-year string of losing season with a 76-73 record, that was good enough only for 5th Place.

1908: For the first time since their 1st season the Browns are a factor in the AL Pennant race, finishing just six and half games out of first with an 83-69 record, that landed them in 4th Place.

1910: The Browns finish in Last Place for the first time with a terrible 47-107 record. Over the years last place finishes, would become a regular occurrence.

1911: The Browns lose 107 games for the second season in a row and finishing dead last 56 and half games out of first.

1912: The Browns escape the cellar by one game, but can't avoid their 3rd consecutive season of more then 100 losses, with a 53-101 record.

1913: To try to build the struggling franchise into a winner Branch Rickey is hired to run the lowly Browns, for Rickey it his first job in Major League Baseball. Rickey's Browns would finish in last place with a 57-96 record.

1916: The Browns end a string of losing season with a 79-75 record, but only mange to finish in 5th Place. However Browns management was not satisfied, and Branch Rickey was fired. The firing would later back fire on the Browns when Rickey took over the rival St. Louis Cardinals. Rickey would turn Cards into one of the premier franchise in all of baseball. He would then go on after nearly a quarter century in St. Louis to run the Brooklyn Dodgers. He would transform the Dodgers into a perennial Pennant winner, and would also make history by signing Jackie Robinson. Meanwhile, the Browns would rarely contend and would become the worst franchise in the history of baseball.

1919: The Browns close out the decade by finishing in 5th Place with a 67-72 record. During the decade the Browns would never contend for a pennant, and would only post one winning season.

1920: George Sisler batted .407 and connected for 257 hits, still a major league record, to help move the Browns up to 4th Place, their highest finish since 1908. However, their record of 76-77 remained on the losing side.

1921: The Browns post their first winning season in 5 years with an 81-73 record, finishing in 3rd Place. However, the team still finished 17 and half games out of first.

1922: The Browns have their finest season ever winning 93 games. The team, which was led by George Sisler's sizzling .420 batting average; hit .313 to lead the league. Left fielder Ken Williams ran away with the RBI title and beat out Babe Ruth, who missed nearly a third of the season for the home run crown Sisler and Williams even finished one-two in AL stolen bases. Pitcher Urban Shocker won 24 wins, as he led a pitching staff that recorded the league's lowest ERA. The team led the league in the standings throughout July and into August before the Yankees nudged ahead of them. The Browns hung close but didn't regain the lead, remaining second by a heartbreaking single game back at season's end.

1923: After two straight winning seasons the Browns return to their losing ways, finishing in 5th Place with a 74-78 record.

1925: The Browns rebound after two losing season to finish in 3rd Place with a solid 82-71 record.

1928: After two 90-loss seasons that landed them in 7th Place the Browns put together a solid season finishing in 3rd Place with an 82-72 record.

1930: After two seasons with a winning record the Browns return to their losing ways finishing in 6th Place with a dreadful 64-90 record.

1933: The Browns lose 96 games, on their way to finishing in last place again. The Browns by now were caught in a cruel trap. They needed to field a good team in order to draw fans, but they needed to draw fans to get the money to put together a good team. Since the team could never break out of the cycle, they were always poor, unsuccessful, and lonely. One of the Browns' 1933 games was played in the eerie silence of a park that was empty except for 33 paid customers.

1934: The Browns end a 4-year string of 90-loss season by posting a 67-85 record, which landed them in 6th Place.

1935: Competing for fans with a great Cardinals team known as the Gas House Gang, the Browns only draw 81,000 fans total for the season, on their way to a 7th place season with a 65-87 record.

1937: The Browns finish ten games worse then anyone else in the American League with an awful 46-108 record.

1939: The Browns hit a new low even for them losing a club record 111 games finishing 64 and half games out of 1st Place. The teams pitching staff was mostly responsible for this compiling a team ERA of 6.01.

1942: The Browns post their first winning season in 13 years, by finishing in 3rd Place with an 82-69 record. However, they still finished nearly 20 games out of first as the Cardinals won the World Series.

1943: The Browns are unable to make it two winning seasons in a row, finishing in 6th Place with a 72-80 record.

1944: With many of baseball's biggest stars off fighting in World War II, the Browns actually became contenders, for the first time in 23 years. The Browns would battle the Detroit Tigers all season for the AL Pennant, over taking them in the final week of the season for the AL Pennant with an 89-65 record. It would be the only pennant ever won by the St. Louis Browns.

1944: In World Series the Browns face the Cardinals, who they share the city and Sportsmen's Park with. If the Browns were to win the series it would have gone along way into making in roads in the city's psyche. The Browns won the Series opener on Denny Galehouse's strong pitching. Galehouse gave up 7 hits and 4 walks, but held the Cards scoreless for 8 2/3 innings before yielding a run in the 9h. In Game 2 the Browns kicked and fumbled the ball around leading to 2 unearned runs, which aided the Cards to a 3-2 win in 11 innings. Two Brown errors led to a pair of unearned runs in Game Three, but Jack Kramer held the Cards scoreless apart from that, striking out ten. Meanwhile, Brown hitters tied together five singles with two out in the third inning for three runs, adding a fourth run on a wild pitch before the inning ended. In the seventh the Browns tacked on two more runs for a comfortable win and a 2-1 Series advantage. The Browns lost Games Four and Five, as the Cards knocked three Brown pitchers for 12 hits in Game 4, then slamming Denny Galehouse for two solo homers in Game 5. In Game 6 errors would doom the Browns again as Brown shortstop Vern Stephens' throwing error in the 4th inning led to 3 runs for the Cardinals. That was all the Cards needed to win the game and the series, as the Browns even in winning a pennant still could not beat the Cardinals.

1945: With World War II wrapping up, and many of baseball's best stars still in the military the search for talent to fill Major League Rosters was still going in all directions. One of those player's given the chance to play in Majors was Browns OF Pete Gray. When he was 6 years old, Gray hopped on a farmer's provision wagon, fell off, and caught his right arm in the spokes. The arm was mangled, and amputated above the elbow. Despite his handicap, Gray was determined to play baseball. Originally right- handed, he learned to bat, and throw left-handed. He had a superb batting eye and was a fast runner. Gray mixed line drives with well executed bunts, some down the 3rd-base line, others dragged past the pitcher. Gray's handicap hindered him more in the field than at bat. For a man with two arms, switching the ball from the glove hand to the throwing hand takes a fraction of a second. Any extension of that time would allow runners to take an extra base. With only one arm, Gray had to catch the ball with a glove on and throw it with the glove off. He managed this cleverly and deftly. Removing almost all the padding from his glove, Gray wore it on his fingertips with his little finger out. He would catch the ball, stick his glove under the stump of his right arm, draw the ball clear with his left hand, and throw it to the infield. Gray managed to impress several people in tryouts, and became such a story of inspiration that the War Department made movies about him for our troops. The Browns decided to give him a shot in 1945 partially because of gate attraction Gray's story had. Gray played 61 games in the outfield and was sent up to pinch- hit a dozen times. He batted .218 with 6 doubles and 2triples, while stealing 5 bases. Although admiring him for overcoming his handicap, they believed that the Browns lost a half-dozen to a dozen games that season because runners often were able to take an extra base while Gray fielded a ball. With the war ending and the stars coming home, Gray's career lasted just his one season.

1945: Coming off a trip to the World Series, the Browns contend for the Pennant again, finishing in 3rd Place 6 games out of first with a solid 81-70 record.

1946: As the baseball's stars returned from World War II, the Browns returned to their losing ways finishing in 7th Place with a 66-88 record.

1947: Be it ever so humble there is no place like home, unfortunately home for the Browns seemed to be last place, and that's exactly where the Browns finished with a 59-95 record.

1949: The Browns lose 101 games, finishing in 7th place 44 games out of first.

1951: After contending for a few years during the war the Browns fell back into their losing ways, and by now the franchise was on life support. Bill Veeck who a few years earlier built the Indians into a World Champion brought the Browns. One of Veck's first moves was signing of ageless Negro League star Satchel Paige. However, a month into Veeck's ownership there were no signs of improvement so Bill Veeck decided to find a unique way to bring his team notoriety. On August 18th in the 2nd game of a Double Header against the Detroit Tigers, Veeck got his team some notoriety, and the most memorable moment in Browns history. Wearing uniform number 1/8 at a height of 3' 7" and weigh 65 pounds Eddie Gaedel stepped up to the plate pinch-hitting in the 1st inning. Gaedel a midget signed by Veeck to draw press attention to his team was snuck on the rosters without anyone noticing. When the Tigers protested Browns manager Zack Taylor furnished a valid contract with a date stamp. Gaedel stood up and took his at-bat, Tiger pitcher Bob Cain was unable to find his strike zone, and Gaedel walked on 4 pitches. Gaedel was then lifted for a pinch runner, and the game resumed as normal. However, other baseball team owners were not amused and future Eddie Gaedel plate appearance were not allowed. The Browns would go on to finish the season in last place with a 52-102 record.

1952: With the Browns still struggling, Bill Veeck attempted to move the team to Los Angeles. However, since no other American League team played on the west coast travel would have been too much for the other teams to handle. In addition owners hated Veeck so any decision made buy allowing him to move his team had a tinge of spite to it, as the Browns finished in 7th Place with a 64-90 record.

1953: Prior to the season Beer magnate August A. Busch Jr. purchased the Cardinals. It was at this moment the Browns fate became sealed. The Cardinals have longed owned the city, and unlike the Browns had a glorious history of pennants and World Championships. What was ironic is tat the stadium Sportsmen's Park belonged to the Browns in 1920 after the Cardinals old stadium became unusable the Browns agreed to rent the Sportsmen's Park to their rivals. The moved like most other moves in Browns history backfired, and the Browns became second-class citizens, and by 1953 were virtually anonymous to fans in St. Louis. Bill Veeck seeing that the Busch family now owned the Cardinals began to make arrangements to once again move the Browns. The 1st move was selling the ballpark to the Cardinals, and the 2nd was to sign a lease with the city of Baltimore. This time AL Owners could not use the excuse of excessive travel to reject the move. Instead owners flat out demanded the only way the move be allowed is for Veeck to sell his interest in the team. Veeck relented and the team was sold. On September 28th before a sparse crowd of 3, 174 the Browns played their last game in St. Louis. Fittingly, the Browns lost giving them yet another last place 100-loss season.

Spring Training History:
French Lick, IN 1902
Baton Rouge, LA 1903
Corsicana, TX 1904
Dallas, TX 1905-1906
San Antonio, TX 1907
Shreveport, LA 1908
Houston, TX 1909-1910
Hot Springs, AR 1911
Montgomery, AL 1912
Waco, TX 1913
St. Petersburg, FL 1914
Houston, TX 1915
Palestine, TX 1916-1917
Shreveport, LA 1918
San Antonio, TX 1919
Taylor, AL 1920
Bogalusa, AL 1921
Mobile, AL 1922-1924
Tarpin Springs, FL 1925-1927
West Palm Beach, FL 1928-1936
San Antonio, TX 1937-1941
Deland, FL 1942
Cape Giradeau, MO 1943-1945
Anaheim, CA 1946
Miami, FL 1947
San Bernardino 1948
Burbank, CA 1949-1952
San Bernardino 1953