1953 St. Louis Browns season
Major League Baseball season
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The 1953 St. Louis Browns season was the 53rd and final season in Browns history. The Browns finished 8th in the American League with a record of 54–100, 46+1⁄2 games behind the AL and World Series champion New York Yankees. After the season, the Browns moved to Baltimore, where they are now known as the Baltimore Orioles.
| 1953 St. Louis Browns | |
|---|---|
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Busch Stadium I |
| City | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Record | 54–100 (.351) |
| League place | 8th |
| Owners | Bill Veeck |
| General managers | Bill Veeck |
| Managers | Marty Marion |
| Radio | KMOX (Buddy Blattner, Bill Durney, Milo Hamilton) |
Offseason
- October 14, 1952: Ray Coleman, Bob Mahoney, Stan Rojek and $95,000 were traded by the Browns to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Billy Hunter.[1]
- October 16, 1952: Joe DeMaestri and Tommy Byrne were traded by the Browns to the White Sox for Hank Edwards and Willy Miranda.[2]
- October 27, 1952: Jake Crawford was traded by the Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Neil Berry, Cliff Mapes and $25,000.[3]
- December 4, 1952: Jay Porter, Owen Friend and Bob Nieman were traded by the Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Johnny Groth, Virgil Trucks and Hal White.[4]
Regular season
- May 6, 1953: In his first major league start, the Browns' Bobo Holloman pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics. The 27-year-old Holloman struck out three, walked five, and helped himself offensively by batting in three of the Browns' runs with a pair of singles in the Browns' 6–0 victory. (Holloman finished the season with a 3–7 record and did not pitch in the major leagues after 1953.)
- June 3 through July 7, 1953: The Browns lost twenty consecutive games at home. This remained the longest home losing streak (in terms of number of losses) in North American major professional sports until the Edmonton Elks lost their twenty-first game on July 29, 2023.[5]
- September 27, 1953: The Browns ended their 51-year residence in St. Louis, losing to the Chicago White Sox at home 2–1 in 11 innings[6] to complete a sweep by the White Sox, giving the Browns 100 losses for the year.[7] Official attendance was 3,174.[6]
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 99 | 52 | .656 | — | 50–27 | 49–25 |
| Cleveland Indians | 92 | 62 | .597 | 8½ | 53–24 | 39–38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 89 | 65 | .578 | 11½ | 41–36 | 48–29 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 69 | .549 | 16 | 38–38 | 46–31 |
| Washington Senators | 76 | 76 | .500 | 23½ | 39–36 | 37–40 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 94 | .390 | 40½ | 30–47 | 30–47 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 59 | 95 | .383 | 41½ | 27–50 | 32–45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 54 | 100 | .351 | 46½ | 23–54 | 31–46 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
| Boston | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 10–11 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 10–12 | |||||
| Chicago | 16–6 | — | 11–11–1 | 14–8–1 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 17–5 | 12–10 | |||||
| Cleveland | 9–13 | 11–11–1 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 19–3 | 17–5 | 11–11 | |||||
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 11–11–3 | 7–15 | 11–11 | |||||
| New York | 11–10 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 17–5 | 17–5 | 14–6 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 7–15 | 12–10 | 3–19 | 11–11–3 | 5–17 | — | 13–9 | 8–14 | |||||
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 5–17 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 | |||||
| Washington | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 6–14 | 14–8 | 12–10 | — | |||||
Notable transactions
- July 23, 1953: Bobo Holloman was purchased from the Browns by the Toronto Maple Leafs for $7,500.[8]
- September 1, 1953: Neil Berry was selected off waivers from the Browns by the Chicago White Sox.[3]
Roster
| 1953 St. Louis Browns | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
Player stats
Batting
| = Indicates team leader |
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| ⌖ | Player | G | AB | H | AVG | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Clint Courtney | 106 | 355 | 89 | .251 | 4 | 19 |
| 1B | Dick Kryhoski | 104 | 338 | 94 | .278 | 16 | 50 |
| 2B | Bobby Young | 148 | 537 | 137 | .255 | 4 | 25 |
| SS | Billy Hunter | 154 | 567 | 124 | .219 | 1 | 37 |
| 3B | Jim Dyck | 112 | 334 | 71 | .213 | 9 | 27 |
| OF | Vic Wertz | 128 | 440 | 118 | .268 | 19 | 70 |
| OF | Dick Kokos | 107 | 299 | 72 | .241 | 13 | 38 |
| OF | Johnny Groth | 141 | 557 | 141 | .253 | 10 | 57 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | AVG | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Lenhardt | 97 | 303 | 96 | .317 | 10 | 35 |
| Roy Sievers | 92 | 285 | 77 | .270 | 8 | 35 |
| Les Moss | 78 | 239 | 66 | .276 | 2 | 28 |
| Vern Stephens | 46 | 165 | 53 | .321 | 4 | 17 |
| Bob Elliott | 48 | 160 | 40 | .250 | 5 | 29 |
| Hank Edwards | 65 | 106 | 21 | .198 | 0 | 9 |
| Neil Berry | 57 | 99 | 28 | .283 | 0 | 11 |
| Ed Mickelson | 7 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 2 |
| Jim Pisoni | 3 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 1 | 1 |
| Johnny Lipon | 7 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Dixie Upright | 9 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 1 | 1 |
| Marty Marion | 3 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Willy Miranda | 17 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Frank Kellert | 2 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Babe Martin | 4 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Larsen | 38 | 192.2 | 7 | 12 | 4.16 | 96 |
| Duane Pillette | 31 | 166.2 | 7 | 13 | 4.48 | 58 |
| Virgil Trucks | 16 | 88.0 | 5 | 4 | 3.07 | 47 |
| Bob Turley | 10 | 60.1 | 2 | 6 | 3.28 | 61 |
| Dick Littlefield | 36 | 152.1 | 7 | 12 | 5.08 | 104 |
| Harry Brecheen | 26 | 117.1 | 5 | 13 | 3.07 | 44 |
| Bob Cain | 32 | 99.2 | 4 | 10 | 6.23 | 36 |
| Mike Blyzka | 33 | 94.1 | 2 | 6 | 6.39 | 23 |
| Lou Kretlow | 22 | 81.0 | 1 | 5 | 5.11 | 37 |
| Bobo Holloman | 22 | 65.1 | 3 | 7 | 5.23 | 25 |
| Max Lanier | 10 | 22.1 | 0 | 1 | 7.25 | 8 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marlin Stuart | 60 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 3.94 | 46 |
| Satchel Paige | 57 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 3.53 | 51 |
| Hal White | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.61 | 2 |
| Bob Habenicht | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 1 |
Awards and honors
1953 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
- Satchel Paige, reserve
Casey Stengel kept to his word and named Paige to the 1953 All-Star team despite Paige not having a very good year. He got in the game in the eighth inning. First Paige got Gil Hodges to line out, then after Roy Campanella singled up the middle, Eddie Mathews popped out. He then walked Duke Snider and Enos Slaughter lined a hit to center to score Campanella. National League pitcher Murry Dickson drove in Snider, but was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit into a double. Paige ended the year with a disappointing 3–9 record, but a respectable 3.53 ERA. Paige was released after the season when Veeck once again had to sell the team.
Farm system
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA | San Antonio Missions | Texas League | Jim Crandall and Bill Norman |
| A | Wichita Indians | Western League | George Hausmann and Mark Christman |
| A | Lewiston Broncs | Western International League | Bill Brenner |
| B | York White Roses | Piedmont League | Mark Christman, Bill Enos and George Hausmann |
| B | Anderson Rebels | Tri-State League | Hillis Layne |
| C | Pine Bluff Judges | Cotton States League | Frank Lucchesi |
| C | Aberdeen Pheasants | Northern League | Barney Lutz |
| C | Pocatello Bannocks | Pioneer League | Hersh Martin and Butch Moran |
| C | Thetford Mines Mineurs | Provincial League | Bill Krueger |
| D | Wytheville Statesmen | Appalachian League | John O'Donnell |
| D | Valdosta Browns | Georgia–Florida League | Rollie Stuckney and Gil Torres |
| D | Ada Herefords | Sooner State League | Louis Brower |