1939 St. Louis Browns season

1939 St. Louis Browns
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkSportsman's Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record43–111 (.279)
League place8th
OwnersDonald Lee Barnes
General managersBill DeWitt
ManagersFred Haney
RadioKMOX
(France Laux, Cy Casper)
KWK
(Johnny O'Hara, Jim Bottomley)
← 1938 Seasons 1940 →

The 1939 St. Louis Browns season, team finished eighth in the American League with a record of 43 wins and 111 losses.

Regular season

The Browns lost a franchise record 111 games—not surpassed until the 2018 Baltimore Orioles[1] (the team moved from St. Louis to Baltimore in 1954)—and finished 64.5 games out of first place.[2]: 11  The Browns played particularly poorly at home, posting an 18–59 record. The 59 home losses stood as the most in a modern-era major league season until it was matched by the 2019 Detroit Tigers, who went 22–59 at home. Because of the shorter season, the Browns home winning percentage in 1939 (.234) is still the worst in history.[3]

Browns pitching struggled tremendously. The pitchers allowed 739 walks, which was over 100 walks more than the next worse team.[2]: 12  The team had an earned run average of 6.01.[2]: 12  The next time that a team would have an ERA over 6.00 was the 1996 Detroit Tigers, who had an ERA of 6.38.[2]: 12 

Season standings

American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 106 45 .702 — 52‍–‍25 54‍–‍20
Boston Red Sox 89 62 .589 17 42‍–‍32 47‍–‍30
Cleveland Indians 87 67 .565 20½ 44‍–‍33 43‍–‍34
Chicago White Sox 86 69 .555 22 50‍–‍27 36‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers 81 73 .526 26½ 42‍–‍35 39‍–‍38
Washington Senators 65 87 .428 41½ 37‍–‍39 28‍–‍48
Philadelphia Athletics 55 97 .362 51½ 28‍–‍48 27‍–‍49
St. Louis Browns 43 111 .279 64½ 18‍–‍59 25‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1939 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 8–14 11–11 10–12 11–8–1 18–4 16–6 15–7
Chicago 14–8 — 12–10 12–10 4–18 11–11 18–4 14–8–1
Cleveland 11–11 10–12 — 11–11 7–15 18–4 16–6 14–8
Detroit 12–10 10–12 11–11 — 9–13 11–11 14–8–1 14–8
New York 8–11–1 18–4 15–7 13–9 — 18–4 19–3 15–7
Philadelphia 4–18 11–11 4–18 11–11 4–18 — 13–9–1 8–12
St. Louis 6–16 4–18 6–16 8–14–1 3–19 9–13–1 — 7–15
Washington 7–15 8–14–1 8–14 8–14 7–15 12–8 15–7 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1939 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Joe Glenn 88 286 78 .273 4 29
1B George McQuinn 154 617 195 .316 20 94
2B Johnny Berardino 126 468 120 .256 5 58
SS Don Heffner 110 375 100 .267 1 35
3B Harlond Clift 151 526 142 .270 15 84
OF Joe Gallagher 71 266 75 .282 9 40
OF Myril Hoag 129 482 142 .295 10 75
OF Chet Laabs 95 317 95 .300 10 62

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
Billy Sullivan 118 332 96 .289 5 50
Mark Christman 79 222 48 .216 0 20
Joe Grace 74 207 63 .304 3 22
Sam Harshany 42 145 35 .241 0 15
Mel Almada 42 134 32 .239 1 7
Moose Solters 40 131 27 .206 0 14
Hal Spindel 48 119 32 .269 0 11
Mel Mazzera 33 110 33 .300 3 22
Tommy Thompson 30 86 26 .302 1 7
Sig Gryska 18 49 13 .265 0 8
Red Kress 13 43 12 .279 0 8
Beau Bell 11 32 7 .219 1 5
Johnny Lucadello 9 30 7 .233 0 4
Roy Hughes 17 23 2 .087 0 1
Bob Neighbors 7 11 2 .182 1 1
Eddie Silber 1 1 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
Jack Kramer 40 211.2 9 16 5.83 68
Vern Kennedy 33 191.2 9 17 5.73 55
Bobo Newsom 6 45.2 3 1 4.73 28
Emil Bildilli 2 19.0 1 1 3.32 8

Other 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
Bill Trotter 41 156.2 6 13 5.34 61
Roxie Lawson 36 150.2 3 7 5.32 43
Lefty Mills 34 144.1 4 11 6.55 103
Bob Harris 28 126.0 3 12 5.71 48
George Gill 27 95.0 1 12 7.11 24
Johnny Marcum 12 47.2 2 5 7.74 14
Jake Wade 4 16.1 0 2 11.02 9
Fred Johnson 5 14.0 0 1 6.43 2
Loy Hanning 4 10.0 0 1 3.60 8
Bill Cox 4 9.1 0 2 9.64 8
Ewald Pyle 6 8.1 0 2 12.96 5
Russ Van Atta 2 7.0 0 0 11.57 6

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
John Whitehead 26 1 3 1 5.86 9
Harry Kimberlin 17 1 2 0 5.49 11
Ed Cole 6 0 2 0 7.11 5
Bob Muncrief 2 0 0 0 15.00 1
Myril Hoag 1 0 0 0 0.00 0
Jim Walkup 1 0 1 0 0.00 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AA Toledo Mud Hens American Association Myles Thomas
A1 San Antonio Missions Texas League Zack Taylor
B Springfield Browns Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Walter Holke
C Youngstown Browns Middle Atlantic League Billy Urbanski
C Topeka Owls Western Association Bill Wilson
D Fayetteville Angels Arkansas–Missouri League Frank Oceak
D Lafayette White Sox Evangeline League Rod Whitney
D Mayfield Browns KITTY League Bennie Tate
D Paragould Broncos Northeast Arkansas League Elmer Kirchoff
D Beaver Falls Browns Pennsylvania State Association Ralph Goldsmith
D Lincoln Links Western League Pug Griffin

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Springfield, Lafayette[5]

References

  1. ^ Golen, Jimmy (September 26, 2018). "Red Sox send Orioles to record-112th loss, 19-3". Boston.com. AP. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5
  3. ^ "Tigers tie MLB record with 59th home loss". MLB.com. September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  4. ^ Red Kress page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997