1952 St. Louis Browns season

1952 St. Louis Browns
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkSportsman's Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record64–90 (.416)
League place7th
OwnersBill Veeck
General managersBill Veeck
ManagersRogers Hornsby, Marty Marion
TelevisionKSD
(Buddy Blattner)
RadioWIL
(Buddy Blattner, Dizzy Dean)
← 1951 Seasons 1953 →

The 1952 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing 7th in the American League with a record of 64 wins and 90 losses. This was the franchise's penultimate season in St. Louis.

Offseason

Regular season

In 1952, Rogers Hornsby, an alleged former member of the Ku Klux Klan, took over as manager of the Browns. Despite past accusations of racism, Hornsby was less hesitant to use pitcher Satchel Paige than Indians manager Lou Boudreau had been four years before. Paige was so effective that when Hornsby was fired by Browns owner Bill Veeck, his successor Marty Marion seemed not to want to risk going more than three games without using Paige in some form. By July 4, with Paige having worked in 25 games, Casey Stengel named him to the American League All-Star team, making him the first black pitcher on an AL All-Star team. The All-Star game was cut short after five innings due to rain and Paige never got in. Stengel resolved to name him to the team the following year. Paige finished the year 12–10 with a 3.07 ERA for a team that lost ninety games.

Season standings

American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 95 59 .617 — 49‍–‍28 46‍–‍31
Cleveland Indians 93 61 .604 2 49‍–‍28 44‍–‍33
Chicago White Sox 81 73 .526 14 44‍–‍33 37‍–‍40
Philadelphia Athletics 79 75 .513 16 45‍–‍32 34‍–‍43
Washington Senators 78 76 .506 17 42‍–‍35 36‍–‍41
Boston Red Sox 76 78 .494 19 50‍–‍27 26‍–‍51
St. Louis Browns 64 90 .416 31 42‍–‍35 22‍–‍55
Detroit Tigers 50 104 .325 45 32‍–‍45 18‍–‍59

Record vs. opponents

1952 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 12–10 9–13 16–6 8–14 12–10 11–11 8–14
Chicago 10–12 — 8–14–1 17–5 8–14 11–11 14–8 13–9–1
Cleveland 13–9 14–8–1 — 16–6 10–12 13–9 15–7 12–10
Detroit 6–16 5–17 6–16 — 9–13 5–17–1 8–14 11–11–1
New York 14–8 14–8 12–10 13–9 — 13–9 14–8 15–7
Philadelphia 10–12 11–11 9–13 17–5–1 9–13 — 14–8 9–13
St. Louis 11–11 8–14 7–15 14–8 8–14 8–14 — 8–14–1
Washington 14–8 9–13–1 10–12 11–11–1 7–15 13–9 14–8–1 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1952 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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 Clint Courtney 119 413 118 .286 5 50
1B Dick Kryhoski 111 342 83 .243 11 42
2B Bobby Young 149 575 142 .247 4 39
SS Joe DeMaestri 81 186 42 .226 1 18
3B Jim Dyck 122 402 108 .269 15 64
OF Jim Rivera 97 336 86 .256 4 30
OF Bob Nieman 131 478 138 .289 18 74
OF Jim Delsing 93 298 76 .255 1 34

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
Fred Marsh 87 247 69 .279 2 27
Gordon Goldsberry 86 227 52 .229 3 17
Marty Marion 67 186 46 .247 2 19
Cass Michaels 55 166 44 .265 3 25
Al Zarilla 48 130 31 .238 1 9
Vic Wertz 37 130 45 .346 6 19
Leo Thomas 41 124 29 .234 0 12
Les Moss 52 118 29 .246 3 12
Jay Porter 33 104 26 .250 0 7
Darrell Johnson 29 78 22 .282 0 9
Tom Wright 29 66 16 .242 1 6
George Schmees 34 61 8 .131 0 3
Earl Rapp 30 49 7 .143 0 4
Don Lenhardt 18 48 13 .271 1 5
Ray Coleman 20 46 9 .196 0 1
Roy Sievers 11 30 6 .200 0 5
Hank Arft 15 28 4 .143 0 4
Willy Miranda 7 11 1 .091 0 1
Jake Crawford 7 11 2 .182 0 0
Stan Rojek 9 7 1 .143 0 0
Mike Goliat 3 4 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
Duane Pillette 30 205.1 10 13 3.59 62
Tommy Byrne 29 176.0 9 14 4.68 91
Bob Cain 29 170.0 12 10 4.13 70
Ned Garver 21 148.2 7 10 3.69 60
Dick Littlefield 7 46.1 2 3 2.72 34

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
Gene Bearden 34 150.2 7 8 4.30 45
Earl Harrist 36 116.2 2 8 4.01 49
Stubby Overmire 17 41.0 0 3 3.73 10
Marlin Stuart 12 26.0 1 2 4.15 13
Bobby Hogue 8 16.1 0 1 2.76 2
Cliff Fannin 10 16.1 0 2 12.67 6
Johnny Hetki 3 9.1 0 1 3.86 4
Lou Sleater 4 8.2 0 1 7.27 1

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
Satchel Paige 46 12 10 10 3.07 91
Dave Madison 31 4 2 0 4.38 35
Ken Holcombe 12 0 2 0 3.86 7
Hal Hudson 3 0 0 0 12.71 0
Bob Mahoney 3 0 0 0 18.00 1
Pete Taylor 1 0 0 0 13.50 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toronto Maple Leafs International League Joe Becker and Burleigh Grimes
AA San Antonio Missions Texas League Jo-Jo White
A Scranton Miners Eastern League Zack Taylor
B York White Roses Interstate League Jim Crandall
B Anderson Rebels Tri-State League George Hausmann
C Stockton Ports California League Harry Clements and Tony Freitas
C Pine Bluff Judges Cotton States League Hillis Layne
C Aberdeen Pheasants Northern League Bruce Ogrodowski
C Pocatello Bannocks Pioneer League Ed Fernandes
D Independence Browns Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League Fred Collins
D Wellsville Rockets PONY League Gene Crumling and Rocco Sgro
D Ada Herefords Sooner State League Bill Enos, Virl Loman and James England

Notes

  1. ^ Joe DeMaestri at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Jay Porter at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Bud Black at Baseball-Reference

References

  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
  • 1952 St. Louis Browns team at Baseball-Reference
  • 1952 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com