Three Different Teams With St. Louis Browns Name

There have been three different baseball teams with the St. Louis Browns name. Chronologically, they are:

The St. Louis Brown Stockings were members of baseball's National Association in 1875 and charter members of the National League in 1876-77 before folding.

A second team named the St. Louis Brown Stockings were members of the American Association from 1882-1891 and in 1892 moved to the National League. Today they are known as the St. Louis Cardinals

A third team began as the Milwaukee Brewers in the minor Western League in 1894. In 1900, that league became the American League. In 1901, the team moved to St. Louis and renamed itself the St. Louis Browns. In 1954 the team moved again and is today known as the Baltimore Orioles.

Bob Feller Talks With Bob Costas

Bob Feller appeared on the Bob Costas MLB TV show the other evening. Feller is 90 years of age. He made his major league debut at 17 years of age against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15 in his first game.

He is still the yougest pitcher in history to win a game and also the youngest to lose a game.  Feller said that Ruth may have been the best pitcher of all time and was definitely the best player of all time. Feller commentd that Satchell Paige would have been one of the top five or ten pitchers in baseball history had he been able to play in the majors.

It was interesting as he talked about how he pitched to Dimaggio. Mays, Williams, Greenburg and others.

He knew Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Matthewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, and a host of others. Cobb had mellowed by the time he met him and told Feller that he would have "taken him to left field". His almost four years in the Navy kept him from winning 360+ games but he said he wouldn't trade the honor of defending his country for a hundred wins.

Yogi Chases a Monkey, Compliments of Jeff Heath of the Browns

Being a major-league prospect at age 16, I was invited to work out with a number of teams at Yankee Stadium. One day in July of 1947, I was told by then St. Louis Browns right-fielder, Jeff Heath, to remove my uniform belt which he then looped and placed around my neck like a leash. He led toward the Yankee dugout.

“Kid, you see that guy? Well, when we get to him I want you to act like a monkey!” Heath had arms like a blacksmith. If he asked me to act like a monkey, I acted like a monkey. “Ooh ooh ooh,” I squealed, while scratching my chest. Heath laughed as I was chased by Yogi Berra. I kept yelling and pointing: “Heath . . . Jeff Heath made me do it!” (Click on Photo to Enlarge)

The chase was over when I retreated down the dugout steps and into the dark hallway leading to the visitor’s locker room.

Thanks to Mark Weston, Hicksville, NY, that 16 year old kid.

Former Professional Baseball Players Know Food

Mike Shannon, the former Cardinals third basemen, is part of a long list of ex-baseball players who have gone on to have successful careers in the culinary field. Here are just a few of the great foodie contributions from former Major Leaguers:

• Babe Ruth: Built a 32,000-sq.-ft. hot-dog processing plant in his basement, which produced what historians consider "some of America's best-tasting hot dogs that also may have contributed to up to 30,000 cases of food-borne illnesses."

• Dizzy Dean: Known in baseball as the last National League pitcher to win 30 games, and in the culinary industry as the first person to develop genetically modified carrots capable of feeling 84% of human emotions.

• Darryl Strawberry: Wrote the best-selling diet book If It Smells Like Food, Put It Away. I Eat Low-Fat Tire Rubber.

• Nolan Ryan: After retiring and becoming the president of the Texas Rangers, he made it mandatory for the ballpark in Arlington to offer young Rangers fans ice-cream sundaes served in novelty cups shaped like prescription-strength capsules of Advil.