Taking a Look at the Four Missouri MLB Teams

I don’t know how many people realize that Missouri has hosted four different major league teams since 1901, the same number as New York and one behind California’s five. Here is a chart showing how many years each of those four teams has played through 2011:

A look at how many World Series the four teams have won:

And how many World Series they’ve played in:


The St. Louis Cardinals began play in 1882, as the St. Louis Brown Stockings (37-43). They became the St. Louis Browns in 1883 (1059-1029 from 1883 through 1898); they became the Perfectos in 1899 (84-67), then the Cardinals in 1900. In 130 years of existence, the franchise has 10195 wins and 9490 losses.

The St. Louis Browns began play in 1902, after leaving Milwaukee, where they were known as the Brewers for the duration of the 1901 A.L. season. The Browns left after the 1953 season for Baltimore. They went 3414-4465 in their 52 St. Louis seasons.

The Kansas City Athletics went 829-1224 in their 13 seasons, 1955 through 1967. And the Kansas City Royals have 3281 wins and 3546 losses after 2011. So, cumulatively the A.L. teams in Missouri are 7524-9235, more than 1700 games below .500. It’s a little odd that an A.L. team has been in Missouri every year but 1901, 1954, and 1968, despite three different teams occupying that slot. The Cardinals are in no danger of being overtaken by their A.L. counterparts, in terms of total win-loss percentage or World Series titles and pennants won, at any point before about 2040.

There are a couple other other notes on MLB in Missouri: Kansas City’s new Municipal Stadium existed from 1955 to 1976. The A’s played there for their full 1955 through 1967 tenure, and then the Royals played there 1969 through 1972.

Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis was the Cardinals’ home from mid-1920 to May 8, 1966, and the Browns’ home from mid-1920 through 1953. So the two St. Louis and Kansas City franchises have both played in the same stadium for at least part of their existence.

Who was the Browns best player? I suppose George Sisler, although Harland Clift and Vern Stephens are two other very good Brownies.

The Royals best player continues to be George Brett. It is hard to say who was the Kansas City A’s best player. The mind thinks of people like Bert Campaneris, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and Roger Maris, who had their best years for the Oakland A’s and/or New York Yankees. But if you consider only their time in Kansas City, it’s probably Bob Cerv or Norm Siebern.

From the following blog site:
http://miscbaseball.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/taking-a-look-at-the-four-missouri-mlb-teams/