The Legacy of the Browns/Oriole, Bob Young

April 16, 2014
The Baltimore Sun

The St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles 60 years ago on March 30, 1954.  Billy Hunter threw out the ceremonial pitch on the exact date of the first home game this year (2014).

Billy Hunter's outstanding double-play partner at second base was the late Bob Young, the only native Marylander to arrive in Baltimore with the former Browns.

Bob Young

Young played all or part of eight years in Major League Baseball, primarily as a second baseman. He played most of his career for the St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles franchise.

He was first signed by the St. Louis Cardinals before the 1946 season, and appeared in three games for them in 1948 before being traded to the crosstown Browns in June 1949. He was the Browns' regular second baseman from 1951 to 1953, tying for the American League lead in double plays as a 1951 rookie with 118, and leading the league again in 1952 with 127.

He continued as the starting second baseman after the team relocated to Baltimore before the 1954 season, and was in fact the first player signed to a contract that year.

Casey Stengel, of the New York Yankees, paid Young a great compliment when he said: "Only two guys pivot properly on the double play — my fellow and the fellow in Baltimore."

As leadoff man, Young was the first Oriole to bat in the stadium on 33rd Street.

A Triple Play

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v32159635/nyytb-solarte-starts-an-aroundthehorn-triple-play/?content_id=&source=MLB&c_id=mlb&tcid=facebook_embedded_player&gid=2014_04_17_bosmlb_chamlb_1

This Day in Browns history, this day in *St. Louis* History

April 17, 1948: The first televised baseball game in St. Louis

KSD-TV (the longtime NBC affiliate in St. Louis)  broadcast the very first televised baseball game in St. Louis. Labeled “The City Series,” it saw the St. Louis Cardinals take on the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park. KSD purchased complete broadcasting rights for the price of four seats at the game because that was the amount of space needed to set up their cameras.

KSD-TV (now KSDK-TV) was the only television station in the St. Louis market, until WTVI (channel 54, now KTVI channel 2) signed on in August 1953.  Guess what that station signed on with?  A Browns game broadcast by a mic team that included Buddy Blattner, Dizzy Dean and Milo Hamilton!





Courtesy, Missouri History Museum