St. Louis Browns Night at Busch Stadium

 Monday, August 17  Cards -vs. San Francisco Giants, 7:15 pm
 

Take a step back in baseball history and join us for St. Louis Browns Night - August 17, 2015 - at Busch Stadium. The St Louis Browns played in Sportsman’s Park from 1902-1953 and are a rich part of St. Louis baseball history. Fans who purchase a special Browns Night Theme Ticket will receive a limited edition Browns cap. Fans can also enjoy other Browns-related activities and special guests that night as well.

Join your fellow Browns Fan Club members to cheer on our St. Louis Cardinals. If you wish to sit in the St. Louis Browns Fan Club section, we have a hold on 100 tickets in the Left Field Porch. The price right now is $35.80 which includes the limited edition Browns cap.

 

To order as part of the STL Browns Historical Society group, please call Christine Goodman: 314-345-9512. NOTE: If you wish to purchase tickets in a different section, please  visit: www.cardinals.com/theme or call the ticket registration service at 314-345-9000. Mention the Browns Fan Club.

 If you're not a member, join the Browns Fan Club and receive a replica scorecard from 1947 when the Browns and Cardinals played each other in their spring training St. Louis “City Series.” You will see the names of great Cardinal players during that time such as Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Marty Marion, Whitey Kurowski, Terry Moore, Joe Garagiola, Joe Medwick, Enos Slaughter and others.

 The ‘47 Browns players listed include Denny Galehouse, Bob Muncrief, Les Moss, Johnny Berardino, Bob Dillinger, Vern Stephens, Hank Thompson, Al Zarilla, Jack Kramer and others.  During the 1947 season, Dizzy Dean pitched one game for the Browns which was the last game of his career. All of these players for both teams are listed in this scorecard. Get yours today.

Ø  To order tickets on-line, go to http://cardinals.com/theme.

Ø  To order tickets for the Browns Fan Club Section, call Christine Goodman at 314-345-9512

Ø  To join Browns Fan Club and receive the Cards/Browns City Series scorecard, call 314-892-8632.

Ø  To obtain City Series Scorecard, donate $10. Send check to St. Louis Browns Fan Club, PO Box 510047, St. Louis MO  63151

For information on the STL Browns Fan Club, e-mail or call:

 Bill Rogers - stlbrowns@swbell.net

Bill Rogers - 314-892-8632

 

Note - Tickets, caps, scorecards, hot dogs, Cracker Jack, etc. are all limited. Reserve early.

Cardinals Trying to Break a Brownie Record for Wins at Home

  The St. Louis Cardinals are 29-7 at Busch Stadium as of June 29, 2015. It is the second-best home start in franchise history. 
  According to STATS LLC, only the 1885 St. Louis Browns (above) started better at home, at 31-4.  (And I bet they had fewer injuries).

'Home Sweet Home' 1885

'Home Sweet Home'  130 yeas later

Congrats to Orioles: From Worst to First in Just 23 Games

The St. Louis Browns Fan Club would like to salute the Baltimore Orioles who have gone from tied for last place with the Boston Red Sox on June 3 to first place tied with the Tampa Bay Rays at the end of play on June 28 after sweeping the Cleveland Indians in a doubleheader. That's going from worst to first in just 23 games!  Baltimore has had a tough year, but the Orioles seem determined to bring pride to their city.

Cubs Manager Maddon: "Browns were more popular than Cardinals"

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon was discussing with MLB Network the tenacity of Central-division rivals the St. Louis Cardinals and felt the need to name-check the Browns. Keep the name alive Joe!  I wonder if he would want to take our fan club membership pledge?

Read Joe's Browns comment at: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/122414962/mike-bauman-no-adam-wainwright-no-problem-for-determined-cardinals

Present-day Cardinals Slugger Has Browns Family Roots

When recent AAA call-up Greg Garcia hit his first major-league homerun Friday night, a pinch-hit job, most fans probably did not realize that Garcia comes from a family with deep baseball roots ... that all started with the St. Louis Browns in 1937.  The 24-year old infielder's 94-year old grandfather, Dave Garcia Sr.,  was an infielder signed by the St. Louis Browns as a 16-year-old in 1937.

The elder Garcia, well and active at age 94 living in San Diego, spent a lifetime in baseball as a manager, coach and scout. He has watched every living Hall of Famer from the dugout or the field. He was a minor league teammate of Ty Cobb Jr. A semi-recent New York Times article on Dave.

When the Browns Weren't the Browns: Alternate Nicknames, 1902-1953

If you go back into the early days of baseball, team nicknames were more informal than they are today. Indeed many fans took to calling their team what their favorite newspaper called them. Although "the Browns" was the official nickname of the franchise beginning in 1902, a few other names popped up, even one that appeared to be official.

According to Baseball Team Names: A Worldwide Dictionary, 1869-2011, "In the era 1890-1910, some teams received bird nicknames based on their stocking color, i.e. Blackbirds, Bluebirds, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Crows, Doves, Ravens and Redbirds."  In 1905 and 1906, according to this book, the Browns were actually officially called the Ravens.  (We have never heard this before.  Have you? Please comment below. We need confirmation.  ~ Ed.).

Through 1909 some newspapers took to referring to the team as the Macaleerites, after the team's inaugural manager, Jimmy McAleer.

In 1928 the Sporting News Guide referred to the Browns as Howley's Sensations. Dan Howley was the manager of the 1928 team and indeed he seemed to have started the Browns on something of an uptick after the short and futile managerial reign of player-manager George Sisler.

In 1939, the year the Browns set a franchise record for lowest winning percentage which still stands, they were apparently referred to as the Little Brownies.

In 1944 the Browns only pennant spurred an explosion of journalistic creativity: Cinderella Boys, Cinderella Brownies, Rags-to-Riches Boys, Sackcloth Brownies, and Sewell's Wonders.  And add to the list Sewellmen which I personally have seen in the 1944 Sporting News.

All in all, the "St. Louis Americans" suffered through much less nickname identity crisis than did other franchises of the time (see Brooklyn, Cleveland, Boston N.L., Philadelphia N.L. e.g.).