Halloween greetings brought to you
by Blackie Schwamb, from Manager Zack Taylor's '48 squad. As a kid in
depression-era Los Angeles, Ralph Schwamb earned his nickname
"Blackie" because he dressed in all black to emulate the bad guys he
rooted for in western movies.
Honorable Halloween
mention from Spook Jacobs, who although not a Brownie, played for two defunct teams: the Philadelphia and Kansas City A's.
"Maggie grew up in St. Louis watching the Cardinals with her grandfather, who once threw a no-hitter as a member of the Triple-A St. Louis Browns."
Assuming they mean the American League Browns (and not the AAA Browns), "Maggie" would have to be Bobo Holloman's granddaughter. A granddaughter of Bob Groom or Ernie Koob, would be much older than this young lady.
A Cardinals fanatic finally found her match on MLB Singles, one of many dating sites that are helping pair up sports fans.
When you think about it, a baseball game is a perfect first date.
There's enough action on the field to give you something to talk about or fill the awkward silences, but it's not too loud or frenetic, so conversation can flow. You've got the sun above you, beer and hot dogs in hand, and a couple of hours to kill, usually enough time to determine if you'd like to play tonsil hockey with this person sometime down the road.
Of course, you've gotta like baseball. Or at the very least, tolerate it.
In five years living in L.A., die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan Maggie* was dying for that perfect first date, but she was having a heck of a time trying to track down a guy willing to watch an entire baseball game.
"They're all into their clothes and Hollywood," the 29-year-old says of the guys she'd encountered in SoCal. "I'm like, 'Can we just eat hot dogs and watch baseball?' It's kind of a big hang-up, because it's hard, especially in L.A., to meet guys who like sports as much as I do.
"A lot of guys find it intimidating when a girl is rattling off statistics and they're clueless, so I've learned from past experience that that doesn't always work out that well."
Courtesy of Maggie
Maggie met Dan's parents at a game at AT&T Park earlier this season.
Maggie grew up in St. Louis watching the Cardinals with her grandfather, who once threw a no-hitter as a member of the Triple-A St. Louis Browns. "I spent every summer with my grandfather on the lake," she says. "Watching baseball, fishing and barbecuing. I was just raised on it, it's in my blood."
So when a banner ad reading, "Meet other singles in your area who like baseball" popped up on her MLB.TV app in April, she figured she'd give it a shot. She clicked on it and ended up on the "MLB Singles, powered by Match.com" landing page.
"I've tried a few other dating sites before and wasn't impressed," Maggie says. "This was the first time I ever paid for a dating service. I made 'N1StlCardsFan' my user name as a way to find people who were truly baseball fans and help break the ice. A lot of the messages I got, they used the Cardinals fan thing as a great way to start a conversation."
MLB Singles launched earlier this year and, according to Match.com, since then more than 550,000 members have added an MLB badge to their profile to identify themselves as baseball fans and acknowledge their favorite teams. (And, surprise, surprise, the New York Yankees badge is the most popular one on the site.)
Right around the same time the MLB Singles page hit the web, so did Packers Backers, a site that aims to pair up Cheeseheads looking for love. According to the home page, about 2,600 Packers fans have signed up, but the site didn't respond to requests for updated statistics or potential success stories.
SportsPassions.com, GolfMates.com, MVPDate.com and FanSingles.com are some of the other dating sites that look to aim Cupid's arrow at sporty singles. NFL Network broadcaster Rich Eisen is even getting in on the action -- he partnered with Nike Football to create the Free Agent app for sports-loving singles.
I like that we get to cheer for each other. I feel like it expands my team interests a bit. I'm dedicated to my Cardinals, but it's nice to have someone help cheer for my team, and then I can rally for his team, as well.
Maggie
Using a shared interest in sports to bring singles together not only works well for dating sites like Match.com, which earned a new paying customer in Maggie, but also for MLB, which launched the partnership hoping to get baseball fans paired up and buying tickets to games.
"The idea is to put like people together with similar interest and passion," Noah Garden, Major League Baseball Advanced Media's executive vice president of revenue, told The Associated Press. "There's still always room for more butts in the seats."
Of course, helping two baseball fans find lasting love is a nice bonus, right? Maggie certainly thinks so.
She went on a lot of first dates with guys she met on the site, but only one or two second dates. No one impressed her much, until about six weeks in, when a message appeared from a handsome, smart guy who not only liked baseball, but made a living off the game, too.
"My mom and my sister were in town when he first messaged me and he mentioned that he worked for the Dodgers," Maggie says. "I have lower expectations when I'm on those sites, so I kind of joked with my family, 'He's from the Dodgers, maybe he can at least get me some free tickets when the Cardinals come in town next month.' ... Little did I know that he was going to end up being this amazing guy."
(*The amazing guy, a 33-year-old who works in the Dodgers' front office, is a little wary of admitting to the guys that he went on Match.com, so for the sake of the story, he's "Dan" and she's "Maggie.")
"He doesn't really want people at work knowing he was on the site," Maggie says, laughing. "Some people in the office already give him a little grief for dating a Cardinals fan, but I think his friends are just happy he's with another baseball fan."
Even though Dan works for the Dodgers, he's actually an A's and Giants fan, owing to his Bay Area roots. The couple has a visit to Oakland, California, on the agenda, as Maggie has never been to O.co Coliseum. They already made the trek up north to AT&T Park, where she met his parents at a game.
"One of my goals is to see the Cardinals play in every stadium," Maggie says. "I'm the kind of person who wants to book a last-minute trip to go see my team play and he's really understanding of that and supportive. He actually hooked me up with tickets to a Padres game, so I drove down to San Diego to go with my sister."
Maggie says the best parts about dating a fellow baseball fan are the shared interest in the game and having a friendly rivalry to bond over.
"I like that we get to cheer for each other," she says. "I feel like it expands my team interests a bit. I'm dedicated to my Cardinals, but it's nice to have someone help cheer for my team, and then I can rally for his team, as well."
Maggie is finishing up her Ph.D. at USC and plans to do management consulting in the health-care field, so it was also important for her to find a sports lover with an intellectual side and a lot of ambition.
"'You're smart and you're into baseball?'" she says about meeting Dan. "Oh, my god. I'm always pinching myself. I'm like 'Am I dreaming? Is this baseball heaven?'"
The St. Louis Browns Fan club is disappointed that there will not be a reenactment of the 1944 World Series, in its 70th anniversary year, but wishes to congratulate the Baltimore Orioles on a fabulous 2014 season. Many of our fan club members are Orioles rooters, and the O's (the former Browns) have given them a thrilling ride.
In 2015, the Orioles will be entering their 32nd year without an AL pennant. The Browns would encourage Orioles fans to take heart: the Browns went 41 years without a pennant! All things come to those who persevere and look for their opportunities. Best of success!
St. Louis Browns right-handed pitcher Al LaMacchia was elected to the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame. LaMacchia, a native St. Louisan, pitched for the Browns farm club, the San Antonio Missions, in the 1940s as well as stints with the Browns and the Washington Senators. He went on to become a very successful pro scout, working for several MLB teams. LaMacchia did service with the Browns club for parts of four seasons (1943-46). In 1944, the year the Browns won their only American League championship, he was with the club through May, and later in the fall, but was never called upon to play in an official game. While on the roster, he served as batting practice pitcher for the wartime/arm-weary team until he injured his thumb during the "Streetcar" World Series versus the Cardinals.
In between call-ups to the Browns roster, LaMacchia went 12-3 in '44 as a starter for the Toledo Mud Hens, leading the American Association in winning percentage with an .800 mark. He was a successful scout for many teams, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays (whom he joined as an expansion team and helped lead to back to back World Series titles) and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Active for the latter club up until the mid 2000's, LaMacchia scouted outfielder Andre Ethier, who is still with the Dodger ballclub as of 2014.
LaMacchia, with fellow ex-Brown Bud Thomas at the '09 BFC
In 2009 he was a guest speaker at the St. Louis Browns Fan Club (BFC) annual luncheon at the Missouri Athletic Club West.
Other inductees in this Hall Of Fame class include former San Antonio Spurs head coach Doug Moe. Alfred Anthony LaMacchia died in his adopted hometown of San Antonio in 2010. For further information on Al LaMacchia, see the Society of American Baseball Research Bio Project.
According to fangraphs, the current chances of an Orioles-Cardinals World Series, 70-years after the Browns-Cardinals "Streetcar" World Series of 1944 is...
1916 — St. Louis Browns pitcher Ernie Koob went the distance in a 17-inning 0-0 tie with the Boston Red Sox. Carl Mays went the first 15 innings for the Red Sox and Dutch Leonard finished. And most of our pitchers today go only 6-7 innings . . . if they're lucky.
Although Yankees fans sing, "Oh Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?", we here at the St. Louis Browns Fan Club sing, "Oh Where Have You Gone Hal Hudson?".
That's because we only have 23 living St. Louis Brownies, and he is one of 'em. But the St. Louis Browns Fan Club has been holding players reunions almost annually since the formation of the club in 1984, and none of the old-timers ever remember Hal showing up.
What was it like being called up as a rookie from Toronto and being sent in to pitch by the great St. Louis Cardinals and Browns Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby? And what was it like working for two of the most famous "showmen" owners, Bill Veeck and Maple Leafs' owner Jack Kent Cooke (later of NFL, NBA and NHL fame)?
Inquiring Brownie fans want to know. So if you are reading this, and you know Mr. Hudson, please ask him to get in touch. Our generous club members will defray his expenses if he flies in for our annual Reunion Luncheon September 18 at the Sheraton Chalet in Westport.
23 players left! That is not even enough for a 25-man roster anymore.
(The following article about former St. Louis Browns assistant farm director Hank Peters appeared in the Baltimore Sun a few days after the death of Mickey Mantle).
Peters missed Mantle, but little else
August 15, 1995|By BILL TANTON
When Mickey Mantle was a high school senior in Commerce, Okla., in 1949, his class made a trip to St. Louis.
While there, Mantle was to work out with the old St. Louis Browns. A man who worked in the Browns' farm department at that time -- Hank Peters -- still remembers the day.
"It rained," Peters was saying at the monthly J. Patrick's sports luncheon, "and Mantle didn't get to work out for us.
"Can you imagine what would have happened if it hadn't rained? If we'd seen that guy for five minutes we would have signed him."
That would have been great for the St. Louis Browns, of course, and good for the Baltimore Orioles as well. The Browns were sold to Baltimore people and became the Orioles in 1954.
It would have changed a lot of things if Hall of Fame immortal Mantle, who died of cancer Sunday at 63, had played his career at Sportsman's Park and Memorial Stadium.
But scout Tom Greenwade saw Mantle -- it must not have rained that day -- and signed him for the Yankees. The rest is history.
Hank Peters, who was general manager of the Orioles from 1976 through 1987, is a treasure of baseball intelligence after nearly a half-century in the game.
It would not be accurate to say that the soft-spoken Peters is underrated as a baseball executive. Twice he has been chosen the game's Executive of the Year.
It was Peters who, as general manager of the Athletics under owner Charley Finley, put together the great Oakland teams that won three straight world championships from 1972-1974.
Peters was the GM here when the Orioles went to the World Series in 1979 and again in 1983, which was the last time the Baltimore team has won anything.
It was ludicrous when owner Edward Bennett Williams fired Peters after a couple of non-championship years and hired Roland Hemond in his place.
By no means was Peters finished, however.
He became the general manager of the Cleveland Indians and, along with the assistant GM he brought from Baltimore, John Hart, built the club that now has the best record in the majors, the team that is playing the Orioles here through tomorrow night.
Peters retired two years ago and returned to live in Baltimore. Hart then went on to advance the Indians even further by bringing in free agents such as Eddie Murray and Dennis Martinez, both of whom were with the Orioles in Peters' Baltimore days.
"Hank showed us the way," says the magnanimous Hart, who himself is up for Executive of the Year now.
In an age when people believe pennants can be bought, Hank Peters knows better. His track record proves that his way -- which used to be the Orioles' way -- works.
"The first thing it takes," Peters told the luncheon audience, "is an owner with patience.
"When Dick Jacobs interviewed me for the Cleveland job, I told him, 'Look -- I'm 63 years old. I was just let go in Baltimore. I only plan to work another four years, and, if you hire me, we probably won't win any championships. But I believe we can lay the groundwork for a championship team.' "
Replied Jacobs: "Run the club as if you own it."
That was the smartest thing he and his brother, Dave, could have done.
Peters did not go out and acquire big-name, high-salaried free agents to plug a gap here and there. That would not have been the old Orioles' way. "We poured our money into scouting and development," Peters says. "We hired scouts. We expanded the farm system. It was the only way to go.
"In a short time, we signed 16 players who are now either with the Indians or playing elsewhere in the major leagues. And we signed selected free agents."
The Indians began to turn the corner when Peters plucked Carlos Baerga and Sandy Alomar from San Diego's farm system for Joe Carter. They pulled a steal when they traded catcher Eddie Taubensee to Houston for Kenny Lofton.
On the club currently playing the Orioles at Camden Yards, nine players are up from the farm system.
Today Cleveland is the envy of all baseball. It has a multi-talented team that appears to be championship-bound plus new ballpark, Jacobs Field, for which the Jacobs brothers contributed $10 million and did not get a sweetheart lease like the one the Orioles have here.
"Why don't more teams do it the way Cleveland did?" Arky Vaughan asked at J. Patrick's.
"Because," said Peters, "most owners are reluctant to turn all that responsibility over to someone else."
That's a familiar story in today's baseball -- the owner who acquires millions through his business and then assumes he is qualified to run a ballclub, too.
"What do you think of the way the Orioles are going about it?" asked Buck Ward.
The answer was vintage Hank Peters.
"Oh, I'm not on the inside there," Hank said. "I'm not around every day to know what goes into the decision-making. It wouldn't be fair for me to comment."
The St. Louis Browns Historical Society announced
introduction of a membership identification card. The Browns last issued an identification
card back in the 1930s and 1940s called the “Boys Brigade” while the Cardinals
issued their “Knot Hole” card.
Browns Fan Club president, Bill Rogers, says inquiries about
a membership card is one of the top items requested.“The card makes it official. It contains a
member ID number, membership level and membership year.”
As a member of the Fan Club, members pledge to protect,
preserve and promote the St. Louis Browns. They pledge to defend the honor of
the Browns wherever it may be maligned and tell Browns stories wherever and
whenever they can. They also agree to exercise careful stewardship over Browns
artifacts and memorabilia. Members agree to accept the duty of preventing the
Browns from ever becoming forgotten by future generations of baseball fans.
Three different levels of membership are available and
described as Bleed Browns for the top level, Goldthe second level and Silver for the third
level. More information on membership levels is available from the club’s
website at http://www.thestlbrowns.com.
If you're not a member of the Browns Fan Club, sign up today. Credit Card service is available at http://thestlbrowns.blogspot.com. The membership cards will be sent to all members starting by July 1, 2014.
This was a big day in baseball history, over a number of years.
On this day in 1903, the Pittsburgh Pirates won a tripleheader against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In 1925, New York Yankee Lou Gehrig played the first game in what would become his streak of 2,130 straight games.
In 1950, pitcher Harry Dorish of the St. Louis Browns stole home plate against the Washington Senators. No American League pitcher has stolen home since.
In 1958, Baltimore Oriole Brooks Robinson hit into the first of his four career triple plays, a major league record.
Also in 1958, New York Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford struck out six consecutive batters, tying the then-American League record for the second time, having struck out six in a row in 1956.
In 1989, Cincinnati Red Eric Davis hit for the cycle — a single, double, triple and home run.
In 1990, Seattle Mariner Randy Johnson pitched a no-hitter in a 2-0 victory against the Detroit Tigers.
Halloween greetings brought to you
by Blackie Schwamb, from Manager Zack Taylor's '48 squad. As a kid in
depression-era Los Angeles, Ralph Schwamb earned his nickname
"Blackie" because he dressed in all black to emulate the bad guys he
rooted for in western movies.
St. Louis Browns right-handed pitcher Al LaMacchia was elected to the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame. LaMacchia, a native St. Louisan, pitched for the Browns farm club, the San Antonio Missions, in the 1940s as well as stints with the Browns and the Washington Senators. He went on to become a very successful pro scout, working for several MLB teams.
(The following article about former St. Louis Browns assistant farm director Hank Peters appeared in the Baltimore Sun a few days after the death of Mickey Mantle).
"Oh, I'm not on the inside there," Hank said. "I'm not around every day to know what goes into the decision-making. It wouldn't be fair for me to comment."
