Roy Sievers Becomes Oldest Living Senator

Roy Sievers, a regular at the annual St. Louis Browns Fan Club player/fan reunion luncheon, has become the oldest living Washington Senator (expansion franchise).  This so, after the passing today of Minnie Minoso.

Roy was purchased by the Senators late in the 1964 season from the Philadelphia Phillies.  This entailed for Roy moving from a first-place team to a 9th-place team. Still, Sievers performed admirably, banging four home runs in just 58 at bats. Thus he led the Senators that year in both pinch hit home runs and home run percentage.

Sievers, a St. Louisan who attended Beaumont high school, was American League Rookie of the year in 1949 as a Brown.  He finished his career with the Senators in 1965, totaling 318 home runs.  When Sievers retired, he was the oldest non-pitcher, non-manager in baseball (age 38.172).  Roy and Minnie both played in the A.L. in the 40s, 50s and 60s.  But unlike Minnie, Roy did not make "stunt bows" in the 70s and 80s to become a most-decades leader.

Several other Brownies are featured on the Oldest Living Baseball Player List.  Chuck Stevens, 96, of Garden Grove, Calif., is the oldest living St. Louis professional ballplayer (Browns or Cardinals). A career Brownie, Chuck is also one of only six major league players who played before World War II.

Ned Garver, 89, is the oldest living member of the entire Los Angeles Angels franchise.  Tito Francona, 81, who was signed by the Browns and played his first two years of professional baseball at the Browns' farm clubs at York and Aberdeen, is the oldest living player of two teams.  First, he is the oldest living member of the Oakland Athletics.  Second, Tito is the oldest-living Milwaukee Brewer (the Browns were originally derived from the 1901 Milwaukee Brewer franchise).

The St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles currently have six players in the Top 25 Oldest Living Major League Baseball Players list:
#7   Stevens, 96
#13 Tom Jordan, 95
#20 Wally Westlake, 94 (Oriole only)
#22 Dick Starr, 93
#23 George Elder, 93
#24 Jim Rivera, 93

Dick Starr

George Elder

Jim Rivera

Browns DVD Video of 2011 Luncheon Now Available

The St. Louis Browns Video of the 2011 reunion luncheon is now available. This program will have you laughling out loud from baseball stories of yesteryear. The program features 8 guest speakers talking about baseball the way it used to be played.

Featured guests included Whitey Herzog, Ned Garver, Bob Turley, Don Lenhardt, Roy Sievers, Ed Mickelson, J.W. Porter and Bud Thomas. Women's professional baseball direct from the 1940s to baseball's Hall of Fame was represented by Erma Bergmann, a member of the Hall of Fame.

More than 286 fans were in attendance. It's thought this may have been the largest baseball oriented lunch in the history of St. Louis. (Can anyone prove us wrong?). Fans came from both east coast and west coast and from more than a half dozen states in between.

Order your DVD and a scorecard from a Browns game played on April 22, 1950 against Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians. Click on the photo below, print out the order form and complete and mail with your check.

Photos From the 2011 Browns Reunion Luncheon

Click on Photos to Enlarge

Whitey Herzog greeting a fan.

Ned Garver

Whitey Herzog & Ned Garver

Don Lenhardt

Ed Mickelson

Roy Sievers

St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame to add Two STL Browns Players

The St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame has finalized its list of 2011 inductees for the annual enshrinement dinner, scheduled for Nov. 16 at the Millennium Hotel downtown. Roll call: Frank Borghi, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Scotty Bowman, Lenny Wilkens, Rusty Wallace, Garry Unger, Dave Phillips, Roy Sievers, Craig Virgin, Jim Holtgrieve and Erma Bergmann. And Arthur Ashe, Bob Burnes, Marty Marion and August Busch Jr. will be inducted posthumously.


Roy Sievers and Marty Marion join George Sisler as players representing the St. Louis Browns as former players. Marion was most noted for his playing days with the St. Louis Cardinals, but became the Browns playing manager during the 1952 season. Marion was the last manager of the Browns before the team moved to Baltimore after the 1953 season.

Roy Sievers Wins Jack Buck Legends Award

Bill Borst's introduction of Roy Sievers, recipient of the Jack Buck Legends Award, December 17, 2009.

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"It is both a privilege and a pleasure for me to be here tonight, representing the St. Louis Browns Historical Society. We started our club 25 years ago so people would not forget that there used to be two teams in St. Louis.

I am also tickled pink to have been invited to present the Jack Buck Legends Award to Beaumont High School’s: Roy Edward Sievers

I will not regale you with a long list of his Sabermetrics but will say Roy had the numbers! As Casey said “You could look it up!” Lets just say that Roy was a legitimate power hitter for several teams, including the Browns, Phillies and a pair of Senators.

He was hitting scores of home runs when players did not get their strength from a pill bottle or… a syringe. Roy’s numbers were so good in 1949 that you could argue---they named the award after him.

Would you believe the Brownies signed him for a pair of baseball spikes? That was their oddest deal since they traded infielder Buzzy Wares for stadium rent in 1913.

Roy was the first American League player to win a ROY and the last Brownie to achieve major recognition.

His boyish smile and good humor belie his 83 years of age. He is the personification of Roy Campanella’s observation that “you need a lot of the little boy in you to play this game.”

"I give you the 1949 ROY, Mr. Roy Sievers."

Sievers receiving award from Bill Borst

40th Annual Jack Buck Awards honor Sievers, Wainwright, Buehrle, others

The prestigious Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis hosted the 40th Annual Jack Buck Awards Thursday night.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz who received the Burnes Broeg Award. Francis Howell North graduate and Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle got the Hometown Hero Award for his perfect game last season.

Corey Frazier from Maplewood won the High School Coach of the Year.

Sports Personality of the Year went to Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, who won 19 games last season. Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak presented the award to Wainwright, who is the 17th Cardinal to win the award.

Other recipients included St. Louis Browns first baseman Roy Sievers, who received the "Legends" Award.

St. Louis University volleyball coach Anne Kordes received the Carl O. Bauer Award for her achievement in amateur athletics.

St. Louis Born Home Run Hitters

Q. - During the telecast of the All-Star Game Tuesday night, they flashed one of those pieces of trivia on the screen that always make you wonder about how they can possibly keep track of all that stuff. It said that on a list of all pro baseball players born in St. Louis, Ryan Howard ranks third in career home runs. My question, of course, is who are the top two?
-- S.L., of Fairview Heights

A. - In only his sixth pro season, the 29-year-old Phillie slugger has ripped 200 homers (as of Thursday) faster than anyone in baseball history. But he's going to have to keep eating his Wheaties if he's going to surpass the two in front of him, one of whom should be familiar to any fan while the other might have you reaching for a baseball encyclopedia.

At the top of heap is that legendary master of the malapropism, Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, who, by some accounts, is the best catcher ever to wear the tools of ignorance. One of the great products of The Hill neighborhood, Berra ripped 358 home runs during 18 seasons in his Yankee pinstripes. (Click on photos to enlarge)

Give up on the second? It's Roy Sievers, a St. Louis Browns signee, who, after some early arm and shoulder injuries, starred for the Washington Senators and became a favorite of then Vice President Richard Nixon. Before he retired in 1965, Sievers would belt 318 home runs during stints with five teams.

And, what local sluggers has Ryan Howard belted his way past already? Those who hit more than 100 were Nate Colbert, 173; Elston Howard, 167; Al Smith (of Kirkwood, Mo.), 164; Norm Siebern, 132; and former St. Louis Cardinal Bernard Gilkey, 118.

Browns Fan Club Luncheon Video & Photos

Memories and good times came pouring out during the St. Louis Browns Fan Club Luncheon on April 28 honoring two surviving players from the Browns' pennant winning season of 1944. Honorees were Babe Martin and Al LaMacchia.

Other Browns players present included Roy Sievers, Bud Thomas, and Ed Mickelson. Rosanne Delsing, wife of former Brown, Jim Delsing, was also in attendance along with Bud Byerly who pitched for the Cardinals against the Browns during the 1944 World Series.

More than 140 Browns fans enjoyed the baseball history program and look forward to the next. The Fan Club will celebrate its 25th anniversary at a dinner on October 8, 2009. Some "surprise" guests are already booked and more are expected. Mark your calendar.

A short video is available from the lunch at: http://videos.stltoday.com/p/video?id=3940288

The following are photos from the event. (Note: Click on photos to enlarge)