Where the Browns Fan Club Members Live

St. Louis Browns fans are all over the country plus several in Canada and military overseas.  Our records show just a few states where no fan exists. If by chance we missed your state, let us know - stlbrowns@swbell.net. We'd be pleased to color you orange.

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Click here for the full story - http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/2eb65ef8

Stovall stabilized an infield that in 1911 had used ten first basemen. Beleaguered Bobby Wallace, who had administered the team to a 45--107 cellar finish in 1911, had never wanted the job, and after the 1912 Browns started at 12--27, Stovall took the reins on June 2. He was well paid at $6,250 and began shaping the team he envisioned. He liked fast, young players with good arms, and emphasized defense and pitching. He waived ineffective veteran pitchers and by 1913 the whole pitching staff was under 30 years of age.

The 1912 season was not without its controversies. Stovall once again delved into the unprecedented by joining managers Nixey Callahan and Harry Davis against Frederick Westervelt, an umpire they felt to be incompetent. The three conferred in New York in July, after Stovall had been suspended due to an argument with Westervelt, who had been moved from Chicago to Cleveland games when Ban Johnson had given in to protests earlier in the season. Westervelt, who had been promoted to the majors in 1911, "was not asked to continue" in the majors after the 1912 season. Stovall led the Browns to a seventh-place finish, and there was reason for optimism in "that Siberia of the ball players, St. Louis." Owner Robert Hedges raised his salary to $7,500.

Controversy continued to stalk Brother George during the 1913 season. On May 3, Stovall was ejected from a game for grabbing the cap of umpire Charlie Ferguson and throwing it on the ground. When Stovall took too long retrieving his glove, Ferguson told George to hurry it up. As teammate Jimmy Austin later recalled for Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times, "I guess that was the straw that broke the camel's back, because George let fly with a big glob of tobacco juice--p-tooey!--that just spattered all over Ferguson's face and coat and everywhere else. Ugh, it was an awful mess. It was terrible. George always did chew an uncommonly large wad, you know."

Browns Fan Club Luncheon Set for September 26: Pitcher, Don Larsen, Expected

The St. Louis Browns Fan Club 2013 reunion luncheon is scheduled for Thursday, September 26. The exact location has not yet been selected.  A featured guest at this year’s program is Don Larsen who pitched a perfect no hit game in the World Series while with the New York Yankees in 1956.

Larsen was signed by the Browns in 1947. He made his major league debut in a start against the

Detroit Tigers in April 1953. He pitched five innings, giving up three earned runs, while striking out three in a no decision, an 8-7 Browns win. He had his first career win a little less than a month later, on May 12, 1953 against the Philadelphia Athletics.

At the end of his rookie season, Larsen finished with n 7-12 record, 4.16 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 38 games, 22 of them starts. He finished first on the team in innings pitched (192 ²⁄₃) and complete games (7) and second on the team in strikeouts. He also allowed the most hits with 202, and earned runs (89) on the squad. He also broke a Major League record for pitchers by having seven consecutive hits at one point.

After the Browns relocated to Baltimore for the 1954 season, Larsen went 3–21 with a 4.37 earned run average and 80 strikeouts in 29 games. He led the league in losses and finished third in the league in earned runs (98). The Orioles only won 54 games that season, while having 100 losses, and finished the season in seventh place.

Larsen was part of a 17 player trade to the New York Yankees during the 1954 season. As a member of the New York Yankees from 1955 through 1959, Larsen was used by manager Casey Stengel as a backup starter and occasional reliever. He went 45–24 during his five seasons in New York, making 90 starts in 128 appearances.

During the 1955 season, Larsen participated in nineteen games, starting 13 of them. He had a 9-2 record with a 3.07 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 97 innings pitched

His 1956 season was the best of Larsen's career. He posted an 11–5 record, with a career best 107 strikeouts and a 3.26 ERA. Larsen was used in between the bullpen and the starting rotation for most of the season, participating in 38 games, starting 20.

Larsen had a rough start to the season, and by the end of May he had a 5.64 ERA. He gradually improved and by the beginning of August, Larsen lowered his ERA below 4.00. In a seven start stretch to finish the season, Larsen had five complete games, and pitched 10 innings in another. He finished the season with a 7-3 victory against the Boston Red Sox on September 28.

Larsen's most notable accomplishment was pitching the only perfect game in the history of the World Series; it is one of only 23 perfect games in MLB history. He was pitching for the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 8, 1956. His perfect game remained the only no-hitter of any type ever pitched in postseason play until Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on October 6, 2010, in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

Larsen started Game 5 for the Yankees. Larsen's opponent in the game was Brooklyn's Sal Maglie. Larsen needed just 97 pitches to complete the game, and only one Dodger batter, (Pee Wee Reese in the first inning), was able to get a 3-ball count.

Throwing fastballs, Larsen got ahead in the count at 1–2. On his 97th pitch, a called strike, Larsen caught Dale Mitchell looking for the 27th and last out. Larsen's unparalleled game earned him the World Series Most Valuable Player Award and Babe Ruth Award.

Fan Club Reunion Luncheon Set for September 26

The St. Louis Browns Historical Society and Fan Club announced a date for their 2013 luncheon for September 26, 2013.  No location venue has yet been selected, but should be announced within the next week or two.

The club also announced former Browns pitcher and World Series perfect game pitcher, Don Larsen, will also be in attendance. Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series play when a member of the New York Yankees in 1956. 

More details to be announced soon.

Bob Turley's Hometown Paper Pens Sentimental Farewell; BFC Mentioned

Belleville News-Democrat Obituary, published April 12, 2013

Click on Collage Above to Enlarge

 

Living St. Louis Browns - 27

Living St. Louis Browns (with age as of year-end 2013)

Chuck Stevens 07/10/18 - 95
Tom Jordan 09/05/19 - 94
Babe Martin 03/28/20 - 93
Dick Starr 03/02/21 - 92
George Elder 03/10/21 - 92

Matt Batts 10/16/21 - 92
Bob Savage 12/01/21 - 92
Neil Berry 01/11/22 - 91
Johnny Hetki 05/12/22 - 91
Jim Rivera 07/22/22 - 91

Don Lenhardt 10/04/22 - 91
Don Lund 05/18/23 - 90
Tom Wright 09/22/23 - 90
Billy DeMars 08/26/25 - 88
Ned Garver 12/25/25 - 88

Frank Saucier 05/28/26 - 87
Johnny Groth 07/23/26 - 87
Ed Mickelson 09/09/26 - 87
Don Johnson 11/12/26 - 87
Roy Sievers 11/18/26 - 87

Hal Hudson 05/04/27 - 86
Al Naples 08/29/27 - 86
Billy Hunter 06/04/28 - 85
Joe DeMaestri 12/09/28 - 85
Bud Thomas 03/10/29 - 84

Don Larsen 08/07/29 - 84
J.W. Porter 01/17/33 - 80

***************

Using the 2013 "approachable age" figures as our gauge, there are now 13 Browns in their 90's, 14 in their 80's.

Don't Miss This Beautifully-Done Article Published Monday about St. Louis Ballparks

http://www.distilledhistory.com/tag/st-louis-browns/

R.I.P. Bob Turley: Browns Pitcher With Blazing Fastball, Dies at 82

Former Brownie "Bullet Bob" Turley, a fireballing rightander who drew comparisons to Bob Feller when he first came up to the big leagues and won the AL Cy Young Award and World Series MVP with the Yankees in 1958, died Saturday of liver cancer in hospice care at Lenbrook, a retirement community in Atlanta. He was 82.  Turley attended and spoke at a St. Louis Browns Fan Club reunion of players and fans in June 2011.

Whitey Herzog, left, Bob Turley, center, and Ned Garver, right at 2011 St. Louis Browns Historical Society and Fun Club luncheon in St. Louis

Robert Lee Turley was born in Troy Illinois just across the river from St. Louis in Madison County, the youngest of two sons of Delbert and Henrietta Turley.  His parents both worked as bacon slicers at a packing house. When he was small his family moved to 1426 N. 52nd Street in the Rosemont area of East St. Louis.  Bob was prohibited from playing catch with the other neighborhood kids because he threw too hard.  He starred on the Central High School baseball squad.

The day before his high school graduation in 1948, he was asked to come to Sportsman's Park by Browns' general manager Bill Dewitt for a tryout. The Browns signed Turley the day after his graduation. He had also attended a New York Yankees tryout and the Yankees were very interested. However, when the New York club's procedure called for Turley to attend a so-called "advance camp" in Missouri, Turley demurred. "I wanted to play ball right away," he said.

Bob didn't have to travel far for his first pro assignment: it was the Belleville Staggs, the Browns' class D farm team that played at the old Belleville athletic field at ninth and Illinois Street. His Staggs teammates included Mike Blyzka and Frank Saucier and one of his Illinois State League opponents was St. Louisan Earl Weaver, a second baseman for the West Frankfurt Cardinals.

Bob had an extremely successful minor league career, winning 20 games twice and being called up to the Browns at the end of the 1951 season.   But it was Korean War Time, and Bob soon found himself wearing a different shade of brown: khaki.  The Korean War had ended on July 27, 1953 and Turley had saved about seven weeks leave time, so while he officially served two full years and was officially discharged on October 1, 1953, with his unused leave, he was actually able to get his release in mid-August '53. After working out for the Browns that August, it was obvious that the service had not hurt his fastball, and he found himself back in a major league game almost immediately, in a relief appearance August 18 against the White Sox. He relieved Satchel Paige, who took the loss 2-1 in a well-pitched, defensive battle. The next day Turley earned his first major league win in relief of Don Larsen as the Browns defeated Billy Pierce, who had been having one of his banner seasons.

It was on September 5, 1953, however, that Turley really displayed the Cy Young talent that he was to develop in the next few years. Turley got hooked up in an extreme pitchers' duel with the Tigers' Ralph Branca at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.  Neither team scored a run for 11 and one-half innings when Browns' Outfielder Dick Kokos homered into the right-field pavilion off Branca in the bottom of the 12th to win the game and break the scoreless duel. When Turley had finished with his

toils that Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, he had completed a 12-inning, 14-strikeout, three-hit, shutout masterpiece, for one of the final shining moments in Browns' franchise history.  (Branca also recorded eight strikeouts and the combined 22 Ks by both pitchers was an unusually high total for that era).

Turley's Army leave-time heroics, good enough for third in ERA on the Browns 1953 pitching staff, earned him the assignment of getting the opening day start the next season ... but not for the team in St. Louis, but for the team in Baltimore, where the Browns were to move in the '53-54 off-season.  Bob notched a win in Memorial Stadium Baltimore that day.  Earning the nickname "Bullet" by a Baltimore sportswriter, Bob would lead the league in strikeouts in ‘54.  The last Brownie to do so had been Urban Shocker in ‘22.  In fact, since the franchise began in 1901, Shocker and Turley are the only two Browns/Orioles pitchers to manage to lead the American League in strikeouts.

But Baltimore management was in the middle of a major house-cleaning operation in which all ex-Brownies would leave the Orioles by mid-1955, to be replaced by fresh players.  Bob was no exception.  He was the key player in a mammoth 17-player deal between the Yankees and Baltimore that winter. The Yankees were desperate for a front-line starting line pitcher after their “Big Three” from their 1949-53 world championship teams — Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat — had all moved on, and Turley more than filled the bill. He was 17-13 in 1955, his first year with the Bombers. Then in 1958 he won the Cy Young, leading the AL in wins with a 21-7 mark and 2.97 ERA. 

Turley went on to win two games against the Milwaukee Braves in the ’58 World Series, including

Game 7 when he hurled 6.2 innings in relief of Don Larsen, his “stablemate” who had come over from the Orioles in that same trade in ’54. The day before, manager Casey Stengel had brought Turley in to retire the Braves’ Frank Torre for the final out in the Yankees’ 4-3 victory. The Yankees, who came back from a 3-1 deficit to win that Series, were leading Game 7, 2-1, when the Braves put runners at first and second with one out in the third, and Stengel summoned Turley again to replace Larsen. Turley wound up pitching out of a bases-loaded jam and went on to hold the Braves to just a solo homer by catcher Del Crandall in the sixth inning that tied the game before the Yankees got four runs in the eighth inning off their nemesis, Lew Burdette, to win the game, 6-2, and the Series. Besides the Cy Young, Turley was also named the Hickok Belt professional athlete of the year after the ’58 season.

In the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers, the day after Larsen pitched a perfect game, Turley lost a 10-inning, 1-0 heartbreaker to Clem Labine despite striking out 11. Unfortunately for Turley, the ’58 season proved to be the high point of his career. He never won in double figures again. In the 1960 World Series against the Pirates, he suffered his first arm injury — a bone chip in his elbow that limited him to only 72 innings in 1961. That winter, when Turley was 32, the Yankees sold him to the Los Angeles Angels. In July of 1963, a month after pitching a one-hitter against the White Sox, he was released. He signed on with the Red Sox the rest of the year and retired with a 101-85 record and 3.64 ERA.

Through the years, Turley was always one of the most popular and engaging players at Yankees’ Old-Timers’ Day Games. “I can’t understand some of these players today,” he said. “Nothing ever bothered me, signing autographs, doing interviews. You have all the privacy you want when you get out of the game.”

Turley was quite successful in business after baseball, becoming a representative for Primerica Financial Services earning more than he did as a pro ball player. In the 1995 version of the Primerica Financial Independence Council, it states that he was paid $150,000 as a professional baseball player compared to his $2,000,000 that he earned through working with Primerica. He retired from the business and gave half of his business to his son and the other half to his secretary. He later resided in Georgia.

Turley had an uncle, Ralph Kress Turley, who dwelled in the minor leagues at around the same time as Turley, for whom Turley was often mistaken.  Briefly, the elder Turley came under the control of the New York Yankees.  "We signed the wrong Turley," a Yankee scout reportedly commented. 

~ Emmett McAuliffe

R.I.P. Lou Sleater, Pitched for Browns & Orioles: Knuckleballer called 'Epitome of the 1950's Journeyman-lefthander'

Lou Sleater whose seven-year major league pitching career started with the Browns in 1950 and ended with the Baltimore Orioles in 1958, died on March 25. He was 86.  A left-handed knuckleballer, in addition to his three years with the Browns (1950-53), Sleater pitched for the old Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics, Milwaukee Braves and Detroit Tigers before finally joining the Orioles.

 

"He was the epitome of the journeyman left-hand pitcher in the 1950s," said Phil Wood, a Mid-Atlantic Sports Network broadcaster. "He was with different teams every year ... usually bad teams."

 

He died at home in Baltimore.  The cause of death was reported as lung disease.

 

Louis Mortimer Sleater Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Louis M. and Anna Sleater. The family, which included an older sister Rita Rose and younger brother Gerald (both deceased), lived at 8538 Church Rd. in the heavily-German Baden neighborhood.  Louis Sr. was an insurance adjustor for the American Credit Indemnity Company which had been sold in 1936 to a Baltimore-based company, the Commercial Credit Co. (present-day Traveler's Group).  The elder Sleater moved the family to Maryland sometime in the 1940s when Lou was still in his teens.  

 

Returning Home with the Browns

 

At age 19, in 1946, Lou was signed to a minor league contract with the Boston Braves. He then moved through several major league farm organizations after being signed by the Chicago Cubs. His contract was bought by the New York Giants, but he was selected off waivers by the St. Louis Browns at age 23 in 1950.

 

Sleater made his major league debut on April 25, 1950 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, less than three miles as the crow flies from the home where he and his family had lived only a few short years before.  The Detroit Tigers, behind Virgil Trucks, a 1949 All-Star, held a 5-1 lead over the Browns heading into the bottom of the eighth.  Manager Zack Taylor pulled starting pitcher Dick Starr for pinch-hitter Hank Arft (another St. Louis native).  Arft hit a solo home run.  Heading in to the top of the ninth, Taylor tapped the rookie Sleater with the task of holding George Kell and the Tigers close so that the Brownies could have a chance in the bottom of the ninth. That Lou did: he struck out a batter and allowed no hits, walks or runs.

 

The Brownies rallied in the bottom of the ninth to chase Trucks (ouch - Ed.), but could only manage one run, and lost the game 5-3.

 

It would be Sleater's only game that season.  With his major-league jitters dispelled, Browns General Manager Bill DeWitt decided it would be best for young Lou to get some work in the minors and optioned him to the Brown's top farm club in San Antonio.  Sleater responded by posting a 12-5 record with a 2.82 ERA, leading the Missions in wins.

 

The next season he was with the big-league club for good, pitching 81 innings in a swing-role and garnering 8 starts from manager Taylor.  However, in some usual Bill Veeck craziness, he was sold to the New York Yankees July 31, 1951, and assigned to pitch with the Yankees American Association  (A.A.) farm club, the Kansas City Blues, and then returned to the Browns after the Blues season ended on September 16, but inexplicably not activated by the Browns for the remainder of the season.

 

"When he was property of the Yankees that year, he was living in the same rooming house in Kansas City with Mickey Mantle," said Wood, a friend of many years. "He had a font of information of the game in the 1950s and Lou could remember observing Mickey Mantle having a bad stretch and of how his father, Mutt Mantle, came to Kansas City and said, 'If you are going to quit baseball, I can get you a job in the coal mines.'"

 

Forever-linked with Walt Dropo

 

Mr. Sleater remained with the Browns in 1952, but was used sparingly by new manager Rogers Hornsby.  He was traded in May to the Washington Senators. Baseball record books note that while at Washington he stopped Walt Dropo's record-tying hitting streak of 12 consecutive hits.
 

"The actual baseball he used to stop his streak is at Cooperstown," said his son, Raymond. "There was a ceremony in 1986 at the Baseball Hall of Fame with Walt and my father when the ball was presented."

 

His major league career took him to the Milwaukee Braves. He pitched in 25 games in 1956. He was a teammate of Warren Spahn and remained a friend of the fellow left-hander.

 

The Braves released him in April 1957 and Mr. Sleater wound up in Detroit. Signed by the Tigers, he became a reliever and had 41 appearances. On May 30, he hit a walk-off home run.
 

In his final season, 1958, he began with the Tigers and his contract was bought by the Orioles in June, returning to the franchise where he began his major-league career and being reunited with former Brownie teammate Bob Nieman who was the O's starting leftfielder in 1958.  His final game was Sept. 28, 1958, thus ending his career in his long-time hometown.  In his major league career, he had 12 wins and 18 losses and a 4.70 ERA. In 1959, he remained on the Orioles roster but was on the disabled list because of an injury.

 

"The Orioles offered him the opportunity to be a scout or a minor league coach, but he declined and went on with his life," said Wood. "He had seen enough of the road at that point."

~Emmett McAuliffe with Bill Rogers

 

 

Oh No They Didn't!

....give up on hometown hero Roy Sievers shipping him to Washington.  But Bleacher Report, also known as B/R, a digital sports media network owned by Time Warner,  seems to think we did  ('Browns Send Roy Sievers to Senators').

So how do we get the word out to 44,650 disabused readers?  With your help!    Click on the Pay Now button at the top right corner of this page and become a member of the most exclusive bunch of dreamers around: the St. Louis Browns Fan Club.  Your membership helps keep our website and blog site alive.  Which keeps the true history of the Browns alive.

Virgil Trucks Passes; 20-game Winner in '53

We are sad to report the death of former pitcher Virgil Trucks, at age 96, on March 23rd at his home in Calera, Alabama.  Trucks was the Browns last 20-game winner (1953), although 75% of his wins were recorded for the Chicago White Sox, to whom he was traded mid-season.  He was also the opening day pitcher for the Browns in what would be their final season before moving to Baltimore.

In a 17-season career, Trucks posted a 177-135 record with 534 strikeouts and a 3.39 ERA in 2,682 innings pitched. In addition to the Browns and the White Sox, Trucks played for the Detroit Tigers (1941–1943, 1945–1952, 1956), Kansas City Athletics (1958) and New York Yankees (1958). 

The right-hander was born Virgil Oliver Trucks in Birmingham, Alabama and is the uncle of a line of southern rock musicians, starting with Allman Brothers Band co-founder Claude Hudson "Butch" Trucks.

Trucks was one of 12 surviving players who played baseball before World War II. He was the oldest living member of the defunct St. Louis Browns, of which only 29 players presently survive.

Trucks was traded to the Browns in December 1952, with Johnny Groth and Hal White for Owen Friend, Bob Nieman and  J.W. Porter (the youngest living Brownie and crowd-favorite at BFC luncheons - Ed.).

The trade was actually a "step up" for Trucks.  The Tigers were 104-game losers in 1952 (Trucks himself  had contributed to 19 of those 104).  In contrast, the Browns were "on the way up", having improved their record by 12 games over 1951 by only losing 90 in 1952. Wheeler-dealer Bill Veeck, who had traded away Ned Garver four-months before, was getting back a serious gate attraction with Trucks, who won a World Series game with Detroit in 1945 and who, despite 19 losses, had pitched two no-hitters in '52.*

On April 10, 1953, Trucks received the honors from Manager Marty Marion of starting the season's opening game, a home game against the Tigers.  It was also the first game ever in a stadium called Busch, which name has emblazoned three St. Louis stadia in the last 60 years.  Trucks hurled a four-hit shutout of his former teammates; his new colleagues supported him with 10 runs.  He would be

the last opening-day starter in Browns history.  (The first opening day starter for the Browns was Francis L. "Red" Donahue, April 23, 1902 in the very same stadium where Trucks toiled, then known as "Sportsman's Park".)

After retiring as a player Trucks joined the coaching staff of the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning the 1960 World Series with them against his old team the Yankees. He continued coaching with the Pirates, then the Atlanta Braves and finally ending his MLB career with the Tigers in 1974.

As news of Trucks' death was reaching the Brownie Fan Club members in St. Louis, said members could not help but notice the irony: a freak Spring snowstorm which bore the name "Winter Storm Virgil" was heading east from Kansas City and bearing down on the Gateway City. Even more ironic, eventually "Virgil" would dump snow on all the cities in which Trucks played, from Kansas City all the way to New York.  St. Louis even received 12 inches, a total not seen in 31 years. Springfield, Illinois received an all-time record 18.5".  In late March, two weeks before opening day!

Browns Fan Club President Bill Rogers had recently spoken to Mr. Trucks' daughter who reported that he was ill and would not be able to attend the 2013 Browns reunion luncheon. But she told Bill that Virgil sends his regards for everyone.**

Brownie fans world wide take pause to salute Virgil Oliver "Fire" Trucks.  Requiescat in pace!

* Trucks was only the third pitcher in baseball history to pull off this feat. Johnny Vander Meer and Allie Reynolds had done it previously and only Nolan Ryan and Roy Halladay have done it since.

** Ping me if you get that Southern Rock reference.

To Answer Your Question

Here are a few of the benefits of membership in joining the St. Louis Browns Historical Society.

 

Participate in the annual player-fan reunion luncheon

Pop Flies magazine - the official voice of the St. Louis Browns Fan Club

Ability to network with fans and players.

A variety of items are available for purchase

·         DVD of 1944 World Series between the Browns and the Cardinals

·         Banquet presentations from Tommy Lasorda, Bob Costas, Ned Garver, Roy Sievers, Bob Turley, Whitey Herzog, JW. Porter, Bud Thomas, Don Lenhardt,  Mike Veeck, Milo Hamilton, Bob Costas and others.

·         Logo products - polo shits, T-Shirts, denim shirts, caps and more

·         Scorecards - replica

·         Jerseys - replica, Satchel Paige

·         Item collection posters, 200 photos on posters of players and others

·         Collectors lapel pins

Browns Exhibit at the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

The St. Louis Browns Historical Society announced installation  of a memorabilia exhibit in the luggage area at Lambert St. Louis International Airport. The exhibit consists of 10 poster collages featuring over 200 photographs covering the history of the St. Louis Browns.

The display is available for 3-months until June 11, 2013. If you’re passing through the St. Louis airport, take a few minutes to check out some of the best in St. Louis baseball history.

Don’t forget to pass the word to family and friends.

More than 6-million people per year pass through the #1 West terminal along with another 6-million passing through the #2 East terminal.

The display is just in time for the opening of the baseball season. St. Louis was recently recognized by the Bleacher Report as being the Best Baseball City in the United States according to Fan Club President, Bill Rogers.

The Cardinal’s ownership and management are top-notch, and baseball is priority No. 1 in the St. Louis sports landscape.

 

More than a few fans were taking photos of the Browns exhibit at the airport while the set-up was underway. All posters in the exhibit are available for purchase along with the home and road jersey's.
 

Click on Photos to Enlarge

 

Click on Photos to Enlarge

Browns Bilboard Salute to Stan Musial

The Browns Historical Society & Fan Club salutes Stan Musial with a recognition billboard. The salute can be seen at the intersection of Gravois & Tesson Ferry & Rock Hill in Affton in South County.

 Click on Photo to Enlarge



Who Said That

Click on photos to enlarge.

Even the Mayans Follow the Browns

STL Browns Salute Stan Musial

'Last 44'er' Babe Martin Comments on Death of Stan Musial

One ballplayer left from St. Louis' 'storybook' baseball year

Stan Musial

Babe Martin

"Stan was one of the finest people I have ever met," says Babe Martin, of the St. Louis Browns, who with the death of Stan Musial becomes the last surviving player from either of the two St. Louis teams that won their respective league pennants in 1944.  "Stan is my right fielder on my all-time greatest team, with [Joe] DiMaggio in center and Teddy [former teammate Williams] in left".

Martin, of Ballwin, Missouri, was reached today by telephone from Tucson, Arizona.  He will be 93-years old in March.

Martin made a key start in left field during the last week of the 1944 season, his first game ever in the majors.  The Browns won the game, 3-0 over the Boston Red Sox, and the game propelled St. Louis into a first-place tie with Detroit.  Martin, in debut, was stellar. Batting fifth in the order, he was two for three, with a double and an RBI, and registering a put out.  He would finish his shortened season with a .750 batting average and an American League championship trophy.

Martin was ineligible for the World Series, but watched in uniform from the bench as his team took on Musial and the Cardinals.  The Cardinals would win the only "streetcar series" in St. Louis history, four games to two.

Martin, the last living St. Louis pro ballplayer from 1944, was not always more hale and hearty than his peers. Bill Borst, in his book "The Best of Seasons," wrote,

His medical history was what warranted coverage in The Sporting News in August 1944.  His career resume read like a medical textbook, securing him a discharge from the Navy.  He suffered from acute sinus trouble, chronic ulcers (so bad that he had to keep a quart of cold milk nearby in the dugout during games), and severe head pains from a nasty beaning.  His right thigh was three inches smaller in circumference than the left, causing him to limp noticeably.  Martin had to wear a heavy elastic brace on his weak leg for added support."

Musial, from Donora, Pennsylvania, and Martin, from Seattle, Washington, both made St. Louis their homes after retirement from baseball.  Martin retired in 1953 and Musial in 1963.  "Stan was always a gentleman, wherever he went" said Martin.

Browns Billboard Display

Click on Photo to Enlarge

 

 

Thanks to Harster Heating & Air Conditioning for sponsorship of the Browns billboard. The sign is at the intersection of Gravois and Rock Hill / Tesson Ferry in Affton in South St. Louis County. This is a digital sign with the ads changing every 8-10 seconds. The ads also rotate on different days. Just pull into the convenience store across the street and park for a few minutes to catch the Browns ads.

And if you're in need of heating and air conditioning, give Harster Heating a call and tell them you're a member of the St. Louis Browns Fan Club.

You know, next to Ted Drewes and Imo’s, Harster Heating and Air Conditioning is a pretty well known St. Louis tradition – even if you can’t eat a furnace. After 60 years in the business, they've seen pretty much everything.

They absolutely respect their customers. That’s why they're still in business. But, even so, they've had a couple interesting customer experiences that would make you smile. For example, they learned to bring  their own hoses to rinse out AC units. Why? Well, people, you see, have a very definite way of rolling up their hoses. One of their customers noticed they rolled his hose up clockwise instead of counter clockwise.

Yeah…well, these things do happen. They now make it a point to pay attention to the little details. That’s just the way they roll…hoses, that is.