1941 St. Louis Browns season

1941 St. Louis Browns
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkSportsman's Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record70–84 (.455)
League place6th
OwnersDonald Lee Barnes
General managersBill DeWitt
ManagersFred Haney, Luke Sewell
RadioKWK
(Dizzy Dean)
KXOK
← 1940 Seasons 1942 →

The 1941 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing 6th in the American League with a record of 70 wins and 84 losses.

Offseason

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Regular season

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The 1941 season marked a change in management, as Luke Sewell was appointed the Browns new manager on June 5, 1941.[2] While the St. Louis Cardinals drew over 600,000 fans, the Browns barely drew 175,000.[3] The consensus was that St. Louis could not support two teams.

Potential move to Los Angeles

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The Browns ownership had reached an agreement to move the franchise to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce had guaranteed attendance of 500,000, a figure that the Browns had not seen since their 1924 season.[3] The Browns would play in the stadium that was used by the Pacific Coast League's Los Angeles Angels. As part of the agreement to move to Los Angeles, the Browns would buy the stadium.[3] It was expected that all Major League Baseball owners would approve of the move at the upcoming Winter Meetings.[3] Before the scheduled meetings, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and California would stay closed to Major League Baseball for another decade.

Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 101 53 .656 51‍–‍26 50‍–‍27
Boston Red Sox 84 70 .545 17 47‍–‍30 37‍–‍40
Chicago White Sox 77 77 .500 24 38‍–‍39 39‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians 75 79 .487 26 42‍–‍35 33‍–‍44
Detroit Tigers 75 79 .487 26 43‍–‍34 32‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns 70 84 .455 31 40‍–‍37 30‍–‍47
Washington Senators 70 84 .455 31 40‍–‍37 30‍–‍47
Philadelphia Athletics 64 90 .416 37 36‍–‍41 28‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston 16–6 9–13 11–11 9–13–1 16–6 9–13 14–8
Chicago 6–16 17–5 12–10–1 8–14 10–12 11–11–1 13–9
Cleveland 13–9 5–17 10–12 7–15 15–7 13–9–1 12–10
Detroit 11–11 10–12–1 12–10 11–11 13–9 11–11 7–15
New York 13–9–1 14–8 15–7 11–11 14–8 18–4 16–6–1
Philadelphia 6–16 12–10 7–15 9–13 8–14 11–11 11–11
St. Louis 13–9 11–11–1 9–13–1 11–11 4–18 11–11 11–11–1
Washington 8–14 9–13 10–12 15–7 6–16–1 11–11 11–11–1


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1941 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Rick Ferrell 100 321 81 .252 2 23
1B George McQuinn 130 495 147 .297 18 80
2B Don Heffner 110 399 93 .233 0 17
SS Johnny Berardino 128 469 127 .271 5 89
3B Harlond Clift 154 584 149 .255 17 84
OF Wally Judnich 146 546 155 .284 14 83
OF Chet Laabs 118 392 109 .278 15 59
OF Roy Cullenbine 149 501 159 .317 9 98

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Joe Grace 115 362 112 .309 6 60
Johnny Lucadello 107 351 98 .279 2 31
Bob Swift 63 170 44 .259 0 21
Alan Strange 45 112 26 .232 0 11
Bobby Estalella 46 83 20 .241 0 14
Rip Radcliff 19 71 20 .282 2 14
Frank Grube 18 39 6 .154 0 1
George Archie 9 29 11 .379 0 5
Glenn McQuillen 7 21 7 .333 0 3
Chuck Stevens 4 13 2 .154 0 2
Vern Stephens 3 2 1 .500 0 0
Myril Hoag 1 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Elden Auker 34 216.0 14 15 5.50 60
Denny Galehouse 30 190.1 9 10 3.64 61
Bob Harris 34 186.2 12 14 5.21 57
Johnny Niggeling 24 168.1 7 9 3.80 68
Vern Kennedy 6 45.0 2 4 4.40 6

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Muncrief 36 214.1 13 9 3.65 67
George Caster 32 104.1 3 7 5.00 36
Johnny Allen 20 67.0 2 5 6.58 27

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Jack Kramer 29 4 3 2 5.16 20
Bill Trotter 29 4 2 0 5.98 17
Fritz Ostermueller 15 0 3 0 4.50 20
Maury Newlin 14 0 2 1 6.51 10
Archie McKain 8 0 1 1 8.10 2
Emil Bildilli 2 0 0 0 11.57 2
Hooks Iott 2 0 0 0 9.00 1

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AA Toledo Mud Hens American Association Zack Taylor and Fred Haney
A1 San Antonio Missions Texas League Marty McManus
B Meridian Eagles Southeastern League Bennie Tate
B Springfield Browns Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Art Scharein
C St. Joseph Autos Michigan State League Elmer Kirchoff
C Youngstown Browns Middle Atlantic League Joe Bilgere and Len Schulte
C St. Joseph Ponies/Carthage Browns Western Association Walter Holke, Gus Albright and Dennis Burns
D Lafayette White Sox Evangeline League Bobby Goff
D Mayfield Browns KITTY League Bill Hornsby
D Paragould Browns Northeast Arkansas League Sam Hancock and Gus Albright
D Pueblo Rollers Western League Pug Griffin

St. Joseph franchise transferred to Carthage and renamed, June 3, 1941[5]

References

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  1. ^ George Caster page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 13, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5
  3. ^ a b c d As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 12, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5
  4. ^ Rip Radcliff page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997
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