1939 St. Louis Browns season

The 1939 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 43 wins and 111 losses.

1939 St. Louis Browns
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Sportsman's Park (since 1902) St. Louis, Missouri (since 1902)
Results
Record	43–111 (.279)
League place	8th
Other information
Owner(s)	Donald Lee Barnes
General manager(s)	Bill DeWitt
Manager(s)	Fred Haney
Local radio	KMOX (France Laux, Cy Casper) KWK (Johnny O'Hara, Jim Bottomley)
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Regular season

The Browns lost a franchise record 111 games—not surpassed until the 2018 Baltimore Orioles[1] (the team moved from St. Louis to Baltimore in 1954)—and finished 64.5 games out of first place.[2]^:11 The Browns played particularly poorly at home, posting an 18–59 record. The 59 home losses stood as the most in a modern-era major league season until it was matched by the 2019 Detroit Tigers, who went 22–59 at home. Because of the shorter season, the Browns home winning percentage in 1939 (.234) is still the worst in history.[3]

Browns pitching struggled tremendously. The pitchers allowed 739 walks, which was over 100 walks more than the next worse team.[2]^:12 The team had an earned run average of 6.01.[2]^:12 The next time that a team would have an ERA over 6.00 was the 1996 Detroit Tigers, who had an ERA of 6.38.[2]^:12

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	106	45	0.702	—	52–25	54–20
Boston Red Sox	89	62	0.589	17	42–32	47–30
Cleveland Indians	87	67	0.565	20½	44–33	43–34
Chicago White Sox	86	69	0.555	22	50–27	36–42
Detroit Tigers	81	73	0.526	26½	42–35	39–38
Washington Senators	65	88	0.425	42	37–40	28–48
Philadelphia Athletics	55	97	0.362	51½	28–48	27–49
St. Louis Browns	43	111	0.279	64½	18–59	25–52

Record vs. opponents

1939 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	8–14	11–11	10–12	11–8–1	18–4	16–6	15–7
Chicago	14–8	—	12–10	12–10	4–18	11–11	18–4	14–8–1
Cleveland	11–11	10–12	—	11–11	7–15	18–4	16–6	14–8
Detroit	12–10	10–12	11–11	—	9–13	11–11	14–8–1	14–8
New York	8–11–1	18–4	15–7	13–9	—	18–4	19–3	15–7
Philadelphia	4–18	11–11	4–18	11–11	4–18	—	13–9–1	8–12
St. Louis	6–16	4–18	6–16	8–14–1	3–19	9–13–1	—	7–15
Washington	7–15	8–14–1	8–14	8–14	7–15	12–8	15–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 13, 1939: Red Kress, Beau Bell, Bobo Newsom, and Jim Walkup were traded by the St. Louis Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Vern Kennedy, Bob Harris, George Gill, Roxie Lawson, Chet Laabs, and Mark Christman.[4]

Roster

1939 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers -- Emil Bildilli 20 Ed Cole 19 Bill Cox 19,22 George Gill -- Loy Hanning 12,19 Bob Harris 16 Fred Johnson 24,33 Vern Kennedy 21,25,27 Harry Kimberlin 30 Jack Kramer 12,17 Roxie Lawson 14 Johnny Marcum 20,25,27 Lefty Mills 33 Bob Muncrief 12 Bobo Newsom  9 Ewald Pyle 17,22 Bill Trotter 21 Russ Van Atta 28 Jake Wade 24 Jim Walkup 11,14 John Whitehead		Catchers 10,26 Joe Glenn  9 Sam Harshany 25,31 Hal Spindel Infielders 8,14 Johnny Berardino 6,10 Mark Christman  7 Harlond Clift  4 Sig Gryska  1 Don Heffner 11 Roy Hughes -- Red Kress -- Johnny Lucadello  5 George McQuinn -- Bob Neighbors		Outfielders  6 Mel Almada 10 Beau Bell 18 Joe Gallagher  3 Joe Grace 4,15 Myril Hoag 3,8 Chet Laabs 18 Mel Mazzera -- Moose Solters  2 Billy Sullivan 33 Tommy Thompson Other batters -- Eddie Silber		Manager 32 Fred Haney Coaches 28 Fred Hofmann 29 Frank Shellenback

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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	Joe Glenn	88	286	78	.273	4	29
1B	George McQuinn	154	617	195	.316	20	94
2B	Johnny Berardino	126	468	120	.256	5	58
SS	Don Heffner	110	375	100	.267	1	35
3B	Harlond Clift	151	526	142	.270	15	84
OF	Joe Gallagher	71	266	75	.282	9	40
OF	Myril Hoag	129	482	142	.295	10	75
OF	Chet Laabs	95	317	95	.300	10	62

Other batters

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
Billy Sullivan	118	332	96	.289	5	50
Mark Christman	79	222	48	.216	0	20
Sam Harshany	42	145	35	.241	0	15
Tommy Thompson	30	86	26	.302	1	7
Red Kress	13	43	12	.279	0	8
Beau Bell	11	32	7	.219	1	5

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jack Kramer	40	211.2	9	16	5.83	68
Vern Kennedy	33	191.2	9	17	5.73	55
Bobo Newsom	6	45.2	3	1	4.73	28
Emil Bildilli	2	19	1	1	3.32	8

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bill Trotter	41	156.2	6	13	5.34	61
Roxie Lawson	36	150.2	3	7	5.32	43
Lefty Mills	34	144.1	4	11	6.55	103
Bob Harris	28	126	3	12	5.71	48
George Gill	27	95	1	12	7.11	24
Johnny Marcum	12	47.2	2	5	7.74	14
Fred Johnson	5	14	0	1	6.43	2
Loy Hanning	4	10	0	1	3.60	8
Bill Cox	4	9.1	0	2	9.64	8

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
John Whitehead	26	1	3	1	5.86	9
Harry Kimberlin	17	1	2	0	5.49	11
Ed Cole	6	0	2	0	7.11	5
Jim Walkup	1	0	1	0	0.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Toledo Mud Hens	American Association	Myles Thomas
A1	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	Zack Taylor
B	Springfield Browns	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Walter Holke
C	Youngstown Browns	Middle Atlantic League	Billy Urbanski
C	Topeka Owls	Western Association	Bill Wilson
D	Fayetteville Angels	Arkansas–Missouri League	Frank Oceak
D	Lafayette White Sox	Evangeline League	Rod Whitney
D	Mayfield Browns	KITTY League	Bennie Tate
D	Paragould Broncos	Northeast Arkansas League	Elmer Kirchoff
D	Beaver Falls Browns	Pennsylvania State Association	Ralph Goldsmith
D	Lincoln Links	Western League	Pug Griffin

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Springfield, Lafayette[5]

References

1. Golen, Jimmy (September 26, 2018). "Red Sox send Orioles to record-112th loss, 19-3". Boston.com. AP. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
2. As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5
3. "Tigers tie MLB record with 59th home loss". MLB.com. September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
4. Red Kress page at Baseball Reference
5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

External links

• 1939 St. Louis Browns team page at Baseball Reference
• 1939 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com