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
Location
Results
Record43–111 (.279)
League place8th
Other information
Owner(s)Donald Lee Barnes
General manager(s)Bill DeWitt
Manager(s)Fred Haney
Local radioKMOX
(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 10645 0.702 52–25 54–20
Boston Red Sox 8962 0.589 17 42–32 47–30
Cleveland Indians 8767 0.565 20½ 44–33 43–34
Chicago White Sox 8669 0.555 22 50–27 36–42
Detroit Tigers 8173 0.526 26½ 42–35 39–38
Washington Senators 6588 0.425 42 37–40 28–48
Philadelphia Athletics 5597 0.362 51½ 28–48 27–49
St. Louis Browns 43111 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 8–1411–1110–1211–8–118–416–615–7
Chicago 14–812–1012–104–1811–1118–414–8–1
Cleveland 11–1110–1211–117–1518–416–614–8
Detroit 12–1010–1211–119–1311–1114–8–114–8
New York 8–11–118–415–713–918–419–315–7
Philadelphia 4–1811–114–1811–114–1813–9–18–12
St. Louis 6–164–186–168–14–13–199–13–17–15
Washington 7–158–14–18–148–147–1512–815–7

Notable transactions

Roster

1939 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders
  •  2 Billy Sullivan

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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
CJoe Glenn8828678.273429
1BGeorge McQuinn154617195.3162094
2BJohnny Berardino126468120.256558
SSDon Heffner110375100.267135
3BHarlond Clift151526142.2701584
OFJoe Gallagher7126675.282940
OFMyril Hoag129482142.2951075
OFChet Laabs9531795.3001062

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 Sullivan11833296.289550
Mark Christman7922248.216020
Sam Harshany4214535.241015
Tommy Thompson308626.30217
Red Kress134312.27908
Beau Bell11327.21915

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 Kramer40211.29165.8368
Vern Kennedy33191.29175.7355
Bobo Newsom645.2314.7328
Emil Bildilli219113.328

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 Trotter41156.26135.3461
Roxie Lawson36150.2375.3243
Lefty Mills34144.14116.55103
Bob Harris281263125.7148
George Gill27951127.1124
Johnny Marcum1247.2257.7414
Fred Johnson514016.432
Loy Hanning410013.608
Bill Cox49.1029.648

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 Whitehead261315.869
Harry Kimberlin171205.4911
Ed Cole60207.115
Jim Walkup10100.000

Farm system

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]

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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
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