1953 St. Louis Browns season

1953 St. Louis Browns
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkSportsman's Park
CitySt. Louis, Missouri
Record54–100 (.351)
League place8th
OwnersBill Veeck
General managersBill Veeck
ManagersMarty Marion
RadioKMOX
(Buddy Blattner, Bill Durney, Milo Hamilton)
← 1952 Seasons 1954 →

The 1953 St. Louis Browns season was the 53rd season in Browns history and their final in St. Louis. It involved the Browns finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 54 wins and 100 losses, 46+1⁄2 games behind the AL and World Series champion New York Yankees. After the season, the Browns moved to Baltimore, where they are now known as the Baltimore Orioles.

Offseason

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Regular season

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  • May 6, 1953: In his first major league start, the Browns' Bobo Holloman pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics. The 27-year-old Holloman struck out three, walked five, and helped himself offensively by batting in three of the Browns' runs with a pair of singles in the Browns' 6–0 victory. (Holloman finished the season with a 3–7 record and did not pitch in the major leagues after 1953.)
  • June 3 through July 7, 1953: The Browns lost twenty consecutive games at home. This remained the longest home losing streak (in terms of number of losses) in North American major professional sports until the Edmonton Elks lost their twenty-first game on July 29, 2023.[5]
  • September 27, 1953: The Browns ended their 51-year residence in St. Louis, losing to the Chicago White Sox at home 2–1 in 11 innings[6] to complete a sweep by the White Sox, giving the Browns 100 losses for the year.[7] Official attendance was 3,174.[6]

Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 99 52 .656 — 50‍–‍27 49‍–‍25
Cleveland Indians 92 62 .597 8½ 53‍–‍24 39‍–‍38
Chicago White Sox 89 65 .578 11½ 41‍–‍36 48‍–‍29
Boston Red Sox 84 69 .549 16 38‍–‍38 46‍–‍31
Washington Senators 76 76 .500 23½ 39‍–‍36 37‍–‍40
Detroit Tigers 60 94 .390 40½ 30‍–‍47 30‍–‍47
Philadelphia Athletics 59 95 .383 41½ 27‍–‍50 32‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns 54 100 .351 46½ 23‍–‍54 31‍–‍46

Record vs. opponents

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1953 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 6–16 13–9 13–9 10–11 15–7 17–5 10–12
Chicago 16–6 — 11–11–1 14–8–1 9–13 10–12 17–5 12–10
Cleveland 9–13 11–11–1 — 14–8 11–11 19–3 17–5 11–11
Detroit 9–13 8–14–1 8–14 — 6–16 11–11–3 7–15 11–11
New York 11–10 13–9 11–11 16–6 — 17–5 17–5 14–6
Philadelphia 7–15 12–10 3–19 11–11–3 5–17 — 13–9 8–14
St. Louis 5–17 5–17 5–17 15–7 5–17 9–13 — 10–12
Washington 12–10 10–12 11–11 11–11 6–14 14–8 12–10 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1953 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 Clint Courtney 106 355 89 .251 4 19
1B Dick Kryhoski 104 338 94 .278 16 50
2B Bobby Young 148 537 137 .255 4 25
SS Billy Hunter 154 567 124 .219 1 37
3B Jim Dyck 112 334 71 .213 9 27
OF Vic Wertz 128 440 118 .268 19 70
OF Dick Kokos 107 299 72 .241 13 38
OF Johnny Groth 141 557 141 .253 10 57

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
Don Lenhardt 97 303 96 .317 10 35
Roy Sievers 92 285 77 .270 8 35
Les Moss 78 239 66 .276 2 28
Vern Stephens 46 165 53 .321 4 17
Bob Elliott 48 160 40 .250 5 29
Hank Edwards 65 106 21 .198 0 9
Neil Berry 57 99 28 .283 0 11
Ed Mickelson 7 15 2 .133 0 2
Jim Pisoni 3 12 1 .083 1 1
Johnny Lipon 7 9 2 .222 0 1
Dixie Upright 9 8 2 .250 1 1
Marty Marion 3 7 0 .000 0 0
Willy Miranda 17 6 1 .167 0 0
Frank Kellert 2 4 0 .000 0 0
Babe Martin 4 2 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
Don Larsen 38 192.2 7 12 4.16 96
Duane Pillette 31 166.2 7 13 4.48 58
Virgil Trucks 16 88.0 5 4 3.07 47
Bob Turley 10 60.1 2 6 3.28 61

[9]

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
Dick Littlefield 36 152.1 7 12 5.08 104
Harry Brecheen 26 117.1 5 13 3.07 44
Bob Cain 32 99.2 4 10 6.23 36
Mike Blyzka 33 94.1 2 6 6.39 23
Lou Kretlow 22 81.0 1 5 5.11 37
Bobo Holloman 22 65.1 3 7 5.23 25
Max Lanier 10 22.1 0 1 7.25 8

[9]

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
Marlin Stuart 60 8 2 6 3.94 46
Satchel Paige 57 3 9 11 3.53 51
Hal White 10 0 0 0 2.61 2
Bob Habenicht 1 0 0 0 5.40 1

Awards and honors

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1953 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Casey Stengel kept to his word and named Paige to the 1953 All-Star team despite Paige not having a very good year. He got in the game in the eighth inning. First Paige got Gil Hodges to line out, then after Roy Campanella singled up the middle, Eddie Mathews popped out. He then walked Duke Snider and Enos Slaughter lined a hit to center to score Campanella. National League pitcher Murry Dickson drove in Snider, but was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit into a double. Paige ended the year with a disappointing 3–9 record, but a respectable 3.53 ERA. Paige was released after the season when Veeck once again had to sell the team.

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AA San Antonio Missions Texas League Jim Crandall and Bill Norman
A Wichita Indians Western League George Hausmann and Mark Christman
A Lewiston Broncs Western International League Bill Brenner
B York White Roses Piedmont League Mark Christman, Bill Enos and George Hausmann
B Anderson Rebels Tri-State League Hillis Layne
C Pine Bluff Judges Cotton States League Frank Lucchesi
C Aberdeen Pheasants Northern League Barney Lutz
C Pocatello Bannocks Pioneer League Hersh Martin and Butch Moran
C Thetford Mines Mineurs Provincial League Bill Krueger
D Wytheville Statesmen Appalachian League John O'Donnell
D Valdosta Browns Georgia–Florida League Rollie Stuckney and Gil Torres
D Ada Herefords Sooner State League Louis Brower

Notes

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  1. ^ "Ray Coleman". at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ "Joe DeMaestri". at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ a b "Neil Berry". at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ "Jay Porter". at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ "Elks blanked by Lions, set mark for longest home losing streak in North American pro sports". TSN. July 29, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Sep 27, 1953, White Sox at Browns Play by Play and Box Score". Baseball Reference. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  7. ^ "1953 St. Louis Browns Schedule". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  8. ^ "Bobo Holloman". www.baseball-reference.com.
  9. ^ a b "1953 St. Louis Browns Statistics". www.baseball-reference.com.

References

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