St. Louis Browns - The Roaring Twenties (1920-1929)

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1920

Decade

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Titles:

Top Browns Players of the Twenties

None

Pitchers:

BallPark:

Urban Shocker (31.78) - 69

Sportsman's Park

Elam VanGilder (11.3) - 46

Dixie Davis (15.11) - 35

Team Name:

Alvin Crowder (10.11) - 26

St. Louis Browns

Sam Gray (11.25) - 26

Dave Danforth (9.49) - 22

Owner:

Milt Gaston (5.35) - 21

Phillip D Ball

George Blaeholder (5.17) - 15

Ernie Wingard (5.84) - 14

General Managers:

Ray Kolp (4.34) - 13

Bob Quinn (1920-1922)

Lefty Stewart (6.23) - 11

Managers:

Catchers:

Jimmy Burke (1920)

Hank Severeid (12.87) - 43

Lee Fohl (1921-1923)

Wally Schang (10.32) - 20

Jimmy Austin (1923)

George Sisler (1924-1926)

First Basemen:

Dan Howley (1927-1929)

George Sisler (28.77) - 79

Lu Blue (9.36) - 20

No Hitters:

None

Second Basemen:

Ski Melillo (0.33) - 10

Hall of Famers:

George Sisler

ShortStop:

Heinie Manush

Wally Gerber (3.57) - 37

Red Kress (4.39) - 15

MVP:

George Sisler (1922)

Third Basemen:

Marty McManus (15.39) - 41

Notable Events:

Outfield:

1920 - The cross town Cardinals sell off their substandard Robison

Ken Williams (38.39) - 103

Park and lease Sportsman's Park from the Browns. This was done

Baby Doll Jacobson (23.18) - 70

for a couple of reasons. Sportsman's Park was a light years better

Jack Tobin (12.7) - 34

venue to play in and the Cards didn't want to go into a huge hole

Harry Rice (8.79) - 31

building a comparable ball park when one already existed in St. Louis

Heinie Manush (11.47) - 25

and, more importantly, the Cardinals needed to raise captial to

Fred Schulte (6.3) - 24

establish baseball's first Farm System. The Cardinals, betting the

Bing Miller (4.58) - 19

farm, so to speak, on this manuever is what was the ultimate reason

for their success and, conversley, the failure of the Browns in St. Louis.

Notable Events:

1921 - The Browns finish third with eighty one wins. Baseball has

1923 - St. Louis finishes under .500. Shocker wins twenty again but

suddenly turned into a hitter's game and the Browns have plenty of

the rest of the pitching staff goes south. The big blow is that Sisler

hitters. They also have twenty seven game winner Urban Shocker

misses the season with double vision due to complications from the

flu. When he does come back in 1924, he's no longer the same

1922 - St. Louis contends to the last day, finishing a game out of

Hall of Fame callibre player. Williams, Tobin and Jacobson all regress

first. George Sisler bats .420. Ken Williams wins the home run and

a bit, as well, probably because Sisler was no longer around.

RBI titles and finishes second in stolen bases. Sisler wins the stolen

You lose synergy in your lineup when you lose a superstar.

base title. The team bats .313. Urban Shocker wins 24. Elam

VanGilder, Dixie Davis and Ray Kolp all have big years on the mound.

1925 - The Browns bounce back to third place, but it’s a mirage. This

group has had their run as a contender. St. Louis is by no means a

1922 - Flush with success, owner Ball expands Sportsman's Park

horrible team at this point as they will finish above .500 the last two

capacity to 34,000

seasons of the decade after a couple of pretty bad seasons in

26 and '27. But they're nowhere near as good as their

1923 - General Manager Bob Quinn leaves the club to own the

main competition, the crosstown rival Cardinals.

Boston Red Sox. Quinn was the only one in the Browns front

office who knew what he was doing and the Browns success

1926 - The Cardinals win the World Series and capture the city.

immediately declined after he left.