1953 St. Louis Browns season explained

St. Louis Browns
Season:	1953
League:	American League
Ballpark:	Sportsman's Park
City:	St. Louis, Missouri
Record:	54–100 (.351)
League Place:	8th
Owners:	Bill Veeck
Managers:	Marty Marion
General Managers:	Bill Veeck
Radio:	KMOX (Buddy Blattner, Bill Durney, Milo Hamilton)
Next Season:	1954 Baltimore Orioles season

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, 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

• October 14, 1952: Ray Coleman, Bob Mahoney, Stan Rojek and $95,000 were traded by the Browns to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Billy Hunter.^[1]
• October 16, 1952: Joe DeMaestri and Tommy Byrne were traded by the Browns to the White Sox for Hank Edwards and Willy Miranda.^[2]
• October 27, 1952: Jake Crawford was traded by the Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Neil Berry, Cliff Mapes and $25,000.^[3]
• December 4, 1952: Jay Porter, Owen Friend and Bob Nieman were traded by the Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Johnny Groth, Virgil Trucks and Hal White.^[4]

Regular season

• 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]

Notable transactions

• July 23, 1953: Bobo Holloman was purchased from the Browns by the Toronto Maple Leafs for $7,500.^[8]
• September 1, 1953: Neil Berry was selected off waivers from the Browns by the Chicago White Sox.^[3]

Roster

1953 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

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		106	355	89	.251	4	19
1B		104	338	94	.278	16	50
2B		148	537	137	.255	4	25
SS		154	567	124	.219	1	37
3B		112	334	71	.213	9	27
OF		128	440	118	.268	19	70
OF		107	299	72	.241	13	38
OF		141	557	141	.253	10	57

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
	97	303	96	.317	10	35
	92	285	77	.270	8	35
	78	239	66	.276	2	28
	46	165	53	.321	4	17
	48	160	40	.250	5	29
	65	106	21	.198	0	9
	57	99	28	.283	0	11
	7	15	2	.133	0	2
	3	12	1	.083	1	1
	7	9	2	.222	0	1
	9	8	2	.250	1	1
	3	7	0	.000	0	0
	17	6	1	.167	0	0
	2	4	0	.000	0	0
	4	2	0	.000	0	0

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
	38	192.2	7	12	4.16	96
	31	166.2	7	13	4.48	58
	16	88.0	5	4	3.07	47
	10	60.1	2	6	3.28	61

^[9]

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
	36	152.1	7	12	5.08	104
	26	117.1	5	13	3.07	44
	32	99.2	4	10	6.23	36
	33	94.1	2	6	6.39	23
	22	81.0	1	5	5.11	37
	22	65.1	3	7	5.23	25
	10	22.1	0	1	7.25	8

^[9]

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
	60	8	2	6	3.94	46
	57	3	9	11	3.53	51
	10	0	0	0	2.61	2
	1	0	0	0	5.40	1

Awards and honors

1953 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Satchel Paige, reserve

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

See also: Minor League Baseball.

References

• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1953 St. Louis Browns team at Baseball-Reference
• 1953 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

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