1922 St. Louis Browns season

Last updated

1922  St. Louis Browns
League American League
Ballpark Sportsman's Park
City St. Louis, Missouri
Record93–61 (.604)
League place2nd
Owners Phil Ball
Managers Lee Fohl
  1921 Seasons 1923  

The 1922 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns winning 93 games, the only time in franchise history that the Browns topped the 90 win plateau. In the American League standings, the Browns finished in second place behind the New York Yankees. The Browns set a franchise record with 712,918 fans coming to watch the games. [1] This was approximately 100,000 higher than the previous high. The franchise would never approach this figure again in the St. Louis portion of franchise history; it would remain the franchise record for attendance until 1954, their first year in Baltimore. The 93 wins would remain a franchise record until the 1961 Orioles won 95 games.

Contents

Regular season

Ken Williams Ken-williams.jpg
Ken Williams

The Browns of 1922 had one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise. As a team, the Browns had a batting average of .310, which led the entire Major Leagues.

George Sisler had a batting average of .420, which was the third highest batting average in the 20th century. Sisler led the league with 246 hits, 18 triples, 134 runs scored and 51 stolen bases. [2] It was the only time that a Brown would lead the American League in triples and runs scored. [2] It would also be the last time that a Brown led the American League in batting average. [2]

Ken Williams became the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season. [2] The feat would not be accomplished again until Willie Mays did it in 1957. Williams batted .332 and led the American League with 39 home runs and 155 runs batted in. He also stole 37 bases, finishing second in the league to Sisler.

The Browns were in first place for 69 days but the New York Yankees overtook them on September 8. [1] The Browns could have regained first place but lost two of three games to New York in a later September series. In the last game of the series, the Browns had a 2–0 lead in the eighth inning. New York scored once in the eighth and then scored two more runs in the ninth inning to win the game. [1]

On the second to last day of the season, the Boston Red Sox sent rookie pitcher Alex Ferguson to pitch against New York. [1] The Yankees countered with Waite Hoyt who allowed only one run over eight innings. The win clinched the pennant for the Yankees.

Season standings

American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 9460.61050274433
St. Louis Browns 9361.604154233938
Detroit Tigers 7975.5131543343641
Cleveland Indians 7876.5061644353441
Chicago White Sox 7777.5001743343443
Washington Senators 6985.4482540392946
Philadelphia Athletics 6589.4222938392750
Boston Red Sox 6193.3963331423051

Record vs. opponents


Sources:
TeamBOSCWSCLEDETNYYPHASLBWSH
Boston 10–126–165–1713–910–127–1510–12
Chicago 12–1012–10–117–59–1312–108–147–15
Cleveland 16–610–12–115–77–1511–116–1613–9
Detroit 17–55–177–1511–1116–6–19–1314–8
New York 9–1313–915–711–1117–514–815–7
Philadelphia 12–1010–1211–116–16–15–179–1312–10
St. Louis 15–714–816–613–98–1413–914–8
Washington 12–1015–79–138–147–1510–128–14

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1922 St. Louis Browns
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

Player stats

= Indicates team leader
= Indicates league leader

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Hank Severeid 137517166.321378
1B George Sisler 142586246.4208105
2B Marty McManus 154606189.31211109
SS Wally Gerber 153604161.267151
3B Frank Ellerbe 9134284.246133
OF Ken Williams 153585194.33239155
OF Jack Tobin 146625207.3311366
OF Baby Doll Jacobson 145555176.3179102

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Eddie Foster 3714444.306012
Chick Shorten 5513136.275216
Pat Collins 6312729.307823
Herman Bronkie 236418.28102
Jimmy Austin 15319.29001
Gene Robertson 18278.29601
Cedric Durst 15124.33300
Josh Billings 573.42901

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Urban Shocker 48348.024172.97149
Elam Vangilder 43245.019133.4263
Dixie Davis 25174.11164.0865

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Ray Kolp 32169.21443.9354
Rasty Wright 31154.0972.9244
Hub Pruett 39119.2772.3370
Bill Bayne 2692.2454.5638
Dave Danforth 2079.2523.2848

Note: Hub Pruett was team leader in saves with 7.

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Dutch Henry 40005.403
Heinie Meine 10004.500

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p.11, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN   0-7385-3199-5
  2. 1 2 3 4 As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 10

References