1941 St. Louis Browns season

1941  St. Louis Browns
League	American League
Ballpark	Sportsman's Park
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	70–84 (.455)
League place	6th
Owners	Donald Lee Barnes
General managers	Bill DeWitt
Managers	Fred Haney, Luke Sewell
Radio	KWK (Dizzy Dean) KXOK
←  1940 Seasons 1942  →

The 1941 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing 6th in the American League with a record of 70 wins and 84 losses.

Offseason

• November 16, 1940: George Caster was selected off waivers by the Browns from the Philadelphia Athletics. ^[1]

Regular season

The 1941 season marked a change in management, as Luke Sewell was appointed the Browns new manager on June 5, 1941. ^[2] While the St. Louis Cardinals drew over 600,000 fans, the Browns barely drew 175,000. ^[3] The consensus was that St. Louis could not support two teams.

Potential move to Los Angeles

The Browns ownership had reached an agreement to move the franchise to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce had guaranteed attendance of 500,000, a figure that the Browns had not seen since their 1924 season. ^[3] The Browns would play in the stadium that was used by the Pacific Coast League's Los Angeles Angels. As part of the agreement to move to Los Angeles, the Browns would buy the stadium. ^[3] It was expected that all Major League Baseball owners would approve of the move at the upcoming Winter Meetings. ^[3] Before the scheduled meetings, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and California would stay closed to Major League Baseball for another decade.

Season standings

v t e American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	101	53	0.656	—	51–26	50–27
Boston Red Sox	84	70	0.545	17	47–30	37–40
Chicago White Sox	77	77	0.500	24	38–39	39–38
Cleveland Indians	75	79	0.487	26	42–35	33–44
Detroit Tigers	75	79	0.487	26	43–34	32–45
St. Louis Browns	70	84	0.455	31	40–37	30–47
Washington Senators	70	84	0.455	31	40–37	30–47
Philadelphia Athletics	64	90	0.416	37	36–41	28–49

Record vs. opponents

1941 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	16–6	9–13	11–11	9–13–1	16–6	9–13	14–8
Chicago	6–16	—	17–5	12–10–1	8–14	10–12	11–11–1	13–9
Cleveland	13–9	5–17	—	10–12	7–15	15–7	13–9–1	12–10
Detroit	11–11	10–12–1	12–10	—	11–11	13–9	11–11	7–15
New York	13–9–1	14–8	15–7	11–11	—	14–8	18–4	16–6–1
Philadelphia	6–16	12–10	7–15	9–13	8–14	—	11–11	11–11
St. Louis	13–9	11–11–1	9–13–1	11–11	4–18	11–11	—	11–11–1
Washington	8–14	9–13	10–12	15–7	6–16–1	11–11	11–11–1	—

Notable transactions

• May 5, 1941: Rip Radcliff was purchased from the Browns by the Detroit Tigers for $25,000. ^[4]

Roster

1941 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers 30 Johnny Allen 18 Elden Auker 20 Emil Bildilli 25 George Caster 22 Denny Galehouse 24 Bob Harris 26 Hooks Iott 27 Vern Kennedy 19 Jack Kramer 30 Archie McKain 29 Bob Muncrief 23 Maury Newlin 21 Johnny Niggeling 16 Fritz Ostermueller 17 Bill Trotter		Catchers 11 Rick Ferrell  6 Frank Grube  8 Bob Swift Infielders 52 George Archie  4 Johnny Berardino  7 Harlond Clift  1 Don Heffner  5 Johnny Lucadello  3 George McQuinn  6 Vern Stephens 10 Chuck Stevens  2 Alan Strange		Outfielders 50 Roy Cullenbine 14 Bobby Estalella  9 Joe Grace 12 Wally Judnich 28 Chet Laabs 15 Glenn McQuillen 11 Rip Radcliff Other batters 11 Myril Hoag		Manager 34 Fred Haney 32 Luke Sewell Coaches 35 Johnny Bassler 33 Fred Hofmann 34 Zack Taylor

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	Rick Ferrell	100	321	81	.252	2	23
1B	George McQuinn	130	495	147	.297	18	80
2B	Don Heffner	110	399	93	.233	0	17
SS	Johnny Berardino	128	469	127	.271	5	89
3B	Harlond Clift	154	584	149	.255	17	84
OF	Wally Judnich	146	546	155	.284	14	83
OF	Chet Laabs	118	392	109	.278	15	59
OF	Roy Cullenbine	149	501	159	.317	9	98

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
Joe Grace	115	362	112	.309	6	60
Johnny Lucadello	107	351	98	.279	2	31
Bob Swift	63	170	44	.259	0	21
Alan Strange	45	112	26	.232	0	11
Bobby Estalella	46	83	20	.241	0	14
Rip Radcliff	19	71	20	.282	2	14
Frank Grube	18	39	6	.154	0	1
George Archie	9	29	11	.379	0	5
Glenn McQuillen	7	21	7	.333	0	3
Chuck Stevens	4	13	2	.154	0	2
Vern Stephens	3	2	1	.500	0	0
Myril Hoag	1	1	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
Elden Auker	34	216.0	14	15	5.50	60
Denny Galehouse	30	190.1	9	10	3.64	61
Bob Harris	34	186.2	12	14	5.21	57
Johnny Niggeling	24	168.1	7	9	3.80	68
Vern Kennedy	6	45.0	2	4	4.40	6

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
Bob Muncrief	36	214.1	13	9	3.65	67
George Caster	32	104.1	3	7	5.00	36
Johnny Allen	20	67.0	2	5	6.58	27

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
Jack Kramer	29	4	3	2	5.16	20
Bill Trotter	29	4	2	0	5.98	17
Fritz Ostermueller	15	0	3	0	4.50	20
Maury Newlin	14	0	2	1	6.51	10
Archie McKain	8	0	1	1	8.10	2
Emil Bildilli	2	0	0	0	11.57	2
Hooks Iott	2	0	0	0	9.00	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Toledo Mud Hens	American Association	Zack Taylor and Fred Haney
A1	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	Marty McManus
B	Meridian Eagles	Southeastern League	Bennie Tate
B	Springfield Browns	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Art Scharein
C	St. Joseph Autos	Michigan State League	Elmer Kirchoff
C	Youngstown Browns	Middle Atlantic League	Joe Bilgere and Len Schulte
C	St. Joseph Ponies/Carthage Browns	Western Association	Walter Holke, Gus Albright and Dennis Burns
D	Lafayette White Sox	Evangeline League	Bobby Goff
D	Mayfield Browns	KITTY League	Bill Hornsby
D	Paragould Browns	Northeast Arkansas League	Sam Hancock and Gus Albright
D	Pueblo Rollers	Western League	Pug Griffin

St. Joseph franchise transferred to Carthage and renamed, June 3, 1941 ^[5]

References

1. George Caster page at Baseball Reference
2. As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 13, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN   0-7385-3199-5
3. As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 12, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN   0-7385-3199-5
4. Rip Radcliff page at Baseball Reference
5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

External links

• 1941 St. Louis Browns team page at Baseball Reference
• 1941 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com