St. Louis Browns
Overview
It may surprise some - those with no sense of baseball history, for example - to learn that the St. Louis have more victories than losses in the course of their existence, 2,528 to 2,512. That distinction is likely to go away next year as this team figures to have its 4th straight losing campaign. Given that this squad's issues are more money-related than anything else, it's probable that the next time they sport a winning record, the Depression will be over and there will really be a chicken in every put like that liar Hoover said.
The Browns were worst in the league in hitting and second-worst in pitching. What can you say? This isn't just a team without talent, it's a team that is more or less forced to jettison any talent that they get before said talent asks for more money. Said talent should be thankful for the job that it has! If it wasn't for baseball, said talent would probably be standing in front of the docks of St. Louis looking for work. Yes, that's right: said talent is very, very stupid because St. Louis does not even have real docks.
Manager Juan Avila has a long history of managing in the minor leagues. Prior to his job last season with the Browns, the entirety of his major league experience was a year and a half stint with the Boston Red Sox. In 1922 he won Manager of the Year honors in leading them to an unlikely pennant. In 1923 he got off to a 35-48 start and was fired. So far in St. Louis he has proven to be no miracle-worker, but hey, what do you expect.
Pitching
Ryan Jeter is the "ace" of the Browns' staff. On just about any other staff he'd be a #4 starter and/or long reliever, but this is the state of St. Louis Browns' affairs. The pitcher known as "Mudcat" has a lifetime record of 16-25 and doesn't really distinguish himself in anything but the ability to keep the ball down. Actually,
Pat Alton opened the season as staff ace. He was, you guessed it, traded.
Behind Jeter, things get a bit dire.
John Anderson struggled with his control and with the gopher ball. If the ball is rejuiced again like we think it's going to be, that could spell real trouble.
Glen Addicott posted a fine ERA but a poor won-lost record and we'd be very surprised if that ERA stays where it was in '33 given that he walked twice as many batters as he struck out.
Woody Harlow was a former Cardinal who was cut by the other team that plays at Sportsman's Park after he started the year 0-7 and 6.64. He pitched well enough for the Browns to keep him but not nearly well enough that anybody else would want him.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
Ryan Jeter 27 10 16 0.385 33 33 0 230 267 108 9 90 63 4.23
John Anderson 22 7 14 0.333 31 24 1 179.2 193 84 15 82 55 4.21
Glen Addicott 26 6 14 0.300 25 25 0 171.1 187 60 8 43 21 3.15
Woody Harlow 27 6 12 0.333 18 18 0 142.1 145 58 10 74 52 3.67
Roy Cossey 27 7 6 0.538 14 14 0 120 112 36 7 42 55 2.70
Pat Alton 31 5 6 0.455 13 13 0 110.2 108 44 3 21 16 3.58
Miguel Márquez 29 6 5 0.545 41 0 4 80 78 32 6 29 30 3.60
George McCall 26 1 6 0.143 15 8 0 64.2 70 33 6 20 19 4.59
Lowell Laymon 35 0 1 0.000 29 0 1 41.2 56 21 3 17 12 4.54
Eddie Gallaher 20 2 3 0.400 27 0 7 39 43 25 4 32 16 5.77
*John Hall 22 2 3 0.400 6 6 0 35.2 48 21 4 18 12 5.30
*Homer Beeman 18 2 2 0.500 6 6 0 35.1 46 15 0 18 11 3.82
Dave Fortenberry 30 1 2 0.333 16 0 5 23 20 4 0 3 10 1.57
*Marc Côté 21 1 0 1.000 13 0 2 17.2 21 5 0 9 7 2.55
Russell Charles 29 0 0 0.000 8 0 1 13.1 22 9 2 2 2 6.08
*Dean Gates 32 0 1 0.000 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 9.00
Nick Nugent 20 0 1 0.000 5 0 1 6.1 7 4 1 1 2 5.68
Jimmy Russel 24 0 3 0.000 4 4 0 24.2 36 20 1 13 5 7.30
Tim Stamper 22 2 1 0.667 3 3 0 24 25 10 0 8 4 3.75
Team Totals 25.7 58 96 0.377 308 154 22 1360.1 1485 590 80 522 392 3.90
Catchers
The Browns stuck with
Bill McDonald throughout the second half of the season despite his not clearing .200. He has a great arm, a reputation for calling games well (though you wouldn't know it in St. Louis), and has a pretty decent eye. He has never gotten a chance to play in the majors due to a complete inability to make good, consistent contact with the ball. Still, he wasn't appreciably worse than last year's starter
Eduardo Gonzales, who seemed to completely forget how to hit last year. Still, the Browns may have pulled the trigger too early on moving him to the bench.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
C *Bill McDonald 26 63 60 189 14 37 6 5 3 20 2 1 25 11 0.196 0.290 0.328
C Eduardo González 29 53 43 134 14 32 4 0 1 9 0 0 15 10 0.239 0.318 0.291
C Mike Thompson 33 59 40 142 17 36 6 2 0 11 2 1 21 17 0.254 0.348 0.324
C Chris Johnson 25 14 11 43 3 11 4 0 1 8 0 0 1 1 0.256 0.273 0.419
Infield
It was bad enough when
Bob O'Daniel hit .300 in 1932, a .300 which was about as empty a .300 as you're ever going to find, but when he batted .208 in April and .265 in May (with OBP and SLGs under .300) even the Browns needed to make a move, They brought in
Cliff Shoemake from Cincinnati in exchange for their closer Dave Fortenberry, who, let's face it, they had no use for. Shoemake hit well enough to make fans forget about O'Daniel, which to be honest is not a high bar to hurdle.
Dillon Newkirk is one of the few Browns to start for them more or less the whole season and is on an even smaller list of players who actually deserved the honor. Newkirk doesn't wow you with his hitting, but he's a scrappy guy with softer hands than you'd expect and a very discerning batting eye. Best of all, he even seems to want to play for this team, as crazy as that sounds. The team did give
Bill Pell a bit of a look in September but even if he makes the team, Newkirk need not be worried; Newkirk has a good enough arm to play at third and frankly the incumbent is not that great.
The incumbent of whom we speak is
Brian Coleman. He had passable power last year, and could probably break into double digits if allowed to play 150 games, but he doesn't do anything else all that well. The incompetence of his replacements means he keeps his job... for now.
Tom Huse had an unimpressive rookie season but does a lot of things the Browns like. For one thing, no man in the league is a better bunter than he. Some may be as good, but nobody can really outstrip Huse's ability to knock one down the line for either a base hit or runner advancement. In the field, he tantalizes with great reactions a tremendous first step, but he also committed 48 errors in the field, worst in the AL by a considerable margin (Cleveland's Vernon Friedrich was 2nd with 38).
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
1B Bob O'Daniel 23 96 83 349 21 94 7 1 1 39 0 1 9 28 0.269 0.285 0.304
1B *Cliff Shoemake 26 71 68 257 25 67 14 3 3 24 6 1 32 19 0.261 0.339 0.374
1B *Gary Mellen 20 10 10 41 2 13 4 0 1 6 0 0 2 3 0.317 0.349 0.488
2B Dillon Newkirk 27 119 114 409 43 104 16 6 3 32 1 0 62 45 0.254 0.358 0.345
2B Bill Pell 23 14 14 43 6 12 1 2 0 4 0 1 4 4 0.279 0.347 0.395
2B *Matt Brown 31 11 9 34 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.206 0.229 0.206
3B Brian Coleman 27 98 96 391 47 97 24 4 7 34 1 3 27 37 0.248 0.307 0.384
3B David Sherrill 28 46 33 143 13 37 2 0 0 12 0 1 10 14 0.259 0.314 0.273
3B Bob Stewart 24 31 31 125 17 37 10 1 0 9 0 0 11 7 0.296 0.353 0.392
SS Tom Huse 22 135 132 528 55 135 24 11 2 56 1 1 25 56 0.256 0.286 0.354
Outfield
Dan Manning is more of a utility man than a natural outfielder, a guy whose real value is in the way he makes a somewhat adequate backup middle infielder who can occasionally play in left if someone's hurt. Naturally, for the Browns Manning started 29 games out there and hit in the middle of the lineup more often than not, particularly after
Carl Austin left town. Eventually, the team will give the job to
Dave Durst, who seemed to turn a corner in the minors last year, hitting .362 on the year for Toronto. He wasn't able to repeat that performance on the major league level, though, and he could be 2-3 seasons away.
Bill McDermott had an okay rookie season, at least by Browns standards. He didn't embarrass himself with the bat, although the team will need more than 23 extra-base hits and 24 walks from him in the long run, and in the field he was recognized with a Gold Glove award. He covers as much ground as anyone in the league, which is good news for those Browns pitchers who specialize in allowing line drives to the outfield. Which is all of them.
In 1932 the Browns conducted a "challenge" trade for
Martin Hagans, sending the New York Giants Jon Montague in return (in fairness, the Giants had to add Ryan Jeter in that deal to properly sweeten things up). At that time, Hagans looked like the more polished of the two players, and impressed a lot of people in the Browns' front office with his speed and natural skills. Last year he looked completely lost, hitting .173 before the team finally pulled the plug and sent him down to the minors to try to re-find his stroke.
Sal Rodriguez ended up getting most of the post-Hagan at-bats; the former Tigers and Reds prospect showed why he is no longer with those teams, but then again nobody else proved to be any better.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
LF *Dan Manning 27 76 64 234 27 65 4 0 3 22 8 3 33 28 0.278 0.366 0.333
LF Carl Austin 26 56 56 231 23 65 11 2 2 24 0 0 15 23 0.281 0.320 0.372
LF Dave Durst 19 30 30 120 9 29 6 1 0 17 0 0 5 18 0.242 0.278 0.308
LF *Earl Luster 32 6 0 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.143 0.143 0.143
CF Bill McDermott 22 118 116 497 56 137 16 7 0 25 12 10 24 46 0.276 0.310 0.336
RF *Salvador Rodríguez 28 94 75 321 29 75 20 6 0 25 12 7 12 30 0.234 0.263 0.333
RF Martin Hagans 25 67 50 208 26 36 8 1 2 21 6 1 11 13 0.173 0.212 0.250
RF *Don Long 35 75 39 188 16 46 6 1 1 18 1 0 7 20 0.245 0.272 0.303
RF *Dennis Morse 24 36 25 104 9 26 4 4 0 11 0 0 7 10 0.250 0.297 0.365
RF Ross Sutton 30 53 33 148 13 39 7 4 1 25 1 2 7 6 0.264 0.295 0.385
- Lindsay Cintron 22 3 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.333
Team Totals 26 1742 1386 5302 511 1303 220 62 32 489 53 33 375 511 0.246 0.296 0.329