1953 St. Louis Browns season

The 1953 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 54 wins and 100 losses, 46½ games behind the AL and World Series champion New York Yankees in their 52nd and final season in the Gateway City. After the season, the Browns moved to Baltimore, where they play today, and became 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’ Alva Holloman, known affectionately as "Bobo", pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics. The twenty-seven-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.

Season standings

Notable transactions

• July 23, 1953: Bobo Holloman was purchased from the Browns by the Toronto Maple Leafs for $7,500.^[5]
• September 1, 1953: Neil Berry was selected off waivers from the Browns by the Chicago White Sox.^[3]

Roster

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

Other batters

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

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

^[6]

Other pitchers

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

^[6]

Relief pitchers

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

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

Notes

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3. 
• 1953 St. Louis Browns team page at Baseball Reference
• 1953 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com