The St. Louis Browns
  Historical Society & Fan Club


1902-1953
Mike Veeck to Speak At Browns Dinner Oct. 8
 
It is a name synonymous with fun at the ballpark. 
 
Veeck continues to blaze new trails every baseball season. After all, who else would hire a dog or pig
                                              to deliver baseballs to the umpire, mimes to perform instant replays
                                              or lock fans out of the stadium to set an all-time attendance record
                                              for fewest people at a game.
 
                                              Mike Veeck will be one of the featured speakers at the
                                              25th Anniversary Dinner of the St. Louis Browns Fan
                                              Club. The date is Thursday, October 8, 2009.
 
                                              The Veeck family started in baseball nearly a century ago when
                                               when Veeck’s grandfather was president of the Chicago Cubs.
                                               Veeck’s father, Bill, was a Hall of Fame owner with the St. Louis
                                               Browns, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and the then-minor
                                               league Milwaukee Brewers. Bill Veeck will always be remembered for
                                               signing Larry Doby, the first black man to play in the American
                                               League and for signing the best midget player in the history of
                                               baseball along with a 42-year old rookie.
 
                                               It is with the belief that anything is possible and no idea too silly
                                               that Veeck operates his ball clubs. Veeck is the part owner of six
                                               baseball teams and is a consultant for one other. In 2005, he was 
                                               recognized by Baseball America as one of the 25 most influential people in baseball over the last 25 years. He has worked for four and a half Major League baseball teams including the White Sox, Marlins, Tigers and Rays. The half is a secret!
 
Serving to put fun back into baseball while proving his ideas are not specific to sport, Veeck has spoken and entertained groups at companies such as the NBA, 3M, General Mills, and NASCAR.  His first book was released in 2005, entitled "Fun is Good," describing how the simple approach of putting “fun” back into the workplace brings out the best in your employees and keeps your customers coming back for more. He has taken the "Fun is Good" way of life and helped his teams routinely reach attendance and customer service milestones, while receiving national publicity and awards for innovative promotions. He has made appearances on 60 Minutes, HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, NBC Nightly News and ESPN Sportscenter. 
 
As an advertising professional, Veeck serves as the creative director for
Advertising Professionals, and recently received the 2007 Silver Medal
Award from the Advertising Federation of Charleston, SC. 
 
Mark your calendar for Thursday, October 8, 2009.  More details will be
announced later this summer.
 
TO PUT YOUR NAME ON A PRIORITY MAIL LIST FOR THIS PROGRAM,
SEND AN EMAIL TO:
 
For information:
Bill Rogers, Editor Pop Flies
P.O. Box 510047
St. Louis, MO 63151-0047
Tel: 314-892-8632
stlbrowns@swbell.net
 
 
 
The History of the St. Louis Browns
by William Borst
 
The old expression about the St. Louis Browns was, "First in shoes,
first in booze, and last in the American League." In their 52-year history,
the Browns finished in the cellar 14 times, and seventh 12 times. They
made only a dozen appearances in the first division. Once, in 1944, they
treated their fans to a pennant.
 
After the 1901 season, the Milwaukee Brewers, charter members of the American League, moved to St. Louis and became the Browns - a name that recalled the glorious history of Chris von der Ahe's Brown Stockings. In their first St. Louis season, the Browns finished second. After years of prosperity at the gate, in 1916 owner Robert Hedges sold the team to Philip Ball, who had owned the St. Louis Terriers of the defunct Federal League. Ball's tenure, lasting until 1933, was one of failure.
 
Ball's first major blunder was allowing Branch Rickey, the resident genius in the Browns' front office, to jump to the Cardinals because of a conflict of egos. In 1920 Sam Breadon, who had just purchased the Cardinals, beseeched Ball to allow his team to cohabit the Browns' home, Sportsman's Park. Breadon put the money from the sale of the Cardinals' Robison Field into the minor league system, which eventually produced a host of star players that brought the Cardinals far more drawing power than the Browns.
 
The 1922 Browns excited their owner by almost beating the Yankees to a pennant. The club was boasting the best players in franchise history, including future Hall of Famer George Sisler, and an outfield trio - Ken Williams, Baby Doll Jacobson, and Jack Tobin - that batted .300 or better in 1919-23 and in 1925. Ball confidently predicted that there would be a World Series in Sportsman's Park by 1926. In anticipation, he increased the capacity of his ballpark from 18,000 to 30,000. There was a World Series in Sportsman's Park in 1926 - with the Cardinals upsetting the Yankees. St. Louis had been considered a "Browns' town" until then.
 
The Browns drew only 80,922 fans for the entire 1936 season - the first year of Donald Barnes' ownership. The downward spiral reached its nadir in 1939; from 1937 to 1939, the Browns compiled a 144-316 record. The franchise was developing a hard-luck aura; in 1941 Barnes tried to move his team to Los Angeles. The league meeting for approval was held in Chicago one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Understandably, Barnes was denied.
 
With the arrival of manager Luke Sewell in 1941, the Browns began a rebuilding program that culminated in their only World Series appearance, in 1944. It took two home runs by outfielder Chet Laabs against the Yankees on the final day of the season to clinch the pennant. After leading the Cardinals two games to one in the Trolley Series, the Browns lost the final three contests, and the World Championship. Due primarily to WWII, the 1940s have been described as a time when "even the Browns" won a pennant, demeaning their only legitimate success. One-armed Pete Gray was employed in their 1945 outfield, further enhancing their negative legacy.
 
The owners that followed the 1944 pennant, Richard Muckerman (1945-49), and Bill and Charlie DeWitt, were caught in a spiral of rising inflation and sagging expectation. The Browns had to sell off players to pay their bills; when attendance dropped as a result, they were forced to sell more talent.
 
In 1951 Bill  Veeck bought the noncontending Browns with the expressed purpose of driving the Cardinals out of town.  Cardinals owner Fred Saight had income tax trouble that resulted in a prision team, but August Busch restored order by purchasing the team.  To draw fans, Veeck gave them "fun 'n' games," including midget Eddie Gaedel.  The stunts so angered the other owners that Veech was forced to sell the club to Baltimore interests in 1953, putting an end to the St. Louis Browns.