1939 St. Louis Browns season

1939 St. Louis Browns
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Sportsman's Park (since 1902)
St. Louis, Missouri (since 1902)
Results
Record	43–111 (.279)
League place	8th
Other information
Owner(s)	Donald Lee Barnes
General manager(s)	Bill DeWitt
Manager(s)	Fred Haney
Local radio	KMOX (France Laux, Cy Casper) KWK (John O'Hara, Jim Bottomley)
< Previous season     Next season  >

The 1939 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 43 wins and 111 losses.

Regular season

The Browns lost a franchise record 111 games, and finished 64.5 games out of first place.

Browns pitching struggled tremendously. The pitchers allowed 739 walks, which was over 100 walks more than the next worse team. The team had an earned run average of 6.01. The next time that a team would have an ERA over 6.00 was the Detroit Tigers in 1996. The 1996 Tigers had an ERA of 6.38.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	106	45	.702	--
Boston Red Sox	89	62	.589	17
Cleveland Indians	87	67	.565	20.5
Chicago White Sox	85	69	.552	22.5
Detroit Tigers	81	73	.526	26.5
Washington Senators	65	87	.428	41.5
Philadelphia Athletics	55	97	.362	51.5
St. Louis Browns	43	111	.279	64.5

Record vs. opponents

1939 American League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	8–14	11–11	10–12	11–8–1	18–4	16–6	15–7
Chicago	14–8	—	12–10	12–10	4–18	11–11	18–4	14–8–1
Cleveland	11–11	10–12	—	11–11	7–15	18–4	16–6	14–8
Detroit	12–10	10–12	11–11	—	9–13	11–11	14–8–1	14–8
New York	8–11–1	18–4	15–7	13–9	—	18–4	19–3	15–7
Philadelphia	4–18	11–11	4–18	11–11	4–18	—	13–9–1	8–12
St. Louis	6–16	4–18	6–16	8–14–1	3–19	9–13–1	—	7–15
Washington	7–15	8–14–1	8–14	8–14	7–15	12–8	15–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 13, 1939: Red Kress, Beau Bell, Bobo Newsom, and Jim Walkup were traded by the St. Louis Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Vern Kennedy, Bob Harris, George Gill, Roxie Lawson, Chet Laabs, and Mark Christman.

Roster

1939 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers -- Emil Bildilli 20 Ed Cole 19 Bill Cox 19,22 George Gill -- Loy Hanning 12,19 Bob Harris 16 Fred Johnson 24,33 Vern Kennedy 21,25,27 Harry Kimberlin 30 Jack Kramer 12,17 Roxie Lawson 14 Johnny Marcum 20,25,27 Lefty Mills 33 Bob Muncrief 12 Bobo Newsom  9 Ewald Pyle 17,22 Bill Trotter 21 Russ Van Atta 28 Jake Wade 24 Jim Walkup 11,14 John Whitehead		Catchers 10,26 Joe Glenn  9 Sam Harshany 25,31 Hal Spindel Infielders 8,14 Johnny Berardino 6,10 Mark Christman  7 Harlond Clift  4 Sig Gryska  1 Don Heffner 11 Roy Hughes -- Red Kress -- Johnny Lucadello  5 George McQuinn -- Bob Neighbors		Outfielders  6 Mel Almada 10 Beau Bell 18 Joe Gallagher  3 Joe Grace 4,15 Myril Hoag 3,8 Chet Laabs 18 Mel Mazzera -- Moose Solters  2 Billy Sullivan 33 Tommy Thompson Other batters -- Eddie Silber		Manager 32 Fred Haney Coaches 28 Fred Hofmann 29 Frank Shellenback

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
2B	Johnny Berardino	126	468	120	.256	5	58
OF	Chet Laabs	95	317	95	.300	10	62

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
Billy Sullivan	118	332	96	.289	5	50
Mark Christman	79	222	48	.216	0	20
Sam Harshany	42	145	35	.241	0	15
Tommy Thompson	30	86	26	.302	1	7
Red Kress	13	43	12	.279	0	8
Beau Bell	11	32	7	.219	1	5

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
Jack Kramer	40	211.2	9	16	5.83	68
Vern Kennedy	33	191.2	9	17	5.73	55
Bobo Newsom	6	45.2	3	1	4.73	28
Emil Bildilli	2	19	1	1	3.32	8

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
Bill Trotter	41	156.2	6	13	5.34	61
Roxie Lawson	36	150.2	3	7	5.32	43
Lefty Mills	34	144.1	4	11	6.55	103
Bob Harris	28	126	3	12	5.71	48
George Gill	27	95	1	12	7.11	24
Johnny Marcum	12	47.2	2	5	7.74	14
Fred Johnson	5	14	0	1	6.43	2
Loy Hanning	4	10	0	1	3.60	8
Bill Cox	4	9.1	0	2	9.64	8

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
John Whitehead	26	1	3	1	5.86	9
Harry Kimberlin	17	1	2	0	5.49	11
Ed Cole	6	0	2	0	7.11	5
Jim Walkup	1	0	1	0	0.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Toledo Mud Hens	American Association	Myles Thomas
A1	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	Zack Taylor
B	Springfield Browns	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Walter Holke
C	Youngstown Browns	Middle Atlantic League	Billy Urbanski
C	Topeka Owls	Western Association	Bill Wilson
D	Fayetteville Angels	Arkansas–Missouri League	Frank Oceak
D	Lafayette White Sox	Evangeline League	Rod Whitney
D	Mayfield Browns	KITTY League	Bennie Tate
D	Paragould Broncos	Northeast Arkansas League	Elmer Kirchoff
D	Beaver Falls Browns	Pennsylvania State Association	Ralph Goldsmith
D	Lincoln Links	Western League	Pug Griffin

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Springfield, Lafayette

References

• 1939 St. Louis Browns team page at Baseball Reference
• 1939 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com