1922 St. Louis Browns season

1922 St. Louis Browns
Major league affiliations
Location
1922 Information
Owner(s) Phil Ball
Manager(s) Lee Fohl
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The 1922 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns winning 93 games, the only time in franchise history that the Browns topped the 90 win plateau. In the American League standings, the Browns finished in second place behind the New York Yankees. The Browns set a franchise record with 712,918 fans coming to watch the games.[1] This was approximately 100,000 higher than the previous high.

Contents

Regular season

The Browns of 1922 had one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise. As a team, the Browns had a batting average of .313, which led the entire Major Leagues.

George Sisler had a batting average of .420, which was the third highest batting average in the 20th century. Sisler led the league with 246 hits, 18 triples, 134 runs scored and 51 stolen bases.[2] It was the only time that a Brown would lead the American League in triples and runs scored.[2] It would also be the last time that a Brown led the American League in batting average.[2]

Ken Williams became the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season.[2] The feat would not be accomplished again until Willie Mays did it in 1957. Williams batted .332 and led the American League with 39 home runs and 155 runs batted in. He also stole 37 bases, finishing second in the league to Sisler.

The Browns were in first place for 69 days but the New York Yankees overtook them on September 8.[1] The Browns could have regained first place but lost two of three games to New York in a later September series. In the last game of the series, the Browns had a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning. New York scored once in the eighth and then scored two more runs in the ninth inning to win the game.[1]

On the second to last day of the season, the Boston Red Sox sent rookie pitcher Alex Ferguson to pitch against New York.[1] The Yankees countered with Herb Pennock who allowed only one hit over eight innings. The win clinched the pennant for the Yankees.

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB
New York Yankees 94 60 .610 --
St. Louis Browns 93 61 .604 1
Detroit Tigers 79 75 .513 15
Cleveland Indians 78 76 .506 16
Chicago White Sox 77 77 .500 17
Washington Senators 69 85 .448 25
Philadelphia Athletics 65 89 .422 29
Boston Red Sox 61 93 .396 33

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1922 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

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 Severeid, HankHank Severeid 137 517 166 .321 3 78
1B Sisler, GeorgeGeorge Sisler 142 586 246 .420 8 105
2B McManus, MartyMarty McManus 154 606 189 .312 11 109
OF Williams, KenKen Williams 153 585 194 .332 39 155
OF Tobin, JackJack Tobin 146 625 207 .331 13 122
OF Jacobson, Baby DollBaby Doll Jacobson 145 555 176 .317 9 102

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
Collins, PatPat Collins 63 127 29 .307 8 23
Austin, JimmyJimmy Austin 15 31 9 .290 0 1
Billings, JoshJosh Billings 5 7 3 .429 0 1

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
Shocker, UrbanUrban Shocker 48 348 24 17 2.97 149
Vangilder, ElamElam Vangilder 43 245 19 13 3.42 63
Davis, DixieDixie Davis 25 174.1 11 6 4.08 65

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
Kolp, RayRay Kolp 32 169.2 14 4 3.93 54
Wright, RastyRasty Wright 31 154 9 7 2.92 44
Pruett, HubHub Pruett 39 119.2 7 7 2.33 70
Bayne, BillBill Bayne 26 92.2 4 5 4.56 38
Danforth, DaveDave Danforth 20 79.2 5 2 3.28 48

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
Henry, DutchDutch Henry 4 0 0 0 5.40 3
Meine, HeinieHeinie Meine 1 0 0 0 4.50 0

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p.11, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5
  2. ^ a b c d As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 10

References

American League
Boston • Chicago • Cleveland • Detroit • New York • Philadelphia • St. Louis • Washington
National League
Formerly the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Browns · Based in Baltimore, Maryland
Franchise
Ballparks
Culture
Lore
Rivalries
Retired numbers
4 · 5 · 8 · 20 · 22 · 33 · 42
Key personnel
Owner: Peter Angelos · President of Baseball Operations: Vacant · Manager: Buck Showalter
World Series
Championships (3)
1966 · 1970 · 1983
American League
Championships (7)
1944 · 1966 · 1969 · 1970 · 1971 · 1979 · 1983
American League East
Championships (8)
1969 · 1970 · 1971 · 1973  · 1974 · 1979  · 1983 · 1997
American League Wild Card
(1)
Minor league
affiliates
Norfolk Tides (AAA) · Bowie Baysox (AA) · Frederick Keys (A) · Delmarva Shorebirds (A) · Aberdeen IronBirds (A) · GCL Orioles (Rookie) · DSL Orioles 1 (Rookie)
Broadcasting