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1922 St. Louis Browns
League American League
Ballpark Sportsman's Park
City St. Louis, Missouri
Record93–61 (.604)
League place2nd
Owners Phil Ball
Managers Lee Fohl
←  1921 Seasons 1923 →

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.

Regular season

Ken Williams

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 .310, 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 Waite Hoyt who allowed only one run over eight innings. The win clinched the pennant for the Yankees.

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 94 60 0.610 50–27 44–33
St. Louis Browns 93 61 0.604 1 54–23 39–38
Detroit Tigers 79 75 0.513 15 43–34 36–41
Cleveland Indians 78 76 0.506 16 44–35 34–41
Chicago White Sox 77 77 0.500 17 43–34 34–43
Washington Senators 69 85 0.448 25 40–39 29–46
Philadelphia Athletics 65 89 0.422 29 38–39 27–50
Boston Red Sox 61 93 0.396 33 31–42 30–51

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston 10–12 6–16 5–17 13–9 10–12 7–15 10–12
Chicago 12–10 12–10–1 17–5 9–13 12–10 8–14 7–15
Cleveland 16–6 10–12–1 15–7 7–15 11–11 6–16 13–9
Detroit 17–5 5–17 7–15 11–11 16–6–1 9–13 14–8
New York 9–13 13–9 15–7 11–11 17–5 14–8 15–7
Philadelphia 12–10 10–12 11–11 6–16–1 5–17 9–13 12–10
St. Louis 15–7 14–8 16–6 13–9 8–14 13–9 14–8
Washington 12–10 15–7 9–13 8–14 7–15 10–12 8–14


Opening Day lineup

  • Jack Tobin RF
  • Frank Ellerbe 3B
  • George Sisler 1B
  • Ken Williams LF
  • Baby Doll Jacobson CF
  • Hank Severeid C
  • Wally Gerber SS
  • Marty McManus 2B
  • Urban Shocker P

Roster

1922 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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 Hank Severeid 137 517 166 .321 3 78
1B George Sisler 142 586 246 .420 8 105
2B Marty McManus 154 606 189 .312 11 109
SS Wally Gerber 153 604 161 .267 1 51
3B Frank Ellerbe 91 342 84 .246 1 33
OF Ken Williams 153 585 194 .332 39 155
OF Jack Tobin 146 625 207 .331 13 66
OF Baby 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
Eddie Foster 37 144 44 .306 0 12
Chick Shorten 55 131 36 .275 2 16
Pat Collins 63 127 29 .307 8 23
Herman Bronkie 23 64 18 .281 0 2
Jimmy Austin 15 31 9 .290 0 1
Gene Robertson 18 27 8 .296 0 1
Cedric Durst 15 12 4 .333 0 0
Josh 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
Urban Shocker 48 348.0 24 17 2.97 149
Elam Vangilder 43 245.0 19 13 3.42 63
Dixie 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
Ray Kolp 32 169.2 14 4 3.93 54
Rasty Wright 31 154.0 9 7 2.92 44
Hub Pruett 39 119.2 7 7 2.33 70
Bill Bayne 26 92.2 4 5 4.56 38
Dave Danforth 20 79.2 5 2 3.28 48

Note: Hub Pruett was team leader in saves with 7.

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
Dutch Henry 4 0 0 0 5.40 3
Heinie 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, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN  0-7385-3199-5
  2. ^ a b c d As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 10

References