# 1939 St. Louis Browns season

The 1939 St. Louis Browns season, team finished eighth in the American League with a record of 43 wins and 111 losses.

## Regular season

The Browns lost a franchise record 111 games—not surpassed until the 2018 Baltimore Orioles (the team moved from St. Louis to Baltimore in 1954)—and finished 64.5 games out of first place.$^{:11}$ The Browns played particularly poorly at home, posting an 18–59 record. The 59 home losses stood as the most in a modern-era major league season until it was matched by the 2019 Detroit Tigers, who went 22–59 at home. Because of the shorter season, the Browns home winning percentage in 1939 (.234) is still the worst in history.
Browns pitching struggled tremendously. The pitchers allowed 739 walks, which was over 100 walks more than the next worse team.$^{:12}$ The team had an earned run average of 6.01.$^{:12}$ The next time that a team would have an ERA over 6.00 was the 1996 Detroit Tigers, who had an ERA of 6.38.$^{:12}$

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 106 | 45 | .702 | — | 52‍–‍25 | 54‍–‍20 |
| Boston Red Sox | 89 | 62 | .589 | 17 | 42‍–‍32 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Cleveland Indians | 87 | 67 | .565 | 20½ | 44‍–‍33 | 43‍–‍34 |
| Chicago White Sox | 86 | 69 | .555 | 22 | 50‍–‍27 | 36‍–‍42 |
| Detroit Tigers | 81 | 73 | .526 | 26½ | 42‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Washington Senators | 65 | 87 | .428 | 41½ | 37‍–‍39 | 28‍–‍48 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 55 | 97 | .362 | 51½ | 28‍–‍48 | 27‍–‍49 |
| St. Louis Browns | 43 | 111 | .279 | 64½ | 18‍–‍59 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1939 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | 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
## 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 | Joe Glenn | 88 | 286 | 78 | .273 | 4 | 29 |
| 1B | George McQuinn | 154 | 617 | 195 | .316 | 20 | 94 |
| 2B | Johnny Berardino | 126 | 468 | 120 | .256 | 5 | 58 |
| SS | Don Heffner | 110 | 375 | 100 | .267 | 1 | 35 |
| 3B | Harlond Clift | 151 | 526 | 142 | .270 | 15 | 84 |
| OF | Joe Gallagher | 71 | 266 | 75 | .282 | 9 | 40 |
| OF | Myril Hoag | 129 | 482 | 142 | .295 | 10 | 75 |
| 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 |
| Joe Grace | 74 | 207 | 63 | .304 | 3 | 22 |
| Sam Harshany | 42 | 145 | 35 | .241 | 0 | 15 |
| Mel Almada | 42 | 134 | 32 | .239 | 1 | 7 |
| Moose Solters | 40 | 131 | 27 | .206 | 0 | 14 |
| Hal Spindel | 48 | 119 | 32 | .269 | 0 | 11 |
| Mel Mazzera | 33 | 110 | 33 | .300 | 3 | 22 |
| Tommy Thompson | 30 | 86 | 26 | .302 | 1 | 7 |
| Sig Gryska | 18 | 49 | 13 | .265 | 0 | 8 |
| Red Kress | 13 | 43 | 12 | .279 | 0 | 8 |
| Beau Bell | 11 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 1 | 5 |
| Johnny Lucadello | 9 | 30 | 7 | .233 | 0 | 4 |
| Roy Hughes | 17 | 23 | 2 | .087 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Neighbors | 7 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 1 | 1 |
| Eddie Silber | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 | 19.0 | 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 | 126.0 | 3 | 12 | 5.71 | 48 |
| George Gill | 27 | 95.0 | 1 | 12 | 7.11 | 24 |
| Johnny Marcum | 12 | 47.2 | 2 | 5 | 7.74 | 14 |
| Jake Wade | 4 | 16.1 | 0 | 2 | 11.02 | 9 |
| Fred Johnson | 5 | 14.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.43 | 2 |
| Loy Hanning | 4 | 10.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.60 | 8 |
| Bill Cox | 4 | 9.1 | 0 | 2 | 9.64 | 8 |
| Ewald Pyle | 6 | 8.1 | 0 | 2 | 12.96 | 5 |
| Russ Van Atta | 2 | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 11.57 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Muncrief | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.00 | 1 |
| Myril Hoag | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Jim Walkup | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| 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