# List of St. Louis Browns Opening Day starting pitchers

The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that played in St. Louis, Missouri from 1902 through 1953. The franchise moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it was known as the Milwaukee Brewers, after the 1901 season. It moved to Baltimore, Maryland after the 1953 season, where it became known as the Baltimore Orioles. The Browns played their home games at Sportsman's Park. They played in the American League. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. The Browns used 35 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 52 seasons. The Browns won 26 of those games against 25 losses in those Opening Day starts. They also played one tie game.
Urban Shocker and Ned Garver had the most Opening Day starts for the Browns, with four apiece. Harry Howell, Carl Weilman, Sam Gray and Bobo Newsom each had three Opening Day starts for the Browns. The other pitchers with multiple Opening Day starts for the Browns were Red Donahue, Jack Powell and Lefty Stewart. The Browns won three of both Shocker's and Garver's Opening Day starts, more than any other Browns' pitchers. The Browns lost two of Weilman's Opening Day starts. They did not lose more than one Opening Day game started by any other pitcher.
Although over their history the Browns won only one more Opening Day game than they lost, they did have a nine-game winning streak in Opening Day games from 1937 through 1945. That winning streak immediately followed their longest losing streak in Opening Day games, which was five losses from 1932 through 1936.
The Browns' first game in St. Louis was played on April 23, 1902 against the Cleveland Indians at Sportsman's Park. Their Opening Day starting pitcher for that game was Red Donahue. The Browns won the game 5–2. The Browns advanced to the World Series only once during their time in St. Louis, in 1944. In their only postseason appearance, they lost the 1944 World Series to their Sportsman's Park cotennant St. Louis Cardinals, four games to two. Jack Kramer was the Browns Opening Day starting pitcher that season. The Browns won that game.
The franchise's only major league Opening Day game as the Milwaukee Brewers was played on April 25, 1901 against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit. Pink Hawley was the Brewers' Opening Day starting pitcher. The Brewers lost the game by a score of 14–13.

## Key

| Season | Each year is linked to an article about that particular Browns season. |
| W | Win |
| L | Loss |
| T | Tie game; no decision to starting pitcher |
| ND (W) | No decision by starting pitcher; Browns won game |
| ND (L) | No decision by starting pitcher; Browns lost game |
| (W) | Browns won game; no information on starting pitcher's decision |
| (L) | Browns lost game; no information on starting pitcher's decision |
| (#) | Number of appearances as Opening Day starter |
| ** | AL Champions |

## Pitchers

| Year | Pitcher | Decision | Opponent | Location |
| 1901 | Pink Hawley | (L) | Detroit Tigers | Bennett Park |
| 1902 | Red Donahue | (W) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1903 | Red Donahue (2) | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1904 | Ed Siever | (L) | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1905 | Harry Howell | (W) | Chicago White Sox | South Side Park |
| 1906 | Harry Howell (2) | (L) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1907 | Harry Howell (3) | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1908 | Barney Pelty | (W) | Cleveland Indians | League Park |
| 1909 | Jack Powell | (L) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1910 | Bill Grahame | (L) | Chicago White Sox | South Side Park |
| 1911 | Jack Powell (2) | (W) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1912 | Joe Lake | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1913 | Carl Weilman | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1914 | Carl Weilman (2) | (L) | Detroit Tigers | Tiger Stadium |
| 1915 | Carl Weilman (3) | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1916 | Bob Groom | (L) | Cleveland Indians | League Park |
| 1917 | Earl Hamilton | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1918 | Grover Lowdermilk | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1919 | Dave Davenport | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1920 | Allen Sothoron | (L) | Cleveland Indians | League Park |
| 1921 | Urban Shocker | (W) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1922 | Urban Shocker (2) | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1923 | Urban Shocker (3) | (L) | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1924 | Urban Shocker (4) | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1925 | Joe Bush | (L) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1926 | Milt Gaston | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1927 | Tom Zachary | T | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1928 | Sam Gray | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Tiger Stadium |
| 1929 | Sam Gray (2) | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1930 | Sam Gray (3) | (L) | Detroit Tigers | Tiger Stadium |
| 1931 | Lefty Stewart | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1932 | Lefty Stewart (2) | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1933 | Bump Hadley | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1934 | George Blaeholder | (L) | Cleveland Indians | League Park |
| 1935 | Bobo Newsom | (L) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1936 | Ivy Andrews | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1937 | Oral Hildebrand | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1938 | Bobo Newsom (2) | (W) | Cleveland Indians | League Park |
| 1939 | Bobo Newsom (3) | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1940 | Slick Coffman | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Tiger Stadium |
| 1941 | Elden Auker | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1942 | Bob Muncrief | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1943 | Al Hollingsworth | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1944** | Jack Kramer | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Tiger Stadium |
| 1945 | Sig Jakucki | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1946 | Nels Potter | (L) | Detroit Tigers | Tiger Stadium |
| 1947 | Denny Galehouse | (L) | Detroit Tigers | Sportsman's Park |
| 1948 | Fred Sanford | (L) | Cleveland Indians | Cleveland Stadium |
| 1949 | Ned Garver | (W) | Cleveland Indians | Sportsman's Park |
| 1950 | Ned Garver (2) | (W) | Chicago White Sox | Comiskey Park |
| 1951 | Ned Garver (3) | (L) | Chicago White Sox | Sportsman's Park |
| 1952 | Ned Garver (4) | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Tiger Stadium |
| 1953 | Virgil Trucks | (W) | Detroit Tigers | Busch Stadium |

## Footnote

$^a$ As the Milwaukee Brewers