New Britain herald., 1915-04-23
Ls Phue Kid
 
Sp0rfOgraphy
 BY GRAVY"
ST. LOUIS BROWNS ARE JUST THIRTEEN YEARS OLD TO-DAY.
BY "GRAVY."

This Is the thirteenth birthday of the St. Louis Browns, as the Mound City club pulled off it's first pastime in the American league on April 23. 1902. And if you are eager to know why the said Browns have so often been the jokes of the league, here's why: The Browns were the thir- teenth club to be admitted to Byron Bancroft Johnson's little old circuit Thus is torn aside the snrowd of mystery which has heretofore sur rounded Bob Hedges club.
 The American League Browns are the successors in name, if not in ability to win pennants, of the old St. Louis Browns which f1ourished in the old American Association days. Char icy Comiskey. now the owner of the Chicago White SoX, was the first base man of the old Browns Later he became manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The old Roman helped Ban Johnson to launch the Western league which grew into the American league
 St. Louis has had q long and varied experience in major league baseball
 The Missouri metropolis was a char ter member of the National league when 1t was launched in 1876, but dropped out after a couple of years. The old American Association, a
 major league which fiourished from lSS2 to 1891, claimed the ailegiance
 CT the St. Louis fans. and the club captured four pennants in a row. be- ginning with 1885, and took part in four worlds series with National league clubs. In 1884 St. Louis won the flag in the Union Association. an outlaw major circuit, and could doubt less have won the worlds title if the Providence team. the National league leader and the winner of the worlds series with the New York Metropolis tans of the American Association, had been willing to meet the outlaws.
 St. Louis was restored to the Ma tonal league in 1885 and 1886. but
 was then dropped again, and did not come back into the National fold
 until 1892. The St. Louis Nationals l have never finished better than the
 third place, which they achieved in | 1876 and again last year.
 The St. Louis Browns of the Ameri-
 can league celebrated their entrance
 on April 23, 1912, by beatinf Cleve-
 lcnd to 2. Under the management
 of Jimmy McAleer. who had piloted l the 1IeNeland cluD during the previous
 two years, the Browns made a strong
 race for the pennant, and finished l second. Tn the following five years
 the Browns were a second division ! club. In 1908 they managed to finish 1 Tn fourth place, but since then. until
 last year, the Browns have shown a l Uriah Heep-like humility. and have been the butts of all the other clubs Ralph Orthwein was the president
 Of the Browns during theIr first year l but since then they have been owned
 by Robert Lee Hedges, a wealthy St Louis banker. McAleer continued al
 the head of the club for eight years l but finally gave it up as bad job i In 1910 John O'Connor tried his hand as pilot. but the club finished in the cellar, and repeated the following year under the management of Bobby Wallace. George Stovall took over the helm in 1912. but he did no better and in 1913 Branch Hickey was given the job. Under Rickey's management the tumble" Browns gave the fans a liz surprise, and at one time they were actually considered as pennant contenders. They finished at the ton of the second division. which was a wonderful feat for the Browns.