As we all know, St. Louis is the best baseball town in America, but the city's major league history is not confined to the Cardinals. For several decades, until the middle of the twentieth century, St. Louis fielded a second professional team. True, it was mostly a losing team, but it once featured a first baseman who hit .400, a legendary Negro League star, and a pitcher who would go on to throw a perfect game in the World Series. They were the St. Louis Browns--the forerunners of the current Baltimore Orioles and a part of St. Louis's rich baseball history.

Sometimes life isn't fair: Most of the finishes in the 52-year history of the franchise (1901-1953) were in the depths of the second division. The one exception was 1922, a year in which the Browns led the league in batting, slugging, runs, triples, stolen bases, walks, strikeouts, saves and earned run average--and still came in second. This book meticulously recreates that year from spring training to season's end, when they fought the Yankees down to the wire, losing by one game on the next to the last day.

'Fans who think the game is wild now will appreciate Hetrick's account of Von der Ahe...who throughout the 1880s was embroiled in legal battles and baseball disputes that culminated in his own kidnapping and his stadium being burned to the ground. Direct ancestor to today's Cardinals, the Browns won the pennant four years in a row under his wild leadership.' REFERENCE AND RESEARCH BOOK NEWS"

The St. Louis Baseball Reader is a tale of two teams: one the city’s lovable losers, the other a formidable dynasty. The St. Louis Cardinals are the most successful franchise in National League history, while the St. Louis Browns were one of the least successful, yet most colorful, American League teams. Now Richard Peterson has collected the writings of some of baseball’s greatest storytellers to pay tribute to both these teams. His book, the first anthology devoted exclusively to the Cardinals and Browns, covers the rich history of St. Louis baseball from its late-nineteenth-century origins to the modern era. The St. Louis Baseball Reader is a celebration of the many legendary stars and colorful characters who wore St. Louis uniforms and the writers who told their stories, including Alfred Spink, Roger Angell, George Will, and Baseball Hall of Fame writers Bob Broeg, J. Roy Stockton, Red Smith, and Fred Lieb. Here, too, are John Grisham, who grew up a Redbirds fan in Mississippi, and Jack Buck, the most identifiable voice in Cardinal history. Great players—Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rogers Hornsby, Marty Marion, and Satchel Paige—tell their own stories, while Bill Veeck offers an account of his wild ride as the last Browns owner and Whitey Herzog shares regrets about the play that cost the Cardinals the 1985 World Series. From the days of the Gas House Gang to the 1944 “Streetcar Series,” from Bill Veeck’s legendary stunts to Mark McGwire’s pursuit of Roger Maris’s home-run record, the Reader will bring back memories for every fan. It takes in all of the magic of the ballpark—whether recounting the unhittable pitching of Bob Gibson, the slugging prowess of Stan “The Man” Musial, or the sterling glove-work of Ozzie Smith—along with reflective commentaries that tell how Jackie Robinson confronted racism and Curt Flood challenged the reserve clause. St. Louis is a city blessed with a memorable baseball history, and The St. Louis Baseball Reader perfectly captures the joy and heartbreak of its winning and losing teams. It’s a book that will delight current fans of the Cardinals and old-timers who fondly recall the Browns.

World War II threatened to ruin Major League Baseball. By 1945, over 500 major leaguers and 3,000 minor league prospects had been enlisted for the war effort, leaving a dearth of talent for the Big Leagues. The St. Louis Browns, like other AL and NL clubs, would be forced to fill holes in their roster with scrubs-4-F players (those dismissed from the military due to physical ailments), retired major leaguers, and youngsters not yet ready to leave the minors. But there were still some top level players to be had, and 1944 Browns manager Luke Sewell assembled the franchise's most successful team ever, taking the St. Louis ball club to its first and only Fall Classic.

A 1987 calendar, with illustrations of Browns players, Browns statistics, anniversaries, etc.