1938 St. Louis Browns season

The 1938 St. Louis Browns season involved the Browns finishing 7th in the American League with a record of 55 wins and 97 losses.

1938 St. Louis Browns
League	American League
Ballpark	Sportsman's Park
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Record	55–97 (.362)
League place	7th
Owners	Donald Lee Barnes
General managers	Bill DeWitt
Managers	Gabby Street and Ski Melillo
Radio	KMOX (France Laux, Jim Alt) KWK (Johnny O'Hara, Allan Anthony)
Seasons

Offseason

• December 1, 1937: Elon Hogsett was traded by the Browns to the Washington Senators for Ed Linke.
• December 2, 1937: Joe Vosmik was traded by the Browns to the Boston Red Sox for Red Kress, Buster Mills and Bobo Newsom.

Regular season

Season standings

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	99	53	.651	—	55‍–‍22	44‍–‍31
Boston Red Sox	88	61	.591	9½	52‍–‍23	36‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians	86	66	.566	13	46‍–‍30	40‍–‍36
Detroit Tigers	84	70	.545	16	48‍–‍31	36‍–‍39
Washington Senators	75	76	.497	23½	44‍–‍33	31‍–‍43
Chicago White Sox	65	83	.439	32	33‍–‍39	32‍–‍44
St. Louis Browns	55	97	.362	44	31‍–‍43	24‍–‍54
Philadelphia Athletics	53	99	.349	46	28‍–‍47	25‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1938 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	12–6	12–10	10–12	11–11–1	14–8	17–5	12–9
Chicago	6–12	—	9–13	7–15	8–14	12–10	13–8–1	10–11
Cleveland	10–12	13–9	—	12–10	8–13	18–4	13–9–1	12–9
Detroit	12–10	15–7	10–12	—	8–14	14–8	12–10–1	13–9
New York	11–11–1	14–8	13–8	14–8	—	16–5–2	15–7–1	16–6–1
Philadelphia	8–14	10–12	4–18	8–14	5–16–2	—	12–9	6–16
St. Louis	5–17	8–13–1	9–13–1	10–12–1	7–15–1	9–12	—	7–15
Washington	9–12	11–10	9–12	9–13	6–16–1	16–6	15–7	—

Opening Day lineup

• Mel Mazzera, LF
• Billy Sullivan Jr., C
• Sam West, CF
• Beau Bell, 3B
• Harlond Clift, 3B
• Red Kress, SS
• George McQuinn, 1B
• Don Heffner, 2B
• Bobo Newsom, P

Notable transactions

• June 11, 1938: Jack Knott was traded by the Browns to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Bill Cox.
• September 8, 1938: Joe Grace was purchased by the Browns from the Memphis Chicks (Southern Association).

Roster

1938 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers 20 Emil Bildilli 27 Julio Bonetti 26 Ed Cole 17 Bill Cox 18 Oral Hildebrand 16 Fred Johnson 23 Harry Kimberlin 17 Jack Knott 20 Glenn Liebhardt 22 Ed Linke 25 Lefty Mills 12 Bobo Newsom 20 Vito Tamulis 19 Les Tietje -- Bill Trotter 21 Russ Van Atta 24 Jim Walkup -- Jim Weaver		Catchers 4,8 Sam Harshany  9 Tommy Heath  2 Billy Sullivan Infielders  7 Harlond Clift -- Sig Gryska  1 Don Heffner 11 Roy Hughes  3 Red Kress 23 Johnny Lucadello  5 George McQuinn		Outfielders  8 Ethan Allen  6 Mel Almada 10 Beau Bell 30 Joe Grace 14 Mel Mazzera  4 Glenn McQuillen 15 Buster Mills  6 Sam West		Manager 29 Ski Melillo 31 Gabby Street Coaches 28 Fred Hofmann 29 Ski Melillo

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	Billy Sullivan	111	375	104	.277	7	49
1B	George McQuinn	148	602	195	.324	12	82
2B	Don Heffner	141	473	116	.245	2	69
SS	Red Kress	150	566	171	.302	7	79
3B	Harlond Clift	149	534	155	.290	34	118
OF	Mel Almada	102	436	149	.342	3	37
OF	Buster Mills	123	466	133	.285	3	46
OF	Beau Bell	147	526	138	.262	13	84

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
Mel Mazzera	86	204	57	.279	6	29
Tommy Heath	70	194	44	.227	2	22
Sam West	44	165	51	.309	1	27
Glenn McQuillen	43	116	33	.284	0	13
Roy Hughes	58	96	27	.281	2	13
Joe Grace	12	47	16	.340	0	4
Ethan Allen	19	33	10	.303	0	4
Sam Harshany	11	24	7	.292	0	0
Sig Gryska	7	21	10	.476	0	4
Johnny Lucadello	7	20	3	.150	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
Bobo Newsom	44	329.2	20	16	5.08	226
Lefty Mills	30	210.1	10	12	5.31	134
Oral Hildebrand	23	163.0	8	10	5.69	66
Harry Kimberlin	1	8.0	0	0	3.38	1
Bill Trotter	1	8.0	0	1	5.62	1
Jim Weaver	1	7.0	0	1	9.00	4

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
Russ Van Atta	25	104.0	4	7	6.06	35
Jim Walkup	18	94.0	1	12	6.80	28
Ed Cole	36	88.2	1	5	5.18	26
Fred Johnson	17	69.0	3	7	5.61	24
Bill Cox	22	63.0	1	4	7.00	16
Les Tietje	17	62.0	2	5	7.55	15
Jack Knott	7	30.0	1	2	4.80	8
Emil Bildilli	5	21.2	1	2	7.06	11
Vito Tamulis	3	15.1	0	3	7.63	11

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
Ed Linke	21	1	7	0	7.94	18
Julio Bonetti	17	2	3	0	6.35	7
Glenn Liebhardt	2	0	0	0	6.00	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Toledo Mud Hens	American Association	Fred Haney
A1	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	Zack Taylor
B	Meridian Scrappers	Southeastern League	Harry Whitehouse
B	Springfield Browns	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Walter Holke
C	Palestine Pals	East Texas League	Abe Miller, Neil Andrews and John Kosey
C	Johnstown Johnnies	Middle Atlantic League	Bobby Goff
D	Pennington Gap Lee Bears	Appalachian League	Ralph Goldsmith and Lynn Lunsford
D	Siloam Springs Travelers	Arkansas–Missouri League	Vince "Moon" Mullen, Runt Marr and Mike Serlick
D	Easton Browns	Eastern Shore League	George Jacobs
D	Lafayette White Sox	Evangeline League	Frank Oceak
D	Mayfield Clothiers	KITTY League	Bennie Tate
D	Lincoln Links	Nebraska State League	Pug Griffin
D	Batesville White Sox	Northeast Arkansas League	Elmer Kirchoff
D	Findlay Browns	Ohio State League	Grover Hartley
D	Beaver Falls Browns	Pennsylvania State Association	Howard Shanks
D	Corpus Christi Spudders	Texas Valley League	Rod Whitney

External links

• 1938 St. Louis Browns team page at Baseball Reference
• 1938 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com