A History of SPORTSMAN'S PARK — Part IV: Bye Bye Browns

[00:00:00]Welcome back to part four of a history of Sportsman's Park.

[00:00:04]If you missed the first three parts, click the card in the corner to watch [music] them and get caught up.

[00:00:09]Thank you for being here and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe and let's dive in.

[00:00:20]>> [music] >> All right.

[00:00:23]>> In early October of 1944, the people of St. Louis finally had something to pull their attention away from the invasion of Europe.

[00:00:33]The Cardinals had prevailed despite the wartime talent drain and the Browns had prevailed because of it.

[00:00:40]Either way, St. Louis was to be the sole focus of the baseball world.

[00:00:46]The Cardinals were the home team for the series.

[00:00:49]Game one was on October 4th at 2:00 p.m.

[00:00:52]with 33,242 people visiting Sportsman's Park for the game.

[00:00:58]The Cardinals sent out 20-year-old righty Mort Cooper [music] and the Browns selected a righty of their own, Denny Galehouse.

[00:01:06]The Cardinals threatened to score in the second and third innings, but Galehouse held firm, not allowing a run across.

[00:01:12]The Browns broke the ice in the top of the fourth inning with George McQuinn smacking a two-run home run to right field off of Cooper to take a two-to-nothing lead.

[00:01:22]Those two runs proved to be exactly what Galehouse needed to win the game.

[00:01:26]He pitched lights out, blanking the Cardinals until the ninth inning.

[00:01:31]They managed to sacrifice a run across before Johnny Hopp flew out to center field and the Browns took a shocking one-to-nothing lead in the series.

[00:01:41]The next day, in front of 35,076 faithful in Sportsman's Park, the Cardinals sent out Max Lanier and the Browns, looking to take a commanding lead, sent out Nels Potter.

[00:01:53]Both starters pitched well with Potter going six and Lanier going seven, both allowing two opposing runs to score.

[00:02:02]Bob Moncrief relieved Potter in the seventh, and Blix Donnelly came in relief for Lanier [music] in the eighth.

[00:02:08]Both pitchers held firm, and before anyone knew it, the teams were headed to extras.

[00:02:14]The Browns got runners on in the 10th [music] and 11th innings, but failed to produce anything meaningful.

[00:02:20]The Cards wouldn't be so unlucky.

[00:02:23]After a Ray Sanders single in the bottom of the 11th, and a one-out [music] intentional walk to Marty Marion, Ken O'Dea took his place in the batter's box and lined a single to right off of Moncrief.

[00:02:34]Sanders rounded third and streaked across the plate to give the Cardinals the game three to two.

[00:02:40]The series was tied one game a piece.

[00:02:44]With Sportsman's Park being the sole venue for the series, no days off were needed in between games as the two teams switched home and away jerseys.

[00:02:53]Ted Wilks took the mound for the visiting Cards, and Jack Kramer for the Browns.

[00:02:58]34,737 fans attended the game.

[00:03:03]Kramer gave up a run to the Cardinals in the first, giving them the early edge, but that ended in the third.

[00:03:10]After the first two batters went down to start the inning, the Browns wrapped off five consecutive singles and an intentional walk before a wild pitch brought across what would be the fourth run of the inning.

[00:03:22]Wilks was pulled after a fifth straight hit, and it would take the Cardinals another three pitchers to make it through the game.

[00:03:29]The Redbirds scored another run in the seventh, but the Browns responded with two in their half.

[00:03:35]The score held with a final of six to two.

[00:03:38]Going into game four, the Browns had the series edge two to one.

[00:03:44]The next day, 35,455 fans filed into the ballpark for the 2:00 p.m. first pitch.

[00:03:52]This game featured the Browns righty Sig Jakucki against the Cardinals lefty Harry "The Cat" Brecheen.

[00:04:00]This game had a very different tune with the Cardinals controlling it from the start.

[00:04:05]Scoring two in the first, they added another two in the third and one in the sixth.

[00:04:10]Brecheen dominated on the mound throwing a complete game and only allowing a single run in the eighth.

[00:04:17]His efforts even the series up at two.

[00:04:21]With the series all tied up, game five became a pivotal one.

[00:04:25]And 36,568 fans made their way to Sportsman's Park for the affair.

[00:04:31]The visiting Cardinals sent out Mort Cooper to the mound and the Browns [music] Denny Galehouse.

[00:04:37]And both pitchers were lights out.

[00:04:40]With the game scoreless going into the top of the sixth, Cardinals first baseman Ray Sanders launched a home run to deep right field [music] to break the ice.

[00:04:48]Two innings later, Cardinals left fielder Danny Litwhiler did the same thing placing his four-bagger in right center.

[00:04:57]Mort Cooper held strong on the mound for the Redbirds never allowing a run across and striking out five of the final six batters he faced to finish a complete game shutout.

[00:05:08]Just like that, the series was flipped on its head and the Cardinals [music] were now just a game away from another championship.

[00:05:18]Game six of the 1944 World Series took place on October 9th with a diminished attendance of 31,630 fans at the game.

[00:05:29]With the teams switching home and away roles, the visiting Browns with their season on the line sent out Nels Potter to the mound.

[00:05:37]For the Cardinals, a win away from another ring, they gave the ball to Max Lanier.

[00:05:43]The Browns struck first scoring a run in the second and holding that one to nothing lead for a couple of innings, >> [music] >> until the Cardinals broke out in the fourth, scoring three of their own.

[00:05:54]Nelson Potter couldn't make it out of the fourth, being relieved by Bob Muncrief.

[00:06:00]In the sixth inning, after allowing two walks and a wild pitch, Cardinal starter Max Lanier was replaced by Ted Wilks, who got out of the jam.

[00:06:09]The Browns failed to pose a threat in the seventh or eighth innings, rolling into the top of the ninth still down three to one.

[00:06:16]Needing a couple runs to stay alive, they could muster nothing.

[00:06:21]Wilks forced a fly out to left from George McQuinn, and proceeded to fan Milt Burns and Mark Chartack to seal the game and the series.

[00:06:30]The Street Car Series belonged to the Cardinals.

[00:06:34]Their reign of dominance in St. Louis was all but sealed.

[00:06:39]As the Cardinals celebrated their franchise's fifth championship, Browns fans likely felt optimistic for the future.

[00:06:47]But the hope was futile.

[00:06:49]1944 was by far the closest the Browns would ever come to winning a championship.

[00:07:07]>> [music] >> Both St. Louis ball clubs failed to defend their pennants in 1945.

[00:07:13]The Cardinals lost the league by nearly three games to the Chicago Cubs, while the Browns finished in third place, finishing the year at 81, 70, and 3.

[00:07:23]The Browns took advantage of the final talent drain season, and had what would be their last ever winning record.

[00:07:31]Despite falling back to third place, 1945 was an eventful year for the Browns in particular.

[00:07:38]Most notably was the addition of outfielder Pete Gray, a man who lost his dominant right arm in a childhood accident and taught himself how to play ball with his left arm.

[00:07:50]He made his major league debut on April 17th against the Tigers, getting his first career hit in that game.

[00:07:57]He appeared in 77 games that season, batting.218 and producing an OPS of.520.

[00:08:04]A level of production that's almost incomprehensible given that he had one arm.

[00:08:10]Later in the season, he reined in a serious issues when pitchers realized that he struggled with breaking pitches and began to hammer him relentlessly with them.

[00:08:20]Many of his teammates resented him, believing he was there to draw ticket sales while they were there trying to defend a pennant.

[00:08:27]Their frustrations may have had merit, as the Browns won a disappointing 35 and 42 in games in which Gray appeared and soared to a 46 and 28 record without him.

[00:08:39]With the war ending and the talent returning from service in 1946, Pete Gray only lasted one season in the big leagues.

[00:08:49]The Browns also found themselves being sold during the back half of the season.

[00:08:54]On August 10th, minority shareholder Richard Muckerman purchased Donald Lee Barnes' 31% stake to become the majority owner of the ball club.

[00:09:03]Just under a year later, Muckerman and the Browns acquired Sportsman's Park from the estate of Phil Ball, consolidating the team and ballpark under one umbrella.

[00:09:14]While all those changes were happening behind the scenes for the Browns, the Cardinals resurged in 1946, finishing the season with 98 wins. They reclaimed their spot atop the National League, beating out the Brooklyn Dodgers in baseball's first-ever three-game playoff for a pennant.

[00:09:32]With their roster reloaded from returning war veterans, the Cardinals earned an opportunity to their third championship in 5 years, taking on the American League winning Boston Red Sox in what would become a legendary fall classic.

[00:09:47]This was one of the most anticipated World Series matchups in baseball history, pitting two of the greatest hitters of all time against one another.

[00:09:55]St. Louis' Stan Musial and Boston's Ted Williams.

[00:10:01]The National League had hosting honors in what was the first World Series to see the wartime travel restrictions lifted.

[00:10:08]Back to the 2-3-2 format, the first two games of the series were played at Sportsman's Park on October 6th and 7th.

[00:10:16]The teams split the first two games, with the Sox taking game one in extras and the Cards bouncing back in game two.

[00:10:23]The three games at Fenway picked up on October 9th and saw the series continue to trade blows.

[00:10:30]Boston took games three and five, while the Cards managed to snag a road win in game four.

[00:10:36]Heading back to St. Louis for the sixth game, the Cards found themselves cornered, down in the series 3 to 2.

[00:10:45]Game six was on October 13th, and needing a win to stay alive, the Cards turned to Harry Brecheen.

[00:10:52]In front of a lively crowd of 35,768 fans, Brecheen dominated, only allowing a single Sox run across. The Cards scored four, evening the series in the process, enforcing the ever exciting decisive Game Seven.

[00:11:10]An even greater crowd of 36,143 fans attended Game Seven the next day.

[00:11:17]The game turned out to be a back-and-forth, low-scoring affair.

[00:11:22]Boston put a run across in the first, but St. Louis responded with a run in the second and two more in the third.

[00:11:29]Carrying a 3 to 1 lead into the eighth inning, Harry Brecheen was brought into relieve Murray Dickson and close out the game.

[00:11:36]Inheriting runners on second and third with no outs, Brecheen nearly escaped, managing two outs before Dom DiMaggio doubled to right, scoring both runners and tying the game.

[00:11:49]Bob Klinger entered the game in relief for the Sox in the eighth with a task of keeping the game tied.

[00:11:55]Enos Slaughter led off with a single to center.

[00:11:57]But, Whitey Kurowski followed that with a muffed [music] bunt.

[00:12:01]Klinger forced Del Rice to fly out to left, leaving him just an out from keeping the score where it was.

[00:12:09]Then, Harry Walker stepped up and laced a pitch into left center.

[00:12:14]Enos Slaughter took off [music] for second, eyeing home from the moment the ball hit the bat.

[00:12:20]As he flew around the bases, Leon Culberson tracked the ball down and slung it into Johnny Pesky.

[00:12:27]Pesky caught the ball and relayed it home, but in his transition, he suffered a doomed moment of hesitation.

[00:12:35]His throw came up the third baseline, and Slaughter scored easily to [music] give the Cardinals the lead.

[00:12:42]The score held.

[00:12:43]The Cardinals completed the comeback, and Enos Slaughter's mad dash around the base paths would go down as one of the most fateful plays in baseball history.

[00:13:05]The Cardinals fell to second place in 1947. [music] And even more notably, they were sold following the season.

[00:13:13]Local lawyer Fred Saigh purchased the team from long-time franchise owner Sam Breadon.

[00:13:19]That season also saw the Browns participate in the integration of baseball, becoming the third team behind the Dodgers and Indians to add a black ball player.

[00:13:29]They actually signed two, Willard Brown and Hank Thompson, though their stints with the team were short, only lasting about a month.

[00:13:38]The Browns finished the season in last.

[00:13:42]The next year, Sportsman's Park was honored with the hosting of the MLB All-Star game for the second time.

[00:13:49]The 15th annual midsummer classic took place on July 13th, 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri.

[00:13:56]Three Cardinals made the National League lineup, while two made the reserves, and the Browns [music] represented by a reserve on the American League side.

[00:14:05]In what was the first televised All-Star game, the American League took the game five to two.

[00:14:12]Following the season, after another year financial woe, Browns owner Richard Muckerman decided to sell the team and ballpark.

[00:14:21]Longtime Browns executive Bill DeWitt and his brother Charlie stepped up with an offer and took over the team in February of 1949.

[00:14:30]Once again, the fledgling Browns had found themselves under new management.

[00:14:36]A year after the DeWitt takeover of the Browns, the Cardinals made some history at Sportsman's Park by becoming the first team to play a night game for their home opener.

[00:14:46]Taking place on April 18th, 1950, 20,871 fans [music] attended the historic game, watching their Cardinals start their season off right, beating the Pirates four to two.

[00:15:00]In 1951, Sportsman's Park saw another ownership change when the DeWitts decided to throw in the towel.

[00:15:07]In came iconic baseball character Bill Veeck.

[00:15:11]Veeck purchased an 80% stake in the franchise and went to work on an overhaul.

[00:15:17]He redecorated the ballpark in the Browns colors, hired several local baseball legends to work in public facing roles.

[00:15:24]He moved his family into an apartment in the ballpark and planned incredible promotions. Most notably, the signing of Eddie Gaedel.

[00:15:34]Making his debut on August 19th, 1951, his career lasted a single at bat.

[00:15:41]See, Eddie Gaedel was a mere 3 ft 7 in tall.

[00:15:46]The shortest player to ever appear in a major league game, Gaedel wore the comical number 1/8.

[00:15:53]He came in as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the first and producing a minuscule strike zone, walked on four pitches.

[00:16:01]He was promptly removed for a pinch runner and never played major league baseball again.

[00:16:08]The promotion drew a crowd of 18,369 fans and today, his jersey hangs in the Hall of Fame.

[00:16:17]Veeck also put on a grandstand managers day, giving fans at the ballpark placards to help them vote on managerial decisions that day.

[00:16:25]Behind the managers in the stands, the Browns snapped a four-game losing streak.

[00:16:31]Despite these promotional efforts, Veeck, like those before him, struggled to keep the ball club afloat.

[00:16:38]After proposing a new revenue sharing scheme to the other owners in 1952 and getting shot down, he began to feel the inevitable financial pressure associated with the team.

[00:16:49]While Veeck struggled to tread water, Cardinals owner Fred Saigh found himself embroiled in legal troubles.

[00:16:56]Authorities had uncovered that Saigh had avoided paying income taxes in the late 1940s.

[00:17:02]He was federally indicted in 1952 and by February of 1953, he was forced to put the team up for sale by MLB Commissioner Ford Frick.

[00:17:13]Saigh reportedly preferred to sell the team to a local buyer and keep the Cardinals in St. Louis.

[00:17:19]Unfortunately, his first serious suitors were an investment group that wanted to take the team to Houston.

[00:17:26]And to save the day, came August Busch Jr. Grandson of Anheuser-Busch founder Adolphus Busch and current CEO and president of the family business.

[00:17:37]Affectionately known by the name Gussie, he approached Saigh with a bid to buy the ball club for $3.75 million, equivalent to roughly $47 million in 2026.

[00:17:50]Once that sale was completed, things at Grand and Dodier began to change rapidly.

[00:17:56]Gussie Busch brought vast resources to the Cardinals organization, dwarfing the capabilities of Bill Veeck.

[00:18:04]This fact all but doomed the Browns owner to selling or moving the team.

[00:18:11]Veeck sold Sportsman's Park to the Cardinals on April 9th, 1953, ending a more than five-decade run of the Browns controlling the venue.

[00:18:21]The sale was completed for $800,000, or roughly $10 million in 2026.

[00:18:27]Gussie Busch immediately went about renovating and modernizing the old ballpark.

[00:18:33]He attempted to rename Sportsman's Park to Budweiser Stadium, but Ford Frick said no, saying it was not appropriate for a major league venue to be named after an alcoholic beverage.

[00:18:44]So, Gussie got clever and reversed the process.

[00:18:48]He formally renamed the ballpark and proceeded to release a beer to match.

[00:18:53]Fans were going to Busch Stadium starting in 1953, and by the next season, they were drinking Busch Bavarian Beer.

[00:19:03]The Busch family spent $1.75 million to bring the stadium up to speed.

[00:19:08]Given the new corporate owner, all ads around the stadium were removed.

[00:19:13]Every seat in the stadium was replaced with new ones, and restrooms and drinking fountains were installed.

[00:19:19]The clubhouses were completely remodeled and ultimately expanded, and so were the dugouts.

[00:19:25]New private boxes were added, the flagpole was moved to behind the wall in center field, and a warning track was added to enhance player safety.

[00:19:35]The center field bleachers were removed and replaced with greenery to serve as a batter's eye.

[00:19:39]>> [music] >> And most notably, the scoreboard was replaced with a new one that featured an electronic Budweiser eagle atop it that flapped its wings after Cardinals home runs.

[00:19:50]After years of neglect from the Browns and the beating of two major league teams playing on the field every summer, Busch Stadium was finally getting the love it deserved.

[00:20:02]It became quickly apparent that the Cardinals were going to be the permanent fixture of St. Louis.

[00:20:08]In 1953, would be the last season the Browns would ever play there.

[00:20:14]As Veeck worked behind the scenes to move the team, eventful baseball still took place.

[00:20:20]On May 6th, 30-year-old career minor leaguer Bobo Holloman was called up to the Browns and threw a no-hitter in his first career start.

[00:20:30]Blanking the visiting Athletics 6 to nothing, he became the first pitcher to throw a no-no in his debut since 1900 and the second ever to do so at Grand and Dodier.

[00:20:41]Throughout the summer, Veeck looked for any reasonable city to move his team to, but he constantly met resistance from the other owners.

[00:20:51]Essentially blackballed by the league, he was forced to sell and found a group out of Baltimore that wanted to take the Browns to their city.

[00:20:59]The sale was made, and the St. Louis Browns played their final game in St. Louis on On 27th, 1953, a minuscule crowd of 3,174 showed up to send off their malfortune franchise.

[00:21:18]Sitting at an abysmal [music] 54-99 on the season, the Browns put up a limp fight against the visiting White Sox.

[00:21:26]Losing the game 2-1, they fittingly took their 100th loss of the season in their final ever game.

[00:21:34]The lovable losers never stopped losing.

[00:21:38]When spring training rolled around in 1954, St. Louis was down to one major league franchise for the first time in over five decades.

[00:21:49]The Cardinals had dominated on the field and took over the city.

[00:21:54]With their new ownership and Busch Stadium given a full makeover, the Cardinals were ready to begin a new era of St. Louis baseball.

[00:22:13]Thank you for watching The Bad Baseball Fan.

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[00:22:28]Anyways, thanks for being here, and I'll see you next week for the series finale.