The Meridian Millers were a minor league baseball team based in Meridian, Mississippi . Between 1937 and 1950, Meridian teams played as a member of the Southeastern League under various nicknames. Meridian became known as the "Millers" beginning in 1949. The Millers continued as members of the Class D level Cotton States League from 1952 to 1955 and won Cotton League championships in 1952 and 1953.
185-458: Meridien teams first hosted home minor league games at Fairgrounds Park and relocated when Buckwalter Stadium was constructed to host the team, beginning in 1947. Meridian teams played as minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Browns (1937–1938, 1941), Brooklyn Dodgers (1946), Cleveland Indians (1947–1948) and Baltimore Orioles (1955). Meridian, Mississippi first hosted minor league baseball, when
370-416: A 3-foot 7-inch, 65-pound dwarf , to bat as a pinch hitter . When Gaedel stepped to the plate, he was wearing a Browns child's uniform with the number 1 ⁄ 8 . Knowing that Gaedel had no strike zone to speak of, Veeck ordered Gaedel to keep his bat on his shoulder, and Gaedel walked on four straight pitches. The stunt infuriated American League President Will Harridge , who voided Gaedel's contract
555-460: A 67–73 regular season record in the eight-team, playing the season under manager Roxy Lawson. Meridian ended the season 10.5 games behind the first place Jackson Generals in the regular season final standings. In the playoffs, the Montgomery Rebels won the league championship. Pitcher Wendell Davis of Meridian won 21 games to lead the league. After his 1947 season leading Meridian, Roxie Lawson
740-634: A Willard Mullin illustration of the Brooklyn Bum. Perhaps the highlight of the Daffiness Boys era came after Wilbert Robinson left the dugout. In 1934 , Giants player/manager Bill Terry was asked about the Dodgers’ chances in the coming pennant race and cracked infamously, "Is Brooklyn still in the league?" Managed then by Casey Stengel , who played for the Dodgers in the 1910s and went on to greatness managing
925-558: A World Series. By comparison, the other seven American League teams had won at least three pennants. In the 1944 World Series , the Browns were decided underdogs against their tenants, the Cardinals . It would be the last World Series played entirely in one stadium until the 2020 World Series played in Arlington, Texas . While the Browns lost in six games, they won two of the first three games, and
1110-490: A chance to buy land somewhat suitable for building a ballpark, and the chance to own that ballpark, giving him complete control over all its revenue streams. At the same time, the National League was not willing to approve the Dodgers' move unless O'Malley found a second team willing to join them out west, largely out of concern for travel costs. Meanwhile, Giants owner Horace Stoneham was having similar difficulty finding
1295-507: A city which had lost their previous team in 1903 after the second incarnation of the Orioles had moved to New York City as the Highlanders (later Yankees). He was rebuffed by the other owners, still seething over the publicity stunts he pulled at the Browns home games, and also opposed proposals Veeck had made to pool revenues from broadcasting. The revenue-sharing idea was particularly abhorrent to
1480-427: A contending club first by general manager Larry MacPhail and then the legendary Branch Rickey . Led by Jackie Robinson , Pee Wee Reese , and Gil Hodges in the infield, Duke Snider and Carl Furillo in the outfield, Roy Campanella behind the plate, and Don Newcombe , Carl Erskine , and Preacher Roe on the pitcher's mound, the Dodgers won pennants in 1941 , 1947 , 1949 , 1952 , and 1953 , only to fall to
1665-528: A contract in Cleveland in 1948, amid much criticism. Paige was 45 when he returned to the mound in a Browns uniform. Veeck was criticized among baseball's owners, but Paige finished the season with a respectable 3–4 record and a 4.79 ERA. Veeck believed that St. Louis could no longer support two franchises, and planned to drive the Cardinals out of town. He signed many of the Cardinals' most popular ex-players and, as
1850-573: A deal that would have paid him almost four times what he was earning in New York. However, as part of the settlement that ended the war with the National League, Hedges and Mathewson tore up the contract. Years later, Hedges said that while he knew he was likely giving up a pennant by relinquishing Mathewson to the Giants, it was more important to bring peace to the game. Although the Browns had only four winning seasons from 1902 to 1922, they were very popular at
2035-490: A downturn in the Cardinals' fortunes after Rickey left them for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942 . It initially appeared Veeck had won the war when Cardinals' owner Fred Saigh was charged with massive tax evasion late in 1952. He pleaded no contest and put the Cardinals up for sale rather than face certain lifetime banishment from baseball. For a time, it looked almost certain that the Cardinals were leaving town, as most of
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#17328847559332220-602: A former assistant to Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis was now a member of the Major-Minor League Executive Council. O'Connor reviewed the ruling and emphasized that the Cotton States League did not act according to their own constitution. O'Connor reviewed that according to the Cotton States League constitution it was provided that any club facing dismissal from the league be afforded with
2405-399: A hitless at-bat. O'Connor and coach Harry Howell tried to bribe the official scorer, a woman, to change the call to a hit – even offering to buy her a new wardrobe. Cobb won the batting title by just a few thousandths of a point over Lajoie. But it was later reported that one game may have been counted twice in the statistics, and there were rumors about the attempted bribery, causing
2590-474: A lack of talent, the Brewers made a wretched showing. They never recovered from an 0–5 start, and crumbled to last place for good on June 30. They finished 48–89, the worst record in baseball, 35.5 games behind the pennant-winning Chicago White Sox . It did not help matters that Matthew Killilea spent most of the season battling tuberculosis , which he died from on July 27. Henry was forced to become operating head of
2775-645: A machinist at a local textile mill while also playing baseball. After rejecting a move to the Hopkinsville Hoppers in Kentucky, Wright returned to Dyersburg until he was sent by Meridian to the Jackson Generals . In their last season before play was interrupted due to World War II , the Meridian Eagles finished in last place in the 1942 Class B level Southeastern League. The league reduced to six teams, as
2960-459: A new park on the site of the original Browns' former venue, Sportsman's Park . In their first season in St. Louis, the Browns finished second under manager Jimmy McAleer , five games behind Philadelphia. This was mainly because Hedges and McAleer persuaded six Cardinals to jump to the Browns. They looked to become even more powerful in 1903 when Hedges signed New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson to
3145-424: A new, more accessible and better ballpark than Ebbets Field . Beloved as it was, Ebbets Field had grown old and was not well served by vehicular infrastructure, to the point where the Dodgers could not "sell out" the park to maximum capacity even in the heat of a pennant race, despite dominating the league from 1946 to 1957 . New York City Construction Coordinator Robert Moses sought to force O'Malley into using
3330-566: A noted sports cartoonist , fixed the Brooklyn team with the lovable nickname of "Dem Bums". After hearing his cab driver ask, "So how did those bums do today?", Mullin decided to sketch an exaggerated version of famed circus clown Emmett Kelly to represent the Dodgers in his much-praised cartoons in the New York World-Telegram . Both image and nickname caught on, so much so that many a Dodger yearbook cover, from 1951 through 1957, featured
3515-550: A player during the season, pitching two innings at age 49. Mitchell is noted in baseball history for hitting into a triple play in 1920 World Series for the Brooklyn Dodgers . Cleveland Indians player Bill Wambsganss made the only triple-play in World Series history on Mitchell's batted ball. The Meridian team became known as the "Bears" in 1940, continuing the season as members of the Southeastern League. The Bears ended
3700-464: A player for 1947, with Roxie Lawson taking over for him as manager. Williams played well for Meridian, hitting .321 in 1946 and .300 in 1947, and having 97 and 100 RBI in those seasons. The 1947 Meridian Peps placed sixth and again did not qualify for the Southeastern League playoffs, with the franchise becoming a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The 1947 Meridian Peps finished with
3885-528: A replacement for his team's antiquated home stadium, the Polo Grounds . Unlike O'Malley, Stoneham did not engage in a serious effort to identify a location for a replacement for the Polo Grounds. Stoneham was considering moving the Giants to Minneapolis, but was persuaded instead to move them to San Francisco, ensuring that the Dodgers had a National League rival closer than St. Louis. So the two arch-rival teams,
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#17328847559334070-535: A result, attracted many Cards fans to see the Browns. Notably, Veeck inked former Cardinals great Dizzy Dean to a broadcasting contract and tapped Rogers Hornsby for a second stint as manager. He also re-acquired former Browns fan favorite Vern Stephens and signed former Cardinals pitcher Harry Brecheen , both of whom had starred in the all-St. Louis World Series in 1944. Veeck stripped Sportsman's Park of all Cardinals material and dressed it exclusively in Browns memorabilia, even moving his family to an apartment under
4255-519: A ruling, on April 14, 1953, the Cotton States League owners held another meeting and voted to readmit the Bathers. The Hot Springs franchise remained in the league. After the league controversy before the 1953 season began, the Meridian Millers defended their championship of the previous season in winning the 1953 Cotton States League title, as the eight-team league played the season intact. The team won
4440-581: A scandal about the rankings. After news broke of the scandal, a writer for the St. Louis Post claimed: "All St. Louis is up in arms over the deplorable spectacle, conceived in stupidity and executed in jealousy." The resulting outcry triggered an investigation by Johnson. At his insistence, Hedges fired O'Connor and Howell; both men were informally banned from baseball for life. After several pedestrian seasons, Hedges hired former Browns catcher Branch Rickey as business manager (de facto general manager ) midway through
4625-474: A site in Flushing Meadows , Queens – the eventual location of Shea Stadium (which opened in 1964), the home of the future New York Mets , who began play in 1962. Moses' vision involved a city-built, city-owned park, which was greatly at odds with O'Malley's real-estate savvy. When O'Malley realized that he was not going to be allowed to buy a suitable parcel of land in Brooklyn, he began thinking of moving
4810-540: A week of each other in 1925, and Robbie was named president while still field manager. Upon assuming the title of president, however, Robinson's ability to focus on the field declined, and the teams of the late 1920s were often fondly referred to as the "Daffiness Boys" for their distracted, error-ridden style of play. Outfielder Babe Herman was the leader both in hitting and in zaniness. The signature Dodger play from this era occurred when three players – Dazzy Vance , Chick Fewster , and Herman – ended up at third base at
4995-506: Is known as the Shot Heard 'Round The World . In 1955, by which time the core of the Dodger team was beginning to age, "next year" finally came. The fabled "Boys of Summer" shot down the "Bronx Bombers" in seven games, led by the first-class pitching of young left-hander Johnny Podres , whose key pitch was a changeup known as "pulling down the lampshade" because of the arm motion used right when
5180-632: The 1889 championship tournament to the New York Giants and tied the 1890 championship with Louisville . Their success during this period was partly attributed to their having absorbed skilled players from the defunct AA New York Metropolitans and one-year Players League entry the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders . The middle years of the decade were disappointing, a slump the Spalding Guide rather primly ascribed to management tolerating drunkenness among
5365-556: The 1940 NFL draft by the Chicago Cardinals . Tom Cafego supported his family, and helped his brother finish college, by playing professional baseball and also mining coal in the offseasons. Continuing as a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Browns in 1938, the Meriden Scrappers continued a stretch where Meriden did not make a playoff appearance. The 1938 Southeastern League expanded to become an eight-team league, adding
5550-730: The American Association in the 1940s. However, the Brewers were now the top affiliate of the National League's Boston Braves , and therefore had first claim on the major league rights to Milwaukee. Veeck offered to pay Braves owner Lou Perini $ 700,000 as compensation. Perini stalled on the deal before abruptly moving the Braves there in March 1953, three weeks before opening day. Undaunted, Veeck got in touch with Baltimore Mayor Tommy D'Alesandro and attorney Clarence Miles , who were leading an effort to bring Major League Baseball back to Baltimore,
5735-537: The Anniston Rams and Gadsden Pilots teams to the league. The Scrappers again missed the playoffs with a fifth-place finish. Meriden ended the 1938 regular season with a record of 69–78, finishing 25.5 gamed behind the pennant winning Pensacola Pilots. With their fifth-place finish under returning manager Harry Whitehouse, Meriden did not qualify for the playoffs again won by the Mobile Shippers. Continuing play in
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5920-512: The Billy Joel single " We Didn't Start the Fire ", which included the line, "Brooklyn's got a winning team." Lawyer and real estate businessman Walter O'Malley had acquired majority ownership of the Dodgers in 1950, when he bought Rickey's 25 percent share of the team and secured the support of the widow of another equal partner, John L. Smith . Soon O'Malley was working to buy new land in Brooklyn for
6105-742: The Brooklyn Grays . In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn , New York, until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles , California, where it continues its history as the Los Angeles Dodgers . The team moved west at the same time as its longtime rival, the New York Giants , moved to San Francisco in northern California as
6290-585: The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . Catcher Roy Campanella , left partially paralyzed in an off-season automobile accident on January 28, 1958, was never able to play for the Dodgers in Los Angeles. After the 1957 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants relocated from New York to California to become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants , leaving the largest city in
6475-788: The Milwaukee Brewers . A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri , after the 1901 season , where they played for 52 years as the St. Louis Browns. After the 1953 season , the team moved to Baltimore, Maryland , where it became the Baltimore Orioles . As of October 2024 , there are only three living former St. Louis Browns players: Billy Hunter , Ed Mickelson , and Frank Saucier . The St. Louis Browns had an overall win–loss record of 3,414–4,465–96 (.434) during their 52 years in St. Louis. Two former St. Louis Browns players were elected to
6660-685: The National Baseball Hall of Fame . In the late 19th century, the team was formed as the Milwaukee Brewers in the Western League . For the 1900 season, the Western League was renamed the "American League", and in 1901, league president Ban Johnson declared it a major league. The team was originally owned by Milwaukee lawyers Matthew and Henry Killilea . As a minor league team, the Brewers had usually fielded subpar teams until Connie Mack became manager in 1894. The Killileas were among
6845-478: The National Football League 's Baltimore Colts , considered buying the Browns and moving them to Baltimore. However, this hinged on the Cardinals buying Sportsman's Park, and Rodenberg withdrew his offer when the Cardinals expressed little interest. After another abysmal season in 1948, in which the Browns struggled to attract crowds over 3,000, Muckerman sold the team to DeWitt and his brother Charley,
7030-511: The New York Yankees in all five of the subsequent World Series. The annual ritual of building excitement, followed in the end by disappointment, became a common pattern to the long suffering fans, and "Wait ’til next year!" became an unofficial Dodger slogan. While the Dodgers generally enjoyed success during this period, in 1951 they fell victim to one of the largest collapses in the history of baseball. On August 11, 1951 , Brooklyn led
7215-532: The New York Yankees , the 1934 Dodgers were determined to make their presence felt. As it happened, the season entered its final games with the Giants tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the pennant, with the Giants’ remaining games against the Dodgers. Stengel led his Bums to the Polo Grounds for the showdown, and they beat the Giants twice to knock them out of the pennant race. The " Gashouse Gang " Cardinals nailed
7400-492: The New York Yankees , including most former Browns of note still on the Baltimore roster, dramatically changing the team. This remains the biggest trade in baseball history. Though the deal did little to improve the short-term competitiveness of the club, it helped establish a fresh identity for the Orioles franchise. The Orioles make almost no mention of their past as the Browns. However, in 2003, when they returned to St Louis for
7585-588: The San Francisco Giants . The team's name derived from the reputed skill of Brooklyn residents at evading the city's trolley streetcars . The name is a shortened form of one of their former names, the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers , and they later earned the respectful nickname Dem Bums . The Dodgers played in two stadiums in South Brooklyn , each named Washington Park , and at Eastern Park in
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7770-536: The Yankees to a pennant. The club was boasting the best players in franchise history, including future Hall of Famer George Sisler and an outfield trio of Ken Williams , Baby Doll Jacobson , and Jack Tobin , who batted .300 or better from 1919 to 1923 and in 1925. In 1922, Williams became the first player in Major League history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season, something that would not be done again in
7955-501: The triple crown while playing for the South Atlantic League member Augusta Tigers team in 1948, Hal Summers signed to play with Meridian in 1949. Meridian manager Jack Maupin had been a classmate and teammate of Summers at San Diego High School . The Millers purchased Summers's contract and he and Maupin were reunited as teammates. Amazingly, Summers the won his second consecutive triple crown playing for Meridian. Summers led
8140-432: The "Grandstand Managers" voting (against his own team). After the 1951 season, Veeck made Ned Garver the highest-paid member of the Browns. Garver went on to win 20 games, while the team lost 100 games. He was the second pitcher in history to accomplish the feat. Veeck also brought Satchel Paige back to major league baseball to pitch for the Browns. Veeck had previously signed the former Negro leagues great at age 42 to
8325-466: The "Peps" Meridian finished 23.5 games behind the first place and eventual league champion Montgomery Rebels. The Meridian "Millers" advanced to the 1949 Southeastern League playoffs and finished above .500 for the first time. Their playoff appearance was the first for Meridian after nine seasons of missing postseason play. The 1949 Millers finished the Southeastern League regular season as the league runner-up. With an 80–57 record, Meridian placed second in
8510-463: The 1893 Meridian "Bluebirds" began play as a member of the independent Mississippi State League . The Mississippi League folded after the 1894 season. The 1929 Meridian Mets of the Cotton States League ended a fifteen-season tenure for Meridian in Cotton States League and the 1929 team preceded the Meriden Scrappers in minor league play. In 1937, Meridian returned to minor league play, when
8695-538: The 1913 season, and made him manager as well in September. Although Rickey had been a mediocre player at best, he had a keen eye for spotting talent. His greatest find was George Sisler , who had played for Rickey at Michigan . They fell back to sixth in 1914, but won 79 games in 1915, their first winning record in eight years. In 1916 , as part of the settlement that ended the war with the Federal League , Hedges sold
8880-490: The 1939 Class B level Southeastern league, the Meridian Scrappers ended the season in last place. With a record of 55–83, Meriden placed eighth in the eight-team league regular season. Playing the season under managers Mel Simons , Harry Hughes and Bill Hughes , Meriden Did not qualify for the playoffs, finishing 33.5 games behind the first please and eventual league champion Pensacola Pilots. Bill McGhee of Meridian won
9065-410: The 1940s, described the Cardinals as being "our old rivals." During this period, the Cardinals won the National League pennant 4 times (with the Dodgers finishing 2nd twice) and the Dodgers won the National League pennant 3 times (with the Cardinals finishing 2nd each time). In 1942 the Cardinals overcame a 10 game Dodger lead in early August to win the pennant. In 1946 the Cardinals and Dodgers finished
9250-505: The 1941 season, the team became known as Meridian "Eagles," playing as a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Browns . With fifth-place finish in the eight-team league, the Eagles ended the season with a record 65–74 record. The Eagles were led by manager Bennie Tate and ended the regular season 25.0 games behind the pennant winning Mobile Shippers. Meridian did not qualify for the playoffs won by Mobile, who won eight straight games en route to
9435-455: The 1942 season. Los Angeles was already the fifth-largest city in the United States, and was larger than any major-league city except New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. The Browns got tentative approval from the league, which went as far as to draw up a schedule accounting for transcontinental train trips, though the Browns suggested that teams could travel by plane, a new concept at
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#17328847559339620-445: The 1946 season to manage the team, Walt Tauscher was a long-time player and manager in the minor leagues. A pitcher, Tauscher won 263 games in 23 minor league seasons. The 1946 season was the final season in which Tauscher appeared as a player, as he appeared in 8 games for Meridian as pitcher, throwing 19 innings at age 44. The Meridian "Peps" were a minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946 and finished in last place in
9805-663: The 1947 season. Roxie Lawson became the Meridian manager in 1947. In November 1942, Lawson paused his professional baseball career and enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II . After concluding his military service with the Navy, Lawson was hired in January 1947 as the manager of the Meridian Peps for the upcoming season. Former manager Fred Williams returned to Meridian as
9990-562: The 1950 season, affected by the Korean War . After the folding of the Southeastern League following the 1950 season, Meridian did not field a minor league team in the 1951 season. After the 1951 season, the Clarksdale Planters franchise of the Cotton States League relocated to Meridian. The Millers returned the city to the Cotton States League for the first time since 1928. In 1952, Meridian "Millers" resumed play and became members of
10175-539: The 1957 season, the rivalry was easily transplanted, as the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have long been economic, political, and cultural rivals, representative of the broader Southern / Northern California divide. Manager Wilbert Robinson , another former Oriole , popularly known as "Uncle Robbie", restored the Brooklyn team to respectability. His "Brooklyn Robins" reached the 1916 and 1920 World Series , losing both, but contending perennially for several seasons. Charles Ebbets and Ed McKeever died within
10360-724: The Atlantics in favor of the Mutual Club of New York who had shared home grounds with the Atlantics. When the Mutuals were expelled by the league, the Hartford club moved in, the press dubbing them The Brooklyn Hartfords , and played its home games at Union Grounds in 1877 before disbanding. The team currently known as the Dodgers was formed in 1883 by real estate magnate and baseball enthusiast Charles Byrne , who convinced his brother-in-law Joseph Doyle and casino operator Ferdinand Abell to start
10545-476: The Ball estate withheld badly needed capital that could have been used to get better players. Attendance sagged to the point that the other American League teams could not meet their travel expenses. In 1936, Rickey helped broker a sale to investment banker Donald Lee Barnes . Cardinals treasurer Bill DeWitt , Barnes' son-in-law, bought a minority stake in the Browns and became the team's general manager. To help finance
10730-488: The Brewers could not be viable in Milwaukee, and originally intended to move them to St. Louis, a larger market. At the time, St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in the nation, while Milwaukee was the 15th. However, Matthew Killilea persuaded Johnson to give the Brewers what amounted to a one-year trial in Milwaukee, saying that he would agree to move to St. Louis if the team didn't make a good account of itself that year. Due to
10915-466: The Bronx as announcer. The first major-league baseball game to be televised was Brooklyn 's 6–1 victory over Cincinnati at Ebbets Field on August 26, 1939. Batting helmets were introduced to Major League Baseball by the Dodgers in 1941. The Cardinals–Dodgers rivalry was particularly intense from 1941 through 1949. In his autobiography written in 1948, Leo Durocher , who managed the Dodgers for most of
11100-410: The Browns had crested. They would never have another winning season in St. Louis. Indeed, 1944 and 1945 were two of only six winning seasons they enjoyed in the 31 years after nearly winning the pennant in 1922. They were also two of only seven seasons finishing fourth or better. Matters were not much better at the gate. 1944 and 1945 would also the only two seasons after 1922 in which they did not have
11285-458: The Browns had the best record in the league from the time Muckerman closed on his purchase, the hole from earlier in the season was too much to overcome, and they finished in third place with an 81–70 record. Despite fielding less than top-level talent, they were only six games behind the Tigers for first. The 1945 season may be best remembered for the Browns' signing of utility outfielder Pete Gray ,
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#173288475593311470-402: The Browns to refrigeration magnate Philip DeCatesby Ball , who had owned the defunct league's St. Louis Terriers . Concluding that Rickey's talents were better suited to the front office, he named Fielder Jones as manager, while Rickey remained de facto general manager. Under Ball's early tenure, the club had its first sustained period of success on the field; they were a contender for most of
11655-479: The Browns were on the brink of insolvency. At the same time, prospective buyers began circling the Browns. During the season, Chicago businessman Emory Perry considered buying the Browns and moving them to Los Angeles, but the effort foundered when Perry learned that any major league team moving to California would have to compensate every team in the PCL for invading their territory. After the season, Bob Rodenberg, owner of
11840-468: The Browns. As a first step, he sold Sportsman's Park to the Cardinals for $ 800,000. He would have likely had to sell it in any event. The 44-year-old park had fallen into disrepair, and even with the rent from the Cardinals, Veeck wasn't bringing in nearly enough money to bring the park up to code. Veeck first attempted to move the Browns back to Milwaukee, where he had owned the Triple-A Brewers of
12025-482: The Cardinals dominated St. Louis baseball, while still technically tenants of the Browns. Meanwhile, the Browns rapidly fell into the cellar. They had only two winning records from 1927 to 1943, including a 43–111 mark in 1939 that is still the worst in franchise history. As a measure of how rapidly St. Louisians shifted to the Cardinals, the Browns set a franchise record for attendance in 1922, attracting over 712,000 people. This figure would never be approached again for
12210-462: The Cardinals in St. Louis, and was relieved when brewery president Gussie Busch jumped into the bidding with that in mind. Veeck quickly realized that he was finished in St. Louis. He knew that with Anheuser-Busch's corporate wealth behind them, the Cardinals now had more resources than he could ever hope to match. Unlike most of his fellow team owners, he had no income apart from the Browns. Reluctantly, Veeck concluded he had no other option but to move
12395-515: The Cardinals play suffered on the field tremendously in the 1950s. Meanwhile, with the success of Robinson, the Dodgers doubled down on the opportunity to sign players of color from the Negro leagues . In the subsequent years after their pennant-winning season in 1947 , they would sign Don Newcombe , Roy Campanella , and Jim Gilliam from the Negro leagues, adding to an already tremendous team. The Dodgers made
12580-459: The Cotton States League attempted to evict the Hot Springs Bathers franchise from the league after the Bathers had signed two African-American baseball players, brothers Jim and Leander Tugerson, to their roster for the 1953 season. On April 1, 1953, Mississippi Attorney General J.P. Coleman announced that integrated baseball clubs did not have the right to appear on baseball diamonds in the state of Mississippi. While Coleman acknowledged that there
12765-419: The Dodgers and Giants, moved out to the West Coast together after the 1957 season. The Brooklyn Dodgers played their final game at Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957 , which the Dodgers won 2–0 over the Pittsburgh Pirates . On April 18, 1958 , the Los Angeles Dodgers played their first game in L.A., defeating the former New York and newly moved and renamed San Francisco Giants , 6–5, before 78,672 fans at
12950-403: The Dodgers and the Giants is more than a century old. It began when the Dodgers and Giants faced each other in the 1889 World Series, the ancestor of the Subway Series, and both played in separate, neighboring cities. Brooklyn and New York were separate cities until 1898, when they became neighboring boroughs of the newly consolidated New York City. When both franchises moved to California after
13135-425: The Dodgers won 2–0. Although the Dodgers lost the World Series to the Yankees in 1956 during which the Yankees pitcher Don Larsen pitched the only World Series perfect game in baseball history and the only post-season no-hitter for the next 54 years, it hardly seemed to matter. Brooklyn fans had their memory of triumph, and soon that was all they were left with – a victory that was remembered decades later in
13320-450: The Dodgers' general manager. In 1947, after Rickey broke the color line by signing Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers, there were rumors that southerners playing for the Cardinals were planning to boycott games against the Dodgers, although the players later denied it. In general, the Cardinals were latecomers to integration. Front-office executive Bing Devine said the owner from 1947 to 1953, Fred Saigh , refused to sign black players. There
13505-532: The Dodgers' lead announcer in 1939, just after MacPhail broke the New York baseball executives' agreement to ban live baseball broadcasts, enacted because of the fear of the effect of radio calls on the home teams' attendance. MacPhail remained with the Dodgers until 1942, when he returned to the Armed Forces for World War II. He later became one of the Yankees' co-owners, bidding unsuccessfully for Barber to join him in
13690-576: The Dodgers. Their original target had been the Washington Senators franchise, which eventually moved to Bloomington, Minnesota to become the Minnesota Twins in 1961 . At the same time, O'Malley was looking for a contingency in case Moses and other New York politicians refused to let him build the Brooklyn stadium he wanted, and sent word to the Los Angeles officials that he was interested in talking. Los Angeles offered him what New York did not:
13875-468: The El Dorado Oilers 4 games to 1. The Cotton States League permanently folded after the 1955 season. Meridian next hosted minor league baseball in 1996, when the "Meridian Brakemen" began a two-season tenure as members of the independent Big South League , playing home games at Scaggs Field. From 1937 to 1946, Meridian teams played minor league home games at Fairgrounds Park. In the era, the ballpark
14060-479: The Gadsden Pilots and Selma Cloverleafs teams did not return to play following the 1941 season. Meriden ended the 1942 Southeastern League regular season with a final record of 55–89, finishing in sixth place in the six-team league. The Eagles ended the regular season 33.5 games behind the first place Montgomery Rebels in the final standings. Led by managers Rip Fanning and Andy Reese , Meridian did not qualify for
14245-605: The Majors until 1956 . The following year , they crumbled to fifth, partly because Sisler missed the entire season due to sinus problems. At the same time, Ball, already a very hands-on owner, became even more so after Quinn left to buy the Boston Red Sox . Ball confidently predicted that there would be a World Series in Sportsman's Park by 1926 . In anticipation, he increased the capacity of his ballpark from 18,000 to 30,000. There
14430-426: The Meridian "Scrappers" were formed and became members of the six-team Class B level Southeastern League . The Jackson Mississippians ( New York Yankees affiliate), Mobile Shippers ( St. Louis Cardinals ), Montgomery Bombers ( Cleveland Indians ), Pensacola Fliers and Selma Cloverleafs ( Washington Senators ) teams joined with Meridian in beginning league play on April 15, 1937. The Meridian Scrappers joined
14615-468: The Mobile Shippers. Fred Williams , who played for both Jackson and Meridian during the season, led the league with 175 total hits. Tom Cafego played briefly for the St. Louis Browns in 1937 and also played for Meridian that season. Tom was the older brother of College Football Hall of Fame member George Cafego , who played halfback at the University of Tennessee and was the first overall selection in
14800-404: The National League by an enormous 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 games over their archrivals, the Giants . While the Dodgers went 26–22 from that time until the end of the season, the Giants went on an absolute tear, winning an amazing 37 of their last 44 games, including their last seven in a row. At the end of the season the Dodgers and the Giants were tied for first place, forcing a three-game playoff for
14985-600: The Peps played their final season at the ballpark in 1946. Following the 1946 season, Meridian team owner Charles Buckwalter reported that the franchise was losing money. The team spent about $ 5,000 for rent at the Fairgrounds Park in 1946 and Buckwalter pointed out that other teams often had pay only a token fee for the entire year of rent in their ballparks. The owners of the Fairground Field baseball park also would not allow
15170-578: The Red Sox or Tigers in order to pay the bills. In 1951 , Bill Veeck , the colorful former owner of the Cleveland Indians , purchased the Browns from DeWitt, who stayed on as team vice president. In St. Louis, he extended the type of promotions and wild antics that had made him famous and loved by many and loathed by many others. His most notorious stunt in St. Louis was held on August 19, 1951, when he ordered manager Zack Taylor to send Eddie Gaedel ,
15355-473: The Southeastern League final standings. The Peps finished the regular season with a record of 68–78, to finish in eighth place in the Southeastern League. The managers were [Walt Tauscher and Fred Williams as the Pepe finished 29.5 games behind first place Pensacola. Meridian missed the playoffs won by the Anniston Rams . After having played home games at Fairgrounds Park since beginning Southwestern League play in 1937,
15540-441: The Southeastern League in batting average, hitting .344, (19 points higher than the next player), home runs with 19, and runs batted in with 98. Jack Maupin joined his friend in leading the league with 95 runs scored, while Meridian pitcher Ambrose Palica won 23 games to led the league. In their final season of Southeastern League play, the 1950 Meridian Millers again placed second in the final regular season standings and advanced to
15725-399: The Southeastern League playing as a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Browns . The 1937 Meridian season ended with a 58–78 record and a fifth place finish, playing the season under managers Leonard McNair, Emmett Lipscomb and Harry Whitehouse. The Scrappers ended their initial season 25.5 games behind first place Pensacola and did not qualify for the four-teams playoffs, which were won by
15910-581: The Spokane Indians team was en route to play a Western International League game at Bremerton, Washington against the Bremerton Bluejackets . The Spokane team bus was traveling west toward Bremerton and while the bus was crossing the Cascade Mountains on the wet Snoqualmie Pass Highway (then U.S. Route 10 ), the bus driver swerved to avoid an oncoming car. The Spokane team bus veered off
16095-657: The Superbas from being toppled from first place was that the Phillies lost one of the two games played." Most baseball statistics sites and baseball historians generally now refer to the pennant-winning 1916 Brooklyn team as the Robins; on the other hand, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle used "Superbas" in its box scores that season. A 1918 New York Times article used the nickname Robins in its title "Buccaneers Take Last From Robins", but
16280-454: The U.S. Army in his decision, since he knew that boos , taunts, and criticism were going to be directed at Robinson, and that Robinson had to be tough enough to withstand abuse without attempting to retaliate. The inclusion of Robinson on the team also led the Dodgers to move its spring training site. Prior to 1946, the Dodgers held their spring training in Jacksonville, Florida . However,
16465-476: The United States with no National League franchise and only one major league team, the New York Yankees of the American League (AL). With the threat of a New York team joining the new Continental League , the National League expanded by adding the New York Mets following a proposal from William Shea . In a symbolic reference to New York's earlier National League teams, the new team took as its primary colors
16650-482: The Yankees, Heron discovered and mentored Baseball Hall of Fame member Mariano Rivera . The Meridian Millers continued Cotton states league play as the league was reduced to six teams for the 1954 season, as the Jackson and Natchez teams did not return to league play. The Millers ended the season in third place with a 62–56 record as Thomas Davis returned in the final season of his tenure as manager. Meridian qualified for
16835-500: The Yankees, whose broadcast income dwarfed most other franchises. Although there was never any official word that the 1953 season would be the Browns' last in St. Louis, enough unofficial indications leaked out to erode what support the Browns still had. Attendance fell to 3,860 per game, last in Major League Baseball. Under the circumstances, the Browns made a wretched showing, finishing 54–100, 46 games out of first. Not only
17020-557: The amateur championship after the Civil War (1861–1865) and never entered the professional NAPBBP (aka NA). The Eckfords and Atlantics declined to join until 1872 and thereby lost their best players; the Eckfords survived only one season and the Atlantics four, with losing teams. The National League (NL) replaced the NAPBBP in 1876 and granted exclusive territories to its eight members, excluding
17205-417: The ball was released. Podres won two Series games, including the deciding seventh. The turning point of Game 7 was a spectacular double play that began with left fielder Sandy Amorós running down Yogi Berra 's long fly ball, then throwing to shortstop Pee Wee Reese , who relayed to first baseman Gil Hodges to double up a surprised Gil McDougald to preserve the Dodger lead. Hank Bauer grounded out and
17390-468: The big club. Although the Dodgers ultimately built Dodgertown and its Holman Stadium further south in Vero Beach , and played there for 61 spring training seasons from 1948 through 2008, Daytona Beach renamed City Island Ballpark to Jackie Robinson Ballpark in his honor. This event marked the continuation of the integration of professional sports in the United States, with professional football having led
17575-482: The blue of the Dodgers and the orange of the Giants, both of which are colors also featured on the flag of New York City . The nickname "Mets" was adopted: being a natural shorthand to the club's corporate name, the " New York Metropolitan Baseball Club , Inc.", which hearkened back to the " Metropolitans " (a New York team in the American Association from 1880 to 1887), and its brevity was advantageous for newspaper headlines. The historic and heated rivalry between
17760-633: The board. His first act was to request permission to move the team to Baltimore, which was swiftly granted. With this, the Browns' 52-year history in St. Louis came to an end. The St. Louis Browns were unique among 1950s baseball teams in that they moved eastward, not westward, and changed their name to make a deliberate break with their history. (Other teams that moved kept their nicknames: Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers , New York / San Francisco Giants , Boston / Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves , and Philadelphia / Kansas City / Oakland Athletics .) In December 1954, General Manager Paul Richards traded 17 players to
17945-468: The bus driver Glen Berg. With Geraghty as manager to begin the season, the 1948 Meridian Peps played as a Cleveland Indians minor league affiliate. Meridian missed the Southeastern League playoffs again after a sixth-place finish in the eight team Southeastern League. Playing in the Class B league, Meridian finished with a 63–77 record as Ben Geraghty and Jack Maupin managed the team. Playing their final season as
18130-406: The championship by defeating Natchez 4 games to 3. Meridian's Gene Pompelia scored 102 runs to lead the Cotton States League and Meridian pitcher Bob Harrison led the Cotton States League pitchers with both with 24 wins and a 1.82 ERA on the season. Before the 1953 Cotton States League season began, the league had controversy related to its continued practice of recial segregation . In April 1953,
18315-499: The championship. Eugene Nance of Meridian won the league batting championship, hitting .386. Teammate Fred Stroble led the league with both 25 home runs and 115 RBI, while Meridian's Jim Russell (baseball) scored a league leading 112 runs. In June 1942, Ed Wright rejected his move from the Memphis Chicks to the Meridian Eagles. Wright sought to be sent closer to his Dyersburg, Tennessee home where he could continue working as
18500-526: The city's stadium refused to host an exhibition game with the Montreal Royals – the Dodgers’ own farm club – on whose roster Robinson appeared at the time, citing segregation laws. Nearby Sanford similarly declined. Ultimately, City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach agreed to host the game with Robinson on the field. The team traveled to Havana, Cuba for spring training in 1947, this time with Robinson on
18685-423: The club's performance rebounded somewhat. When Robinson retired in 1931, he was replaced as manager by Max Carey , who had played for the team from 1926 until 1929. Although some suggested renaming the "Robins" the "Brooklyn Canaries", after Carey, whose last name was originally "Carnarius", the name "Brooklyn Dodgers" returned to stay following Robinson's retirement. It was during this era that Willard Mullin ,
18870-539: The clubs represented at the first convention of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) were from Brooklyn, including the Atlantic , Eckford , and Excelsior clubs that combined to dominate play for most of the 1860s. Brooklyn helped make baseball commercial, as the locale of the first paid admission games, a series of three all star contests matching New York and Brooklyn in 1858. Brooklyn also featured
19055-550: The credible bids came from non-St. Louis interests. The most promising offer came from a group based in Houston, Texas , where the Cardinals operated a Triple-A farm team. Under the rules of the time, the Cardinals also owned the major league rights to Houston. However, just when it looked like the Cardinals were about to move to Texas, Saigh accepted a somewhat lower bid from St. Louis-based brewery Anheuser-Busch . Saigh had intended all along to sell to any credible buyer who would keep
19240-576: The deal fell apart. According to the Los Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Times , the American League owners unanimously rejected the proposal after league officials expressed concerns that travel restrictions would be too stringent for a prospective Los Angeles-based team to be viable. However, according to the Society for American Baseball Research , Barnes himself pulled the proposal off
19425-459: The early 1920s. However, analysts think Ball made a series of blunders that would ultimately doom the franchise. Shortly after buying the team, he allowed Rickey to accept the presidency of the Cardinals. When Johnson got wind of this, he told Ball in no uncertain terms that Rickey could not be allowed to go to the National League. However, since Rickey had a signed contract, Ball was only able to keep Rickey on his payroll for another 24 hours; Rickey
19610-587: The eight-team league, finishing 16.5 games behind the first place Pensacola Fliers , who are listed as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time . The Millers' manager was again Jack Maupin. In the playoffs, the Vicksburg Billies defeated the Meridian Millers 4 games to 3 and advanced. In the Southeastern League Finals, Pensacola defeated Vicksburg for the championship. After winning
19795-425: The eight-team, Class C level Cotton States League. The El Dorado Oilers , Greenville Bucks , Greenwood Dodgers , Hot Springs Bathers , Monroe Sports , Natchez Indians and Pine Bluff Judges teams joined with Meridian in beginning league play on April 23, 1952. In their first season of play in their new league, the 1952 Meridian Millers won both the Cotton States League pennant and championship. Meridian ended
19980-569: The eight-year-old NL for the 1884 season. After winning the American Association league championship in 1889, the Brooklyn club (very occasionally now nicknamed the Bridegrooms or Grooms , for six players having wed during the 1888 season) moved to the competing older National League (1876) and won the 1890 NL Championship, being the only Major League team to win consecutive championships in both professional "base ball" leagues. They lost
20165-623: The enemy emplacement, stopping the mortar fire. For his military action, Reeder was awarded a Silver Star . Meridian resumed minor league play in 1946 following World War II, when the Meridien "Peps" team rejoined the Class B level Southeastern League which reformed for the 1946 season with eight teams. The Anniston Rams, Gadsden Pilots, Jackson Senators, Montgomery Rebels, Pensacola Fliers , Selma Cloverleafs and Vicksburg Billies teams joined Meridian in returning to league play beginning on April 12. 1946. The "Peps" were named by their owner. The team
20350-564: The final three games were very close. Despite losing the Series, Barnes took heart in outdrawing the Cardinals by almost 40,000 fans. It would be the only time after 1925 that the Browns would outdraw the Cardinals. The 1945 Browns muddled through much of the early part of the season. However, in August, Barnes abruptly sold his stake in the team to minority owner and refrigeration magnate Richard Muckerman , who retained DeWitt as general manager. While
20535-410: The first African-American to play Major League baseball in the 20th century when he played his first major league game on April 15, 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson's entry into the league was mainly due to General Manager Branch Rickey 's efforts. The deeply religious Rickey's motivation appears to have been primarily moral, although business considerations were also present. Rickey
20720-468: The first player of color to sign and play with a minor league team in the state of Mississippi. At the end of the 1954 season, all players of color in the Cotton States League were released by their league teams. After his playing career, Chico Heron became a minor league scout, working for the Philadelphia Phillies , Kansas City Royals , Saint Louis Cardinals , and New York Yankees . Scouting for
20905-566: The first team manager, and they drew 6,431 fans to their first home game on May 12, 1883, against the Trenton, New Jersey team. The Grays won the league title after the Camden Merritt club in New Jersey disbanded on July 20 and Brooklyn picked up some of its better players. The Grays were invited to join the two-year-old professional circuit, the American Association (founded 1882) to compete with
21090-408: The first time since they moved, they wore throwback Browns uniforms. In August 1979, new owner Edward Bennett Williams bought back the shares Barnes had sold to the public in 1936, returning the franchise to private control and removing one of the last remaining links to the Browns era. The buyout price was not published. However, given the Orioles' prosperity over their then-25 years in Baltimore,
21275-646: The first two enclosed baseball grounds, the Union Grounds and the Capitoline Grounds ; enclosed, dedicated ballparks accelerated the evolution from amateurism to professionalism . Despite the early success of Brooklyn clubs in the NABBP, which were officially amateur until 1869, they fielded weak teams in the succeeding National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), the first professional league formed in 1871. The Excelsiors no longer challenged for
21460-553: The franchise that finally came to be called "the Dodgers" were the Atlantics (1884, not directly related to the earlier Brooklyn Atlantics ), Bridegrooms or Grooms ( 1888 – 1898 ), Ward's Wonders , the Superbas ( 1899 – 1910 ), and the Robins ( 1914 – 1931 ), named for longtime manager Wilbert Robinson. All of these nicknames were used by fans and newspaper sports writers to describe
21645-501: The game, and never make the same mistake twice." Future author Pat Jordan , then Aarons teammate on the 1953 Jacksonville Brave, remembered that Geraghty would regularly confront racial segregation that the team encountered. Geraghty would insist that he and his minority players (Aaron, Horace Garner, and Felix Mantilla ) be served as equals at the finest restaurants. "Invariably, they would be refused service", Jordan wrote. "While Aaron waited nervously outside, Geraghty complained loudly to
21830-404: The gate during their first two decades in St. Louis. They trounced the Cardinals in attendance; in 1908, for instance, they attracted four times as many fans as the Cardinals. Pitcher Barney Pelty was a workhorse for the Browns, and a member of their starting rotation from 1904, when he pitched 31 complete games and 301 innings , through 1911. In 1909 , the Browns rebuilt Sportsman's Park as
22015-442: The greatest manager who ever lived, and that includes managers in the big leagues. I've never played for a guy who could get more out of every ballplayer than he could. He knew how to communicate with everybody and to treat every player as an individual," Hank Aaron said of Geraghty. Aaron also recalled of Geraghty that "he chewed me out when I needed it, but he told me how good I could be and – most important – he taught me how to study
22200-470: The hearts of his countrymen"). A spin-off joke was coined for the Browns: "First in shoes , first in booze , and last in the American League." (On October 2, 1944, cartoonist Amadee drew the St. Louis Weatherbird in a Browns uniform, standing on its head, with the legend "And first in the American League!") Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as
22385-658: The highway and down a mountainside embankment, crashing and catching fire. With a severe head wound himself, Geraghty was able to climb up the mountainside to reach the road and signal for help. Nine people were killed in the accident. Six were killed instantly and three later died from their injuries. Seven people were injured. The dead were catcher/manager Mel Cole (age 32), players Bob Kinnaman (28), George Lyden (23), Chris Hartje (31), Fred Martinez (24), Vic Picetti (18), George Risk (25), Bob James (25) and Bob Paterson (23). The injured survivors included players Pete Barisoff, Gus Hallbourg, Dick Powers, Irv Konopka, Levi McCormack, and
22570-445: The last ball used was gashed from seam to seam. After the season, Veeck cut a deal with Miles to move the Browns to Baltimore. Under the plan, Veeck would remain as principal owner, but would sell half of his 80% stake to a group of Baltimore investors headed by Miles. Despite assurances from Harridge that approval would be a formality, only four owners voted in favor – two short of passage. Reportedly, Yankees co-owner Del Webb
22755-445: The league batting championship, hitting.384. Player/manager Bill Hughes was a long-time minor league pitcher, winning 270 games in 20 minor league seasons. In 1940, Clarence Mitchell was hired to manage the Meridian team. Mitchell was a long-time major league pitcher, known as a player who was grandfathered in being able to throw a spitball in the major leagues. Becoming manager of Meridian in 1940, Mitchell made his final appearance as
22940-501: The league batting title, hitting .355, while teammate Bob Harrison returned to Meridian and led the Cotton Stats League with 19 wins, a 2.15 ERA and 172 strikeouts. In 1954, the Meridian Millers signed player Carlos "Chico" Heron, playing his first professional season after attending the University of Panama in his home country. Heron went on to hit .325 for Meridian in 1954. Playing the season at age 18, Heron subsequently became
23125-496: The league finals. Meridian ended the season with a record of 78–52, placing second the in the Southeastern League final standings. The Millers finished 2.0 games behind first place Pensacola, under returning manager Jack Maupin. In the first round of the playoffs, the Millers won their first playoff series, defeating Jackson in seven games. Advancing to the finals, Meridian lost to Pensacola 4 games to 1. The Southeastern League folded after
23310-601: The league pennant and were League champions. The Millers ended the regular season with record of 79–46, to finish in first place under returning manager Thomas Davis. Meridian ended the regular season 12.5 games ahead of the second place El Dorado Oilers in the final standings of the eight-team league. In the playoffs Meridian Millers defeated the Jackson Senators 4 games to 2. In the finals, the Meridian Millers swept El Dorado in four games to win their second consecutive Cotton States League championship. Meridian's Hugh Glaze won
23495-561: The league until he had time to review the matter. Trautman also stated that even if procedures had been followed correctly, if the only reason for the Hot Springs banishment was "the employment of two Negro players, this office would still be required to declare the forfeiture invalid. The employment of Negro players has never been, nor is now, prohibited by any provision of the Major-Minor League Agreement." Before Trautman made
23680-473: The management ... They [would go] to the next best restaurant, and the next and the next, until Geraghty finally located one that would serve [them]." Two years before joining Meridian, on June 24, 1946, a terrible accident had occurred and Geraghty was one of the survivors of a bus crash that killed nine members of the Spokane Indians team. Geraghty was able to get help to others in the crash. On that date,
23865-400: The military. As a result, many of the Browns' best players were classified 4-F (unfit for military service). Years of having to live a hand-to-mouth existence actually served the Browns well during the war years. They were better prepared to adjust to the effects of the draft, while wealthier teams like the Cardinals were caught unawares when their best players were drafted. The Browns spent
24050-442: The neighborhood of Brownsville before moving to Ebbets Field in the neighborhood of Crown Heights in 1912. The team is noted for signing Jackie Robinson in 1947 as the first black player in the modern major leagues. The Brooklyn Dodgers had an overall win–loss record of 5,624–5,290–133 (.515) during their 68 years in Brooklyn. Eight former Brooklyn Dodgers players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame . Many of
24235-559: The new name which eastern baseball cranks [fans] have given the Brooklyn club." In 1895, Brooklyn played at Eastern Park, bounded by Eastern Parkway (now Pitkin Avenue), Powell Street, Sutter Avenue, Van Sinderen Street, where they had moved early in the 1891 season when the second Washington Park burned down. Some sources erroneously report that the name "Trolley Dodgers" referred to pedestrians avoiding fast cars on street car tracks that bordered Eastern Park on two sides. However, Eastern Park
24420-423: The next 48 hours, Miles lined up enough support from his group of investors to buy out Veeck's entire stake for $ 2.5 million. Facing threats to cancel the franchise and having sold his only leverage (the renamed Busch Stadium), Veeck had little choice but to take the deal, and the sale was duly approved. While Baltimore brewer Jerold Hoffberger became the largest shareholder, Miles was named president and chairman of
24605-532: The next day. Gaedel was by far the shortest person ever to appear in a major league game. Veeck also promoted another publicity stunt in which the Browns handed out placards – reading "take, swing, bunt", etc. – to fans and allowed them to make managerial decisions for a day. Taylor dutifully surveyed the fans' advice and relayed the sign accordingly. The Browns won the game against the Philadelphia Athletics , whose venerable owner Connie Mack took part in
24790-403: The only one-armed major league position player in history. However, the players felt that Gray was dragging down the team. After Muckerman bought the team, he signed manager Luke Sewell to a two-year contract, and Sewell significantly cut back Gray's playing time. Gray was sent to the minors after the season, and never played in the major leagues again. Although it was not apparent at the time,
24975-431: The opportunity to be notified in writing and given an opportunity to reply to any charges before a vote would be taken. This did not happen in the meeting that removed Hot Springs. Rumors also persisted that only five of the teams had voted to expel Hot Springs, which was shy of the two-thirds requirement as noted in the league constitution. National Association President George M. Trautman ordered that Hot Springs remain in
25160-539: The original plans would not be enough to bring the park up to code. He also built a new stadium for their top farm team, the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League . After a slow start to 1947, he hurriedly signed two Negro league stars, Willard Brown and Hank Thompson . They only lasted a month when it became clear they neither improved attendance or the team's on-field record. Only three years after winning
25345-405: The owners likely made a considerably large return on their investment. The Browns, like the Washington Senators , were associated mostly with losing. The Senators became the butt of a well-known vaudeville joke, "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League" (a twist on the famous "Light Horse Harry" Lee eulogy for George Washington : "First in war, first in peace and first in
25530-536: The pennant by beating the Cincinnati Reds those same two days. One key development during this era was the 1938 appointment of Leland "Larry" MacPhail as Dodgers' general manager. MacPhail, who brought night games to Major League Baseball as general manager of the Reds, also started night baseball in Brooklyn and ordered the successful refurbishing of Ebbets Field. He also brought Reds voice Red Barber to Brooklyn as
25715-481: The pennant, the Browns posted the worst record in the majors, at 59–95. After the season, Muckerman was forced to sell Vern Stephens , Jack Kramer and Ellis Kinder , three stars from the 1944 pennant season, to the Red Sox. Years later, DeWitt revealed that between cost overruns from renovations to Sportsman's Park, cost overruns for building the new Mission Stadium in San Antonio, and a marked drop in attendance,
25900-570: The pennant. The Giants took Game 1 by a score of 3–1 before being shut out by the Dodgers' Clem Labine in Game 2, 10–0. It all came down to the final game, and Brooklyn seemed to have the pennant locked up, holding a 4–2 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning. Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson , however, hit a stunning three-run walk-off home run off the Dodgers' Ralph Branca to secure the NL Championship for New York . To this day Thomson's home run
26085-483: The players. Over the 1890s, Charles Ebbets accumulated shares in the club, owning 80% of it by decade's end. Other shares were held by Harry Von der Horst —owner of the Baltimore Orioles team that won consecutive championships in 1894, 1895, and 1896—and Orioles manager Ned Hanlon . In 1899, Von der Horst and Hanlon moved most of the Orioles' stars from Baltimore to join the Grays (Bridegrooms) in Brooklyn; Hanlon became
26270-502: The playoffs, losing to the El Dorado Oilers 4 games to 3. Pitcher Roy Jayne of Meridian tied for the league lead with 20 wins. The Meridien Millers folded after the 1954 season. Having folded, the Meridian Millers franchise did not return to play to begin the 1955 Cotton States League season, before returning in the middle of the league's final season. On June 16, 1955, the Pine Bluff Judges moved their franchise to Meridian. The team
26455-506: The playoffs, won by Montgomery. Eagles player Marion DeJarnett tied for the league lead scoring 111 runs. Pitcher Bill Reeder played for Meridian in 1942. Following the season, Reeder enlisted in the U.S. Army . As a member of the 381st Infantry Regiment of the 96th Infantry Division , Reeder was in combat at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. With his unit under attack from Japanese Army mortar fire, Reeder successfully threw hand grenades at
26640-448: The poorer owners in the league, and did not have the wherewithal to take advantage of the large number of National League players bolting to the league. Of the 100 frontline players who switched leagues, only three signed with the Brewers. When Mack transferred to the Philadelphia Athletics at Johnson's behest as manager and part-owner, one of the three players who jumped to the Brewers, Hugh Duffy , became player-manager. Johnson knew
26825-423: The purchase, Barnes sold 20,000 shares of stock to the public at $ 5 a share, an unusual practice for a sports franchise. Soon afterward, he fired Hornsby after learning he was placing bets on horse races during games. By 1941, Barnes was convinced he could never make money in St. Louis. After interests in Los Angeles approached him about buying a stake in the team, he asked AL owners for permission to move there for
27010-519: The regular season tied for first place but the Cardinals won the pennant when they prevailed in the first ever playoff tiebreaker in the National League. Cardinal Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter said during this period of the Cardinals–Dodgers rivalry that "We loved to hate them and they loved to hate us." During this period, after the 1942 season, Branch Rickey , who had built up the Cardinals farm system as their general manager moved to become
27195-487: The regular season with a final record of 64–80, to finish in seventh place in the eight-team league. Clarence Mitchell and Bernie DeViveiros were the Meriden managers. Meridian did not qualify for the playoffs, finishing 24.5 games behind the first place and eventual league champion Jackson Senators . Pitcher Ewald Pyle of Meridian led the Southeastern League with 180 strikeouts. As the Southeastern League continued play in
27380-465: The regular season with a record of 78–48 to finish in first place, playing their championship season under manager Thomas Davis. The Millers ended the regular season 5.0 games ahead of the second place Natchez Indians in the final standings of the eight-team league. In the first round of the playoffs, the Millers defeated the Monroe Sports 4 games to 2 and advanced. In the finals, the Meridian Millers won
27565-550: The rest of the franchise's tenure in St. Louis, and would remain the franchise record until 1954, the team's first year in Baltimore. Ball had previously spent lavishly on the Browns, but gradually cut that spending to the bare minimum. He died in 1933, and his estate ran the team for three years, with Ball's former right-hand man Louis Von Weise as team president. The Ball estate mostly left the baseball side to player-manager and former Cardinals great Rogers Hornsby , whom Ball had hired in one of his last acts before his death. However,
27750-405: The same time. The play is often remembered as Herman "tripling into a triple play", though only two of the three players were declared out and Herman was credited with a double rather than a triple. Herman later complained that no one remembered that he drove in the winning run on the play. The incident led to the popular joke: After his removal as club president, Robinson returned to managing, and
27935-429: The season in a vigorous three-way race with the Tigers and Yankees for the pennant. On the final day of the season, before a sellout crowd of 35,518–their first sellout since 1924–they defeated the Yankees 5–2. Minutes earlier, the Tigers lost 4–1 to the Washington Senators , giving the Browns the pennant by a single game. They thus became the last of the 16 teams that made up the major leagues from 1903 to 1960 to play in
28120-429: The series as "Dodgers vs. Indians", despite the fact that the Robins nickname had been in consistent usage at this point for around six years. For most of the first half of the 20th century, no Major League Baseball team employed a black player. A parallel system of Negro leagues developed, but most of the Negro league players were denied a chance to prove their skill before a national audience. Jackie Robinson became
28305-407: The stands. The Browns never came close to fielding a winning team during this time. In Veeck's three years as owner, they never finished any closer than 31 games out of first, and twice lost 100 games. But Veeck's showmanship and colorful promotions made Browns games more fun and unpredictable than the conservative Cardinals were willing to offer. Veeck's all-out assault on the Cardinals came during
28490-481: The street. The new ballpark was named Buckwalter Stadium. Meridian teams hosted home minor league games at Buckwalter Stadium from 1947 to 1955. The ballpark in the era was located at 918 21st Avenue in Meridian, Mississippi. Today, the abandoned grandstands of Buckwalter Stadium still exist. St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns was a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin , as
28675-447: The subtitle of the article reads "Subdue The Superbas By 11 To 4, Making Series An Even Break". Space-conscious headline writers still used "the Flock" (derived from "Robins") during the Dodgers' last decade in Brooklyn. Another example of the interchangeability of different nicknames is found on the program issued at Ebbets Field for the 1920 World Series , which identifies the matchup in
28860-536: The table when he realized that a potential Japanese attack on the West Coast–a concern in the time immediately after Pearl Harbor–would make large-scale events on the West Coast too great of a risk. During World War II, in 1944 , the Browns won their only American League pennant in St. Louis. Due to the draft decimating the minor leagues, Barnes and the Browns pursued a strategy of pursuing players who couldn't serve in
29045-524: The team bore the name "Dodgers". Examples of how the many popularized names of the team were used interchangeably are available from newspaper articles from the period before 1932. A New York Times article describing a game the Dodgers played in 1916 starts out by referring to how "Jimmy Callahan, pilot of the Pirates, did his best to wreck the hopes the Dodgers have of gaining the National League pennant", but then goes on to comment, "the only thing that saved
29230-441: The team to receive revenue on ballpark advertisements, worth an estimated $ 2,500 annually. With the team in jeopardy of remaining in Meridian, in January 1947, Buckwalter reached an affiliate agreement with the Cleveland Indians and sold shares of 75% the team, retaining 25% of the stocks for himself and he continued as team president. This new revenue funded a new ballpark for the team, with Buckwalter Stadium being built in time for
29415-402: The team with him. Byrne arranged to build a grandstand on a lot bounded by Third Street, Fourth Avenue, Fifth Street, and Fifth Avenue, and named it Washington Park in honor of first president George Washington . Nicknamed by reporters the "Grays" for their uniforms, the team played in the minor league Inter-State Association of Professional Baseball Clubs that first season. Doyle became
29600-460: The team's manager. The press, inspired by the popular circus act The Hanlons' Superba , dubbed the new combined team the Brooklyn Superbas . In 1899 and in 1900, they were the champions of the National League . The name Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers was first used to describe the team in 1895. The nickname was still new enough in September 1895 that a newspaper reported that "'Trolley Dodgers' is
29785-415: The team's traveling secretary, mainly because they were the only credible buyers willing to keep the team in St. Louis. However, they financed the purchase with notes totaling $ 1 million that were due in 1954, and the team's attendance over the next two years was nowhere near enough to service the debt. Under the circumstances, DeWitt was unable to reverse the slide, and was forced to sell any good prospects to
29970-409: The team, and found it in a syndicate headed by an old friend from his days as a sportswriter, Kansas City carriage maker Robert Hedges , who moved to St. Louis soon after the purchase closed. Hedges became team secretary while ceding the presidency to St. Louis businessman Ralph Orthwein. However, Hedges was the undisputed head of the franchise long before taking the presidency himself in 1903. He built
30155-564: The team, often concurrently, but not in any official capacity. The team's legal name was the Brooklyn Base Ball Club . The "Trolley Dodgers" nickname was used throughout this period, along with other nicknames, by fans and sports writers of the day. The team did not use the name in a formal sense until 1916, when the name was printed on home World Series programs. The word "Dodgers" appeared on team jerseys in 1932. The "conclusive shift" came in 1933, when both home and road jerseys for
30340-573: The team. Under the circumstances, a move to St. Louis was a foregone conclusion. At a league meeting in Chicago, the Killileas requested and received permission to move. Soon after moving, the team changed its name to the Browns, a reference to the original name of the St. Louis Cardinals , who were known from the 1880s until 1900 as the Brown Stockings . Johnson then set about finding local ownership for
30525-578: The team. O'Malley was free to purchase land of his own choosing, but wanted Robert Moses to condemn a parcel of land along the Atlantic Railroad Yards in downtown Brooklyn under Title I authority, after O'Malley had bought the bulk of the land he had in mind. Title I gave the city municipality power to condemn land for the purpose of building what it calls "public purpose" projects. Moses' interpretation of "public purpose" included public parks, housing, highways, and bridges. What O'Malley wanted
30710-476: The third concrete-and-steel park in the major leagues. During this time, the Browns were best known for their role in the race for the 1910 American League batting title . Ty Cobb took off the last game of the season, believing that his slight lead over Nap Lajoie , of the Cleveland Naps , would hold up unless Lajoie had a near-perfect day at the plate. However, the Browns players decided to help Lajoie win
30895-568: The time. Under the deal, the Browns would buy the Chicago Cubs ' top affiliate, the Los Angeles Angels ; in those days, whoever owned a minor league team owned the major league rights to that city. The deal was slated to receive final approval at a league meeting on December 8. The deal was disrupted by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , which took place on December 7. Sources differ on how
31080-460: The title over the unpopular Cobb. Browns' manager Jack O'Connor went along with the plan, since the game would have no bearing on the pennant race. O'Connor ordered rookie third baseman Red Corriden to play on the outfield grass. This all but conceded a hit for any ball Lajoie bunted. Lajoie bunted five straight times down the third base line and made it to first easily. On his last at-bat, Lajoie reached base on an error – officially giving him
31265-651: The way in 1946, with the concomitant demise of the Negro leagues , and is regarded as a key moment in the history of the American civil rights movement. Robinson was an exceptional player, a speedy runner who sparked the team with his intensity. He was the inaugural recipient of the Rookie of the Year award, which is now named the Jackie Robinson award in his honor. The Dodgers' willingness to integrate, when most other teams refused to,
31450-451: The worst attendance in the American League. Indeed, after 1945 the Browns would struggle to attract more than 300,000 in a season. With the return of peace in 1946, the Browns found themselves in over their heads competing against teams augmented by stars returning from the war, and tumbled to seventh place. In response, Muckerman budgeted $ 300,000 to renovate Sportsman's Park. However, the bill swelled to $ 700,000 when it became apparent that
31635-405: The years since the Second World War. Teams were no longer bound by much slower railroad infrastructure. Because of advances in civil aviation, it became possible to locate teams farther apart – as far west as California – while maintaining the same busy game schedules. When Los Angeles officials attended the 1956 World Series looking to entice a team to move there, they were not even thinking of
31820-435: Was a World Series in Sportsman's Park in 1926 – but it was the Cardinals who took part, upsetting the Yankees . Meanwhile, the Browns slumped to seventh in the American League. More importantly, the Cardinals outdrew the Browns by more than 400,000. St. Louis had been considered a "Browns town" until then; as late as 1925, the Browns outdrew the Cardinals by more than 50,000. After their 1926 Series victory, however,
32005-433: Was Veeck forced to sell off top-drawer players to keep the team afloat, but late in the season, the Browns were running so low on baseballs that they were forced to ration them during batting practice. When what would be the Browns' last game in St. Louis (a 2–1 loss to the White Sox) went into extra innings, the Browns had so few baseballs on hand that the umpires were forced to recycle the least damaged used ones. Reportedly,
32190-399: Was a key factor in their 1947–1956 success. They won six pennants in those 10 years with the help of Robinson, three-time MVP Roy Campanella , Cy Young Award winner Don Newcombe , Jim Gilliam , and Joe Black . Robinson eventually became the first African-American elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. After the wilderness years of the 1920s and 1930s, the Dodgers were rebuilt into
32375-533: Was a member of the Methodist Church , the antecedent denomination to the United Methodist Church of today, which was a strong advocate for social justice and active later in the Civil Rights Movement . Rickey saw his opportunity with the 1944 death of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis , an arch-segregationist and enforcer of the color barrier. Besides selecting Robinson for his exceptional baseball skills, Rickey also considered Robinson's outstanding personal character, his UCLA education and rank of captain in
32560-445: Was a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles . The Pine Bluff/Meridian team ended the Cotton States League regular season with a 59–56 record and in third place, playing the season under managers Robert Knoke and Merrill Smith in the two locations. The Monroe Sports won the league pennant, finishing 16.0 games ahead of Meridian. In the first round of the four-team playoffs, the Meridian Millers played their final games in losing to
32745-403: Was a widespread belief that St. Louis was, in many ways, a Southern city. In the mid-1950s many of its stores and restaurants refused to serve black customers. The Cardinals, with baseball’s largest radio network blanketing the Midwest and South, had cultivated white Southern fans. Their ballpark was also the last in the majors to abolish segregated seating. Because of their lack of black players,
32930-425: Was drumming up support to move the Browns to Los Angeles, where Webb held extensive construction interests. However, talk of a Los Angeles move may have been a bluff – many owners believed that travel and schedule considerations would make having only one franchise on the West Coast unsustainable. Veeck, Miles, and D'Alesandro realized that the other AL owners were simply looking for a way to push Veeck out. Over
33115-403: Was for Moses to use Title I authority, rather than to pay market value for the land. With Title I the city via Robert Moses could have sold the land to O'Malley at a below market price. Moses refused to honor O'Malley's request and responded, "If you want the land so bad, why don't you purchase it with your own money?". Meanwhile, non-stop transcontinental airline travel had become routine during
33300-421: Was hired in January 1948 to become the manager of the Green Bay Bluejays of the Wisconsin State League . On March 26, 1948, former player and manager Fred Williams was released by Meridian. In 1948, the new Meridian manager to begin the season was Ben Geraghty . Geraghty later became the legendary Hank Aaron 's manager with the 1953 Jacksonville Tars . "He was the greatest manager I ever played for, perhaps
33485-415: Was located at Donald Avenue and F Street at South 22nd Avenue. After the 1946 season, team owner Charles Buckwalter was losing money on the ballclub because the fair park board charged a sizable rent for the team to play at Fairgrounds Park and a new ballpark was built for the team. Following the 1947 season, Buckwalter sold 75% of the interest in the club, and raised enough capital to build a ballpark across
33670-415: Was no specific statute for baseball teams, his edict was based on segregation statutes within the Mississippi constitution. After Coleman's remarks, a Cotton States League meeting was held in secret on April 6, 1953, resulting in a vote to remove the Hot Springs integrated team from the league. There was an immediate reaction to the league's actions against the Hot Springs franchise. Attorney Leslie O'Connor ,
33855-412: Was not bordered by street-level trolley lines that had to be "dodged" by pedestrians. The name "Trolley Dodgers" implied the dangers posed by trolley cars in Brooklyn generally, which in 1892, began the switch from horse-power to electrical power, which made them much faster, and were hence regarded as more dangerous. The name was later shortened to Brooklyn Dodgers . Other team names used to refer to
34040-434: Was owned by local Pepsi-Cola bottler Charles Buckwalter, who owned the team through the 1948 season. Meridian native Fred Williams began the 1945 season with the Cleveland Indians before being sent to the minor leagues. In March 1946, Williams signed with the Meridian Peps to play the upcoming season. During the season, Williams was named as the Meridian manager on July 30, 1946, replacing Walt Tauscher . Hired before
34225-459: Was replaced by Bob Quinn . Four years later, Ball allowed the Cardinals to move out of dilapidated Robison Field and share Sportsman's Park with the Browns. Rickey and owner Sam Breadon used the proceeds from the Robison Field sale to build baseball's first modern farm system . This effort eventually produced several star players who brought the Cardinals more drawing power than the Browns. The 1922 Browns excited their owner by almost beating
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