The 1953 St. Louis Browns season was the 53rd and final season in Browns history. The Browns finished 8th in the American League with a record of 54–100, games behind the AL and World Series champion New York Yankees. After the season, the Browns moved to Baltimore, where they are now known as the Baltimore Orioles.

Offseason October 14, 1952: Ray Coleman, Bob Mahoney, Stan Rojek and $95,000 were traded by the Browns to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Billy Hunter. at Baseball-Reference October 16, 1952: Joe DeMaestri and Tommy Byrne were traded by the Browns to the White Sox for Hank Edwards and Willy Miranda. at Baseball-Reference October 27, 1952: Jake Crawford was traded by the Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Neil Berry, Cliff Mapes and $25,000. at Baseball-Reference December 4, 1952: Jay Porter, Owen Friend and Bob Nieman were traded by the Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Johnny Groth, Virgil Trucks and Hal White. at Baseball-Reference

Regular season May 6, 1953: In his first major league start, the Browns' Bobo Holloman pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics. The 27-year-old Holloman struck out three, walked five, and helped himself offensively by batting in three of the Browns' runs with a pair of singles in the Browns' 6–0 victory. (Holloman finished the season with a 3–7 record and did not pitch in the major leagues after 1953.) June 3 through July 7, 1953: The Browns lost twenty consecutive games at home. This remained the longest home losing streak (in terms of number of losses) in North American major professional sports until the Edmonton Elks lost their twenty-first game on July 29, 2023. September 27, 1953: The Browns ended their 51-year residence in St. Louis, losing to the Chicago White Sox at home 2–1 in 11 innings to complete a sweep by the White Sox, giving the Browns 100 losses for the year. Official attendance was 3,174.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions July 23, 1953: Bobo Holloman was purchased from the Browns by the Toronto Maple Leafs for $7,500. September 1, 1953: Neil Berry was selected off waivers from the Browns by the Chicago White Sox.

Roster 1953 St. Louis Browns Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

= Indicates team leader Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in    Player C Clint Courtney 106 355 89 .251 4 19 1B Dick Kryhoski 104 338 94 .278 16 50 2B Bobby Young 148 537 137 .255 4 25 SS 154 567 124 .219 1 37 3B Jim Dyck 112 334 71 .213 9 27 OF Vic Wertz 128 440 118 .268 19 70 OF Dick Kokos 107 299 72 .241 13 38 OF Johnny Groth 141 557 141 .253 10 57

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player Don Lenhardt 97 303 96 .317 10 35 Roy Sievers 92 285 77 .270 8 35 Les Moss 78 239 66 .276 2 28 Vern Stephens 46 165 53 .321 4 17 Bob Elliott 48 160 40 .250 5 29 65 106 21 .198 0 9 Neil Berry 57 99 28 .283 0 11 Ed Mickelson 7 15 2 .133 0 2 Jim Pisoni 3 12 1 .083 1 1 Johnny Lipon 7 9 2 .222 0 1 Dixie Upright 9 8 2 .250 1 1 3 7 0 .000 0 0 17 6 1 .167 0 0 Frank Kellert 2 4 0 .000 0 0 Babe Martin 4 2 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player IP W L ERA SO 38 192.2 7 12 4.16 96 Duane Pillette 31 166.2 7 13 4.48 58 Virgil Trucks 16 88.0 5 4 3.07 47 Bob Turley 10 60.1 2 6 3.28 61 Dick Littlefield 36 152.1 7 12 5.08 104 26 117.1 5 13 3.07 44 32 99.2 4 10 6.23 36 33 94.1 2 6 6.39 23 Lou Kretlow 22 81.0 1 5 5.11 37 22 65.1 3 7 5.23 25 Max Lanier 10 22.1 0 1 7.25 8

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player W L SV ERA SO Marlin Stuart 60 8 2 6 3.94 46 Satchel Paige 57 3 9 11 3.53 51 Hal White 10 0 0 0 2.61 2 Bob Habenicht 1 0 0 0 5.40 1

Awards and honors 1953 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Satchel Paige, reserve Casey Stengel kept to his word and named Paige to the 1953 All-Star team despite Paige not having a very good year. He got in the game in the eighth inning. First Paige got Gil Hodges to line out, then after Roy Campanella singled up the middle, Eddie Mathews popped out. He then walked Duke Snider and Enos Slaughter lined a hit to center to score Campanella. National League pitcher Murry Dickson drove in Snider, but was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit into a double. Paige ended the year with a disappointing 3–9 record, but a respectable 3.53 ERA. Paige was released after the season when Veeck once again had to sell the team.

Farm system

Notes

References

1953 St. Louis Browns team at Baseball-Reference 1953 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com