After Eternity Suffering: Browns Win it All!!!
A succession of lifetimes have come and gone since the Browns took over for the Brewers in 1902 in the American league. One pennant, 10 last place finishes, lots of pain, and a move to Baltimore, but no Championship. Until NOW! Fittingly Ed and the Browns Historical Society manage to put the Crown on the Brown finally in 2026. Herb Pennock is the star with a win and a run and rbi on the date in ’27. Pirates and Browns both with only 1 run scored in losses. Waner the only Pirate in action as it turns out on the date. Ruth gets in one last shot. Congrats to Ed along with Lachlan and Jason in our Winter Ball program who are also winners. Congrats also to Jeff and his Pirates on an amazing season. Thanks to everyone for playing, it was truly a special year.
*Season Wrap Up, League awards, and a few stats at bottom of the page
Players of the Day
World Series
| Game 1: 6/16/23 | starting score | bonus runs | final score |
| Browns | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Pirates | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Game 2: 7/19/26 | starting score | bonus runs | final score |
| Browns | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Pirates | 10 | 4 | 14 |
| Game 3: 5/20/45 | starting score | bonus runs | final score |
| Pirates | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Browns | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Game 4: 4/20/35 | starting score | bonus runs | final score |
| Pirates | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Browns | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| Game 5: 8/21/44 | starting score | bonus runs | final score |
| Pirates | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Browns | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Game 6: 8/25/27 | starting score | bonus runs | final score |
| Browns | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Pirates | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Game 7: -/-/29 | starting score | bonus runs | final score |
| Browns | |||
| Pirates |
World Series Rosters
| Browns | runs | rbi | wins | save | Pirates | runs | rbi | wins | save |
| Ruth | 98 | 90 | 2 | 0 | Frisch | 60 | 62 | 0 | 0 |
| Simmons | 46 | 62 | 0 | 0 | P Waner | 57 | 53 | 0 | 0 |
| Foxx | 48 | 48 | 0 | 0 | Bartell | 49 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Baker | 14 | 18 | 0 | 0 | Hafey | 20 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Gordon | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | Durocher | 28 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Pennock | 1 | 3 | 9 | 3 | Hoyt | 6 | 8 | 12 | 0 |
| Bridges | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Luque | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
Standings:
| Team | Record | Position | Bonus Runs | Wins |
| AL | ||||
| Red Sox (Cook) | 75-78-1 | 12 X 5th | 392 | 13 |
| Yankees (Lanham) | 82-72 | 5 1/2 X 2nd | 323 | 10 |
| Tigers (Coe) | 75-78-1 | 12 X 5th | 345 | 18 |
| Senators (Gumersell) | 77-76-1 | 10 X 3rd | 438 | 12 |
| Indians (Bryson) | 75-79 | 12 1/2 X 7th | 389 | 13 |
| White Sox (Bates) | 77-76-1 | 10 X 3rd | 367 | 11 |
| Athletics (Conner) | 64-89-1 | 23 X 8th | 381 | 22 |
| Browns (SLBHS) | 87-66-1 | – CHAMPS | 524 | 14 |
| NL | ||||
| Cardinals (Williams) | 80-73-1 | 8 X 3rd | 345 | 13 |
| Reds (O’Neill/Hughes) | 68-85-1 | 21 X 8th | 390 | 16 |
| Pirates (Elsenraat) | 88-65-1 | – CHAMPS | 511 | 20 |
| Cubs (Smith) | 80-74 | 8 1/2 X 4th | 369 | 10 |
| Giants (Shelton) | 86-67-1 | 2 X 2nd | 331 | 11 |
| Dodgers (Eisenhour) | 69-84-1 | 19 X 7th | 334 | 12 |
| Braves (Ginocchio) | 70-83-1 | 18 X 6th | 355 | 16 |
| Phillies (Mortimore) | 73-81 | 15 1/2 X 5th | 388 | 12 |
League Leaders
| Runs | Rbis | Wins |
| Ruth (SLB) 98 | Ruth (SLB) 90 | Hoyt (PIT) 12 |
| Gehrig (CLE) 62 | Simmons (SLB) 63 | Jones (PHA) 11 |
| Frisch (PIT) 60 | Frisch (PIT) 62 | Grove (DET) 11 |
| Gehringer (WAS) 58 | Goslin (WAS) 57 | Whitehill (PHA) 11 |
| P Waner (PIT) 57 | Gehrig (CLE) 55 | Hubbell (STL) 10 |
| Goslin (WAS) 51 | P Waner (PIT) 53 | Alexander (CIN) 10 |
| Bartell (PIT) 49 | Hornsby (PHI) 53 | Fitzsimmons (PHI) 10 |
| Foxx (SLB) 48 | Ott (BSN) 51 | four tied with 9 |
| Simmons (SLB) 46 | Foxx (SLB) 48 | |
| two tied with 45 | Gehringer (WAS) 48 |
Season Wrap
As mentioned earlier, this has to be the most surprising season since the first since both pennant winners are first timers matching the only wins for the Dodgers and White Sox way back in year #1. There is no doubt bonus runs really made the difference this year with massive advantages and record-shattering numbers for both the Browns and Pirates, while the Yankees and Giants who both finished second were at the very bottom. It was probably easy to guess the Ruth, Simmons, Foxx group brought about by last year’s early year tilt was going to pay big dividends. Carrying the Browns to a pennant is another level of heavy work. On the other side, Pirates get a first time Cy Young winner and first time MVP winner and really great performances across the board including three biggest bonus run player increases year-over-year after Ruth for Browns. Should be a great Series and will preview Tuesday.
AL Wrap
As mentioned, Browns a bit of a shock and worst to first pennant winner for second year in a row in AL (after last year’s Red Sox). Yankees were mostly saddled by poor numbers from players, not really the early years that killed them last year. Senators had a great second half but were so far behind that it was too little. Great performances out of Goslin & Gehringer though. White Sox again a team saddled with a horrible start and bad pitching early. But late push mainly by Ted Lyons got them a long way. Red Sox had a great first half but the AL’s general shift to middle years made them sink. Nice year from Jimmie Dykes. Tigers never got a lot of traction and bonus runs again were the main culprit. Indians were in for a good part of the first before a fast fade. A’s were just plain unlucky, but got a record tying performance out of pitchers, Whitehill and Jones. Whitehill a non-HOF guy now with three Cy Young awards!
NL Wrap
Pirates with plenty of seasons in the race but never able to get over the hump before. Not this time. Frisch and Waner were amazing along with surprise stud Bartell. Waite Hoyt with his best season was also a big winner for Jeff. Giants just could not get the bonus production to keep them at the top. Got lucky enough with dates to stay in it at all with the bad bonus runs. Cardinals were not destined for repeat mainly due to no standout players. Cubs got nice solid numbers from most of their roster but had only one really good streak. Phillies get an amazing performance and actually were in the race for a while in spite of an off year from Hornsby. My Braves got second best finish in 10 years, but could not do much in the second half. Dodgers and Reds both sunk in second half by all those middle years by the AL, plus Alexander’s huge fall off killed Reds.
League Awards
Manager of the Year:
Gumersell (Senators) 14-6-2 Mortimore (Phillies) 13-8-1 (Indians/A’s/White Sox/Pirates) 13-9
Executive of the Year:
Wheatley (Browns) 524 b/r Elsenraat (Pirates) 511 Gumersell (Senators) 438
NL MVP
Frisch (PIT) 122 b/r P Waner (PIT) 110 Hornsby (PHI)/Ott (BSN) 96
AL MVP
Ruth (SLB) 198 Gehrig (CLE) 117 Goslin (WAS)/Simmons (SLB) 108
NL Cy Young
Hoyt (PIT) 12 wins +14 b/r Hubbell (STL) 10 +9 Fitzsimmons (PHI) 10 +8
AL Cy Young
Whitehill (PHA) 11 wins +14 b/r Jones (PHA) 11 +10 Grove (DET) 11 +6
Draft Darlings (biggest year-over-year bonus run increases)
Ruth (SLB) +65
Hoyt (PIT) +53
P Waner (PIT) +51
Frisch (PIT) +50
Simmons (SLB) +46
Gehrig (CLE) +44
Draft Dogs (biggest year-over-year bonus run drops)
Alexander (CIN) -67
Heilmann (BOS) -36
Cobb (PHA) -32
W Johnson (BOS) -31
Veach (DET) -29
DiMaggio (DET) -29