St. Louis Browns RHP George Caster was born on August 4, 1907 in Colton, California. The future legend would spend five of his 20 years in professional baseball with the Browns. He would be a pioneer for the closer position, and would finish his career with the most saves in St. Louis Browns history.
George Caster would be the first MLB
St. Louis Browns RHP George Caster was born on August 4, 1907 in Colton, California. The future legend would spend five of his 20 years in professional baseball with the Browns. He would be a pioneer for the closer position, and would finish his career with the most saves in St. Louis Browns history.
George Caster would be the first MLB player to come out of San Bernardino Valley College (1927-28). While playing on several semipro teams in southern California, he would sign with the Mission Reds of he Pacific Coast League in 1929. He would spend four seasons with the Reds (1929-32), before moving on to the Los Angeles Angels (1932), Seattle Indians (1933-34), and Portland Beavers (1934). Caster would be signed by the Philadelphia Athletics in 1934, and spend most of the next six years in their rotation. After a 45-73 record and an ERA of 4.97, the Athletics placed George Caster on waivers.
The Browns would select the right-hander off waivers on November 16, 1940. Caster would have a disastrous start to the 1941 season, where is ERA jumped to 5.00 and the Browns only winning three of his first ten starts. Browns manager Luke Sewell decided to move the struggling pitcher to the bullpen, and change the entire fate of both the Browns and George Caster.
From 1941-45, George Caster would be to primary closer for the St. Louis Browns. After the decision to move him to the bullpen, Caster would not start another game in his career. Instead his would close out 108 of the next 148 games he appeared for the Browns. He would bring stability to the Browns late-inning pitching staff. He appeared 337.1 innings in relief for the Browns over 148 games from 1941-45. He would record 159 strikeouts, while his ERA dropped to 3.40 with the Browns. That is over 1.5 fewer runs than he recorded with the Athletics.
Major League Baseball had yet to document the "save" statistic in the 1940s, but has recently returned to the box scores of the era and awarded Caster 30 saves as the Browns closer. George Caster would be the all-time saves leader, and his 14 saves in 1944 would have led the American League.
George Caster would have one of the more unique nicknames in baseball history, and there are several stories around his "Ug" moniker. One story states that when he was the roommate of a native American player in the minors, the insensitive fellow players gave him the nickname to describe his living situation. The other, more amusing stories refer to his 'Caster' last name being close to the Castor Oil, which no one enjoyed drinking. The final story refers to the sound he would make when he removed his teeth and joked around with his teammates in the locker room.
While with the Browns during the War years, Caster would receive a 2B classification and be denied entrance into the US military. Although he trained in submarine duty in the early off-seasons of the war, Caster would be assigned to work in the Long Beach shipyards during World War II.
In August of 1945, the aging pitcher was placed on waivers by the Browns and was quickly picked up by the Detroit Tigers. He would spend two seasons in Detroit (1945-46), before returning to the PCL with the San Diego Padres (1947) and Hollywood Stars (1948).
George Caster would spend several years after his playing days, coaching in the minor leagues. He would appear in one game with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1953. He would eventually retire from baseball and begin his post-baseball career with Douglas Aircraft.
George Caster was called "the best relief pitcher in the majors", and deserves to be remembered as one of the first great "Firemen" in baseball.
HEADLINES
"FERRICK EARNS BOTH WINS IN RELIEF AS BROWNS SWEEP ATHLETICS IN DOUBLE HEADER"
FEATURED GAME
1946 - Tom Ferrick wins both games of a double header in relief vs Philadelphia A's. GAME 1 - The Browns would come back a score three runs in the final three innings to defeat the Athletics, 6-5. Browns starting pitcher, LHP Stan Ferens, w
HEADLINES
"FERRICK EARNS BOTH WINS IN RELIEF AS BROWNS SWEEP ATHLETICS IN DOUBLE HEADER"
FEATURED GAME
1946 - Tom Ferrick wins both games of a double header in relief vs Philadelphia A's. GAME 1 - The Browns would come back a score three runs in the final three innings to defeat the Athletics, 6-5. Browns starting pitcher, LHP Stan Ferens, would be hit for three runs on three hits, in the first inning. RHP Cliff Fannin would close out the first inning and pitch the next seven, giving up only two runs on five hits. RHP Tom Ferrick would close out the top of the ninth inning, and earn the win after the Browns RF Chet Laabs doubles in SS Vern Stephens in the bottom of the inning. GAME 2 - Ferrick would win the second game of the day with a 7-4 victory. In the nightcap, the Browns starting pitcher, RHP Tex Shirley would last only three innings, giving up six hits, two walks, and three runs. RHP Denny Galehouse would enter the game in the fourth inning, where he would give up five hits and a run over three plus innings. Ferrick would then enter the game to shut down the Athletics in the seventh inning. The Browns were trailing 4-3 at the time of Ferrick entering the game. St. Louis would score four runs over the final two innings, leading to a 7-4 win. the Browns would sweep the double header, and Ferrick would be one of a select few who can say they won two MLB games in a single day.
BROWNS RECORD ON THIS DAY
Overall Record on August 4
24 Wins, 20 Losses (.545)
1902-09: 2-2
1910-19: 5-6
1920-29: 6-4
1930-39: 5-4
1940-49: 6-1
1950-53: 0-3
DOUBLE HEADERS
Sweeps: 4
Splits: 2
Swept: 2
TRANSACTIONS
There were no transactions on this day
DEBUTS
1920 - RHP Adrian Lynch would appear in relief of LHP Carl Weilman in the seventh inning of the Browns 7-2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics. He would pitch 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up just a single hit.
BROWNS BIRTHDAYS
1899 - INF Oscar Melillo (1926-35)
1907 - RHP George Caster (1941-45)
The manager of the 1935 St. Louis Browns was the legendary Rogers Hornsby. By 1935, he was entering his third year as skipper for a Browns team that was not performing up to his high skilled level.
Like many legendary player who turn to coaching, Hornsby had a difficult time relating to players who could not perform on the field as well a
The manager of the 1935 St. Louis Browns was the legendary Rogers Hornsby. By 1935, he was entering his third year as skipper for a Browns team that was not performing up to his high skilled level.
Like many legendary player who turn to coaching, Hornsby had a difficult time relating to players who could not perform on the field as well as he did. It would be difficult to include all of the adjectives that described his personality.
Rogers Hornsby, the player, is arguably one of the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. As a coach and manager, he was often rough with his players, including a robust use of profanity and a strong hand in building baseball skills. Off the field, he would have trouble with gambling and bad investments.
The 1935 team would be another example of a Hornsby team that under performed and did not enjoy playing for their leader. It would be safe to say that the Browns would have done better with any other manager in 1935.
"I played my best ball for him, but he was mean . . . I played my greatest time for him, but everyone hated him."
- Harlond Clift