St. Louis Browns LF Henry Emmitt Manush was born on July 20, 1901, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Known throughout baseball by his baseball nickname, "Heinie" Manush enjoyed a 17-year baseball career, with his three seasons in St. Louis as arguably the best as an MLB player. In three seasons with the Browns, he would average 170 hits, 73 RBIs, an
St. Louis Browns LF Henry Emmitt Manush was born on July 20, 1901, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Known throughout baseball by his baseball nickname, "Heinie" Manush enjoyed a 17-year baseball career, with his three seasons in St. Louis as arguably the best as an MLB player. In three seasons with the Browns, he would average 170 hits, 73 RBIs, and a .362 batting average per season. Manush's Browns' career was cut short by one of the most irrational decisions by a team owner in baseball history. This decision changed the fate of the Browns organization for the next decade.
Heinie Manush started his professional baseball career at the age of 18, when he signed with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1920. He would spend the following two seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos (1921) and Omaha Buffaloes (1922). Manush would spend the next five seasons (1923-27) with the Detroit Tigers, before being traded to the Browns on December 13, 1927. The Browns would send OF/3B Harry Rice, RHP Elan Vangilder, and SS/3B Chick Galloway to the Tigers for Manush and 1B Lu Blue.
In his first season with the Browns (1928), Manush would raise his batting average by 80 points to a career best .378 average while leading the league in hits (241), singles (161), doubles (47), outfielder fielding percentage (.992), and putouts by a left fielder (350). He would finish second to Philadelphia's Mickey Cochrane in MVP voting in 1928, even though his 7.3 WAR was twice as much as the Athletics' catcher (3.4). He would finish second again in 1929 to Cleveland's Lew Fonseca without receiving a single first place vote. It seemed that Heinie Manush and the Browns were a perfect fit, so why would anyone want to change things?
The story starts with Browns owner Phil Ball. As the story goes, Ball made a unscheduled visit to Manush at his hotel in St. Louis on a day off in the schedule. When Manush refused to come down to meet with Ball, it "enraged" the owner so much that he vowed to trade his best hitter. Within days Ball would send Manush and RHP General Crowder (his best pitcher) to the Washington Nationals for their best hitter LF Goose Goslin. The trade made headlines across the country. Both teams benefited from the trade, however Goslin would be sent back to Washington in 1932. Manush would go on to a Hall of Fame career with a lifetime batting average of .316 with 228 home runs and 1612 RBIs.
After retiring from baseball, Manush would act as a scout and coach for the Pirates and Senators. He would be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1968.
The erratic decision to trade Heinie Manush (with General Crowder) was one of the biggest moments in the history of the Browns. This franchise changing decision altered the direction of the team during the early days of the Great Depression. It is always easy to second guess and to think of all the "could haves" if Manush would have stayed in St. Louis. But in his short time with the Browns, Heinie Manush proved he was one of the best players in the team's history.
HEADLINES
"POTTER'S UNJUST EJECTION DOESN'T STOP THE BROWNS WIN OVER YANKEES"
FEATURED GAME
1944 - The first place Browns would defeat the rival New York Yankees, 7-3, in a game that would go down in the books. Browns RHP Nelson Potter would start the game with command of all pitches, allowing only three hits and striking out three batters.
HEADLINES
"POTTER'S UNJUST EJECTION DOESN'T STOP THE BROWNS WIN OVER YANKEES"
FEATURED GAME
1944 - The first place Browns would defeat the rival New York Yankees, 7-3, in a game that would go down in the books. Browns RHP Nelson Potter would start the game with command of all pitches, allowing only three hits and striking out three batters. In the fourth inning, Browns manager Luke Sewell, would talk to umpire Carl Hubbard about the Yankees pitchers wetting the fingers while on the mound. Hubbard stated that Potter was warned about the same practice a few weeks earlier. and that Sewell needed to go back to his dugout. In the fifth inning, Nels Potter would bring his hand to his mouth and was quickly ejected by Hubbard. The ejection was a direct result of Sewell's complaint of the Yankees pitchers, and not of any illegal action on Potter's delivery. RHP Denny Galehouse would enter the scoreless game and earn the win. 1B George McQuinn and PH Mike Chartak would drive in a combined five runs on their two home runs. The win would help widen the Browns' lead to three game over the Yankees in the American League pennant race.
Nels Potter would later be suspended for ten games without due process from the league. Many have stated that it was a way to hold the Browns best pitcher out of the first place teams lineup.
BROWNS RECORD ON THIS DAY
Overall Record on July 20
26 Wins, 22 Losses One Tie (.530)
1902-09: 3-3
1910-19: 8-4-1
1920-29: 4-6
1930-39: 2-5
1940-49: 9-1
1950-53: 0-3
DOUBLE HEADERS
Sweeps: 4
Splits: 2
Swept: 2
TRANSACTIONS
1902 - Browns sign free agent catcher Mike Kahoe. After being released by the Cubs, Kahoe would play the next three seasons with the Browns (1902-04), appearing in 204 games with a .214 batting average and a .957 fielding percentage. He would score 56 runs, drive in 63 runs on 145 hits, while batting .214 for the Browns, These would all be career best statistics across his 11 year career
DEBUTS
1918 - RHP "Bugs" Bennett would start in his MLB debut against the New York Yankees. He would scatter seven hits across six innings, while giving up just two earned runs in the Browns 5-3 loss.
BROWNS BIRTHDAYS
1901 - LF Heinie Manush (1928-30)
The 1907 St. Louis Browns roster was similar to the team that went 76-73 the year before. The 1907 team would drop to sixth place in the American League with a record of 69-83. The Browns would remain just below the .500 mark for almost the entire season. They would not have a winning month until September. The Browns would start the sea
The 1907 St. Louis Browns roster was similar to the team that went 76-73 the year before. The 1907 team would drop to sixth place in the American League with a record of 69-83. The Browns would remain just below the .500 mark for almost the entire season. They would not have a winning month until September. The Browns would start the season winning only five of the first 20 games, which would set them on their way to a 30-47 first-half record. This would make it an uphill battle for the rest of the season. They would finish the season with a second half record of 39 - 36, winning nine of the teams final 11 games.
Season Breakdown