St. Louis Browns center fielder, Harold Franklin Epps, was born on March 26, 1914. Better known as Hal Epps, he would carve out an 18 year professional baseball career with very close ties to St. Louis. He would spend 15 of the 18 years in the Cardinals and Browns organizations.
Originally signed by the Cardinals prior to the 1934 season,
St. Louis Browns center fielder, Harold Franklin Epps, was born on March 26, 1914. Better known as Hal Epps, he would carve out an 18 year professional baseball career with very close ties to St. Louis. He would spend 15 of the 18 years in the Cardinals and Browns organizations.
Originally signed by the Cardinals prior to the 1934 season, Eppes would spend the next nine seasons within the Cardinals minor league program (1934-42). He would spend ten season with the Houston Buffaloes, two seasons with the Columbus Red Birds, two with the Rochester Red Wings, and a single season with the Huntington Red Birds and Sacremento Solons.
After spending parts of two season with the St. Louis Cardinals (1938, 40), where he batted .277 in 28 games, the Cardinals sent him back down to Houston. On November 7, 1942, the Browns picked up Hal Epps in the minor league draft and assigned him to the Toledo Mud Hens. After starting the 1943 season with the Mud Hens, the Browns called him up in September. He would make his Browns debut in both games of a double header against the Philadelphia Athletics on September 27, 1943. He would close out the rest of the season in centerfield, batting .277 with 10 hits in the final eight games of the season.
Epps would start the 1944 season with the Browns, but a slow start quickly led to Epps losing his playing time to CF Mike Kreevich. With an average of just .177, the Browns would sell his contract to the Philadelphia Athletics on June 11, 1944. Epps would finish the season in Philadelphia hitting a brisk .262, but that would be his last season in the Major Leagues.
He would be drafted into the military, and spend 1945-46 serving in the Philippines and Japan. After the war, Epps would return to baseball, but directly to the minor leagues.
In his older years, Hal Epps was asked what his greatest thrill was in his life. His response was simple...... "Just playing ball"
HAPPY OPENING DAY OF BASEBALL
"Take me out to the Ball Game...."
BROWNS' BIRTHDAYS ON THIS DAY
1914 - CF Hal Epps (1943-44)
TRANSACTIONS
1948 - The Browns sell the player rights of catcher Jake Early to the Washington Nationals. The Browns had received Early in a trade with Washington on December 16, 1946. Prior to the trade to St. Louis, Jake
HAPPY OPENING DAY OF BASEBALL
"Take me out to the Ball Game...."
BROWNS' BIRTHDAYS ON THIS DAY
1914 - CF Hal Epps (1943-44)
TRANSACTIONS
1948 - The Browns sell the player rights of catcher Jake Early to the Washington Nationals. The Browns had received Early in a trade with Washington on December 16, 1946. Prior to the trade to St. Louis, Jake Early had spent his entire career with Washington. He was an all star in 1943, but then would spend the next two years in military service during World War II. Early would platoon at cathcer with Les Moss in 1947. He would see action in 87 games, but was only able to bat a light .224 average with 48 hits, 3 home runs, and only 19 RBIs. He would spend two additional seasons with the Nationals (1948-49), and continue playing minor league baseball through the 1960 season.
The 1933 St. Louis Browns pitching staff was not one of superstar pitchers or even household names that modern day fans would recognize. It wasn't the strongest staff in the American League, and even one publication called the staff "Generous" for the amount of balls they let into play. They were carried by two pitchers who would end up f
The 1933 St. Louis Browns pitching staff was not one of superstar pitchers or even household names that modern day fans would recognize. It wasn't the strongest staff in the American League, and even one publication called the staff "Generous" for the amount of balls they let into play. They were carried by two pitchers who would end up finsihing in the top two pitchers in eight different categories. Irving "Bump" Hadley would end up leading the A.L. in losses with 20, while George Blaeholder would lose 19. Considering that between the two pichers pitched 568 innings in the 1933 season, the numbers they put up are astonishing and understanding. That is the equivelent of 63.1 games that these two pitchers carried the St. Louis Browns. Amazing to consider those numbers.
Team Statistics
(American League Rankings)
Player Statistics