The L.A. Browns Domino Effect

[Summers76]

I fell back upon an article that I read in the past, which talked about how the St. Louis Browns came close to moving to Los Angeles.

You can read about this article that was featured on MLB.com by Mike Petriello.

It's a what-if the move actually happened and how one team such as the Browns could create a butterfly effect with the future of other franchises and baseball itself.

I decided to start with the 1942 MLB Season with the new Los Angeles Browns. The Browns also bought the rights to the old 1900's Chicago Cubs' logo with the Bear with the bat. The brown bear is also featured on California's state flag.

Logo by TXRanger, which was inspired by modification idea of zdubbya13.

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MLB APPROVES MOVE, BROWNS HEAD FOR THE WEST COAST

Donald Barnes, owner of the St. Louis Browns with approval by the majority of the other MLB owners. The news was announced back on December 1st, during a news conference at Lyman's Cafe in Los Angeles.

Barnes (pictured left) a month later mentioned to the L.A. Times on how much he lucked out by moving the announcement up a single week, not knowing the tragedy of Pearl Harbor being right around the corner. "If we hadn't changed the date, and the announcement was on that unfortunate day, the move simply would never have happened, we would have called the whole thing off," says Barnes.

The move also has additional financial backing by Bank of America co-founder, A.P. Giannini. The Browns will move into the Los Angeles Angels' minor league stadium, Wrigley Field, with plans to enlarge the park. The Angels (member of the Pacific Coast League) will move south to Long Beach, and will serve as the top Browns farm club. The St. Louis Cardinals' owner Sam Breadon chipped in $250,000 to help make this deal happen, while not having to worry about in-town competition.

The deal also answered travel worries, striking a partnership with both TWA Airlines, and the Chicago-to-Los Angeles Santa Fe Railroad.

The move also proves to be a historical move with the Los Angeles Browns becoming the first professional sports team located on the West Coast, while the team will benefit with a massive market all to themselves.

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MLB Uniforms for the 1942 MLB Season

AMERICAN LEAGUE



NATIONAL LEAGUE

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During World War II, I plan to use real transactions, but plan to go away from all that once the project gets past that moment in time.

I may not always use the exact uniforms that the teams used during certain years. There was a lot of red and blue, not to mention the same "C" on the caps for the Cubs, Indians and Reds -- with the White Sox also featuring a different C, but once again red and blue.

By the way, you can find the Los Angeles Browns uniforms, by clicking on their name here.

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Last season the New York Yankees won the A.L. Pennant by 17 games over the Boston Red Sox. The Brooklyn Dodgers edged the St. Louis Cardinals by only 2 1/2 games. The Dodgers lost the 1941 World Series, 4-1 to the Yanks. It appears the favorites are once again the Yankees and Dodgers, and another close race for the N.L. Pennant again.

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The Boston Red Sox own all three spots in the April Players of the Month categories, while the team sits in 1st place at the moment. The team's pitching ranks amongst the top 3 teams in several categories, while ranking 1st in bullpen ERA and 2nd in Starting Pitchers' ERA. The team will have to pick it up on the hitting side if they want to keep the New York Yankees off their heels. While the team ranks 1st in home runs, the BoSox rank 7th in Batting Average (.242), 7th in On-Base Percentage (.311), and 6th in OPS (.681). 35 year-old veteran Joe Cronin is having a horrid start with only 6 hits in 60 at-bats.

You thought the Red Sox pitching was good, the Yankees rank 1st in the following categories: Runs allowed (41), Starters ERA (2.05), FIP (3.05), Pitching WAR (2.7), plus their fielding has been great as well, ranking top in Defensive Efficiency (.755) and Zone Rating (+17.6). On the hitting end, LF Charlie Keller is currently batting .369 with 1 HR & 10 RBI, plus 4 doubles, a triple, all adding up to a .955 OPS... while on the pitching end, the team has 3 starting pitchers under a 2.00 ERA in Red Ruffing (1.14 ERA), Tiny Bonham (1.69 ERA) & Marius Russo (1.99 ERA).

The Cleveland Indians find themselves tied in 2nd place, while 1B Les Fleming has been a big surprise, batting .310 with 4 HR & 12 RBI, while slugging .517 and drawing 12 base on balls through 16 games of action this season.

The Los Angeles Browns and the Chicago White Sox sit in the middle of the pack at .500, and although the Sox have won 4 straight, their pitching has not been that good. The Browns' Chet Laab has 4 HR & 19 RBI early on at the plate.

The Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators are expected to play bad, but the Detroit Tigers after a 4-1 start, have lost 4 straight now and sit in 7th with a 7-11 record.






The Brooklyn Dodgers' Whit Wyatt (4-0, 0.76 ERA) and Curt Davis (3-0, 1.60 ERA) have made a great 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation, while their four best hitters are 30+ year-old veterans in Arky Vaughan, Dixie Walker, Joe Medwick & Billy Herman -- all batting over .300 as they enter the month of May.

Both the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals sit in 2nd place, 1 1/2 games back of the Dodgers. The Reds have benefited off good, steady pitching and fielding, while the Cardinals has been the absolute best in the National League. The Cards' rotation all have a ERA of 2.31 or lower, with Max Lanier (2-2, 1,03 ERA) and Lon Warneke (3-0, 1.69 ERA) leading the way.

The Chicago Cubs have won 4 straight, and brought their record up to 9-8 for 4th place (2 games out). Three of those consecutive wins came against the Boston Braves, and the Cubs will have tougher competition around the corner in upcoming series against Brooklyn, the Giants, and the Pirates.

Outside of pitchers Hal Schumacher & Carl Hubbell and slugger Mel Ott, the rest of the New York Giants need to step up, after a under-performing month of April. Giants fans expect more.

The Philadelphia Phillies' LF Danny Litwhiler picked up where he left off last season, as he leads the team in hitting (.349) and RBI (14), although he has no home runs yet (after hitting 18 in 1941)... In fact, the Phillies only have 2 HR this season as a team.

Two of the N.L. April Players of the Months in hitter Bob Elliott (PIT) and rookie Nanny Fernandez have been the only shining points for their respective teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Braves, this season,

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JIMMIE FOXX CLAIMED BY FIRST PLACE CUBBIES

The Chicago Cubs have been a surprise early on, sitting on top of the National League with a 32-19 record. The Cubbies sit in the 2nd slot of this week's power rankings as well, just behind the American League's Cleveland Indians.

The Cubs made a small splash by picking Jimmie Foxx off waivers from the Boston Red Sox. Although the Cubs aren't expecting the Jimmie from just two seasons ago in which he hit 36 HR, while driving in 119 runs... the Cubs would be happy with anything that's somewhere in between.



Foxx is currently hitting .288 with 2 HR & 20 RBI through the first two months. Foxx is a future Hall of Famer, who has 521 career home runs and a lifetime .331 batting average.

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PAUL WANER REACHES 3,000 HITS





The Boston Braves' Paul Waner collected his 3,000 hit with a double off the Pittsburgh Pirates' Rube Melton during the 4th inning. It was a bit odd reaching this milestone against his lifelong former team, and even more odd with his younger brother Lloyd Waner playing on the other side.

The double is Paul's 15th of the season.

The Pirates came back from a 5-3 deficit to win against the Braves with 3 late runs.

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Ted Williams (hitter) and Johnny Pesky (rookie) make it back-to-back months for the A.L. Players of the Month. May's best American League pitcher goes to Al J. Smith, who now has a 10-1 record with a 1.69 ERA. Smith has the Cleveland Indians on the right track as they sit in 1st place, just a half-game ahead of the Boston Red Sox.

The New York Yankees who rank 1st in many categories in hitting, pitching & fielding. The Yankees who struggled stranding runners on base during April, have improved considerably in May. The Yanks still may be the best bet to win the American League pennant in the long run.

The Detroit Tigers, just two years removed from a World Series appearance, sit amongst the bottom three teams in nearly every hitting categories and fielding categories. Their pitching is in the middle of the pack with Virgil Trucks (5-3, 1.95 ERA) and Tommy Bridges (6-5, 3.04 ERA) proving to be their two best starting pitchers.

All the numbers across the board are not looking good for the Chicago White Sox, who are trending downward, winning just 3 of their last 10 games. Chicago also ranks last in home runs with only 5 so far. The one thing they do have going for them is run prevention (ranking 3rd), with the starting pitching showing the potential of getting better. Plus the ChiSox are 1st in baserunning (+8.5) and 2nd in stolen bases.

The usual suspects are sitting in the cellar of the American League: The Washington Senators and Los Angeles Browns (both at 21-30, 12.5 GB), and the Philadelphia Athletics (17-36, 17.5 GB). The Browns' George Caster (5 SV, 0.89 ERA) and the Senators' Mickey Vernon (6 HR & 43 RBI) are highlights of their lowly teams, while the Athletics have nothing at all to brag about.






The Chicago Cubs have a lot to be excited about, they sit in 1st place (although only 1/2 up on Cincinnati), with one of their starting pitchers Vern Olsen winning May's Pitcher of the Month Award. Olsen won 7 games in May to bring his wins total to 10 (already matching last season's total, while his career high is 13). It was a clean sweep for the Cubbies as they also took the hitting and rookie honors. Bill Nicholson won May's best hitting slot, and is now batting .323 with 5 HR & 43 RBI. The rookie Jesus Flores improved to 5-3 with a 3.66 ERA.

The top five teams record-wise in the National League are all within 5 games from one another. The Brooklyn Dodgers are in 3rd place, with 3rd-year player Pete Reiser (coming off a MVP caliber season in 1941) batting .286 with 5 HR & 28 RBI -- in possibly the best lineup in all of baseball.

The New York Giants' starting pitching has usually been the team's staple, but only Hal Schumacher (6-3, 1.85 ERA) and Cliff Melton (5-6, 2.98 ERA) have delivered. Carl Hubbell (38) is starting to show his age, as he sits with a 3.56 ERA.

The St. Louis Cardinals are in 5th place, but only 5 games out from the top. Their pitching and fielding has been great, while the middle of their lineup (3-5) has been dangerous: Stan Musial (.342 AVG, 4 HR & 33 RBI), Enos Slaughter (.321 AVG, 4 HR & 24 RBI) & Walker Cooper (.394 AVG, 2 HR & 25 RBI).

Paul Waner recently logged his 3,000th hit for the struggling Boston Braves (20-31), who are currently on a 9 game losing streak. The Philadelphia Phillies are in 6th, while the Pittsburgh Pirates have the worst record in all of baseball at 15-34, while losing 9 of their last 10 games.

The MLB's three Pennsylvania teams sit with a combined 49-101 record (.326 winning pct).

[RMc]

What kind of sap would come up with that scenario?! Oh, wait...I did! https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=160310

Your version looks good so far, even though they probably wouldn't have allowed the Browns to play in LA if the US actually entered WW2 (in my scenario, they don't). But I will be following!

[Summers76]

Oh cool, I wasn't aware of your thread, but now I will check it out. I am actually surprised that there was not more material on this positive move or other scenarios.

My version they bumped the press conference up a week and that's why they decided it's a go. It wouldn't have happened if it stayed on the same day of announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor for obvious reasons.

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The United States finally made a dent in the Japanese Navy with the Battle of the Coral being the first thing in early May 1942. The U.S. military had help from their Australian allies in the Battle of the Coral Sea, both the Japanese and U.S. suffered losses, but the U.S. was able to hold off any more advancement by Japan. In previous days (May3rd-4th) Japanese forces successfully invaded and occupied Tulagi.



The Battle of Midway (June 4th-7th) considered a major turning point for the United States during the Pacific War portion of World War II, which took place 6 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea.



The goal for Japan was to extend it's defensive perimeter with its 'barrier' strategy, but their faulty assumptions that the U.S. was not prepared for such an attack would be part of their undoing. The U.S., thanks to American Cryptographers were able to determine the date of Japan's next attack, with the U.S. being able to enable their own ambush attack.



The result was devastating to the Japanese fleet and their forces moving forward in the war. The Japanese lacked the industrial replacement that the U.S. had, and the Japanese lost many trained pilots in the battle. For most Americans this portion of the War from May to June 1942, was the first time Americans had something to cheer about since the United States' involvement in the war.

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I really take pride in the history of the Battle of Midway for several reasons, while the two main reasons are this... I served in the United States Navy from 1996-2000, and that I was in the Cryptology department. Serving as a CTR-3, Third-Class Petty Officer (E-4).

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* - Pre-MLB Career
** - Post-MLB Career
*N - Negro Leagues

C - Yogi Berra*
C - Mickey Cochrane**
SP - Bob Feller
2B - Charlie Gehringer
LF - Hank Greenberg
SP - Bob Lemon*
1B/MGR - Buck O'Neil *N
SP - Robin Roberts*
2B/OF - Jackie Robinson*,*N
2B/SS - Red Schoedienst*
OF - Duke Snider*
SP - Warren Spahn*
RP - Hoyt Wilhelm*
... and plenty more.

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Three American League teams are all within 1 game with one another, as the New York Yankees (46-28) are now tied in 1st place with the Cleveland Indians (48-30), while the Boston Red Sox only sit a game out with a 46-30 record... Too bad, that the Indians are missing their ace Bob Feller, who is proudly serving the United States Navy on the USS Alabama.

Everything seems to be clicking for the Yankees, as their runs scoring has moved from 7th to 5th to now 3rd place over the last three months. Players are being driven in, the lineup is more balanced since the beginning of the season, while they still have one of the stronger rotations in the American League. Each of their top 4 starting pitchers in Tiny Bonham, Red Ruffing, Spud Chandler & Marius Russo -- all have an 2.70 ERA-or-lower, with at least 8 wins. Chandler (pictured above) won June Pitcher of the Month honors, while all Chandler along with Bonham & Ruffing were named A.L. All-Stars this season. Marv Breuer, a reliever, was named the 4th Yankee pitcher to appear in this year's All-Star Game.

The A.L. Pennant race may start becoming a four-team race with the emergence of the Washington Senators (40-38), winning 9 of their last 10 games, while sitting 8.5 games out. Their success can be contributed to their top 6 hitters in their lineup, who are all batting .283 and higher. The Senators recently acquired RF Roy Cullenbine along with P Bill Trotter from the Los Angeles Browns, in exchange for OF/1B Mike Chartak and P Steve Sundra. Cullebine is currently batting .300 with 11 HR & 32 RBI, and was named an A.L. All-Star for the 2nd consecutive year.

The bottom four teams keep trending in the wrong direction, with the Detroit Tigers free-falling down to 7th place -- losing 9 of their last 10 games. The Chicago White Sox sit in 5th, 9.5 games out, but are amongst the worst lineups in baseball, their starting rotation is their only bright spot, with their starting pitcher ERA (3.21) ranking 3rd in the A.L.

The Browns (33-47, 16 GB) are just thankful that they are not in last, while the Philadelphia Athletics (30-52) are 20 games out with no end to their misery in sight.






Just like the A.L, the National League Pennant Race is incredibly close, with the top three teams also being within 1 game from another, but slightly different with the top four teams being within 1.5 games from one another, and the top five teams being within 5.5 games.

Each of the five teams haven't moved much as well, with all either being 5-5 or 6-4 during their last 10 games.

The St. Louis Cardinals (46-31) who seem to be favored by an edge to win the pennant, are at the moment alone in 1st place. The Cards' top 3 starting pitchers, Max Lanier (9-5, 2.17 ERA), Mort Cooper (10-4, 2.22 ERA) & Ernie White (9-4, 2.00 ERA) all named N.L. All-Stars, have been dominating. At the plate Stan 'The Man' Musial is doing the usual, batting .327 with 5 HR & 52 RBI.

The last two National League Pennant winners, the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers (both 44-31) are tied in 2nd place; The Reds of course, won the World Series in 1940 for their 2nd title, while the Dodgers still seek their first title. The Reds' Bucky Walters (named June's Pitcher of the Month, above) has improved to 10-4 with a 1.70 ERA. The other four starters in the Reds' rotation are no slouches as well, as the team has recently eclipsed the Cardinals as the best rotation in the National League -- Those starters are Johnny Vander Meer (7-6, 2.54 ERA), Elmer Riddle (8-4, 2.20 ERA), Paul Derringer (7-8, 2.74 ERA) and Junior Thompson (0-1, 1.94 ERA) who has recently been added to the rotation (11 games, 4 GS & 41.2 IP).

The Reds' problem is that their hitting ranks are among the National League's worst, with Harry Craft (.292 AVG, 9 HR & 43 RBI) being their most feared hitter. The Dodgers don't have that problem, their 1-6 hitters in the order are: SS Arky Vaughan (.298, 0 HR, 24 RBI & 58 R), RF Dixie Walker (.294, 5 HR, 35 RBI & 50 R), CF Pete Reiser (.302, 8 HR, 46 RBI & 54 R), 1B Dolph Camilli (.267, 11 HR & 47 RBI), LF Joe Medwick (.291, 1 HR & 51 RBI) and 2B Billy Herman (.310, 1 HR & 25 RBI). The top four in the lineup all bat left, while Reiser leads the N.L. with 18 stolen bases.

The Chicago Cubs sit in 3rd place, 1.5 games out. Yes, the Cubbies as we put it last month are a surprising success story, but now shouldn't be underestimated. Ace Claude Passeau has come on as of late, as he sits with a 8-8 record and 2.05 ERA, while Vern Olsen (13-3, 2.10 ERA) and Jesse Flores (7-4, 3.45 ERA) may be having career years. Plus their top 5 slots in their lineup are batting .284 or higher, with Bill Nicholson (.304, 11 HR & 61 RBI) leading the way. The addition of Jimmie Foxx (.405 OBP since being a Cub) has not hurt them as well.

The New York Giants' starting pitching has come around, along with their bullpen, as they sit in 4th place, just 5.5 games out. They also may have the most powerful 1-2 punch in a batting lineup in Johnny Mize (.275, 12 HR & 36 RBI) & Mel Ott (.260, 13 HR & 41 RBI).

Not much to say about the Senior Circuit's bottom three ballclubs.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STARS
Eight Yankees named to A.L. All-Star Team




NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL-STARS
Cardinals lead N.L. Selections with 6 Players

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1942 American League - Batting Leaders

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1942 American League - Pitching Leaders

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1942 National League - Batting Leaders