Beschreibung:

SAINT LOUIS AMERICAN LEAGUE BASEBALL COMPANY. Archive of corporate records of the St. Louis American League Baseball Company, owners of the St. Louis Browns, 1902-1936. Bound record book by Buxton & Skinner of St. Louis, large 4to (395 x 250 mm), 300 blank pp, with approximately 160 documents laid down or clipped to 146 numbered pages. Half calf and brown textured cloth. Spine perished, top cover detached, chipping to corners including some internal pages, browning. SIGNED BY BRANCH RICKEY. The Saint Louis Browns originated as a Milwaukee minor-league team, the Brewers, who moved into the major leagues and then promptly left Milwaukee to become the Saint Louis Browns in 1902. (Milwaukee replaced them with another minor league team of the same name, which would in turn give its name to the major league team founded in 1969.) The Browns were not a particularly successful team, winning only four seasons in their first 20 years, although they almost beat the Yankees to the pennant in 1922. After that, they were eclipsed by the Saint Louis Cardinals, and did not win a pennant until 1944. The team moved to Baltimore to become the Orioles in 1953. This archive includes articles of incorporation, minutes of executive meetings related to tax and ownership issues, and others. It includes the Memorandum of Agreement among American League franchises from June 1, 1936, which permanently changed the practices for league owners. Two significant signatures appear in the documents — those of player/manager Fielder Jones (p 78), who came to the team from the Chicago White Sox; and of Branch Rickey (p.56), Browns catcher who went on to manage the Cardinals from 1919-1925, and later the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he attained fame as the manager who would break the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson.