Call to the pen
Fansided

The best of the best: Ranking the 12 winningest teams in MLB history

By Bill Felber

NEW YORK - 1927. (L-R) Babe Ruth, outfielder, Miller Huggins, manager, and Lou Gehrig, first baseman, all of the New York Yankees, take a break at the batting cage before a game in Yankee Stadium before a game in the 1927 season. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
NEW YORK - 1927. (L-R) Babe Ruth, outfielder, Miller Huggins, manager, and Lou Gehrig, first baseman, all of the New York Yankees, take a break at the batting cage before a game in Yankee Stadium before a game in the 1927 season. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 13
Next
The scene at a Decoration Day 1887 game between the St. Louis Browns and Brooklyn in Brooklyn. (Photo Reproduction by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
The scene at a Decoration Day 1887 game between the St. Louis Browns and Brooklyn in Brooklyn. (Photo Reproduction by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images) /

1887 St. Louis Browns, 95-40, .704

.700 Club rank: T-10

The Browns dominated the American Association (AA), a major league during the 1880s. It was the third of four successive pennants for the Browns, and statistically the best of those four teams.

St. Louis led the AA in both runs scored (8.3 per game) and runs allowed (5.6 per game), creating a stunning differential of 2.7 runs per game.

You couldn’t beat the Browns in St. Louis, where they were 58-15. Between April 24 and May 26, they played 26 games on their home field, winning 24 of them.

Most of the Browns players are anonymous today, but they were famous in their time. Outfielder Tip O’Neill piled up 235 base hits in 517 official at-bats, a .435 batting average. First baseman Charles Comiskey, later to be a famous team owner, hit .335 and three other Browns also surpassed .300.

The pitching was divided among three stars. Silver King made 44 starts and worked 390 innings, running up a 32-12 record with a 3.78 ERA. Bob Caruthers, who split his time between the mound and outfield, was 29-9 with a 3.30 ERA in 39 starts and 341 innings.

In fact, Caruthers was an 1880s version of Shohei Ohtani, a true two-way threat. In 364 official at-bats, he batted .357.

The third ace, Dave Foutz, got in 339 innings, enough to run up a 25-12 record and 3.87 ERA.

That season’s World Series was played across a panoply of 15 games spanning more than two weeks and nine different cities. But the Browns, victors over Chicago’s National League champions one year earlier, succumbed 10 games to five to the 1887 NL champion Detroit Wolverines.

O’Neill managed just a .200 batting average.

Home/MLB History