In 1901 when a Cincinnati buggy-maker named Bob Hedges bought into the St. Louis Browns baseball club, he got a bargain for his $35,000. In 1916 he sold out for $525,000. Since then nobody has been able to get rich owning the Browns, a chronic second-division club.
Phil Ball, a big cold-storage man, dropped $500,000 in five years. Donald Barnes, shrewd finance-man, gave it a whirl, got out while the getting was good. In 1945 Coal-&-Iceman Dick Muckerman stepped in. Save for the wartime year 1944, when the Browns surprised everybody by winning their first pennant since the American League was organized...
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