What is so significant about a 1938 St. Louis Browns scorecard? Since I discovered Howard "Lefty" Mills, a lefthanded pitcher with a 15-30 record who appeared in 96 games from 1934-1940, I have been on a quest to acquire any scorecards from games in which he pitched.
The piece that I just landed is an absolute treasure and comes from his best season in the big leagues. On this July 31 game against the Red Sox, Mills faced future HoF enshrinees in Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr and Jimmy Foxx. In the 10-2 victory, Mills allowed just four hits and walked a pair as he went the distance. Two of the four hits against him were by Jimmie Foxx who hit a solo homerun and a triple while scoring one run. Ben Chapman accounted for the other two hits which were both singles.
Foxx's homerun was his 29th, on his way to 50 (his only other 50+ HR season was in 1932 when he hammered out 58), for his 408th career longball. Foxx's triple was the 99th of his career and sixth one of the season.
For Mills, the victory was his fifth of the year and the sixth of his career. Next to his 1-0 shutout of the Yankees on June 18, this game was one of the finest of his career.
Why would anyone care about a 15-30 pitcher with a 6.06 career ERA? The answer for me is quite simple. Mills learned to play baseball in the Navy in 1931 and became a dominant pitcher by 1933 with scouts champing at the bit trying to get him out of the Navy to play in the majors. He was discharged in time for spring training in 1934 and even appeared in four games for the Browns before heading to the minors for some seasoning.
The odds were against me to find a scored card from one of his 96 games. To find one from one of his 48 career starts, let alone from one of his 15 wins was darned-near an impossibility. Of the 5,779 in attendance, how many kept score? How many of them kept their scorecards?
https://chevronsanddiamonds.wordpres...-scorecard.pdf
08-04-2025, 10:19 PM
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