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Donald Lee Barnes
As quoted by Bill DeWitt, who served as general manager of the Browns for years, "We operated close to the belt. We had to," DeWitt told author William B. Mead in the 1978 book Even the Browns: Baseball During World War II.[3]
The Browns attempted to move to Los Angeles in 1941, but the attack on Pearl Harbor, done one day before meetings about relocation, scuttled those plans. It was in his final full year as owner (1944) when the Browns won the American League pennant, their only one in St. Louis. It was also the only time in his ownership that the Browns outdrew the Cardinals, who both played at Sportsman's Park (the Browns attracted 508,644 fans, the most since 1924 for the team); in fact, it was the only time from 1926 to the final Browns season of 1953 that they outdrew the Cardinals.[4][5] The 1945 season saw plenty of turmoil in a disappointing season. Notably, Barnes was responsible for the signing of one-armed outfielder Pete Gray. While Gray was noted in the minors for his batting, it was felt that he was really there as a ploy to drive ticket sales (as a whole, he batted .218 in his only season). Suddenly, Barnes sold the team to Richard Muckerman on August 11.[6][7] Muckerman was a minor stockholder of the team since 1939 before being named to the board of directors in 1942, with his purchase of stock being related to the move. References
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