The 1887 St. Louis Browns season was the team's sixth season in St. Louis, Missouri, and the sixth season in the American Association. The Browns went 95–40 during the season and finished first in the American Association, winning their third pennant in a row. In the World Series the Browns played the National League champion Detroit Wolverines, losing the series 10 games to 5.
Racial segregation started to become a custom in baseball about the time that eight members of the Browns withdrew from playing exhibition gamein September against the New York Cubans, a prominent 'colored' team. During this time, it was a popular practice to refer to teams of African American players as Cuban, Hispanic, or Arabian to deflect the racial stigma of the time, even though many were predominantly none of the three. News accounts reported that "for the first time in the history of base ball the color line has been drawn, and that by the St. Louis Browns, who have established the precedent that white players must not play with colored men." The Browns were in Philadelphia with plans to travel to New York City to play the Cuban Giants in an exhibition game. Scheduled long in advance with a "big guarantee", a crowd was anticipated in excess of 15,000 spectators. However, the night before departure to New York, eight Browns players signed a letter addressed to Von der Ahe and delivered it in person. The letter read: Manager and first basemanCharlie Comiskey was reportedly unaware of the letter and Ed Knouff refused to sign it. The Cuban Giants had previously played numerous exhibition games against other 'white' teams including Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Louisville, Philadelphia. This was the first reported account that any club refused to play them because of their race. The cancellation of the game with the Cuban Giants was merely symptomatic of a larger trend occurring in professional baseball. The boycott occurred during the same season in which Cap Anson of the Chicago White Stockings threatened not to play any 'white' professional teams who hired black players and just months after the International League prohibited further signing of black players. Clearly the tide was moving toward segregation in baseball, so the St. Louis Browns' withdrawal brought wider attention to what was to become a norm in the United States. Ironically, it would be by an act 60 years later by then-former Cardinals executive in Branch Rickey that broke the color barrier in MLB when he débuted Jackie Robinsonin 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos
Player
G
AB
H
Avg.
HR
RBI
C
88
350
66
.189
2
41
1B
125
538
180
.335
4
103
2B
125
430
131
.305
1
74
SS
135
598
172
.288
0
76
3B
136
627
198
.316
2
83
OF
124
517
225
.435
14
123
OF
131
544
151
.278
3
108
OF
98
364
130
.357
8
73
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
