All time franchise rankings - looking ahead to 2015

[DrungoHazewood]

So in looking into the Browns thing I found this interesting tidbit on the Browns wiki page:

Ball died in 1933. His estate ran the team (the Browns) for three years until Rickey helped broker a sale to investment banker Donald Lee Barnes, whose son-in-law, Bill DeWitt, was the team's general manager. To help finance the purchase, Barnes sold 20,000 shares of stock to the public at $5 a share, an unusual practice for a sports franchise.

...

The Orioles finally cut the last ties to the Browns era in August 1979, when new owner Edward Bennett Williams bought back the shares Barnes had sold to the public in 1936, making the franchise privately held once again. Although the buyout price is not known, it is assumed that given the Orioles' prosperity over their then 25 years in Baltimore, the owners made a handsome return on their investment.

So up until August '79 the Orioles were, in part, a publicly-held company. That's the only case I know of where that happened. At least in modern MLB history. In fact I had thought that MLB rules prohibited public ownership of any franchises' shares.

[25 Nuggets]

Some of the names that didn't make the transition from Saint Louis to Baltimore are interesting. All Stars Bob Elliott and Virgil Trucks were traded to Chi Sox during the '53 season. MVP candidate Harry Brecheen retired. All Star outfielder Vic Wertz was traded in his prime after just 29 games with the Orioles, for pitcher Bob Chakales (bad trade). Young Roy Sievers didn't make it to Baltimore -- instead we got the immortal Gil Coan. It was a Marlins-esque fire sale culminating in the huge 17 player trade at the end of the 54 season.

The biggest name on the 1953 Browns was their closer, the 46 year old Satchel Paige. It would have been nice to say Paige was a former Oriole, but it was his last year playing meaningful baseball.