1944 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1944 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1944 in baseball.

The 1944 major league baseball season began on April 18, 1944. The regular season ended on October 1, with the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. In an all-St. Louis postseason, the postseason began with Game 1 of the 41st World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 6 on October 9. The Cardinals defeated the Browns, four games to two, capturing their fifth championship in franchise history, since their previous in 1942. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the New York Yankees from the 1943 season.

1944 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 18 – October 1, 1944 World Series: October 4–9, 1944
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Hal Newhouser (DET) NL: Marty Marion (SLC)
AL champions	St. Louis Browns
AL runners-up	Detroit Tigers
NL champions	St. Louis Cardinals
NL runners-up	Pittsburgh Pirates
World Series
Champions	St. Louis Cardinals
Runners-up	St. Louis Browns

Red Sox

White Sox  

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Yankees

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1942–1953 American League seasons
American League

Braves

Dodgers

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1943–1952 National League seasons
National League

The 12th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 11 at the Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The National League won, 7–1.

The season is notable for greatly relaxing restrictions on night games.^[1]

This was Kenesaw Mountain Landis' last season of his 24-year tenure as commissioner, following his death in November. He would be succeeded by Happy Chandler.

Challenging the color line

During the final days of the 1943 Winer Meetings prior to the season's start, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis (who, according to a number of baseball authors, has had racism ascribed to him for actively perpetuating the baseball color line)^[2] invited singer Paul Robeson, and three black journalists, Ira F. Lewis of the Pittsburgh Courier, John H. Sengstacke of The Chicago Defender, and Howard Murphy of the Baltimore Afro-American, to plead their case in favor of integration in baseball, marking the first time a black person had spoken directly with the leaders of Organized Baseball about this topic. In response, Landis read a joint American League-National League statement stating that "There is no rule, formal or informal, or any understanding — unwritten, subterranean or sub-anything — against the hiring of Negro players by the teams of organized baseball."^[3]

However, it would not be until after Landis' death in November 1944 that baseball would begin to move towards breaking the color line. With the support from incoming commissioner Happy Chandler, Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson in late-October 1945 to their top minor-league affiliate, the Montreal Royals, eventually breaking the major-league color barrier following his promotion to the majors in 1947.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1944 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.

Opening Day took place on April 18, featuring fourteen teams. The final day of the regular season was on October 1, which saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend since the previous season. The World Series took place between October 4 and October 9.

Rule change

The 1944 season saw the following rule change:

• During the July All-Star break, all teams were given permission to have unlimited weekday night games. Previously, all teams were allowed only 14 (except the Washington Senators, which were allowed 21).^[1]

Teams

An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[4]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Joe Cronin
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	50,000	Jimmy Dykes
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	Cleveland Stadium	78,811	Lou Boudreau
			League Park*	22,500*
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Briggs Stadium	58,000	Steve O'Neill
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	70,000	Joe McCarthy
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	33,000	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Luke Sewell
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	32,000	Ossie Bluege
National League	Boston Braves	Boston, Massachusetts	Braves Field	37,746	Bob Coleman
	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	35,000	Leo Durocher
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Wrigley Field	38,396	Jimmie Wilson
					Roy Johnson
					Charlie Grimm
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Crosley Field	29,401	Bill McKechnie
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	56,000	Mel Ott
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	33,000	Freddie Fitzsimmons
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	33,467	Frankie Frisch
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Billy Southworth

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Browns	89	65	.578	—	54‍–‍23	35‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers	88	66	.571	1	43‍–‍34	45‍–‍32
New York Yankees	83	71	.539	6	47‍–‍31	36‍–‍40
Boston Red Sox	77	77	.500	12	47‍–‍30	30‍–‍47
Cleveland Indians	72	82	.468	17	39‍–‍38	33‍–‍44
Philadelphia Athletics	72	82	.468	17	39‍–‍37	33‍–‍45
Chicago White Sox	71	83	.461	18	41‍–‍36	30‍–‍47
Washington Senators	64	90	.416	25	40‍–‍37	24‍–‍53

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	105	49	.682	—	54‍–‍22	51‍–‍27
Pittsburgh Pirates	90	63	.588	14½	49‍–‍28	41‍–‍35
Cincinnati Reds	89	65	.578	16	45‍–‍33	44‍–‍32
Chicago Cubs	75	79	.487	30	35‍–‍42	40‍–‍37
New York Giants	67	87	.435	38	39‍–‍36	28‍–‍51
Boston Braves	65	89	.422	40	38‍–‍40	27‍–‍49
Brooklyn Dodgers	63	91	.409	42	37‍–‍39	26‍–‍52
Philadelphia Phillies	61	92	.399	43½	29‍–‍49	32‍–‍43

Postseason

The postseason began on October 4 and ended on October 9 with the St. Louis Cardinals defeating the St. Louis Browns in the 1944 World Series in six games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	St. Louis Browns	2
	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	4

Managerial changes

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Chicago Cubs	Jimmie Wilson	Roy Johnson
	Roy Johnson	Charlie Grimm

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Lou Boudreau (CLE)	.327
OPS	Bob Johnson (BRS)	.959
HR	Nick Etten (NYY)	22
RBI	Vern Stephens (SLB)	109
R	Snuffy Stirnweiss (NYY)	125
H	Snuffy Stirnweiss (NYY)	205
SB	Snuffy Stirnweiss (NYY)	55

Pitching leaders^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Hal Newhouser (DET)	29
L	Bill Dietrich (CWS) Early Wynn (WSH)	17
ERA	Dizzy Trout (DET)	2.12
K	Hal Newhouser (DET)	187
IP	Dizzy Trout (DET)	352.1
SV	Joe Berry (PHA) George Caster (SLB) Gordon Maltzberger (CWS)	12
WHIP	Tex Hughson (BRS)	1.048

National League

Hitting leaders^[7]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Dixie Walker (BKN)	.357
OPS	Stan Musial (SLC)	.990
HR	Bill Nicholson (CHC)	33
RBI	Bill Nicholson (CHC)	122
R	Bill Nicholson (CHC)	116
H	Phil Cavarretta (CHC) Stan Musial (SLC)	197
SB	Johnny Barrett (PIT)	28

Pitching leaders^[8]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Bucky Walters (CIN)	23
L	Ken Raffensberger (PHP)	20
ERA	Ed Heusser (CIN)	2.38
K	Bill Voiselle (NYG)	161
IP	Bill Voiselle (NYG)	312.2
SV	Ace Adams (NYG)	13
WHIP	Ted Wilks (SLC)	1.069

Awards and honors

Regular season

Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards
BBWAA Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player	Marty Marion (SLC)	Hal Newhouser (DET)

Other awards

The Sporting News Awards
Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player[9]	Marty Marion (SLC)	Bobby Doerr (BRS)
Player of the Year[10]	Marty Marion (SLC)	—
Pitcher of the Year[11]	Bill Voiselle (NYG)	Hal Newhouser (DET)
Manager of the Year[12]	—	Luke Sewell (SLB)
Executive of the Year[13]	—	Bill DeWitt (SLB)

Baseball Hall of Fame

Main article: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

• Kenesaw Mountain Landis (executive)

Further information: 1944 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Detroit Tigers[14]	88	12.8%	923,176	52.3%	11,836
New York Yankees[15]	83	−15.3%	789,995	27.8%	10,128
New York Giants[16]	67	21.8%	674,483	44.7%	8,993
Chicago Cubs[17]	75	1.4%	640,110	25.9%	8,207
Brooklyn Dodgers[18]	63	−22.2%	605,905	−8.4%	7,869
Pittsburgh Pirates[19]	90	12.5%	604,278	21.2%	7,460
Chicago White Sox[20]	71	−13.4%	563,539	10.7%	7,319
Washington Senators[21]	64	−23.8%	525,235	−8.6%	6,821
St. Louis Browns[22]	89	23.6%	508,644	137.2%	6,606
Boston Red Sox[23]	77	13.2%	506,975	41.5%	6,500
Philadelphia Athletics[24]	72	46.9%	505,322	34.1%	6,649
Cleveland Indians[25]	72	−12.2%	475,272	8.3%	6,093
St. Louis Cardinals[26]	105	0.0%	461,968	−10.7%	6,000
Cincinnati Reds[27]	89	2.3%	409,567	8.0%	5,251
Philadelphia Phillies[28]	61	−4.7%	369,586	−20.9%	4,678
Boston Braves[29]	65	−4.4%	208,691	−23.1%	2,676

Retired numbers

• Carl Hubbell had his No. 11 retired by the New York Giants. This was the first number retired by the team.

See also

• 1944 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season