1944 in baseball



Champions

Major League Baseball

Other champions

Awards and honors

Statistical leaders

1 All-time single-season earned run average record

Negro league baseball final standings

All Negro leagues standings below are per Seamheads.

Negro World Series

Independent teams final standings

The Atlanta Black Crackers and Jacksonville Red Caps played against the two leagues.

Events

January

  • January 4 – A nationally syndicated newspaper article penned by American League president Will Harridge expresses confidence that the 1944 MLB season will go forward despite the loss of manpower to World War II service. With an estimated 190 AL players now in the military, and anticipating the departure of "scores of players" for the fighting ranks in 1944, Harridge writes that his league's owners believe that "their clubs will be able to field teams, and again do a good job of providing entertainment and relaxation."
  • January 14 – The Chicago Cubs sign minor-league free agent pitcher Russ Meyer, who had been released by the cross-town White Sox after contracting appendicitis and peritonitis while serving stateside in the U.S. Army in 1943. Granted a medical discharge, Meyer, 20, will return to pro baseball this season with the Nashville Vols of the Southern Association, and eventually spend all or part of 13 seasons in the majors.
  • January 25 – Manpower concerns driven by World War II and the military draft have reached such proportions that St. Louis Cardinals owner Sam Breadon publicly frets that he won't be able to field a team when the season opens in April. National League chief Ford Frick responds, "As long as we have nine men to a team, we should play ball". Breadon's 1944 Cardinals will have enough talent to win 105 games, their third straight pennant, and the 1944 World Series.
  • January 27 – Casey Stengel quits under fire as manager of the Boston Braves, less than a week after the financially struggling National League club is purchased by local heavy construction magnates Lou Perini, C. Joseph Maney and Guido Rugo—nicknamed the "Three Little Steam Shovels." Stengel, 53, has directed the Braves to a 373–491–6 record since, missing part of while recovering from a broken leg. Bob Coleman, a Boston coach who was acting manager during that medical leave of absence, will be named Stengel's full-fledged successor on February 12.
  • January 31 – The Giants (NL)|New York Giants] sign minor-league free agent outfielder Danny Gardella, 23. Classified "4-F" due to a punctured eardrum and exempt from military service, he has been playing semi-professionally in New York City since 1941. Gardella will bat.268 in 168 games as a Giant from May 14, 1944, to September 30, 1945, before becoming a central figure in the Mexican League "raids" of ; in October 1948, he will file a lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause.

February

  • February 2 – Opposition is swift after maverick owner Alva Bradley of the Cleveland Indians repeats his contention that baseball should suspend operations for the duration of World War II "rather than promote a farce" by employing inferior players to fill out war-depleted rosters. Owners and executives such as Ed Barrow, Eddie Collins, Grace Comiskey, Warren Giles, Clark Griffith, Connie Mack and Branch Rickey strongly reject Bradley's suggestion. "I'm not alarmed," says Senators (1901–1960)|Washington]'s Griffith, who was instrumental in securing a "green light" for baseball from Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942 after the U.S. entered the conflict. "We'll play until we have no players left."
  • February 6 – A committee composed of major and minor league owners and Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis announces a series of provisions designed to protect the interests of players now on clubs' "National Defense Lists" when they return to the game from military service. Provisions include prohibition of pay cuts for returning veterans, granting them more training time to get back into playing shape, and limiting clubs' rights to demote them to minor-league clubs.
  • February 14 – Local industrialist Max C. Meyer halts his bid to purchase 75% control of the Brooklyn Dodgers when, at the 11th hour, additional "financial burdens" raise the asking price above the $1.01 million the jewelry manufacturer is willing to pay. The collapse of Meyer's offer means that three-quarters of the Dodgers' stock will continue to be managed by the Brooklyn Trust Company.
  • February 17 – The Philadelphia Athletics acquire catcher Frankie Hayes from the St. Louis Browns for pitcher Sam Zoldak and minor-league outfielder Barney Lutz. Hayes, with Ray Mueller, is one of wartime baseball's two "iron men" catchers known for starting every one of his team's official games during the upcoming regular season; in 155 contests, he will catch 1,333 full innings and 135 complete games, with the Athletics' four backup backstops combining for only 16 innings among them.

March

  • March 1 – The St. Louis Browns trade catcher Rick Ferrell to the Washington Senators in exchange for catcher Tony Giuliani. However, Giuliani, who'd played for St. Louis during the 1936 and 1937 seasons, refuses to report. Washington completes the trade by sending outfielder Gene Moore to St. Louis in Giuliani's place.
  • March 4 – Philadelphia's National League franchise, founded in 1883 and known as the Phillies since 1886, announces the winning entry of a "re-name that team" fan contest, adopting the Philadelphia Blue Jays as its new identity. The winning name is suggested by Mrs. John Crooks of Philadelphia from 634 entries and over 5,000 letters. Yet the "Phillies" nickname won't go away; it will remain the team's alternate identity and appear on the varsity's uniform shirts during the "Blue Jays" experiment until that ends in January 1950.
  • March 11 – The 16 major league clubs prepare to open spring training camps, juggling concerns about players being drafted into military service, talent shortages, and workout facilities that, in the colder northern cities, demand indoor drills and weathering chilly, wet outdoor conditions. In New York, veteran Giants' shortstop Billy Jurges holds out to protest a pay cut of almost 10 percent; the Yankees learn that five-time All-Star second baseman Joe Gordon expects to be inducted into the armed services on March 16; and the Brooklyn Dodgers delay opening their Bear Mountain training camp until March 19.
  • March 12 – After local baseball fans raise more than $15,000 for the purpose, Williamsport rejoins the Eastern League after a one-year absence. The new owners acquire the former Springfield Rifles franchise and transfer it to the Pennsylvania city. Williamsport gives the Class A Eastern circuit its eighth franchise for 1944.

April

May

June

July

August

  • August 1 – The Pittsburgh Pirates rack up eight stolen bases against the Boston Braves before the game is suspended in the eighth inning so the visiting Pirates can catch a train. Right fielder Johnny Barrett steals four bags, while shortstop Frankie Zak pilfers two.
  • August 2 – A four-hour U.S. Army court martial proceeding at Fort Hood, Texas, acquits second lieutenant Jack R. Robinson, a former multi-sport athlete at UCLA and member of the 761st Tank Battalion, a mostly Black unit, of two charges stemming from his refusal to move to the back of a legally desegregated military bus on July 6.
  • August 10 – Red Barrett of the Boston Braves shuts out the Cincinnati Reds, 2–0, at Crosley Field and throws just 58 pitches – a record for fewest pitches in a nine-inning game; the game lasts 75 minutes. Barrett gives up only two hits. He does not strike out or walk any batters, and throws an average of only two pitches per batter. There are 14 putouts at first base, five by the rest of the infield, six by the outfield, and two by the catcher. In 1944, 96 of the Reds' games are completed in under two hours.
  • August 22 – In the seventh inning of today's contest at Griffith Stadium, the St. Louis Browns' Nels Potter, making his fourth start since returning from his suspension for throwing a spitball, collides—perhaps deliberately—with baserunner George Case of the Washington Senators while chasing Case's foul bunt along the first-base line. Case comes up swinging and a melee ensues; Potter, Case and Washington's Ed Butka are ejected. Potter ends up on the losing end of the 3–0 final. The defeat drops his record to 12–6, but in his next eight starts, he'll go 7–1 with seven complete games and two shutouts as a key figure in the Browns' pennant drive.

September

October

  • October 1:
  • *Before a sell-out crowd of 35,518 at Sportsman's Park, one of the unlikeliest heroes in baseball annals—Sig Jakucki, a belligerent, 35-year-old right-hander whose battles with alcoholism have derailed his career—allows the New York Yankees only a single earned run and pitches his St. Louis Browns to what will be the only American League pennant in their history; the final score is St. Louis 5, New York 2. The Browns are paced at the plate by Chet Laabs and Vern Stephens. At 89–65, they finish one game in front of the Detroit Tigers, who drop a 4–1 decision to Washington knuckle-baller Dutch Leonard.
  • **The upcoming World Series will be the Browns' only Fall Classic appearance before they relocate to Baltimore ten years later. Matching the landlord Browns against their Sportsman's Park tenants, the 105–game-winning St. Louis Cardinals, the 1944 Fall Classic marks only the third time in World Series history in which both teams share the same home field. The match-up will be nicknamed the "Streetcar Series" and the "St. Louis Showdown".
  • *On the closing day of the National League's regular season, iron-man catcher Ray Mueller starts the Cincinnati Reds' 155th game of 1944. Mueller, 32, catches only four innings today before he's relieved by Joe Just—but he's been behind the plate for 140 complete games and 1,355 innings of a possible 1,398 innings played on defense by the Reds. Mueller will spend 1945 in military service, but when he returns to baseball in, he'll continue his games-started streak through April 21, and his consecutive-games-played skein through May 5.
  • October 9 – In Game 6 of the World Series, the "St. Louis Showdown" concludes when the Cardinals defeat the Browns, 3–1, to win their fifth World Series since, four games to two. The Browns had led the Fall Classic, two games to one, on October 6, but are held to only two total runs over Games 4–6 by Cardinal hurlers Harry Brecheen, Mort Cooper, Max Lanier and Ted Wilks.
  • October 31 – The Sporting News names former 30-game-winner Dizzy Dean the majors' "#1 baseball play-by-play announcer" for 1944. Dean, whose sprinkling of non-grammatical country slang into his broadcasts has sometimes drawn criticism, is the lead announcer for St. Louis' two big-league teams—the World Series champion Cardinals and the AL-champion Browns.

November

December

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January

  • January 7 – George Mullin, 63, pitcher who won 228 games including a no-hitter, mainly with the Tigers, having five 20-win seasons.
  • January 8 – Harry Daubert, 51, pinch-hitter for the 1915 Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • January 13 – Kid Elberfeld, 68, shortstop for six clubs in 11 seasons between 1898 and 1914, who also managed the New York Highlanders of the American League in the 1908 season.
  • January 30 – Ed Clough, 37, outfielder and pitcher who played from 1924 through 1926 with the St. Louis Cardinals.

February

  • February 4 – Dixie Davis, 53, pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Browns during ten seasons spanning 1910–1926.
  • February 13 – Darltie Cooper, 41, pitcher, outfielder and first baseman who played in the Eastern Colored League, Negro National League, and other Black baseball organizations between 1923 and 1940; led 1929 ECL in games won, earned run average and complete games; brother of Anthony Cooper.
  • February 18 – Hub Pernoll, 55, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the 1910 and 1912 seasons.
  • February 20 – Harry Wilhelm, 69, pitcher for the 1899 Louisville Colonels.
  • February 21 – Jack Enzenroth, 58, catcher who played from 1914 to 1915 with the St. Louis Browns and the Kansas City Packers.
  • February 23 – Al Bauer, 84, pitcher who played with the Columbus Buckeyes in 1884 and for the St. Louis Maroons in 1886.
  • February 25 – Bill Knowlton, 45, pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Athletics during the 1920 season.

March

  • March 10 – Dan Howley, 58, player, coach and manager who caught in 1913 for the Philadelphia Phillies, later served as a coach for the Detroit Tigers in 1919 and 1921–1922, then managed the St. Louis Browns from 1927 to 1929 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1930 to 1932.
  • March 11 – Bill Duzen, 74, pitcher who played in 1890 for the Buffalo Bisons of the Players' League.
  • March 17 – Rube Kroh, 57, pitcher who played for the Boston Americans, Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves during six seasons spanning 1906–1912, being also credited as the player who got the ball into the hands of Johnny Evers in the famous Merkle's Boner game.
  • March 18 – Frank Motz, 74, first baseman who played with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1890 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1893 to 1894.
  • March 19:
  • *Joe Dunn, 59, catcher for the Brooklyn Superbas during the 1908 and 1909 baseball seasons, who later became a distinguished manager in the minor leagues, winning championship titles in 1919, 1920 and 1930.
  • *John Kelly, 65, ot. Louis Cardinals in the 1907 season.
  • March 22 – Claude Hendrix, 54, pitcher who played from 1911 through 1920 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Chi-Feds, Chicago Whales and Chicago Cubs.
  • March 24 – Bob Glenalvin, 77, second baseman for the Chicago Colts of the National League in 1890 and 1893.
  • March 26 – Neil Stynes, 75, catcher who played in two games for the 1890 Cleveland Infants of the short-lived Players' League.

April

  • April 2 – Bob Brush, 69, backup catcher who played for the 1907 Boston Doves of the National League.
  • April 11 – Jack Dunleavy, 64, outfielder and pitcher who played from 1903 through 1905 for the St. Louis Cardinals.
  • April 16 – Pop Foster, 66, outfielder who spent 18 years in baseball, four of them in the Major Leagues with the New York Giants, Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox from 1898 to 1901.
  • April 20 – Elmer Gedeon, 27, outfielder for the 1939 Washington Senators, whose name is linked forever to that of Harry O'Neill as the only two major leaguers that were killed during World War II.
  • April 25 – Tony Mullane, 85, first pitcher to throw left-handed and right-handed in a same game, who won 284 games a posted 3.05 ERA in 13 seasons, including five 30-win seasons and the first no-hitter in American Association history in 1882, while leading the league in shutouts twice and strikeouts once, and compiling 264 complete with the Cincinnati Reds, which remains a club record.

May

June

  • June 5 – Phil Knell, 79, pitcher for the Cleveland Spiders, Columbus Solons, Louisville Colonels, Philadelphia Athletics, Pittsburgh Alleghenys/Pirates and Washington Senators in a span of six years from 1888 to 1995, who had two 20-win seasons, and led three different leagues for the most hitters hit by pitches from 1890 to 1892.
  • June 6 – John Joseph Pinder, 32, Technician Fifth Grade, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, U.S. Army, a pre-war minor-league pitcher killed in action on D-Day during the Normandy landings; though twice wounded, he refused medical attention in order to bring critical communications equipment ashore for the Allied forces; awarded the Medal of Honor on January 4, 1945.
  • June 21 – Harry Swacina, 62, first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Terrapins in parts of four seasons from 1907 to 1915.
  • June 28 – Dan Stearns, 82, first baseman for six teams in seven seasons spanning 1880–1889, who is better known as the man that produced the final out in Tony Mullane's no-hitter in 1882, he first no-no in American Association history.

July

  • July 3:
  • *Pete McBride, 68, pitcher for the 1898 Cleveland Spiders and the 1989 St. Louis Perfectos.
  • *Charlie Reynolds, 79, catcher who played for the Kansas City Cowboys and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms during the 1889 season.
  • July 5 – Claude Rothgeb, 64, right fielder for the 1904 Washington Senators of the American League, who also enjoyed a distinguished career as a football coach at Colorado College and Rice University, and as a baseball coach at Texas A&M.
  • July 10 – Tom Walker, 62, pitcher who played with the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1902 season and for the Cincinnati Reds from 1904 to 1905.
  • July 16 – Hal Irelan, 53, second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1914 season.
  • July 22 – Irv Waldron, 68, catcher who played for the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Senators of the American League in 1901.

August

  • August 2 – Arthur Hauger, 50, fourth outfielder for the 1912 Cleveland Naps, who also spent more than 30 years in baseball as a player, coach and manager in the Minor Leagues.
  • August 4 – Camp Skinner, 47, backup outfielder who played in 1922 for the first-place New York Yankees and the next year played for the last-place Boston Red Sox.
  • August 16 – Tom Sullivan, 37, catcher who played briefly with the Cincinnati Reds in 1925.
  • August 21:
  • *Bob Gilks, 80, infielder/outfielder and pitcher for the Cleveland Blues/Spiders and Baltimore Orioles in five seasons from 1887 to 1893, who hit.239 in 339 games and posted a 9–9 pitching record with a 3.98 ERA, while leading the American Association in saves in the 1888 season.
  • *Lew Post, 69, outfielder for the 1902 Detroit Tigers.
  • August 29 – Willie McGill, 70, who made his major league debut in the Players' League in 1890 as a 16-year rookie, and the following year won 21 games in the last season that the American Association existed, pitching the rest of his career in the National League primarily during a lively ball era, ending with a career win–loss record of 72–74 for six teams before retiring at age 22.
  • August 30 – Bill Duggleby, 70, pitcher for three clubs during eight seasons from 1898 to 1907, who had a 20-win season and posted a career record of 93–102 with a 3.18 ERA in 241 pitching appearances, including 159 complete games.

September

  • September 4 – Jack Gleason, 90, third baseman for five teams in a span of six seasons from 1877 to 1886, and a member of the 1884 Union Association Champions St. Louis Maroons.
  • September 9:
  • *Frank Shugart, 77, shortstop for six teams in eight seasons spanning 1890–1901, who was blacklisted from baseball after the 1901 season because of an altercation in which he punched an umpire in the face, and eventually had to resume his career in the Minor Leagues.
  • *Orlin Collier, 37, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the 1931 season.
  • September 16 – Farmer Steelman, 69, catcher who played from 1899 through 1902 for the Louisville Colonels, Brooklyn Superbas and Philadelphia Athletics.

October

  • October 2 – Dick Robertson, 53, pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Robins and Washington Senators in parts of three seasons spanning 1913–1919.
  • October 9 – Joe DeBerry, 47, who played for the St. Louis Browns of the American League in 1920 and 1921.
  • October 10 – Louis Leroy, 65, pitcher for the New York Highlanders and the Boston Red Sox in a span of three seasons from 1905 to 1910.
  • October 14 – Topsy Hartsel, 70, outfielder for four teams in 14 seasons, who led the American League in stolen bases and runs scored in 1902, and was a member of the Philadelphia Athletics teams who clinched the league's pennant in 1902 and 1905, and the World Series in 1910 and 1911.
  • October 17 – Jack Powell, 70, pitcher who won 245 games, primarily for the St. Louis Browns and the St. Louis Cardinals.
  • October 22 – Jim Brown, 47, fourth outfielder who played for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1915 season and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916.
  • October 24 – Pinky Swander, 64, right fielder who played from 1903 to 1904 for the St. Louis Browns.
  • October 29 – Scott Hardesty, 74, shortstop for the 1899 New York Giants.

November

  • November 2:
  • *Ed Brandt, 39, pitcher who played from 1928 through 1938 for the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • *Bert Conn, 65, pitcher and second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1898 and 1901 seasons.
  • November 19 – Frank Brill, 80, pitcher and outfielder for the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.
  • November 25 – Kenesaw Mountain Landis, 78, commissioner of baseball since that office's creation in 1920, who established the position's authority in overseeing cleanup of corruption in wake of the Black Sox scandal, banishing eight players from the sport for life for involvement in throwing the 1919 World Series. Previously, as federal judge had presided over 1914 case in which the Federal League challenged the Major Leagues under antitrust law, being also a strong advocate of the independence of Minor League Baseball from control of MLB.
  • November 28 – Elmer Miller, 54, outfielder who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in part of nine seasons between 1912 and 1922.

December

  • December 2 – Eiji Sawamura, 27, Hall of Fame Japanese pitcher who played for the Tokyo Kyojin.
  • December 4 – Roger Bresnahan, 65, Hall of Fame catcher and leadoff hitter who starred for the New York Giants from 1902 to 1908, known as the first major leaguer to wear shin guards, while remaining the only catcher to steal over 200 bases in a Major League career.
  • December 9 – Swat McCabe, 63, shortstop who played from 1909 to 1910 for the Cincinnati Reds.
  • December 12 – Ed Pinnance, 65, Canadian pitcher who played with the Philadelphia Athletics in its 1903 season.
  • December 13:
  • *Lloyd Christenbury, 51, infield/outfield utility who played four seasons with the Boston Braves from 1919 to 1922.
  • *Welcome Gaston, 69, pitcher who played for the Brooklyn's Bridegrooms and Superbas clubs in parts of the 1898 and 1899 seasons.
  • December 14 – Jouett Meekin, 77, who was reportedly as one of the three hardest-throwing pitchers of the 1890s, along with Cy Young and Amos Rusie, while playing from 1891 to 1900 with five different National League teams, most prominently for the New York Giants from 1894 to 1899, winning 33 games for the team in 1894 en route to a postseason championship.
  • December 15 – Jim Chatterton, 80, infield/outfield utility and pitcher who played for the Kansas City Cowboys of the Union Association in 1884.
  • December 20 – Elmer Zacher, 64, outfielder who played for the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals during the 1910 season.
  • December 28 – Bill Bowman, 77, backup catcher for the Chicago Colts in 1891.
  • December 31 – Bill Chappelle, 63, pitcher who played for the Boston Doves, Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Tip-Tops in a span of three seasons from 1908 to 1914.