The 1944 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing first in the American League with a record of 89 wins and 65 losses. This resulted in the franchise appearing in the postseason for the first time in team history, as well as appearing in their first ever World Series. In the World Series, they lost to the team they shared a stadium with, the Cardinals, four games to two. It was the only time the franchise made the playoffs while based in St. Louis. They didn't go back to the postseason until 1966, by which time they had relocated to Baltimore.

Offseason February 17, 1944: Frankie Hayes was traded by the Browns to the Philadelphia Athletics for Sam Zoldak and Barney Lutz (minors).Sam Zoldak page at Baseball Reference Prior to 1944 season: Owen Friend was signed as an amateur free agent by the Browns.Owen Friend page at Baseball Reference

Regular season The Browns were one of the unlikeliest pennant-winners in history, failing to contend in nine of the previous 10 seasons.

However, 1944 marked the peak of wartime conditions in Major League Baseball. The shortage of available players degraded the talent level of both major leagues, benefiting the 1944 Browns who were relatively untouched by the military draft. Nine players were at least 34 years old and the all-4F infield included 23-year-old shortstop Vern Stephens, who led the league in RBI (109) and was second in home runs (20).

St. Louis started the season with nine straight wins and continued to contend in a four-team race with Detroit, Boston, and New York. It came down to the final week, when the Browns defeated the Yankees five times, winning the pennant by a game over Detroit. It was the only championship the franchise won in St. Louis. Nine years later, after the 1953 season, the Browns were sold and became the Baltimore Orioles.

Season chronology May 26, 1944: In a game against the Boston Red Sox, Nels Potter retired the first 23 batters and was on his way to pitching a perfect game when Jim Tabor got a hit in the 8th inning.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 49, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, June 15, 1944: Frank Demaree was released by the Browns. July 20, 1944: Nels Potter took to the hill against Yankees' pitcher Hank Borowy. The Yankees third base coach Art Fletcher noticed that Potter was moistening his fingers. After Browns manager Luke Sewell consulted with Potter, Potter proceeded to make a deliberate motion with his fingers to his mouth. Umpire Cal Hubbard ejected Potter from the game. On July 22, American League President Will Harridge suspended Potter for 10 days for throwing an illegal pitch. Potter was the first pitcher to be suspended by Major League Baseball for that reason.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 65 Every team in the league hosted a game where net proceeds went toward the National War Relief and Service Inc. On July 26, the second game versus the Philadelphia Athletics was that game. Everyone had to pay their way into the stadium including team management, umpires and players.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 70 The crowd of 24,631 was the greatest for a Browns home game since the team's first night game in 1940. Oscar Zahner, chairman of the benefit game committee, announced that $25,000 was raised. On August 3, the Browns played the minor league Kansas City Blues. The Browns lost the game by a score of 9–8.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 78 The attendance was 5,965, which was Kansas City's best attendance all season. Despite losing, the Browns got 14 hits and Gene Moore went 4–5 with three runs batted in. August 8 marked the Browns 70th consecutive day in first place. This broke the club's previous record of 69 days in first place, which had been set in 1922. The Browns beat the New York Yankees on August 12. It marked the first four-game series victory over the Yankees since 1940.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 79 Browns pitcher Nels Potter and Washington player George Case got into an altercation on August 22. The result was a bench clearing brawl and Potter, Case, and Washington player Ed Butka were ejected.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 83 On September 4, the Browns found themselves out of first place. The Browns slipped to a half game behind the New York Yankees with 22 games left.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 89 The final series between the Browns and the Senators had its share of tension. In the first game of the series, Senators pitcher Roger Wolff hit Vern Stephens with a pitch. Browns manager Luke Sewell waved a bat in the direction of the pitcher.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 95 September 21 was the final game between the Browns and the Senators. Browns catcher Tom Turner engaged in a fist fight with Senators player Roberto Ortiz. The two players lined up in a boxing formation in the middle of the field.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 96 Ortiz broke his hand and this was bad for the Browns as the Senators were finishing the season against the Detroit Tigers. At the time of the Browns-Senators game, the Tigers were in first place. The conflicts strained the friendship of Washington manager Ossie Bluege and Luke Sewell. The two were teammates in Washington from 1933 to 1934. After the Browns farm team, the Toledo Mud Hens was eliminated from the American Association, the Browns called three players to bolster their team for their stretch run. The callups were Earl Jones (10–6 for the Mudhens), infielder Len Schulte (.296 batting average, 96 RBI's), and outfielder Babe Martin, the American Association Most Valuable Player.As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p.97 With six games left in the season, the Browns and Tigers had identical 84–64 records. The last six games of the season for the Browns were against the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. At the start of play on the very last day of the season (October 1), the Browns and Tigers were still tied with identical 88-65 records. The Tigers, playing Washington at home, had an earlier start time for their game, and fell to the Senators 4–1. Just moments after the Browns had pulled into a 2–2 tie in the fourth on a 2-run homer by Chet Laabs, word reached the St. Louis ball park that Detroit had lost. This meant a Browns victory could clinch the pennant. In the bottom of the fifth, Laabs hit another 2-run shot to put the Browns ahead. Vern Stephens hit a solo homer to lead off the eighth for the Browns, who hung on for the last 2 innings to beat the Yankees 5–2, and win the 1944 AL championship.

Opening Day lineup Hal Epps CFDon Gutteridge 2BGeorge McQuinn 1BVern Stephens SSGene Moore RFMilt Byrnes LFMark Christman 3BFrank Mancuso CJack Kramer P

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster 1944 St. Louis Browns Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Player stats = Indicates team leader = Indicates league leader

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    Player C 89 239 60 .223 1 25 1B 146 516 129 .250 11 72 2B 148 603 148 .245 3 36 3B 148 547 148 .271 6 83 SS 145 559 164 .293 20 109 OF 128 407 120 .295 4 45 OF 105 402 121 .301 5 44 OF 110 390 93 .238 6 58

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player 100 288 86 .299 6 45 88 244 50 .205 1 24 66 201 47 .234 5 33 44 97 17 .175 0 5 35 72 17 .236 1 7 22 62 11 .177 0 3 16 51 13 .255 0 6 25 49 13 .265 0 4 15 25 8 .320 0 4 8 14 5 .357 0 2 3 8 2 .250 0 0 2 4 3 .750 0 0 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player IP W L ERA SO 33 257.0 17 13 2.49 124 32 232.0 19 7 2.83 91 33 219.1 13 8 3.08 88 35 198.0 13 9 3.55 67 24 153.0 9 10 3.12 80 3 19.0 2 0 1.42 1 26 92.2 5 7 4.47 22 23 80.1 5 4 4.15 35

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player IP W L SV ERA SO 42 81.0 6 6 12* 2.44 46 18 38.2 0 0 0 3.72 15 11 24.1 0 0 0 6.29 11 1 2.0 0 1 0 4.50 1 Tied with Joe Berry and Gordon Maltzberger

1944 World Series

NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL St. Louis Browns (2)

GameScoreDate1Browns 2, Cardinals 1October 42Cardinals 3, Browns 2 (11 innings)October 53Browns 6, Cardinals 2 October 64Cardinals 5, Browns 1 October 75Cardinals 2, Browns 0 October 86Cardinals 3, Browns 1 October 9

Awards and honors All-Star Game George McQuinn, starter Vern Stephens, starter Bob Muncrief, reserve

League leaders Frank Mancuso, Most errors in a season by a catcher (17)

Team leaders Home runs – Vern Stephens (20) RBI – Vern Stephens (109) Batting average – Mike Kreevich (.301) Hits – Vern Stephens (164) Stolen bases – Don Gutteridge (20) Wins – Nels Potter (19) Earned run average – Jack Kramer (2.49) Strikeouts – Jack Kramer (124)

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: NewarkJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

References

External links 1944 St. Louis Browns team page at Baseball Reference 1944 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com