1944 Detroit Tigers season

1944 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
	American League (since 1901);
Location
	Briggs Stadium (since 1912); Detroit (since 1901);
Other information
Owner(s)	Walter Briggs, Sr.
General manager(s)	Jack Zeller
Manager(s)	Steve O'Neill
Local radio	WXYZ; (Harry Heilmann)
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The 1944 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished second in the American League with a record of 88–66, just one game behind the first place St. Louis Browns.

Offseason

October 11, 1943: Rip Radcliff was traded by the Tigers to the Philadelphia Athletics for Don Heffner and Bob Swift.[1]
Prior to 1944 season: Joe Ginsberg was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.[2]

Regular season

On April 19, first baseman Rudy York recorded his 1,000th career hit.

On September 18, the Tigers found themselves in first place for the first time all season. The Yankees lost two games to the Athletics, while the Browns split two games with the White Sox. With the Tigers sweeping Cleveland, the Tigers jumped over the Yankees and Browns for first place.[3] The Browns were a half game back, while the Yankees were two games back.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Browns	89	65	0.578	—	54–23	35–42
Detroit Tigers	88	66	0.571	1	43–34	45–32
New York Yankees	83	71	0.539	6	47–31	36–40
Boston Red Sox	77	77	0.500	12	47–30	30–47
Cleveland Indians	72	82	0.468	17	39–38	33–44
Philadelphia Athletics	72	82	0.468	17	39–37	33–45
Chicago White Sox	71	83	0.461	18	41–36	30–47
Washington Senators	64	90	0.416	25	40–37	24–53

Record vs. opponents

1944 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOR	CHW	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	17–5	8–14	10–12–2	11–11	11–11	10–12	10–12
Chicago	5–17	—	14–8	9–13	10–12	9–13	8–14	16–6
Cleveland	14–8	8–14	—	10–12	8–14	12–10–1	10–12	10–12
Detroit	12–10–2	13–9	12–10	—	14–8	11–11	9–13	17–5
New York	11–11	12–10	14–8	8–14	—	13–9	10–12	15–7
Philadelphia	11–11	13–9	10–12–1	11–11	9–13	—	9–13	9–13
St. Louis	12–10	14–8	12–10	13–9	12–10	13–9	—	13–9
Washington	12–10	6–16	12–10	5–17	7–15	13–9	9–13	—

Roster

1944 Detroit Tigers

Roster

Pitchers

23 Boom-Boom Beck

17,25 Zeb Eaton

12 Rufe Gentry

17 Bob Gillespie

15 Johnny Gorsica

21 Roy Henshaw

2 Chief Hogsett

5 Jake Mooty

16 Hal Newhouser

14 Joe Orrell

19 Stubby Overmire

11 Dizzy Trout

Catchers

22 Hack Miller

9 Paul Richards

1 Bob Swift

Infielders

7,35 Red Borom

25 Bubba Floyd

5 Don Heffner

6 Pinky Higgins

7,24 Joe Hoover

3 Eddie Mayo

24 Joe Orengo

18 Jackie Sullivan

30 Al Unser

4 Rudy York

Outfielders

8 Doc Cramer

26 Chuck Hostetler

21 Charlie Metro

27 Jimmy Outlaw

20 Don Ross

2 Dick Wakefield

Other batters

25 John McHale

Manager

32 Steve O'Neill

Coaches

28 Art Mills

31 Al Vincent

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	Paul Richards	95	300	71	.237	3	37
1B	Rudy York	151	583	161	.276	18	98
2B	Eddie Mayo	154	607	151	.249	5	63
SS	Joe Hoover	120	441	104	.236	0	29
3B	Pinky Higgins	148	543	161	.297	7	76
OF	Doc Cramer	143	578	169	.292	2	42
OF	Jimmy Outlaw	139	535	146	.273	3	57
OF	Dick Wakefield	78	276	98	.355	12	53

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Chuck Hostetler	90	265	79	.298	0	20
Bob Swift	80	247	63	.255	1	19
Don Ross	66	167	35	.210	2	15
Joe Orengo	46	154	31	.201	0	10
Charlie Metro	38	78	15	.192	0	5
Al Unser	11	25	3	.120	1	5
Don Heffner	6	19	4	.211	0	1
Red Borom	7	14	1	.071	0	1
Bubba Floyd	3	9	4	.444	0	0
Hack Miller	6	5	1	.200	1	3
John McHale	1	1	0	.000	0	0
Jackie Sullivan	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Dizzy Trout	49	352.1	27	14	2.12	144
Hal Newhouser	47	312.1	29	9	2.22	187
Rufe Gentry	37	203.2	12	14	4.24	68
Stubby Overmire	32	199.2	11	11	3.07	57

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Johnny Gorsica	34	162	6	14	4.11	47
Joe Orrell	10	22.1	2	1	2.42	10
Roy Henshaw	7	12.1	0	0	8.76	10

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Boom-Boom Beck	28	1	2	1	3.89	25
Jake Mooty	15	0	0	0	4.45	7
Bob Gillespie	7	0	1	0	6.55	4
Zeb Eaton	6	0	0	0	5.74	4
Chief Hogsett	3	0	0	0	0.00	5

Awards and honors

1944 MLB All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Buffalo Bisons	International League	Bucky Harris
B	Hagerstown Owls	Interstate League	Herb Brett
D	Jamestown Falcons	PONY League	Ollie Carnegie

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jamestown

Notes

Rip Radcliff at Baseball Reference
Joe Ginsberg at Baseball Reference
As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 94, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1944 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference

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[1] Rip Radcliff at Baseball Reference

[2] Joe Ginsberg at Baseball Reference

[p94-3] As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 94, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5

1944 MLB season by team
American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1944 All-Star Game 1944 World Series