1944 World Series

The 1944 World Series was an all-St. Louis World Series, matching the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park. It marked the third and final time in World Series history in which both teams had the same home field (the other two being the 1921 and 1922 World Series in the Polo Grounds in New York City).

1944 World Series
Team (Wins) Manager(s) Season
St. Louis Cardinals (4) Billy Southworth 105–49, .682, GA: ​14 1⁄2
St. Louis Browns (2) Luke Sewell 89–65, .578, GA: 1
DatesOctober 4–9
UmpiresZiggy Sears (NL), Bill McGowan (AL), Tom Dunn (NL), George Pipgras (AL)
Hall of FamersUmpire:
Bill McGowan
Cardinals:
Billy Southworth (mgr.)
Enos Slaughter (mil.)
Stan Musial
Browns: none
Broadcast
RadioMutual
Radio announcersBill Slater and Don Dunphy
World Series

1944 saw perhaps the nadir of 20th-century baseball, as the long-moribund St. Louis Browns won their only American League pennant. The pool of talent was depleted by the draft to the point that in 1945 (but not 1944), as the military scraped deeper and deeper into the ranks of the possibly eligible, the Browns actually used a one-armed player, Pete Gray. Some of the players were 4-Fs, rejected by the military due to physical defects or limitations that precluded duty.[1] Others divided their time between factory work in defense industries and baseball, some being able to play ball only on weekends. Some players avoided the draft by chance, despite being physically able to serve. Stan Musial of the Cardinals was one. Musial, enlisting in early 1945, missed one season. He rejoined the Cardinals in 1946.

As both teams called Sportsman's Park home, the traditional 2–3–2 home field assignment was used (instead of the wartime 3–4). The Junior World Series of that same year, partly hosted in Baltimore's converted football stadium, easily outdrew the "real" Series and attracted attention to Baltimore as a potential major league city. Ten years later, the Browns transferred there and became the Orioles. Another all-Missouri World Series was played 41 years later, with the Kansas City Royals defeating the Cardinals in seven games.

The Series was also known as the "Trolley Series," "Streetcar Series," or the "St. Louis Showdown." Coincidentally, this World Series was played the same year Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released the musical film Meet Me in St. Louis. It remains one of two World Series played that featured two teams from the same city other than New York; the other was the 1906 World Series between the two Chicago teams. The 1989 World Series featured two teams from the San Francisco metropolitan area, but not the same city.

This is the only World Series to date to not have either team credited with a stolen base.

Background

Many of the game's best players were called away for World War II, and the result was a seriously depleted pool of talent.[2] The top team in the American League was the St. Louis Browns, who collectively batted .252 en route to their only pennant in 52 seasons. They only had one .300 hitter in outfielder Mike Kreevich (who barely made it at .301), one man with 20 home runs, shortstop Vern Stephens (who hit exactly 20), and one player over the 85 runs batted in mark, Stephens, who knocked in 109 to lead the league. On the mound, the Browns boasted Nels Potter and Jack Kramer, who combined for 36 victories. The team squeaked into first place by winning 11 out of their final 12 games, including the last four in a row over the defending champion New York Yankees. The last victory, combined with Detroit's loss to Washington, enabled St. Louis to finish one game ahead of the Tigers in the American League. Their 89–65 record would be the worst for an AL champion until the Minnesota Twins won the pennant in 1987 with a record of 85-77.

On the other side of Sportsman's Park, the other Major League team from St. Louis was doing business as usual. In making off with their third straight National League pennant (leading by ​14 1⁄2 games over Pittsburgh), manager Billy Southworth's Cardinals had won 105 games and ran their three-year victory total to 316. The Cardinals were the first National League franchise with three consecutive 100 win seasons. The 1944 club featured league MVP Marty Marion and future Hall of Famer Stan Musial.

Summary

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

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 4St. Louis Browns – 2, St. Louis Cardinals – 1Sportsman's Park2:0533,242[3] 
2October 5St. Louis Browns – 2, St. Louis Cardinals – 3 (11)Sportsman's Park2:3235,076[4] 
3October 6St. Louis Cardinals – 2, St. Louis Browns – 6Sportsman's Park2:1934,737[5] 
4October 7St. Louis Cardinals – 5, St. Louis Browns – 1Sportsman's Park2:2235,455[6] 
5October 8St. Louis Cardinals – 2, St. Louis Browns – 0Sportsman's Park2:0436,568[7] 
6October 9St. Louis Browns – 1, St. Louis Cardinals – 3Sportsman's Park2:0631,630[8]

Matchups

Game 1
Wednesday, October 4, 1944 2:00 pm (CT) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri
Team123456789RHE
St. Louis (AL)000200000220
St. Louis (NL)000000001170
WP: Denny Galehouse (1–0)   LP: Mort Cooper (0–1)
Home runs:
SLB: George McQuinn (1)
SLC: None

George McQuinn hit the Browns' only home run of the series to put his team ahead in the fourth inning, while Denny Galehouse outpitched World Series veteran Mort Cooper to hold on for the win.

Game 2
Thursday, October 5, 1944 2:00 pm (CT) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri
Team1234567891011RHE
St. Louis (AL)00000020000274
St. Louis (NL)00110000001370
WP: Blix Donnelly (1–0)   LP: Bob Muncrief (0–1)

Blix Donnelly came in as a relief pitcher in the eighth inning, and tallied no runs, two hits and seven strikeouts for the win. Ken O'Dea's pinch-hit single in the 11th scored the winning run.

Game 3
Friday, October 6, 1944 2:00 pm (CT) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri
Team123456789RHE
St. Louis (NL)100000100270
St. Louis (AL)00400020X682
WP: Jack Kramer (1–0)   LP: Ted Wilks (0–1)

Jack Kramer struck out ten batters on the way to a 6–2 Browns triumph, the last World Series game the team would win until the 1966 World Series, as the Baltimore Orioles.

Game 4
Saturday, October 7, 1944 2:00 pm (CT) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri
Team123456789RHE
St. Louis (NL)2020010005120
St. Louis (AL)000000010191
WP: Harry Brecheen (1–0)   LP: Sig Jakucki (0–1)
Home runs:
SLC: Stan Musial (1)
SLB: None

Browns starter Sig Jakucki had been away from baseball for five years, but returned to win 13 games in 1944. He lasted only three innings giving up four runs. Stan Musial hit a two-run homer in the first, and the Browns never recovered. Harry Brecheen went the distance for the win despite giving up nine hits and four walks.

Game 5
Sunday, October 8, 1944 2:00 pm (CT) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri
Team123456789RHE
St. Louis (NL)000001010261
St. Louis (AL)000000000071
WP: Mort Cooper (1–1)   LP: Denny Galehouse (1–1)
Home runs:
SLC: Ray Sanders (1), Danny Litwhiler (1)
SLB: None

Mort Cooper recovered from his opening game loss to beat Galehouse with a seven-hit, 2–0 shutout. In the Cardinals' 1942–1944 stranglehold on the National League championship, Cooper had won 65 games and thrown 23 shutouts.

Game 6
Monday, October 9, 1944 2:00 pm (CT) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri
Team123456789RHE
St. Louis (AL)010000000132
St. Louis (NL)00030000X3100
WP: Max Lanier (1–0)   LP: Nels Potter (0–1)   Sv: Ted Wilks (1)

For Game 6, it was Max Lanier and Ted Wilks (who both had 17 wins and shared a 2.65 ERA) that wrote the final chapter to the Browns' "Cinderella season" with a 3–1 victory that wrapped up the Cardinals' second Series title in three years. Ted Wilks was brilliant in relief, retiring all 11 Browns he faced, clinching the Cardinals fifth World Series title.

Composite box

1944 World Series (4–2): St. Louis Cardinals (N.L.) over St. Louis Browns (A.L.)

Team1234567891011RHE
St. Louis Cardinals3034021110116491
St. Louis Browns01420041000123610
Total attendance: 206,708   Average attendance: 34,451
Winning player's share: $4,626   Losing player's share: $2,744[9]

Notes
  1. Silver 2007
  2. For a discussion and evaluation of how much difference this depletion of talent made, see Silver 2007.
  3. "1944 World Series Game 1 – St. Louis Browns vs. St. Louis Cardinals". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  4. "1944 World Series Game 2 – St. Louis Browns vs. St. Louis Cardinals". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  5. "1944 World Series Game 3 – St. Louis Cardinals vs. St. Louis Browns". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  6. "1944 World Series Game 4 – St. Louis Cardinals vs. St. Louis Browns". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  7. "1944 World Series Game 5 – St. Louis Cardinals vs. St. Louis Browns". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  8. "1944 World Series Game 6 – St. Louis Browns vs. St. Louis Cardinals". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  9. "World Series Gate Receipts and Player Shares". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved June 14, 2009.

See also

References
  • Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990). The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 196–200. ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
  • Reichler, Joseph (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2152. ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
  • Silver, Nate (2007). Goldman, Steven (ed.). "1944 American League: The Home Front". It Ain't Over 'til It's Over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book. New York: Basic Books: 326–362. ISBN 0-465-00284-6.
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