1944 in baseball

• MLB World Series: St. Louis Cardinals over St. Louis Browns (4–2), in the "Streetcar Series"
• Negro League World Series: Homestead Grays over Birmingham Black Barons (4–1)
• MLB All-Star Game, July 11 at Forbes Field: National League, 7–1
• Negro League Baseball All-Star Game: West, 7–4

• Amateur World Series: Venezuela
• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: Milwaukee Chicks over Kenosha Comets

• Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Kenesaw Mountain Landis
• Most Valuable Player
  • Hal Newhouser (AL) – pitcher, Detroit Tigers
  • Marty Marion (NL) – shortstop, St. Louis Cardinals
• The Sporting News Player of the Year Award
  • Marty Marion (NL) – St. Louis Cardinals
• The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award
  • Bobby Doerr (AL) – Second base, Boston Red Sox
  • Marty Marion (NL) – Shortstop, St. Louis Cardinals
• The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
  • Hal Newhouser (AL) – Detroit Tigers
  • Bill Voiselle (NL) – New York Giants
• The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award
  • Luke Sewell (AL) – St. Louis Browns

¹ All-time single-season earned run average record

All Negro leagues standings below are per Seamheads.^[1]

vs. Negro American League vs. Major Black teams Negro American League W L Pct. GB W L T Pct. Birmingham Black Barons 58 24 .707 — 71 42 0 .628 Cincinnati–Indianapolis Clowns 50 44 .532 14 59 54 1 .522 Cleveland Buckeyes 45 42 .517 15½ 59 56 1 .513 Memphis Red Sox 54 64 .458 22 65 78 0 .455 Kansas City Monarchs 37 51 .420 24 49 74 0 .398 Chicago American Giants 35 53 .398 26 43 72 1 .375

Black Barons American Giants Clowns    Buckeyes Monarchs Red Sox Locations of teams for the 1944–1945 Negro American League seasons Negro American League Note: Clowns play in both Cincinnati and Indianapolis.

vs. Negro National League vs. Major Black teams Negro National League W L T Pct. GB W L T Pct. Homestead Grays 46 25 3 .642 — 66 32 4 .667 New York Cubans 29 21 2 .577 6½ 53 29 2 .643 Philadelphia Stars 29 26 1 .527 9 37 29 1 .560 Baltimore Elite Giants 36 37 0 .493 11 47 43 1 .522 Newark Eagles 28 34 0 .452 13½ 34 37 0 .479 New York Black Yankees 7 32 0 .179 23 11 39 1 .225

Elite Giants Grays    Black Yankees Cubans Eagles Stars Locations of teams for the 1944–1947 Negro National League seasons Negro National League Note: Homestead Grays played in both Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh, with the majority in Washington, D.C.

• 1944 Negro World Series: Homestead Grays over Birmingham Black Barons 4–1.

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

• 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."^[2]
• 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.^[3] 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 (1946–1957, 1959) 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".^[4] 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 club is purchased by local heavy construction magnates Lou Perini, C. Joseph Maney and Guido Rugo—nicknamed the "Three Little Steam Shovels."^[5][6] Stengel, 53, has directed the Braves to a 373–491–6 (.432) record since 1938, missing part of 1943 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 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 1946; in October 1948, he will file (and eventually settle out of court) a lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause.^[7]

• February 2 – Opposition is swift after maverick owner Alva Bradley of the Cleveland Indians repeats his 1942 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 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."^[8]
• 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.^[9]
• 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.^[10]

• 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 (and as the Phils in 1942),^[11] 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 (and six other fans) from 634 entries and over 5,000 letters.^[12] 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.^[13]
• 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.^[14]
• 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 8 – The warm-weather Pacific Coast League begins its 170-game season; by the time all the minor leagues debut in the coming days, there are only ten loops active in "Organized Baseball", plus the independent Mexican League. The "Class E" Twin Ports League of 1943 vanishes, and is replaced by the Class D Ohio State League.
• April 13 – The Philadelphia Phillies obtain first baseman Tony Lupien on waivers from the Boston Red Sox. Harvard alumnus Lupien, 26, will appear in 153 games as the Phils' first-sacker in 1944 before entering the U. S. Navy.
• April 15 – Al Simmons, 41, returns to the Philadelphia Athletics, signing a free-agent contract. The future Hall of Famer, one of the brightest stars of Connie Mack's 1929–1931 dynasty, will appear in only four games in his third stint with the Athletics before drawing his release June 15 to join Mack's coaching staff.
• April 18 – Overshadowed by World War II, the 1944 MLB season begins with seven games featuring 14 of the 16 big-league teams.
  • In the American League, the world-champion New York Yankees shut out the Boston Red Sox, 3–0, behind Hank Borowy at Fenway Park; Vern Stephens' ninth-inning home run delivers a 2–1 win for the visiting St. Louis Browns against the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium; and the Philadelphia Athletics eke out a 3–2 triumph over the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium.
  • In the National League, the Chicago Cubs get only three hits, but Hank Wyse blanks the Cincinnati Reds, 3–0, at Crosley Field, before a sell-out crowd of 30,154, most in the majors; Bill Voiselle of the New York Giants bests Al Javery of the Boston Braves, 2–1, at the Polo Grounds; "Kewpie Dick" Barrett of the Philadelphia Phillies throws a 4–1 complete-game victory against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Shibe Park; and the defending NL champion St. Louis Cardinals throttle the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2–0, behind Max Lanier's two-hitter at Sportsman's Park.^[15]
• April 20 – A bomber piloted by United States Army Air Forces Captain Elmer Gedeon is shot down by enemy aircraft over France. Gedeon, 27, an outfielder who appeared in five games for the Washington Senators between September 18–23, 1939, becomes the first active MLB player killed in World War II. When his body is returned to the United States after the war, Gedeon will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.^[16]
• April 27 – At Braves Field, Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves no-hits the Brooklyn Dodgers 2–0 and helps his own cause by homering off Fritz Ostermueller in the eighth inning. Tobin becomes the second no-hit pitcher to hit a home run in the same game, joining Wes Ferrell almost a full 13 years earlier, on April 29, 1931.^[17]
• April 30:
  • Coming up a single short of hitting for the cycle, New York Giants first baseman Phil Weintraub drives in 11 runs on two doubles, a triple, and his first home run of 1944, in a 26–8 trouncing of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. Teammate Ernie Lombardi drives in seven runs himself. Weintraub and Lombardi will finish 1–2 in most RBIs by a player in a single game during the 1944 MLB campaign.^[18][19]
  • After his Chicago Cubs drop their eighth and ninth straight games—a double dip, 5–0 and 7–5, to the juggernaut St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park—manager Jimmie Wilson is dismissed. Chicago's only NL victory of 1944 came on Opening Day on April 18, and Wilson's mark over 3+ seasons is 213–258–3 (.452). Coach Roy Johnson will handle the team for its next game, May 3, as the Cubs make arrangements to bring Wrigley Field favorite Charlie Grimm back for a second term as manager.

• May 1 – George Myatt of the Washington Senators goes 6-for-6, including a double, as the Nats beat the Boston Red Sox, 11–4, at Fenway Park.^[19]
• May 2 – Forty-year-old Pepper Martin appears in a St. Louis Cardinals box score for the first time since September 27, 1940, when he starts today in center field in a road game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Martin spent 1941–1943 as a player–manager in the St. Louis farm system, but the wartime manpower shortage gives "The Wild Horse of the Osage" one more big-league fling in 1944; he'll appear in 40 games as an outfielder and pinch hitter and collect 24 hits, including two home runs, before he's released October 10.
• May 4 – The St. Louis Browns announce that they are dropping their segregation policy that restricts Black fans to Sportsman's Park's bleachers.
• May 7:
  • Good-natured Charlie Grimm, who led the Chicago Cubs to two National League pennants (1932, 1935) during his previous, seven-year stint as manager, takes the reins of the club for a second time. The Cubs have suffered a calamitous start to their 1944 season: they're 1–10 and already seven games out of first place when "Jolly Cholly", 45, assumes command.^[20] They lose their 11th and 12th straight games today, dropping a twin bill to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
    • Before Grimm takes on the Chicago assignment, he must find his own successor as pilot of the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. Grimm is a co-owner of the minor-league Brewers, along with 30-year-old Bill Veeck, currently serving in the United States Marines in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Grimm's choice: unemployed manager Casey Stengel, recently fired by the Boston Braves.^[20] Veeck is furious when he hears of the hiring; he writes to Grimm: "Stengel is entirely satisfied with a mediocre club as long as Stengel and his alleged wit are appreciated."^[21] But Stengel takes over Grimm's 11–2 Brewers and guides them to a 91–49 record and the Association pennant. Grimm, meanwhile, eventually coaxes the Cubs to a respectable 74–69 mark.
  • The Boston Red Sox acquire catcher Hal Wagner from the Philadelphia Athletics for outfielder Ford Garrison. Wagner, 28, a 1943 AL All-Star, will be the Red Sox' primary catcher during their 1946 pennant-winning season.
• May 10 – Mel Harder becomes the 50th pitcher in major league history to win 200 games as the Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Red Sox, 5–4.
• May 11 – Hal Trosky's steal of home proves to be the winning run in the Chicago White Sox' 16-inning, 4–2 triumph over the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park.^[22]
• May 15 – At Crosley Field, Clyde Shoun of the Cincinnati Reds no-hits the Boston Braves 1–0. The only baserunner he allows is a third-inning walk to his mound opponent, Jim Tobin, himself a no-hit pitcher only 18 days earlier.
• May 17 – Future Hall-of-Fame second baseman Bobby Doerr hits for the cycle, to help his Boston Red Sox defeat the visiting St. Louis Browns, 12–8.^[19]
• May 30 – Outfielder Goody Rosen returns to the Brooklyn Dodgers after a five-year absence, when the Cincinnati Reds send him to Brooklyn for veteran hurlers Fritz Ostermueller and Bill Lohrman and $18,000 in cash. Rosen, now 31, had appeared in 214 games for the 1937–1939 Dodgers.

• June 1:
  • Stan Spence becomes the second member of the Washington Senators to go six-for-six this season in today's 11–5 romp over the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park. Spence's feat occurs exactly a month after teammate George Myatt's.^[19]
  • Fritz Ostermueller's tenure with the Cincinnati Reds lasts only 48 hours when the 36-year-old left-hander is sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates before he can appear in an official game in a Cincinnati uniform.
• June 6:
  • All major-league games are cancelled due to D-Day. At least five baseball players serving the Allies' armed forces give their lives in the invasion of Normandy. One of the fallen, Technician Fifth Grade John Joseph Pinder, a former minor-league pitcher whose 32nd birthday is today, will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty."^[23]
  • The Brooklyn Dodgers acquire second baseman Eddie Stanky from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for pitcher Bob Chipman.
• June 10:
  • At 15 years and 316 days of age, left-hander Joe Nuxhall becomes the youngest player to ever appear in a major league game. Nuxhall, who hails from nearby Hamilton, Ohio, enters the ninth inning of a game at Cincinnati's Crosley Field in which his Reds are already trailing the World Series-bound St. Louis Cardinals 13–0. After retiring two of the first three hitters he faces (George Fallon and Augie Bergamo), Nuxhall fails to record the third out, allowing two hits, five bases on balls and five earned runs before he's replaced by 21-year-old Jake Eisenhart, who's making his only MLB appearance. Nuxhall then vanishes into the minor leagues until he returns to the Reds in 1952, and (apart from a season and half) then remains with them as a pitcher (winning 130 games) and beloved broadcaster until his passing, at 79, in 2007.^[24][25]
  • With World War II calling most able-bodied men into military service or war-related industry, 1944 will see extremes in the number of very young and older players: twenty big-leaguers under the age of 20, and 16 over the age of 40, will see action in the American and National leagues this season.^[26]
• June 12 – The Philadelphia Phillies take player-coach Chuck Klein, 39, off their active roster, ending the former slugger's active career after 17 seasons, 2,076 hits and an even 300 homers. He'll be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans' Committee in 1980.
• June 15 – The St. Louis Cardinals sell the contract of right-hander Harry Gumbert to the Cincinnati Reds.
• June 22 – At Braves Field, Boston starting pitcher Al Javery pitches scoreless ball into the top of the 15th inning before allowing a one-out, solo homer to the Philadelphia Phillies' Ron Northey. Javery's Braves are then held off the scoreboard in the bottom half and absorb a 1–0 defeat. The Phillies' Bill Lee (six innings) and reliever Charley Schanz (nine innings) combine for a six-hit shutout.^[27]
• June 26 – Fifty thousand fans pack the Polo Grounds to see New York City's trio of MLB teams play an unusual, three-team fund-raising exhibition contest: the Tri-Cornered Baseball Game. The bizarre competition (the final score: "Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants 0") raises $6 million for U.S. War Bonds.^[28]

• July 5 – Fourteen-year minor-league veteran Bill McGhee makes his MLB debut as the wartime manpower shortage continues. McGhee goes three for five, all singles, and drives in a run, but his Philadelphia Athletics fall to the visiting St. Louis Browns, 4–2. The first baseman is 35 years and 304 days old; he's spent most of his career in Class B leagues in America's Deep South.^[29]
• July 6 – Outfielder Bob Johnson becomes the second member of the Boston Red Sox to hit for the cycle in 1944 in today's 13–3 rout of the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.^[19] Bobby Doerr, whose "cycle" came May 17, goes four-for-four today batting right behind Johnson.
• July 11:
  • At Forbes Field, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the National League defeats the American League, 7–1, in the All-Star Game. Three Senior Circuit relievers, winner Ken Raffensberger, Rip Sewell and Jim Tobin, limit the Americans to only one hit after the NL salts the game away with four fifth-inning runs.
  • At the midsummer break, both St. Louis teams lead their respective leagues. The defending NL-champion Cardinals (51–21–2) have a comfortable, 10½-game cushion over the Pittsburgh Pirates (49–30–4), while the surprising Browns (45–34), seeking their first AL pennant, hold a 2½-game margin over the Boston Red Sox (42–36).
• July 16 – At Braves Field, the Brooklyn Dodgers lose their 16th consecutive game, 8–4, to Boston before capturing the nightcap, 8–5, behind Curt Davis. Leo Durocher's wartime squad will then drop 12 of its next 16 games to finish 5–25 during the month of July 1944.

• July 20 – After ignoring warnings from home plate umpire Cal Hubbard to stop putting his fingers in his mouth to wet the baseball, Nelson Potter of the St. Louis Browns is ejected in the fifth inning of today's 7–3 victory over the New York Yankees at Sportsman's Park. The game is delayed 15 minutes while Potter and manager Luke Sewell argue with Hubbard, and fans shower the field with debris.^[30] Potter will be fined and suspended for ten games by AL president Will Harridge. He becomes the first pitcher to be ejected for throwing a spitball since it was banned in 1920.^[31]
• July 23 – At the Polo Grounds, slugger Bill "Swish" Nicholson of the Chicago Cubs smacks three home runs and drives in four, spurring Chicago to a 7–4 win over the New York Giants. Nicholson, who'll lead the NL in homers and RBI in 1944, also enjoys the distinction of registering the season's only three-homer day.^[19]

• 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.^[32]
• 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.^[33][34]
• 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 (including Barrett), six by the outfield, and two by the catcher (on foul pop ups).^[35] 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 (who comes off the Senators' bench to join the brawl) are ejected. Potter ends up on the losing end of the 3–0 final.^[36] The defeat drops his record to 12–6 (3.13), but in his next eight starts, he'll go 7–1 (2.08) with seven complete games and two shutouts as a key figure in the Browns' pennant drive.^[37]

• September 2:
  • The Detroit Tigers (69–58) defeat the first-place St. Louis Browns, 6–3, to take their third straight decision in a crucial, four-game series at Sportsman's Park, and shave the 71–58 Browns' American League lead to one game. The New York Yankees (70–59) are also a game back and the Boston Red Sox (70–60) are 1½ out. The Browns' AL lead had been as high as 6½ games in early August, but the next four weeks will see a topsy-turvy AL race between St. Louis, Detroit and New York.
  • At Ebbets Field, Dixie Walker of the Brooklyn Dodgers hits for the cycle in Brooklyn's 8–4 win over the New York Giants. "The People's 'Cherce'" puts up the National League's only "cycle" of 1944.^[19][38]
• September 3 – Bobby Doerr, the Boston Red Sox' four-time All-Star second baseman, goes one for four off Jesse Flores of the Philadelphia Athletics in today's 5–1 defeat at Fenway Park. Doerr, 26, then joins the U.S. Army, cutting short his season after 125 games played. Despite missing his team's final 23 contests, he finishes first in slugging percentage in the American League at .528. Doerr will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986. The loss of Doerr and ace pitcher Tex Hughson to military service causes the Bosox to drop 16 of their final 22 games.
• September 21 – The St. Louis Cardinals clinch their third straight National League pennant, sweeping a doubleheader from the Boston Braves on the road in Boston. They lead the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates, who sweep the Brooklyn Dodgers today, by 13 full games. The Redbirds will finish 1944 with 105 regular-season victories, capping a dominant three-year stretch in which they average 105.3 victories a season.
• September 24:
  • The Homestead Grays defeat the Birmingham Black Barons, 4–2, to win the fifth and deciding game of the 1944 Negro World Series at Griffith Stadium. Roy Welmaker wins his second game of the 1944 classic. The Grays win their second straight championship, both of them against the Black Barons.
  • The last-place Philadelphia Phillies give the NL champion Cardinals a battle before succumbing twice to the Redbirds in a Shibe Park doubleheader. In Game 1, the Phillies' Ken Raffensberger and Cards' Mort Cooper battle for 16 innings before St. Louis emerges with a 4–3 victory on a Whitey Kurowski homer; Cooper allows 19 hits but holds the Phils to only three runs. In Game 2, the Cardinals' Ted Wilks and Phillies' Charley Schanz each go eight scoreless innings; then an unearned run in the top of the ninth seals a 1–0 triumph for the World Series-bound Cardinals.^[39] The win gives Wilks a brilliant 17–3 record—a winning percentage of .850—in his rookie season.
• September 27 – The St. Louis Browns fall out of first place in the American League, losing 4–1 to the Boston Red Sox at home while the Detroit Tigers shut out the Philadelphia Athletics, 4–0. The Tigers now lead St. Louis by one game; each team has four to play.
• September 29 – Nels Potter throws a two-hit shutout for his 19th win and his Browns make a first-inning run stand up, enabling St. Louis to sweep a doubleheader against the visiting New York Yankees, 4–1 and 1–0, and move into a first-place tie with Detroit, which splits its twin bill against the Senators in Washington. The Tigers' Dizzy Trout (27–13) fails in his attempt to win his 28th game of 1944 in the nightcap.
• September 30 – Future Hall-of-Fame southpaw Hal Newhouser captures his 29th game, defeating Washington, 7–3, and keeping his Tigers in a flat-footed tie with the Browns, who defeat the Yankees behind Denny Galehouse.

• 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 (two homers, four runs batted in) and Vern Stephens (a solo blast).^[40] At 89–65, they finish one game in front of the Detroit Tigers (88–66), who drop a 4–1 decision to Washington knuckle-baller Dutch Leonard.^[41]
    • 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 others occurred in 1921 and 1922 at the Polo Grounds). The match-up will be nicknamed the "Streetcar Series" and the "St. Louis Showdown".^[42]
  • On the closing day of the National League's regular season, iron-man catcher Ray Mueller starts the Cincinnati Reds' 155th game (out of 155) 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 1946, 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 1926, 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.^[43]
• October 31 – The Sporting News names former 30-game-winner (and future Hall of Famer) Dizzy Dean the majors' "#1 baseball play-by-play announcer" for 1944.^[44] Dean, whose sprinkling of non-grammatical country slang into his broadcasts has sometimes drawn criticism,^[45] is the lead announcer for St. Louis' two big-league teams—the World Series champion Cardinals and the AL-champion Browns.

• November 1 – A three-person group headlined by club president/general manager Branch Rickey acquires one-quarter ownership in the Dodgers from the Brooklyn Trust Company for an estimated $250,000. The stock, formerly held by the late Edward J. McKeever, has been managed by the bank on behalf of the McKeever estate.^[46] Others members of the ownership group are insurance executive Andrew L. Schmitz and the Dodgers' general counsel, Walter O'Malley. Brooklyn Trust still oversees 50% of the team's stock on behalf of the Charles Ebbets estate. Edward McKeever and Ebbets died within 11 days of each other in April 1925.
• November 25 – Hospitalized with respiratory woes since October 2, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first Commissioner of Baseball, dies at 78 in Chicago, eight days after being re-elected to a new, seven-year term as "baseball's czar." (See Deaths entry for this date below.) Autocratic, all-powerful, and feared by most owners and players, Landis has been Commissioner since January 12, 1921.^[47] He will be immediately elected to the Hall of Fame after a special ballot on December 10, 1944.
• November 28:
  • Detroit Tigers pitcher Hal Newhouser, who posted a 29–9 record with 187 strikeouts and a 2.22 ERA, is named the American League's Most Valuable Player, gathering four more votes than pitching teammate Dizzy Trout (27–14, 144, 2.12).
  • Second lieutenant Jackie Robinson receives an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army. After writing to the owners of the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, the former UCLA star athlete, a letterman in baseball (as well as basketball, football and track and field), is invited to their 1945 spring training camp.^[33][34]

• December 2 – Japan, where baseball has been banned as an undesirable enemy influence, mourns the death of Eiji Sawamura. The Japanese pitcher, who is killed in action in the Pacific, became a national hero by striking out Babe Ruth in an exhibition game.
• December 9 – The New York Yankees obtain 19-year-old right-hander Cuddles Marshall from the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League for pitchers Johnny Babich and Dick Hearn.
• December 12:
  • At their annual winter meetings, MLB magnates decide that the position of Commissioner of Baseball—vacant since the November 25 death of Kenesaw Mountain Landis—will temporarily be filled by a three-man Advisory Council consisting of league presidents Ford Frick and Will Harridge and Landis's chief aide, Leslie O'Connor, a Chicago attorney. Authority will return to a single Commissioner when Landis's successor is selected and takes office.^[48]
  • Detroit Tigers manager Steve O'Neill acquires his son-in-law, shortstop Skeeter Webb, from the Chicago White Sox for third baseman Joe Orengo.
• December 21 – Marty Marion, the slick-fielding, 27-year-old shortstop of the world-champion St. Louis Cardinals, edges Chicago Cubs slugger Bill Nicholson by a single point (190 to 189) to win the 1944 NL Most Valuable Player Award. In the close election, Marion receives seven of 24 first place votes and Nicholson four, followed by Dixie Walker, Stan Musial and Bucky Walters (three), Ray Mueller (two), and Walker Cooper and Babe Dahlgren (one each).^[49]
• December 22 – Connie Mack, speaking in Los Angeles on his 82nd birthday, predicts a new era of prosperity for baseball when World War II ends, but warns his audience: "I don't believe that the major leagues will ever stretch to the Pacific Coast." He opposes expansion, and notes that "the Pacific Coast League is doing well in its present structure"—as a top-level minor league.^[50]
• December 28 – Buddy Lewis, the Washington Senators' pre-war All-Star third baseman, wins the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying 392 combat missions as a transport pilot over the China Burma India Theater. Lewis interrupted his baseball career after the 1941 season to serve in the United States Army Air Force. He won't return to the Senators until July 27, 1945.^[51]

• January 3 – Dick Colpaert
• January 4:
  • Tito Fuentes
  • Charlie Manuel
• January 5:
  • Tom Kelley
  • Charlie Vinson
• January 7 – Dick Calmus
• January 9 – Dick Thoenen
• January 10 – Chuck Dobson
• January 11:
  • Frank Baker
  • Jim McAndrew
• January 13 – Larry Jaster
• January 16 – Gene Stone
• January 17 – Denny Doyle
• January 18 – Carl Morton
• January 19 – Chet Trail
• January 20 – Carl Taylor
• January 23 – Paul Ratliff
• January 25 – Gary Holman

• February 1:
  • Paul Blair
  • Hal King
• February 3:
  • Wayne Comer
  • Celerino Sánchez
• February 9:
  • Jim Campanis
  • Randy Schwartz
• February 11 – Ollie Brown
• February 13 – Sal Bando
• February 16 – Glenn Vaughan
• February 17 – Dick Bosman
• February 18 – Syd O'Brien
• February 19 – Chris Zachary
• February 21 – Tokuji Nagaike
• February 23 – Don Shaw
• February 25 – Stump Merrill
• February 26 – Don Secrist
• February 29 – Steve Mingori

• March 1:
  • Vern Fuller
  • Ron Klimkowski
• March 9 – Ed Acosta
• March 10:
  • John Briggs
  • Joe Campbell
• March 12 – Joe Moock
• March 14 – John Miller
• March 15:
  • Wayne Granger
  • Dave Watkins
• March 16 – Rick Renick
• March 17 – Cito Gaston
• March 20:
  • Steve Blateric
  • Bob Taylor
• March 21 – Manny Sanguillén
• March 22 – Matt Galante
• March 23 – George Scott
• March 25 – Jim Britton
• March 29 – Denny McLain

• April 1 – Rusty Staub
• April 3 – Gomer Hodge
• April 7 – Bill Stoneman
• April 9 – Joe Brinkman
• April 12 – Terry Harmon
• April 14 – Frank Bertaina
• April 16 – Bob Montgomery
• April 24 – Bill Singer
• April 25:
  • Drew Baur
  • Joe Hague
  • Ken Tatum
• April 26 – Leon McFadden

• May 6 – Masanori Murakami
• May 7 – Billy Murphy
• May 14 – Jim Driscoll
• May 19 – Stan Swanson
• May 22:
  • Frank Coggins
  • Bob Schaefer
• May 27 – Jim Holt

• June 6 – Bud Harrelson
• June 7:
  • Roger Nelson
  • Frank Reberger
• June 8 – Mark Belanger
• June 20 – Dave Nelson
• June 28 – Hal Breeden
• June 30 – Ron Swoboda

• July 4 – Fred Rico
• July 9:
  • Hal Haydel
  • Sonny Jackson
• July 12 – Tom Tischinski
• July 13 – Buzz Stephen
• July 14 – Billy McCool
• July 18 – Rudy May
• July 22 – Sparky Lyle
• July 25:
  • Buddy Bradford
  • Fred Scherman
• July 30:
  • Pat Kelly
  • Doug Rader
• July 31 – Frank Brosseau

• August 2 – Chris Coletta
• August 4 – Rich Nye
• August 15:
  • Mike Compton
  • John Matias
• August 18 – Mike Ferraro
• August 20 – Graig Nettles
• August 25 – Dick Smith
• August 27 – Johnny Hairston
• August 30 – Tug McGraw

• September 7 – Barry Lersch
• September 10 – Jim Hibbs
• September 11:
  • John McSherry
  • Dave Roberts
• September 16 – Chuck Brinkman
• September 19 – Russ Nagelson
• September 20 – Ed Phillips
• September 22 – Jim Fairey
• September 23 – Oscar Zamora
• September 27:
  • Gene Rounsaville
  • Gary Sutherland

• October 4 – Tony La Russa
• October 8 – Ed Kirkpatrick
• October 9 – Freddie Patek
• October 11 – Mike Fiore
• October 14 – Rich Robertson
• October 15 – Dick Such
• October 23 – Jim Rittwage
• October 24 – Johnny Jeter
• October 25 – Skip Guinn
• October 29:
  • Jim Bibby
  • Gary Neibauer

• November 7 – Joe Niekro
• November 8 – Ed Kranepool
• November 9 – Al Severinsen
• November 17 – Tom Seaver
• November 27 – Ron Tompkins

• December 1 – Jim Ray
• December 4 – Lee Bales
• December 6 – Tony Horton
• December 9 – Del Unser
• December 10 – Steve Renko
• December 15:
  • Stan Bahnsen
  • Jim Leyland
• December 18 – Steve Hovley
• December 19 – Rob Gardner
• December 20 – Don Mason
• December 22 – Steve Carlton
• December 23:
  • Ray Lamb
  • Vic LaRose
• December 30:
  • José Morales
  • Bob Schroder