1944 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 1944 throughout the world.
Champions
Major League Baseball
Other champions
Awards and honors
MLB statistical leaders
Major league baseball final standings
American League final standings
National League final standings
Negro league baseball final standings
Negro American League final standings
Negro National League final standings
Events
April–June
- 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.[1]
- May 1 - George Myatt of the Washington Senators goes 6-for-6 as the Nats beat the Red Sox, 11-4.
- May 4 - The St. Louis Browns announce that they are dropping their segregation policy restricting Negro fans to the bleachers.
- 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.
- June 6 - All games cancelled due to D-Day.
- June 10–15-year-old pitcher Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds makes his major league debut. He is the youngest player ever to appear in a Major League game. After giving up five runs to the Cardinals in 2/3 of an inning, he is relieved by Jake Eisenhart, who gets the final out in his only major league appearance.
July–September
October–December
- October 9 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the St. Louis Browns, 3–1, in Game 6 of the World Series to win their fifth World Series, four games to two. The Browns are the last of the original eight members of the American League to win the pennant. It would be their only World Series appearance before relocating to Baltimore ten years later. This only marked only the third time in World Series history in which both teams had the same home field, Sportsman's Park, with the other two being in 1921 and 1922 at the Polo Grounds. The Series was also known as the "Streetcar Series", or the "St. Louis Showdown."
- 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 Most Valuable Player, gathering four more votes than pitching teammate Dizzy Trout (27-14, 144, 2.12).
- 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.
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 1912 through 1926 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
February
March
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 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, pitcher for the Cleveland Spiders, Columbus Solons, Louisville Colonels, Philadelphia Athletics, Pittsburgh Alleghenys/Pirates and Washington Senators in a span of six years from 1888–1995, who had two 20-win seasons, and led three different leagues for the most hitters hit by pitches from 1890 to 1892.
- June 21 – Harry Swacina, 62, first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Terrapins in parts of four seasons from 1907–1915.
- 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.
- July 3 – 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, fourht outfielder for the 1912Cleveland 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 1887–1893, 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.
- August 21 – 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 1898–1907, 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 1877–1886, 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.
- September 9 – 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 1905–1910.
- 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 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.
December
- 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.
References
External links
