1944 World Champions

versus

105-49
98-56

The Story of the 1944 Championship Season

After winning the National League pennant in 1942 and 1943, the St. Louis Cardinals managed to keep from losing five of its starters to war as the team gathered for spring training in 1944. Osteomyelitis kept Whitey Kurowski from the draft. Walker Cooper had an old leg injury, Danny Litwhiler had a bad knee, and Marty Marion had a back injury, conditions that moved them down the draft list. Stan Musial, at 23, was healthy but he supported his father, who had contracted black lung disease working in the zinc mines. Musial, moreover, had a child born before the attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition, Stan worked in a war plant during the winter.

The Race

The Cardinals had the best lineup, by far, and everyone knew it. The Dodgers, their chief rivals, had been decimated by war departures, as had the next-best team, the Cincinnati Reds. The Cards began the '44 season with a 45-15 record, one of the best starts ever in National League history, then went 60-34 the rest of the way, finishing the season with a 105-49 record. This feat made the St. Louis Cardinals the first team ever to win 100+ games in three consecutive seasons.

One of manager Billy Southworth's goals for the 1944 season was to break the record for regular season victories (116 set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs). The team was on pace for 114 or 115 victories towards the end of August. Two other non-pennant goals emerged: beat the 1902 Pittsburgh margin of victory of 27 1/2 games, and two, have the earliest clinching date ever -- the 1931 Cardinals held that record with a September 16 date.

The Cardinals built their lead to 20 1/2 games with a 92-30 mark over second-place Pittsburgh (72-51). If the team could have held that pace they would tie the record for wins, and possibly break it if they got even hotter -- as if that were possible. All of a sudden the team got shocked as they dropped four straight to Pittsburgh and their margin was reduced to 16 1/2 games. It was their worst streak since losing six straight in July 1943. The team went on to lose 7 of their last 11 before Mort Cooper notched his 21st win in the second game of a doubleheader on September 10.

The Cardinals finally turned it around and won nine of their last 13, playing like they did for the first three-quarters of the season, for a final record of 105-49 (for the second straight year). If that 5-15 streak had been reversed, they would have had an excellent chance of tying or breaking the total victory record. The team clinched the pennant on September 21, 1944 by winning the first of a doubleheader against Boston. There was no hoopla, no wild celebration. Maybe it was taken for granted or had been delayed so long, but the team just walked off the field after the game just as if it were any other game. The letdown of the previous three weeks obviously had taken its toll on the team.

On the 1944 team, only two players on the Cardinals, Litwhiler and Garms, did not come through the farm system. It was a typical Cardinal team. The Cardinals had an estimated $500,000 of talent in the service and had sold-off another $100,000 of talent the past two seasons. The 20 Cardinal regulars had 96 years of minor league experience behind them.

The 1944 Cardinals were just one of six teams to lead their league in runs, batting, fielding and ERA. One of the other five was the 1946 Cardinals, substantially the same club playing together in a tougher, post-war league.

Offense

Musial finished second in the batting race, at .347, slowed by his injury in early September (and a call to his home in Donora, PA due to his father’s serious illness). Musial had 94 RBIs, and Hopp had 72 while hitting .336. Walker Cooper finished at .317 with 72 RBIs and tied the Cardinal record for home runs by a catcher at 13. Kurowski tailed off to .270, but had 95 runs, 20 home runs and 87 RBIs. Sanders led the team with 102 RBIs, while hitting .295.

Pitching

The Cardinals pitching staff was outstanding in 1944, recording 26 shutouts and a team ERA of 2.67. Mort Cooper finished at 22-7 with a 2.46 ERA and seven shutouts, which led the league. Max Lanier was 17-12 with a 2.65 ERA and five shutouts. Rookie Ted Wilks was 17-4, 2.65 ERA and four shutouts, while Harry Brecheen was 16-5, 2.85 ERA and three shutouts. The front four won 72 and lost just 28, a .720 win percentage.

Marty Marion on the 1944 team: "We scared 'em that year. Common sense had to tell you the competition wasn't as good as it was before. But as a player, you don't notice that sort of thing at all. I don't ever remember playing a game where we said, 'I wish we had Enos and Terry.' We just played the game like that was it. We never mentioned the war. You put out nine players, we put out nine players, and we play."

In 1944 I won the Most Valuable Player Award. Right after the World Series, somebody called me up and said, 'You won the MVP Award. I didn't know what the hell it was. I never was impressed with it at all. That's right. I didn't think about things like that too much. Now, after years passed, that's pretty nice. But back then, it didn't mean a thing to me."

The Series

The St. Louis Browns clinched the American League pennant on the final day of the season (over the Detroit Tigers) and created the first and only all-St. Louis World Series. It would be the first time that all the games of the Series would be played in the same park since 1922 when the Yankee and Giants played at the Polo Grounds (Yankee Stadium was finished until 1923).

In spite of having a much stronger tradition of success, the Browns were favored by the St. Louis fans because of their status as 'underdogs'.

"The funny thing about that World Series," said Stan Musial, "the fans were rooting for the Browns, and it kind of surprised me because we drew more fans than the Browns during the season. The fans were rooting for the underdog, and I was surprised about that, but after you analyze the situation in St. Louis, the Browns in the old days had good clubs. They had great players like George Sisler and Kenny Williams, and the fans who were there were older fans, older men, old-time Brownie fans. But it was a tough series."

The Series turned out to be a pitcher’s delight, as the Cardinals batted just .240, while the Browns hit an anemic .183. If the Browns’ fielding had kept pace with their hitting, the outcome might have been different. The Browns made 10 errors to the Cardinals’ one.

The Series also saw a new record for strikeouts by two teams in a six-game Series. The Browns fanned 49 times and the Cardinals had 43 go down on strikes. For the Browns, Gene Moore, Mark Christman, and Chet Laabs each fanned six times in the six games. Hopp led the Redbirds with eight Ks.

Epilogue

Following the 1944 World Series, the club lost four more players to World War II: Walker Cooper, Schmidt, Litwhiler, and the biggest loss of all, Stan Musial. Still they figured they had enough talent to win a fourth straight title. The only other National League team to do that was the Giants in 1921-24.

The club still had good pitching, led by Cooper, Lanier, Wilks and Brecheen. But that was where fate intervened. Cooper came down with an elbow injury. After a 2-0 mark and a 1.50 ERA in four games, Breadon shocked St. Louis fans by trading him to Boston. He was the Cardinal meal ticket, winner of 65 games the past three seasons, yet still he was traded.

The 1945 Cardinals finished 95-59, in second place, three games behind the Cubs. The Cards defeated the Cubs 16 of 22 times that season, but the Cubs made hay with the second division teams. Their main patsy was Cincinnati, who finished 61-93 after a 3rd place finish in 1944. The Cubs defeated Cincy in 21 of 22 games, while the Cards were 13-9 against them, more than making up the 3-game deficit.

1944 Regular Season Highlights

Manager:

Billy Southworth

	World Series Lineup
	1.	Lou Klein, 2B
	2.	Harry Walker, CF
	3.	Stan Musial, RF
	4.	Walker Cooper, C
	5.	Whitey Kurowski, 3B
	6.	Ray Sanders, 1B
	7.	Danny Litwhiler, LF
	8.	Marty Marion, SS
	9.	pitcher

Regular Season Offensive Performances

Pos.	Name	AVG	Hits	2B	3B	HR	RBI	Runs	SB	Notables
1B	Ray Sanders	.280	134	21	5	11	73	69	1
2B	Lou Klein	.287	180	28	14	7	62	91	9
SS	Marty Marion	.280	117	15	3	1	52	38	1
3B	Whitey Kurowski	.287	150	24	8	13	70	69	3
LF	Danny Litwhiler Johnny Hopp	.279 .224	40 54	14 10	3 2	7 2	31 25	40 33	1 8	Litwhiler played 80 games, Hopp played 52
CF	Harry Walker	.294	166	28	6	2	53	76	5
RF	Stan Musial	.357	220	48	20	13	81	108	9	League MVP
C	Walker Cooper	.318	143	30	4	9	81	52	1
Team		.279	1,515	259	72	70	638	679	40

Regular Season Pitching Performances

Pos.	Name	W-L	SO	Sv.	G	GS	CG	SHO	ERA	Notables
SP	Mort Cooper	21-8	141	3	37	32	24	6	2.30
SP	Max Lanier	15-7	123	3	32	25	14	2	1.90
SP	Howie Krist	11-5	57	3	34	17	9	3	2.90
SP	Harry Gumbert	10-5	40	0	21	19	7	2	2.84
SP/RP	Harry Brecheen	9-6	68	4	29	13	8	1	2.26
SP/RP	Al Brazle	8-2	26	0	13	9	8	1	1.53	Rookie numbers
SP/RP	Howie Pollett	8-4	61	0	16	14	12	5	1.75	Left in July
Team		105-49	639	15		156	94	21	2.57	Several league leaders

Team Accomplishments

League Leaders:	Hits (1,515), Average (.279), Slugging (.391)
League Leaders:	Wins (105), Complete Games (94), Shutouts (21), Strikeouts (639), ERA (2.57)

Individual Accomplishments

Runs	Hits	Doubles	Triples
2nd - Musial (108)	1st - Musial (220)	1st - Musial (48)	1st - Musial (20
Total Bases	Runs Produced	Batting Average	On-Base Pct.
1st - Musial (347) 4th - Klein (257)	1st - Musial (176)	1st - Musial (.357)	1st - Musial (.425)
Slugging Pct.
1st - Musial (.562) 4th - Kurowski (.439)
Wins	Winning Pct.	Complete Games	Shutouts
T 1st - M. Cooper (21)	1st - M. Cooper (.724) 3rd - Lanier (.682)	T 2nd - M. Cooper (24)	2nd - M. Cooper (6)
Innings Pitched	Hits / Game	Strikeouts	Strikeouts / Game
4th - M. Cooper (274)	3rd - M. Cooper (7.49) 4th - Krist (7.74)	2nd - M. Cooper (141) 4th - Lanier (123)	3rd - Lanier (5.20) 4th - M. Cooper (4.63)
ERA	Opp. BA	Opp. OBP
1st - Lanier (1.90) 2nd - M. Cooper (2.30)	3rd - M. Cooper (.226) 4th - Krist (.233)	3rd - M. Cooper (.281)

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World Series Opponent

New York Yankees
Manager:	Joe McCarthy

	World Series Lineup
	1.	Tuck Stainback, RF
	2.	Frankie Crosetti, SS
	3.	Billy Johnson, 3B
	4.	Charlie Keller, LF
	5.	Joe Gordon, 2B
	6.	Bill Dickey, C
	7.	Nick Etten, 1B
	8.	Johnny Lindell, CF
	9.	pitcher

Game Summaries

Yankee's Charlie Keller with Cardinal Stan Musial prior to the '43 World Series.

Although both clubs had lost players to military service since the previous World Series, history seemed to be repeating itself. The Cardinals lost to the Yankees in the opener and won the second game, as they had the previous year. But this year it was the Yankees who took the next three and the Series, as fine Cardinal pitching gave way to even finer Yankee mound work.

Game One

October 5 at New York (attendance: 68,676)

Yankees Starter: Spud Chandler (RHP), 20-4

Cardinals Starter: Max Lanier (LHP), 15-7

STL 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 7 2

NYY 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 4 8 2

Homeruns: Gordon, NYY

WP: Chandler (1-0)

LP: Lanier (0-1)

Yankees lead Series 1-0

Highlights:

The Yankees made the Cardinals pay dearly for their mistakes. In the fourth, Frank Crosetti was safe at first when pitcher Max Lanier tried covering the base and dropped the throw from Lou Klein. Crosetti stole second and went to third when rookie Billy Johnson bunted for a single. Charlie Keller bounced into a double play, scoring Crosetti and tying the game 1-1. Gordon, the next hitter, quickly gave the Yanks the lead with a 450-foot homer to left.

Two innings later, the Cards having tied the game 2-2, Crosetti singled, despite again not getting the ball out of the infield. Johnson's single moved Crosetti to second. With Keller at the plate, Lanier unleashed a wild pitch that hit in front of the plate and caromed to the right. Alas, catcher Walker Cooper turned the wrong way as he started to give chase, giving Crosetti time to score from second base and Johnson to scoot into third. Bill Dickey's Texas Leaguer drove in Johnson for a 4-2 Yankees lead.

The Cards couldn't manage any more off A.L. MVP Chandler. Ray Sanders had two of the seven St. Louis hits. They threatened only in the eighth, when Klein and Musial singled but didn't budge past second.

Game Two

October 6 at New York (attendance: 68,578)

Cardinals Starter: Mort Cooper (RHP), 21-8

Yankees Starter: Tiny Bonham (RHP), 15-8

STL 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 2

NYY 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 6 0

Homeruns: Marion, Sanders - STL

WP: M. Cooper (1-0)

LP: Bonham (0-1)

Series tied 1-1

Highlights:

Ace Card's pitcher Mort Cooper struggled against the Yanks in both of his starts during the '42 Series. But his October experience took a difficult turn on the morning of October 6, 1943, as he prepared to take the mound for game two. His father, R.J. Cooper, passed away at his home in Independence, Missouri.

Walker Cooper, Mort's younger brother and the Cardinals stout young catcher, got the news first but waited to tell his brother until later in the morning. After mulling it over, the brothers decided their dad would have wanted them to play the game. He was the chief reason the boys had grown into big leaguers, a dream that first belonged to Dad and was passed on to the sons with plenty of his own time and sweat.

Mort and Walker responded to the news by playing a fine game and helping the Cards even the Series with a 4-3 victory. Mort allowed only six hits and one walk, with two of the hits and two runs coming in the ninth.

Shortstop Marty Marion gave Cooper a 1-0 lead with a 320-foot homer in the third. The Cards went up 4-0 in the fourth. Musial singled and went to second on Walker Cooper's sacrifice. Whitey Kurowski drove Musial home with a base hit, then Sanders belted a 350-foot shot into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium.

That was enough for Mort Cooper. Walker Cooper ended the game by catching a pop foul.

Game Three

October 7 at New York (attendance: 69,990)

Cardinals Starter: Alpha Brazle (LHP), 8-2

Yankees Starter: Hank Borowy (RHP), 14-9

STL 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 4

NYY 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 X 4 8 0

Homeruns: none

WP: Borowy (1-0)

LP: Brazle (0-1)

Yankees leads Series 2-1

Highlights:

With a World Series record crowd on hand, Al Brazle and Hank Borowy locked into a pitcher's duel through 7 1/2 innings. The Cards scraped together only 5 hits in the first eight innings, three of those coming in the fourth. They loaded the bases on a single by Musial, a double by Kurowski, and an intentional walk to Sanders. Danny Litwhiler made Borowy pay with a 2-run single to left. The Cards again had the bases loaded with one out later in the inning, but they could not capitalize.

Brazle, a 29-year-old rookie, seemed equal to the challenge. The Yankees had only five base runners the first seven innings, two of whom reached on errors. They scored once in the sixth as Borowy bounced a ground-rule double into the left-field seats, went to third after Musial made a spectacular one-handed catch, and crossed the plate when third baseman Kurowski muffed Johnson's grounder.

Such a tight game, and it blew up all over Brazle in the eighth, as the Yankees scored five times to win 6-2.

The Redbirds' defense continued its erratic play. Johnny Lindell, the NY centerfielder in DiMaggio's war-related absence, led off the inning with a single, then Harry Walker fumbled the ball in the outfield to allow Lindell to head to second. First baseman Sanders subsequently fielded a bunt and threw to third in time to nab Lindell, but third baseman Kurowski dropped the ball as Lindell crashed into him.

A walk to Crosetti loaded the bases, and Johnson cleaned up with a triple. He soon scored on Gordon's hit. Clearly, the Yankees still knew how to flex their muscle. And the Cardinals were walking away with "shiners" to prove it.

Game Four

October 10 at St. Louis (attendance: 36,196)

Yankees Starter: Marius Russo (LHP), 5-10

Cardinals Starter: Max Lanier (LHP), 15-7

NYY 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 6 2

STL 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 1

Homeruns: none

WP: Russo (1-0)

LP: Brecheen (0-1)

Yankees lead the Series 3-1

Highlights:

After a couple of off days that allowed the Cooper brothers and team representative Johnny Hopp to attend R.J. Cooper's funeral, the Series moved to Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. But the Yankees didn't lose their momentum.

They took a 3-games-to-1 lead behind an unlikely hero: pitcher Marius Russo, whose regular-season record was 5-10 with a 3.71 ERA. He worked in and out of trouble in the game's final three innings. The Cards put up a two-out rally in the seventh, helped by a couple of errors, an intentional walk, and Litwhiler's two-base hit. But they could score only once, tying the game at one.

The Yankees had taken a lead in the fourth on Gordon's double and Bill Dickey's RBI single. But Lanier was masterful through seven before leaving for a pinch hitter. Reliever Harry Brecheen got off on the wrong foot when pitcher Russo led off the eighth with a double -- his second of the game -- and eventually scored the winning run on Crosetti's sacrifice fly for a 2-1 Yankee triumph.

Russo allowed a couple of hits in the eighth and a Marty Marion double in the ninth. But he made key pitches to avoid real danger.

"The boys have been hitting thus far like a bunch of violet vendors," Southworth said.

Game Five

October 11 at St. Louis (attendance: 33,872)

Yankees Starter: Spud Chandler (RHP), 20-4

Cardinals Starter: Mort Cooper (RHP), 21-8

NYY 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 7 1

STL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 1

Homeruns: Dickey - NYY

WP: Chandler (2-0)

LP: M. Cooper (1-1)

Yankees win the Series 4-1

Highlights:

Mort Cooper was back in St. Louis in hopes of prolonging the Cardinals' hopes in Game 5. He was splendid. In seven innings, he permitted just five hits, walked two, and fanned six. Cooper made just one notable mistake, a sixth-inning pitch that Dickey drove into the right-field stands for a two-run homer.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Yankees star Spurgeon "Spud" Chandler didn't make any such mistakes. And New York won its 10th World Series championship with a 2-0 victory.

The Cards put their leadoff hitter on base four times in the first six innings and piled up 10 hits, two apiece from Kurowski and catcher Ken O'Dea, who replaced a broken-fingered Walker Cooper in the fifth. But the Redbirds went hitless in 10 at bats with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 base runners.

"I knew last spring that this ball club would win the pennant," Yankees manager Joe McCarthy said. "It had the championship spirit...I've got championship players on this ball club."

So did the Cardinals. They just didn't have enough clutch hits.

The Yankees gained full winner's shares of $6,139.42 for their efforts. The Cardinals pocketed loser's shares of $4,321.96.

Series Composite Box Score

STL (N)
PLAYER- POS	AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RB	BB	SO	SB
Al Brazle, P	.000	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Mort Cooper, P	.000	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Walker Cooper, C	.294	5	17	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Frank Demaree, ph	.000	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Debs Garms, OF	.000	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Johnny Hopp, OF	.000	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Lou Klein, 2B	.136	5	22	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	0
Whitey Kurowski, 3b	.222	5	18	2	4	1	0	0	1	0	3	0
Max Lanier, p	.250	3	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Danny Litwhiler, OF	.267	5	15	0	4	1	0	0	2	2	4	0
Marty Marion, SS	.357	5	14	1	4	2	0	1	2	3	1	1
Stan Musial, of	.278	5	18	2	5	0	0	0	0	2	2	0
Sam Narron, ph	.000	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ken O'Dea, C	.667	2	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ray Sanders, 1B	.294	5	17	3	5	0	0	1	2	3	4	0
Harry Walker, OF	.167	5	18	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
TOTAL	.224	-	165	9	37	5	0	2	8	11	26	0

PITCHER	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SV	SHO	IP	H	ER	BB	SO
Mort Cooper	1	1	2.81	2	2	1	0	0	16.0	11	5	3	10
Max Lanier	0	1	1.76	3	2	0	0	0	15.1	13	3	3	13
Al Brazle	0	1	3.68	1	1	0	0	0	7.1	5	3	2	4
Harry Brecheen	0	1	2.45	3	0	0	0	0	3.2	5	1	3	3
Murry Dickson	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	0	0	1	0
Howie Krist	0	0	inf	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	1	0	0	0
TOTAL	1	4	2.51			1	0		43.0	35	12	12	30

NY (A)
PLAYER- POS	AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RB	BB	SO	SB
Tiny Bonham, P	.000	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hank Borowy, P	.500	1	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Spud Chandler, P	.167	2	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Frankie Crosetti, SS	.278	5	18	4	5	0	0	0	1	2	3	1
Bill Dickey, C	.278	5	18	1	5	0	0	1	4	2	2	0
Nick Etten, 1b	.105	5	19	0	2