The American League pennant race began with the Washington Senators taking a 3.5 game lead over the Browns and 4 games over the Athletics, the defending AL champs. By the end of May, Philadelphia had overtaken Washington and took a 1/2 game lead over them and 2 games over the Browns. From then on, it was all Athletics as they held an 8 game lead over the Senators and clinched their second straight title with two weeks remaining. Leading the way was their ace pitcher, Dizzy Trout. Trout was named the AL's outstanding pitcher as he compiled a 20-11 record with a 2.76 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 294 innings. Stan Spence drove in 114 runs to pace the offensive attack. The Senators settled for second place, finishing 8 games back, behind the pitching of 19-game winner Arnold Carter. Carter also finished 2nd in ERA (2.86). The St.Louis Browns ended up in 3rd place, 13 games behind Philadelphia, as "King Kong" Keller led the majors with 41 homers and 111 RBIs, 3rd in the junior circuit behind teammate Pete Reiser, who drove in 119 runs.
In the National League, the Cubs took an early 1.5 game lead over the Braves and the Reds but by the end of May, the Cubbies trailed the first place Braves by 5 games while the Reds sat 2 games back. Cincinnati stayed hot and took the NL lead at the end of June by 1 game over Boston and 2 games over the Giants. The Reds dashed to a 6.5 game lead over the Braves and 7 over New York on Labor Day and clinched the NL title, their first in 21 years and second overall, with two weeks to go. Taffy Wright led the Cincinnati attack with a NL-leading .343 average while teammate Dixie Walker was 2nd with a .332 average. Walker also finished 2nd in the NL with 119 RBIs but was snubbed by the MVP voting as the Braves' rookie catcher, Bill Salkeld, took the award, plus the NL's Rookie of the Year Award, following a 32 HR, 109 RBI debut season. The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants tied for 2nd place, a distant 14 games behind. Brooklyn was led by Hank Greenberg (24 HR) and Ival Goodman (.328 avg).
The World Series started out with the Athletics taking the first two games at Shibe Park then Cincinnati tied the series by winning the first two games at Crosley Field. Philadelphia took game 5, 5-3, and a 3-2 game lead back to Shibe Park but Cincinnati, thanks to the pitching of Allie Reynolds and Jack Kramer, took the next two games by 5-3 and 4-3 scores to win the world's championship. Game seven was a barn burner as the Athletics took an early 3-0 lead after the first two innings before the Reds drew even with one run in the 4th and 2 in the 6th to tie the game, 3-all. Dixie Walker belted a solo HR with two outs to give the Dodgers the lead then Kramer set the Mackmen down to pick up the win in the deciding game.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Philadelphia 96 58 .623 -- Cincinnati 95 59 .617 --
Washington 88 66 .571 8 Brooklyn 81 73 .526 14
St.Louis 83 71 .539 13 New York 81 73 .526 14
Cleveland 79 75 .513 17 Boston 79 75 .513 16
Chicago 73 81 .474 23 Chicago 78 76 .506 17
Boston 69 85 .448 27 Philadelphia 75 79 .487 20
Detroit 65 89 .422 31 St.Louis 70 84 .455 25
New York 63 91 .409 33 Pittsburgh 57 97 .370 38
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
T.Williams,BOS .375 T.Wright,CIN .343
G.Binks,CLE .335 D.Walker,CIN .332
S.Musial,CHI .323 I.Goodman,BOS+BRO .328
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
C.Keller,STL 41 B.Salkeld,BOS 32
T.Williams,BOS 25 B.Young,BOS 30
R.Northey,DET 22 H.Greenberg,BRO 24
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
P.Reiser,STL 119 B.Young,BOS 120
S.Spence,PHI 114 D.Walker,CIN 110
C.Keller,STL 111 B.Salkeld,BOS 109
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
P.Reiser,STL 123 T.Wright,CIN 119
C.Keller,STL 118 S.Hack,CIN 112
T.O'Brien,PHI 108 B.Salkeld,BOS 110
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
M.Vernon,STL 35 S.Stirnweiss,PIT 45
P.Reiser,STL 27 J.Barrett,PHI 30
A.Gionfriddo,DET 24 P.Rizzuto,NY 21
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
D.Trout,PHI 2.76 S.Overmire,CHI 2.37
A.Carter,WAS 2.86 M.Harris,BRO 2.84
E.Lopat,CLE 2.87 N.Andrews,CHI 3.01
Wins W Wins W
P.Roe,CLE 20 M.Harris,BRO 21
D.Trout,PHI 20 J.Kramer,CIn 21
A.Carter,WAS 19 N.Strincevich,BOS 21
Saves SV Saves SV
J.Beggs,CLE 14 J.Brown,STL 16
D.Donahue,WAS 14 W.Masterson,CIN 15
G.Malteberger,NY 12 M.Dickson,BRO 12
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
M.Lanier,BOS 169 H.Pollet,BRO 161
P.Roe,CLE 164 K.Raffensberger,CHI 154
J.Schmitz,NY 158 M.Harris,BRO 152
1944 World Series
Game #1
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
Philadelphia (A) 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 x - 5 9 0
J.Kramer, W.Masterson (8) and K.Sears
S.Sundra, C.Pickrel (9) and P.Masi
WP - S.Sundra (1-0)
LP - J.Kramer (0-1)
HR - PHI: O.Grimes (1)
Game #2
Cincinnati 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 - 2 5 1
Philadelphia (A) 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 x - 3 9 0
B.Butland, C.Shoun (7) and K.Sears
D.Trout and P.Masi
WP - D.Trout (1-0)
LP - B.Butland (0-1)
HR - PHI: S.Spence (1)
Game #3
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 6 0
Cincinnati 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 x - 3 8 0
A.Donald, L.Smoll (6) and P.Masi
A.Reynolds and K.Sears
WP - A.Reynolds (1-0)
LP - A.Donald (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 10 0
Cincinnati 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 x - 4 12 1
S.Sundra and P.Masi
J.Kramer, C.Shoun (8), W.Masterson (9) and K.Sears
WP - J.Kramer (1-1)
LP - S.Sundra (1-1)
SV - W.Masterson (1)
HR - PHI: S.Spence (2)
Game #5
Philadelphia (A) 1 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 5 10 0
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 - 3 8 0
D.Trout and P.Masi
B.Butland, C.Shoun (7), R.Evans (9) and K.Sears
WP - D.Trout (2-0)
LP - B.Butland (0-2)
HR - PHI: E.Slaughter (1)
Game #6
Cincinnati 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 - 5 8 0
Philadelphia (A) 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 8 1
A.Reynolds and K.Sears
S.Hudson and P.Masi
WP - A.Reynolds (2-0)
LP - S.Hudson (0-1)
HR - CIN: D.Walker (1), W.Judnich (1)
Game #7
Cincinnati 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 - 4 10 1
Philadelphia (A) 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 5 0
J.Kramer and K.Sears
S.Sundra and P.Masi
WP - J.Kramer (2-1)
LP - S.Sundra (1-2)
HR - CIN: W.Judnich (2), D.Walker (2) PHI: A.Vaughan (1)