1944 Detroit Tigers season

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1944 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkBriggs Stadium
CityDetroit
OwnersWalter Briggs, Sr.
General managersJack Zeller
ManagersSteve O'Neill
RadioWXYZ
(Harry Heilmann)
← 1943 Seasons 1945 →

The 1944 Detroit Tigers season was a season in American baseball. The team finished second in the American League with a record of 88–66, just one game behind the first place St. Louis Browns.

Offseason

Regular season

On April 19, first baseman Rudy York recorded his 1,000th career hit.

On September 18, the Tigers found themselves in first place for the first time all season. The Yankees lost two games to the Athletics, while the Browns split two games with the White Sox. With the Tigers sweeping Cleveland, the Tigers jumped over the Yankees and Browns for first place.[3] The Browns were a half game back, while the Yankees were two games back.

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Browns 89 65 0.578 54–23 35–42
Detroit Tigers 88 66 0.571 1 43–34 45–32
New York Yankees 83 71 0.539 6 47–31 36–40
Boston Red Sox 77 77 0.500 12 47–30 30–47
Cleveland Indians 72 82 0.468 17 39–38 33–44
Philadelphia Athletics 72 82 0.468 17 39–37 33–45
Chicago White Sox 71 83 0.461 18 41–36 30–47
Washington Senators 64 90 0.416 25 40–37 24–53

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CHW CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston 17–5 8–14 10–12–2 11–11 11–11 10–12 10–12
Chicago 5–17 14–8 9–13 10–12 9–13 8–14 16–6
Cleveland 14–8 8–14 10–12 8–14 12–10–1 10–12 10–12
Detroit 12–10–2 13–9 12–10 14–8 11–11 9–13 17–5
New York 11–11 12–10 14–8 8–14 13–9 10–12 15–7
Philadelphia 11–11 13–9 10–12–1 11–11 9–13 9–13 9–13
St. Louis 12–10 14–8 12–10 13–9 12–10 13–9 13–9
Washington 12–10 6–16 12–10 5–17 7–15 13–9 9–13


Roster

1944 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Paul Richards 95 300 71 .237 3 37
1B Rudy York 151 583 161 .276 18 98
2B Eddie Mayo 154 607 151 .249 5 63
SS Joe Hoover 120 441 104 .236 0 29
3B Pinky Higgins 148 543 161 .297 7 76
OF Doc Cramer 143 578 169 .292 2 42
OF Jimmy Outlaw 139 535 146 .273 3 57
OF Dick Wakefield 78 276 98 .355 12 53

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Chuck Hostetler 90 265 79 .298 0 20
Bob Swift 80 247 63 .255 1 19
Don Ross 66 167 35 .210 2 15
Joe Orengo 46 154 31 .201 0 10
Charlie Metro 38 78 15 .192 0 5
Al Unser 11 25 3 .120 1 5
Don Heffner 6 19 4 .211 0 1
Red Borom 7 14 1 .071 0 1
Bubba Floyd 3 9 4 .444 0 0
Hack Miller 6 5 1 .200 1 3
John McHale 1 1 0 .000 0 0
Jackie Sullivan 1 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dizzy Trout 49 352.1 27 14 2.12 144
Hal Newhouser 47 312.1 29 9 2.22 187
Rufe Gentry 37 203.2 12 14 4.24 68
Stubby Overmire 32 199.2 11 11 3.07 57

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Johnny Gorsica 34 162.0 6 14 4.11 47
Joe Orrell 10 22.1 2 1 2.42 10
Roy Henshaw 7 12.1 0 0 8.76 10

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Boom-Boom Beck 28 1 2 1 3.89 25
Jake Mooty 15 0 0 0 4.45 7
Bob Gillespie 7 0 1 0 6.55 4
Zeb Eaton 6 0 0 0 5.74 4
Elon Hogsett 3 0 0 0 0.00 5

Awards and honors

1944 MLB All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AA Buffalo Bisons International League Bucky Harris
B Hagerstown Owls Interstate League Herb Brett
D Jamestown Falcons PONY League Ollie Carnegie

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jamestown

Notes

  1. ^ Rip Radcliff at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Joe Ginsberg at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ As Good As It Got, The 1944 St. Louis Browns, p. 94, David Alan Heller, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-3199-5

References