1944 World Series
| 1944 World Series | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | |||||||||||||
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| Dates | October 4–9 | ||||||||||||
| Umpires | Ziggy Sears (NL), Bill McGowan (AL), Tom Dunn (NL), George Pipgras (AL) | ||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers |
Umpire: Bill McGowan Cardinals: Billy Southworth (mgr.), Enos Slaughter (mil.), Stan Musial Browns: none |
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| Broadcast | |||||||||||||
| Radio | Mutual | ||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Bill Slater and Don Dunphy | ||||||||||||
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| Team (Wins) | Manager | Season | |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals (4) | Billy Southworth | 105–49, .682, GA: 14 1⁄2 | |
| St. Louis Browns (2) | Luke Sewell | 89–65, .578, GA: 1 |
The 1944 World Series was an all-St. Louis World Series, matching up the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park. It marked only the third time in World Series history in which both teams had the same home field (the other two being the 1921 and 1922 World Series in the Polo Grounds in New York City).
1944 saw perhaps the nadir of 20th-century baseball, as the long-moribund St. Louis Browns won their only American League pennant. The pool of talent was depleted by the draft to the point that in 1945 (but not 1944), as the military scraped deeper and deeper into the ranks of the possibly eligible, the Browns actually used a one-armed player, Pete Gray. Some of the players were 4-Fs, rejected by the military due to physical defects or limitations which precluded duty in the trenches. Others divided their time between factory work in defense industries and baseball, some being able to play ball only on weekends. Some players avoided the draft by chance, despite being physically able to serve. Stan Musial of the Cardinals was one. Musial, enlisting in early 1945, missed one season. He rejoined the Cardinals in 1946.
As both teams called Sportsman's Park home, the 2–3–2 home field assignment was used (instead of the wartime 3–4). The Junior World Series of that same year, partly hosted in Baltimore's converted football stadium, easily outdrew the "real" Series and attracted attention to Baltimore as a potential major league city. Ten years later, the Browns transferred there and became the Orioles. Another all-Missouri World Series was played 41 years later, with the Kansas City Royals defeating the Cardinals in seven games.
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