It was the thick of World War II, and troops were island-hopping in the Pacific. The D-Day landing to retake continental Europe happened in June. More and more ballplayers were getting called into the service, and many saw combat. It was a time when anything could happen in baseball, and 1944 was the year that "even the Browns" could win the pennant, as the St. Louis Browns won their one and only AL title. It was a great pennant race, with Detroit finishing just a game back, and New York third at six games back. Boston finished at .500, followed by Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington. The remaining stars were mostly obviously handicapped, like Lou Boudreau and his bad ankles. Hal Newhouser burst onto the scene with a terrific year.
With the baseballs deadened (apparently rubber was harder to come by), offense was down in general, and stolen bases were up. Lou Boudreau won the batting title with a .327 average. Bob Johnson led in on-base, while Bobby Doerr edged Johnson for the slugging percentage crown by a fraction of a point. Doerr and Johnson were second and third in batting average. Boudreau also led in doubles with 45. Snuffy Stirnweiss led in runs with 125, hits with 205, steals with 55, and tied Johnny Lindell for the triples lead with 16. Nick Etten led with 22 home runs, and Vern Stephens with 109 RBI.
Hal Newhouser and Dizzy Trout were the top pitchers. Newhouser edged Trout in wins 29-27, while Trout returned the favor in ERA 2.12 to 2.22. Newhouser led with 187 strikeouts. Joe Berry, George Caster, and Gordon Maltzberger each had 12 saves.
Win Shares leaders, players; Snuffy Stirnweiss (New York) 35, Vern Stephens (St. Louis) 34, Stan Spence (Washington) 33, Bob Johnson (Boston) 31, Lou Boudreau (Cleveland) 28, Bobby Doerr (Boston) 27, Johnny Lindell (New York) 26, Nick Etten (New York) 25, Ken Keltner (Cleveland), Mike (Pinky) Higgins, Dick Wakefield, and Rudy York (Detroit) 22.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Dizzy Trout (Detroit) 42, Hal Newhouser (Detroit) 35, Jack Kramer (St. Louis) 22, Tex Hughson (Boston), Hank Borowy (New York), Bobo Newsom (Philadelphia) and Nels Potter (St. Louis) 20, Joe Berry (Philadelphia) 18.
WAR (Wins Against Replacement) scores: Stirnweiss 7.6, Johnson 6.9, Boudreau 6.8, Doerr 6.4, Spence 5.7, Stephens 5.2, Keltner 4.5, Lindell 4.4 (career year), Etten 4.1 (career year), Wakefield 3.9 (in half a season), Higgins 3.6 (last good year), Roy Cullenbine (Cleveland) 3.2.
Pitchers, Trout 8.3, Newhouser 7.1, Hughson 5.0, Potter 4.6, Kramer 4.4 (career year), Johnny Niggeling (Washington) 4.3, Newsom 3.7, Borowy 3.5, Bob Muncrief (St. Louis) 3.4, Berry (39-year-old rookie) 2.7.
Actual award voting: MVP Top Ten | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Max Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+--+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Hal Newhouser DET 7 236 336 0.70 | 120 29 0 .242 .553 1| 29-9 312 2.22 1.172 187 2
2 Dizzy Trout DET 10 232 336 0.69 | 133 36 5 .271 .745 2| 27-14 352 2.12 1.127 144
3 Vern Stephens SLB 4 193 336 0.57 | 559 164 20 .293 .826 2
4 Snuffy Stirnweiss NYY 1 129 336 0.38 | 643 205 8 .319 .849 55
5 Dick Wakefield DET 2 128 336 0.38 | 276 98 12 .355 1.040 2
6 Lou Boudreau CLE 0 84 336 0.25 | 584 191 3 .327 .843 11
7 Bobby Doerr BOS 0 75 336 0.22 | 468 152 15 .325 .927 5
8 Stan Spence WSH 0 56 336 0.17 | 592 187 18 .316 .877 3
9 Nels Potter SLB 0 52 336 0.15 | 82 13 0 .159 .378 0| 19-7 232 2.83 1.211 91
10 Bob Johnson BOS 0 51 336 0.15 | 525 170 17 .324 .959 2
Top player: Snuffy Stirnweiss. The MVP votes went to the two outstanding pitchers, but Stirnweiss had a great year of his own. He led the league in runs, hits, steals, and times on base, and played a great second base. He was a longshot for any award, as the Yankees fell from the pennant, but Stirnweiss had a great year.
#1 Snuffy Stirnweiss, #2 Lou Boudreau leading in average and doubles, #3 Bob Johnson, the veteran OPS leader, #4 Vern Stephens of the pennant winners and league RBI leader, #5 Stan Spence, third in OPS.
Top pitcher: Dizzy Trout. It was a strange MVP vote, with Trout getting more first-place votes but Newhouser winning the poll. Trout had a lower ERA and more innings, so he gets this nod. Newhouser had more wins, 29 to 27, and more strikeouts.
#1 Dizzy Trout, #2 Hal Newhouser, #3 Tex Hughson, #4 Jack Kramer, #5 Nels Potter.
Top rookie: Most good young players were in the service, but Joe Berry had a strong debut out of the bullpen for Philadelphia, with 12 saves. He was second in the league in games pitched.
Top manager: Luke Sewell, who brought the Browns in for that sole pennant.
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