1944 Detroit Tigers season

1944 Detroit Tigers
League	American League
Ballpark	Briggs Stadium
City	Detroit
Record	88–66 (.571)
League place	2nd
Owners	Walter Briggs, Sr.
General managers	Jack Zeller
Managers	Steve O'Neill
Radio	WXYZ (Harry Heilmann)
Seasons

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

Offseason

• October 11, 1943: Rip Radcliff was traded by the Tigers to the Philadelphia Athletics for Don Heffner and Bob Swift.
• Prior to 1944 season: Joe Ginsberg was signed as an amateur free agent by the Tigers.

Regular season

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

On September 17, 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. The Browns were a half game back, while the Yankees were two games back. At the end of twelve games from that day, the Tigers were in or tied for first place, which included being tied on the penultimate day on September 30 with St. Louis. On October 1, Detroit lost to Washington 4-1 while St. Louis defeated New York 5–2 to clinch the pennant.

Season standings

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Browns	89	65	.578	—	54‍–‍23	35‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers	88	66	.571	1	43‍–‍34	45‍–‍32
New York Yankees	83	71	.539	6	47‍–‍31	36‍–‍40
Boston Red Sox	77	77	.500	12	47‍–‍30	30‍–‍47
Cleveland Indians	72	82	.468	17	39‍–‍38	33‍–‍44
Philadelphia Athletics	72	82	.468	17	39‍–‍37	33‍–‍45
Chicago White Sox	71	83	.461	18	41‍–‍36	30‍–‍47
Washington Senators	64	90	.416	25	40‍–‍37	24‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1944 American League record Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	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 23 Boom-Boom Beck 17,25 Zeb Eaton 12 Rufe Gentry 17 Bob Gillespie 15 Johnny Gorsica 21 Roy Henshaw  2 Elon Hogsett  5 Jake Mooty 16 Hal Newhouser 14 Joe Orrell 19 Stubby Overmire 11 Dizzy Trout		Catchers 22 Hack Miller  9 Paul Richards  1 Bob Swift Infielders 7,35 Red Borom 25 Bubba Floyd  5 Don Heffner  6 Pinky Higgins 7,24 Joe Hoover  3 Eddie Mayo 24 Joe Orengo 18 Jackie Sullivan 30 Al Unser  4 Rudy York		Outfielders  8 Doc Cramer 26 Chuck Hostetler 21 Charlie Metro 27 Jimmy Outlaw 20 Don Ross  2 Dick Wakefield Other batters 25 John McHale		Manager 32 Steve O'Neill Coaches 28 Art Mills 31 Al Vincent

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

• Pinky Higgins
• Hal Newhouser
• Dizzy Trout
• Rudy York

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

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

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1944 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference