1944 Brooklyn Dodgers season

The 1944 Brooklyn Dodgers saw constant roster turnover as players left for service in World War II. The team finished the season in seventh place in the National League.

1944 Brooklyn Dodgers
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1890)
Location
Ebbets Field (since 1913) Brooklyn, New York (since 1883)
Other information
Owner(s)	James & Dearie Mulvey, Brooklyn Trust Company
General manager(s)	Branch Rickey
Manager(s)	Leo Durocher
Local radio	WHN Red Barber, Connie Desmond
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Regular season

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	105	49	0.682	—	54–22	51–27
Pittsburgh Pirates	90	63	0.588	14½	49–28	41–35
Cincinnati Reds	89	65	0.578	16	45–33	44–32
Chicago Cubs	75	79	0.487	30	35–42	40–37
New York Giants	67	87	0.435	38	39–36	28–51
Boston Braves	65	89	0.422	40	38–40	27–49
Brooklyn Dodgers	63	91	0.409	42	37–39	26–52
Philadelphia Phillies	61	92	0.399	43½	29–49	32–43

Record vs. opponents

1944 National League Records Sources:
Team	BOB	BKN	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHP	PIT	SLC
Boston	—	9–13	11–11	8–14	9–13	11–11–1	9–13	8–14
Brooklyn	13–9	—	8–14–1	8–14	10–12	16–6	4–18	4–18
Chicago	11–11	14–8–1	—	9–13–1	10–12	13–9	12–10–1	6–16
Cincinnati	14–8	14–8	13–9–1	—	15–7	13–19	12–10	8–14
New York	13–9	12–10	12–10	7–15	—	10–12	7–15–1	6–16
Philadelphia	11–11–1	6–16	9–13	9–13	12–10	—	9–12	5–17
Pittsburgh	13–9	18–4	10–12–1	10–12	15–7–1	12–9	—	12–10–3
St. Louis	14–8	18–4	16–6	14–8	16–6	17–5	10–12–3	—

Notable transactions

• June 6, 1944: Bob Chipman was traded by the Dodgers to the Chicago Cubs for Eddie Stanky.[1]
• August 12, 1944: Frank Drews was traded by the Dodgers to the Boston Braves for Mike Sandlock and cash.[2]

Roster

1944 Brooklyn Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers 13 Ralph Branca  5 Ben Chapman 12 Bob Chipman 27 Claude Crocker 26 Curt Davis 25 Wes Flowers -- Jack Franklin 19 Charlie Fuchs  3 Art Herring 18 Clyde King 22 Bill Lohrman 28 Hal Gregg 19 Ed Head 14 Rube Melton 34 Cal McLish 20 Charlie Osgood 27 Fritz Ostermueller 19 Tom Sunkel 13,20 Tommy Warren 31 Les Webber -- John Wells -- Frank Wurm 17 Whit Wyatt 38 Chink Zachary		Catchers 15 Stan Andrews 32 Fats Dantonio 32 Ray Hayworth 34 Roy Jarvis 10 Mickey Owen Infielders 16 Pat Ankenman  3 Eddie Basinski  6 Jack Bolling 33 Frenchy Bordagaray 15 Bobby Bragan  3 Tommy Brown  4 Gil English  6 Bill Hart 16 Barney Koch  3 Gene Mauch 16 Eddie Miksis -- Lou Rochelli  8 Howie Schultz 12 Eddie Stanky		Outfielders 19 Morrie Aderholt 18 Johnny Cooney -- Red Durrett 24 Augie Galan 21 Luis Olmo 35 Goody Rosen 11 Dixie Walker  9 Lloyd Waner  1 Paul Waner Other batters  5 Clancy Smyres		Manager  2 Leo Durocher Coaches 30 Red Corriden  7 Charlie Dressen

Player stats

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	Mickey Owen	130	461	126	.273	1	42
1B	Howie Schultz	138	526	134	.255	11	83
2B	Eddie Stanky	89	261	72	.276	0	16
3B	Frenchy Bordagaray	130	501	141	.281	6	51
SS	Bobby Bragan	94	266	71	.267	0	17
OF	Augie Galan	151	547	174	.318	12	93
OF	Dixie Walker	147	535	191	.357	13	91
OF	Goody Rosen	89	264	69	.261	0	23

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
Luis Olmo	136	520	134	.258	9	85
Tommy Brown	46	146	24	.164	0	8
Paul Waner	83	136	39	.287	0	16
Jack Bolling	56	131	46	.351	1	25
Eddie Basinski	39	105	27	.257	0	9
Barney Koch	33	96	21	.219	0	1
Eddie Miksis	26	91	20	.220	0	11
Bill Hart	29	90	16	.178	0	4
Gil English	27	79	12	.152	1	7
Morrie Aderholt	17	59	16	.271	0	10
Red Durrett	11	32	5	.156	1	1
Pat Ankenman	13	24	6	.250	0	3
Lou Rochelli	5	17	3	.176	0	2
Gene Mauch	5	15	2	.133	0	2
Lloyd Waner	15	14	4	.286	0	1
Ray Hayworth	7	10	0	.000	0	0
Stan Andrews	4	8	1	.125	0	1
Fats Dantonio	3	7	1	.143	0	0
Johnny Cooney	7	4	3	.750	0	1
Clancy Smyres	2	2	0	.000	0	0
Roy Jarvis	1	1	0	.000	0	0

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
Hal Gregg	39	197.2	9	16	5.46	92
Curt Davis	31	194	10	11	3.34	49
Ben Chapman	11	79.1	5	3	3.40	37
Ed Head	9	63.1	4	3	2.70	17
Whit Wyatt	9	37.2	2	6	7.17	4
Frank Wurm	1	0.1	0	0	108.00	1

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
Rube Melton	37	187.1	9	13	3.46	91
Les Webber	48	140.1	7	8	4.94	42
Cal McLish	23	84	3	10	7.82	24
Tommy Warren	22	68.2	1	4	4.98	18
Art Herring	12	55.1	3	4	3.42	19
Clyde King	14	43.2	2	1	3.09	14
Fritz Ostermueller	10	41.2	2	1	3.24	17
Bob Chipman	11	36.1	3	1	4.21	20
Tom Sunkel	12	24	1	3	7.50	6
John Wells	4	15	0	2	5.40	7
Chink Zachary	4	10.1	0	2	9.58	3

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
Ralph Branca	21	0	2	1	7.05	16
Wes Flowers	9	1	1	0	7.79	3
Charlie Fuchs	8	1	0	0	5.74	5
Bill Lohrman	3	0	0	0	0.00	1
Claude Crocker	2	0	0	0	10.80	1
Charlie Osgood	1	0	0	0	3.00	0
Jack Franklin	1	0	0	0	13.50	0

Awards and honors

• 1944 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Augie Galan starter
  • Dixie Walker starter
  • Mickey Owen reserve
• TSN Major League All-Star Team
  • Dixie Walker

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Montreal Royals	International League	Bruno Betzel
AA	St. Paul Saints	American Association	Ray Blades
A1	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Fresco Thompson
B	Newport News Dodgers	Piedmont League	Jake Pitler
B	Trenton Packers	Interstate League	Joe Bird/Walter Alston
D	Olean Oilers	Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League	John Fitzpatrick
D	Zanesville Dodgers	Ohio–Indiana League	Jack Knight

Notes

1. Eddie Stanky page at Baseball Reference
2. Frank Drews page at Baseball Reference

References

• Baseball-Reference season page
• Baseball Almanac season page

External links

• 1944 Brooklyn Dodgers uniform
• Brooklyn Dodgers reference site
• Acme Dodgers page Archived 2007-09-13 at the Wayback Machine
• Retrosheet