The1944 World Series was an all-St. LouisWorld Series, matching theSt. Louis Cardinals andSt. Louis Browns atSportsman's Park. It marked the third time in World Series history in which both teams had the same home field (the others being the1921 and1922 Series, both played at thePolo Grounds inNew York City). It would be 76 years before another World Series had all of its games played in a single ballpark: the2020 Series usedGlobe Life Field inArlington, Texas as aneutral site due to health concerns regarding theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

1944 saw perhaps thenadir of 20th-century baseball, as the long-moribund St. Louis Browns won their onlyAmerican League pennant. Some of the players were4-Fs, rejected by the military for physical defects (such as one armedPete Gray) or limitations that precluded duty.^[2] 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 calledSportsman's Park home, the traditional 2–3–2 home field assignment was used (instead of the wartime 3–4). TheJunior 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 relocated there and became theOrioles. The Orioles would go on to win the1966 World Series, becoming the last of the AL's eight charter franchises to do so. Another all-Missouri World Series was played41 years later, with theKansas City Royals defeating the Cardinals in seven games.

The Series was also known as the "Trolley Series," "Streetcar Series," or the "St. Louis Showdown." Coincidentally, this World Series was played the same yearMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer released the musical filmMeet Me in St. Louis. It remains one of two World Series played that featured two teams from the same city other than New York; the other was the1906 World Series between the two Chicago teams. The1989 World Series featured two teams from the San Francisco metropolitan area, but not the same city. It was also the first World Series in which both teams played west of theMississippi River.

This is currently the earliest World Series in which one of the teams (St. Louis Browns), has had no personnel eventually elected to theHall of Fame.

This is the only World Series to date in which neither team was credited with astolen base.^[3]

This would also be the final World Series whereKenesaw Mountain Landis was the commissioner of baseball. Landis died six weeks later on November 25.

Many of the game's best players were called away forWorld War II, and the result was a seriously depleted pool of talent.^[4]

The top team in theAmerican League was the perennial-doormat Browns, who collectively hit .252 en route to their only pennant in 52 seasons in St. Louis. They only had one .300 hitter in outfielderMike Kreevich (who barely made it at .301), one man — shortstopVern Stephens — who hit 20 home runs and drove in more than 85 runs (Stephensled the AL with 109 RBI).

On the mound, the Browns boastedNels Potter andJack Kramer, who combined for 36 victories. The team squeaked into first place by winning 11 out of their final 12 games, including the last 4 in a row over the defending championNew York Yankees. The last victory, combined with Detroit's loss to Washington, enabled St. Louis to finish one game ahead of theTigers in the American League.

Their 89–65 record would be the worst for an AL champion until the Minnesota Twinswon the pennant in 1987 with a record of 85–77 (ironically, defeating Detroit to win the pennant).

On the other side of Sportsman's Park, it was business as usual for the Cardinals.The team won 105 games en route to their third-straight National League pennant, finishing14+1⁄2 games in front of thePittsburgh Pirates. ManagerBilly Southworth's Cardinals ran their three-year victory total to 316.

The Cardinals were the first National League franchise with three consecutive 100-win seasons. The 1944 team featured league MVPMarty Marion and future Hall of FamerStan Musial.

NLSt. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. ALSt. Louis Browns (2)

George McQuinn hit the Browns' only home run of the series to put his team ahead in the fourth inning, while Denny Galehouse outpitched World Series veteran Mort Cooper, who allowed only two hits, to hold on for the win.

Blix Donnelly came in as a relief pitcher in the eighth inning, and tallied no runs, two hits and seven strikeouts for the win.Ken O'Dea's pinch-hit single in the 11th scored the winning run.

Jack Kramer struck out ten batters on the way to a 6–2 Browns triumph, the last World Series game the team would win until the1966 World Series, as theBaltimore Orioles.

Browns starter Sig Jakucki had been away from baseball for five years, but returned to win 13 games in 1944. He lasted only three innings giving up four runs. Stan Musial hit a two-run homer in the first, and the Browns never recovered. Harry Brecheen went the distance for the win despite giving up nine hits and four walks.

Mort Cooper recovered from his opening game loss to beat Galehouse with a seven-hit, 2–0 shutout. In the Cardinals' 1942–1944 stranglehold on the National League championship, Cooper had won 65 games and thrown 23 shutouts. Ray Sanders and Danny Litwhiler scored the game's two only runs by hitting one solo home run each, in the sixth and the eighth inning.

For Game 6, it was Max Lanier and Ted Wilks (who both had 17 wins and shared a 2.65 ERA) that wrote the final chapter to the Browns' "Cinderella season" with a 3–1 victory that wrapped up the Cardinals' second Series title in three years. Ted Wilks was brilliant in relief, retiring all 11 Browns he faced, clinching the Cardinals' fifth World Series title.

1944 World Series(4–2):St. Louis Cardinals (N.L.) overSt. Louis Browns (A.L.)

• 1944 Negro World Series

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990).The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 196–200.ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982).The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2152.ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
• Silver, Nate (2007).Goldman, Steven (ed.)."1944 American League: The Home Front".It Ain't over 'til It's over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book. New York: Basic Books:326–362.ISBN 978-0-465-00284-9.

• 1944 World Series atWorldSeries.com viaMLB.com
• 1944 World Series atBaseball Almanac
• 1944 World Series atBaseball-Reference.com
• The 1944 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) atRetrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1944 atThe Sporting News. Archived fromthe original in May 2006.

• World Series
• 1944 Major League Baseball season
• St. Louis Cardinals postseason
• St. Louis Browns
• 1940s in St. Louis
• 1944 in sports in Missouri
• October 1944 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in St. Louis

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