January 4 – A nationally syndicated newspaper article penned byAmerican League presidentWill Harridge expresses confidence that the 1944 MLB season will go forward despite the loss of manpower toWorld War II service. With an estimated 190 AL players now in the military, and anticipating the departure of "scores of players" for the fighting ranks in 1944, Harridge writes that his league's owners believe that "their clubs will be able to field teams, and again do a good job of providing entertainment and relaxation."[2]
January 27 –Casey Stengel quits under fire as manager of theBoston Braves, less than a week after the financially strugglingNational League club is purchased by local heavy construction magnatesLou Perini,C. Joseph Maney andGuido Rugo—nicknamed the "Three Little Steam Shovels."[5][6] Stengel, 53, has directed the Braves to a 373–491–6 (.432) record since1938, missing part of1943 while recovering from a broken leg.Bob Coleman, a Boston coach who was acting manager during that medical leave of absence, will be named Stengel's full-fledged successor on February 12.
January 31 – TheNew York Giants sign minor-league free agent outfielderDanny Gardella, 23.Classified "4-F" due to a punctured eardrum and exempt from military service, he has been playingsemi-professionally in New York City since 1941. Gardella will bat .268 in 168 games as a Giant from May 14, 1944, to September 30, 1945, before becoming a central figure in theMexican League "raids" of1946; in October 1948, he will file (and eventually settle out of court) a lawsuit challenging baseball'sreserve clause.[7]
February 6 – A committee composed of major and minor league owners andCommissioner of BaseballKenesaw Mountain Landis announces a series of provisions designed to protect the interests of players now on clubs' "National Defense Lists" when they return to the game from military service. Provisions include prohibition of pay cuts for returning veterans, granting them more training time to get back into playing shape, and limiting clubs' rights to demote them to minor-league clubs.
February 14 – Local industrialist Max C. Meyer halts his bid to purchase 75% control of theBrooklyn Dodgers when, at the 11th hour, additional "financial burdens" raise the asking price above the $1.01 million the jewelry manufacturer is willing to pay. The collapse of Meyer's offer means that three-quarters of the Dodgers' stock will continue to be managed by theBrooklyn Trust Company.[9]
February 17 – ThePhiladelphia Athletics acquire catcherFrankie Hayes from theSt. Louis Browns for pitcherSam Zoldak and minor-league outfielderBarney Lutz. Hayes, withRay Mueller, is one of wartime baseball's two "iron men" catchers known for starting every one of his team's official games during the upcoming regular season; in 155 contests, he will catch 1,333 full innings and 135 complete games, with the Athletics' four backup backstops combining for only 16 innings among them.[10]
March 1 – TheSt. Louis Browns trade catcherRick Ferrell to theWashington Senators in exchange for catcherTony Giuliani. However, Giuliani, who'd played for St. Louis during the 1936 and 1937 seasons, refuses to report. Washington completes the trade by sending outfielderGene Moore to St. Louis in Giuliani's place.
March 4 –Philadelphia's National League franchise, founded in 1883 and known as thePhillies since 1886 (and as thePhils in1942),[11] announces the winning entry of a "re-name that team" fan contest, adopting thePhiladelphia Blue Jays as its new identity. The winning name is suggested by Mrs. John Crooks of Philadelphia (and six other fans) from 634 entries and over 5,000 letters.[12] Yet the "Phillies" nickname won't go away; it will remain the team's alternate identity and appear on the varsity's uniform shirts during the "Blue Jays" experiment until that ends in January 1950.[13]
March 11 – The 16 major league clubs prepare to open spring training camps, juggling concerns about players being drafted into military service, talent shortages, and workout facilities that, in the colder northern cities, demand indoor drills and weathering chilly, wet outdoor conditions. In New York, veteranGiants' shortstopBilly Jurges holds out to protest a pay cut of almost 10 percent; theYankees learn that five-timeAll-Star second basemanJoe Gordon expects to be inducted into the armed services on March 16; and theBrooklyn Dodgers delay opening theirBear Mountain training camp until March 19.[14]
March 12 – After local baseball fans raise more than $15,000 for the purpose,Williamsport rejoins theEastern League after a one-year absence. The new owners acquire the formerSpringfield Rifles franchise and transfer it to thePennsylvania city. Williamsport gives theClass A Eastern circuit its eighth franchise for 1944.
April 15 –Al Simmons, 41, returns to thePhiladelphia Athletics, signing a free-agent contract. The futureHall of Famer, one of the brightest stars ofConnie Mack's1929–1931 dynasty, will appear in only four games in his third stint with the Athletics before drawing his release June 15 to join Mack's coaching staff.
April 18 – Overshadowed byWorld War II, the 1944 MLB season begins with seven games featuring 14 of the 16 big-league teams.
After hisChicago Cubs drop their eighth and ninth straight games—a double dip, 5–0 and 7–5, to the juggernautSt. Louis Cardinals atSportsman's Park—managerJimmie Wilson is dismissed. Chicago's only NL victory of 1944 came on Opening Day on April 18, and Wilson's mark over 3+ seasons is 213–258–3 (.452). CoachRoy Johnson will handle the team for its next game, May 3, as the Cubs make arrangements to bringWrigley Field favoriteCharlie Grimm back for a second term as manager.
May 2 – Forty-year-oldPepper Martin appears in aSt. Louis Cardinals box score for the first time since September 27, 1940, when he starts today in center field in a road game against thePittsburgh Pirates. Martin spent 1941–1943 as aplayer–manager in the St. Louisfarm system, but the wartime manpower shortage gives "The Wild Horse of the Osage" one more big-league fling in 1944; he'll appear in 40 games as an outfielder and pinch hitter and collect 24 hits, including two home runs, before he's released October 10.
Good-naturedCharlie Grimm, who led theChicago Cubs to twoNational Leaguepennants (1932,1935) during his previous, seven-year stint as manager, takes the reins of the club for a second time. The Cubs have suffered a calamitous start to their 1944 season: they're 1–10 and already seven games out of first place when "Jolly Cholly", 45, assumes command.[20] They lose their 11th and 12th straight games today, dropping a twin bill to thePittsburgh Pirates.
Before Grimm takes on the Chicago assignment, he must find his own successor as pilot of theMilwaukee Brewers of theAmerican Association. Grimm is a co-owner of the minor-league Brewers, along with 30-year-oldBill Veeck, currently serving in theUnited States Marines in thePacific Theatre of World War II. Grimm's choice: unemployed managerCasey Stengel, recently fired by theBoston Braves.[20] Veeck is furious when he hears of the hiring; he writes to Grimm: "Stengel is entirely satisfied with a mediocre club as long as Stengel and his alleged wit are appreciated."[21] But Stengel takes over Grimm's 11–2 Brewers and guides them to a 91–49 record and the Association pennant. Grimm, meanwhile, eventually coaxes the Cubs to a respectable 74–69 mark.
All major-league games are cancelled due toD-Day. At least five baseball players serving theAllies' armed forces give their lives in the invasion ofNormandy. One of the fallen,Technician Fifth GradeJohn Joseph Pinder, a former minor-league pitcher whose 32nd birthday is today, will be posthumously awarded theMedal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty."[23]
At 15 years and 316 days of age, left-handerJoe Nuxhall becomes the youngest player to ever appear in a major league game. Nuxhall, who hails from nearbyHamilton, Ohio, enters the ninth inning of a game atCincinnati'sCrosley Field in which hisReds are already trailing theWorld Series-boundSt. Louis Cardinals 13–0. After retiring two of the first three hitters he faces (George Fallon andAugie Bergamo), Nuxhall fails to record the third out, allowing twohits, fivebases on balls and fiveearned runs before he's replaced by 21-year-oldJake Eisenhart, who's making his only MLB appearance. Nuxhall then vanishes into the minor leagues until he returns to the Reds in1952, and (apart from a season and half) then remains with them as a pitcher (winning 130 games) and beloved broadcaster until his passing, at 79, in2007.[24][25]
WithWorld War II calling most able-bodied men into military service or war-related industry, 1944 will see extremes in the number of very young and older players: twenty big-leaguers under the age of 20, and 16 over the age of 40, will see action in the American and National leagues this season.[26]
June 12 – ThePhiladelphia Phillies take player-coachChuck Klein, 39, off their active roster, ending the former slugger's active career after 17 seasons, 2,076 hits and an even 300 homers. He'll be elected to theHall of Fame by the Veterans' Committee in1980.
June 22 – AtBraves Field, Boston starting pitcherAl Javery pitches scoreless ball into the top of the 15th inning before allowing a one-out, solo homer to thePhiladelphia Phillies'Ron Northey. Javery'sBraves are then held off the scoreboard in the bottom half and absorb a 1–0 defeat. The Phillies'Bill Lee (six innings) and relieverCharley Schanz (nine innings) combine for a six-hit shutout.[27]
July 5 – Fourteen-year minor-league veteranBill McGhee makes his MLB debut as the wartime manpower shortage continues. McGhee goes three for five, all singles, and drives in a run, but hisPhiladelphia Athletics fall to the visitingSt. Louis Browns, 4–2. The first baseman is 35 years and 304 days old; he's spent most of his career inClass B leagues in America'sDeep South.[29]
At the midsummer break, bothSt. Louis teams lead their respective leagues. The defending NL-championCardinals (51–21–2) have a comfortable, 10½-game cushion over thePittsburgh Pirates (49–30–4), while the surprisingBrowns (45–34), seeking their first AL pennant, hold a 2½-game margin over theBoston Red Sox (42–36).
July 16 – AtBraves Field, theBrooklyn Dodgers lose their 16th consecutive game, 8–4, toBoston before capturing the nightcap, 8–5, behindCurt Davis.Leo Durocher's wartime squad will then drop 12 of its next 16 games to finish 5–25 during the month of July 1944.
July 20 – After ignoring warnings fromhome plate umpireCal Hubbard to stop putting his fingers in his mouth to wet the baseball,Nelson Potter of theSt. Louis Browns is ejected in the fifth inning of today's 7–3 victory over theNew York Yankees atSportsman's Park. The game is delayed 15 minutes while Potter and managerLuke Sewell argue with Hubbard, and fans shower the field with debris.[30] Potter will be fined and suspended for ten games by AL presidentWill Harridge. He becomes the first pitcher to be ejected for throwing aspitball since it was banned in1920.[31]
July 23 – At thePolo Grounds, sluggerBill "Swish" Nicholson of theChicago Cubs smacks three home runs and drives in four, spurring Chicago to a 7–4 win over theNew York Giants. Nicholson, who'll lead the NL in homers and RBI in 1944, also enjoys the distinction of registering the season's only three-homer day.[19]
August 10 –Red Barrett of theBoston Braves shuts out theCincinnati Reds, 2–0, atCrosley Field and throws just 58 pitches – a record for fewest pitches in a nine-inning game; the game lasts 75 minutes. Barrett gives up only two hits. He does not strike out or walk any batters, and throws an average of only two pitches per batter. There are 14 putouts at first base, five by the rest of the infield (including Barrett), six by the outfield, and two by the catcher (on foul pop ups).[35] In 1944, 96 of the Reds' games are completed in under two hours.
August 22 – In the seventh inning of today's contest atGriffith Stadium, theSt. Louis Browns'Nels Potter, making his fourth start since returning from his suspension for throwing aspitball, collides—perhaps deliberately—with baserunnerGeorge Case of theWashington Senators while chasing Case's foulbunt along the first-base line. Case comes up swinging and a melee ensues; Potter, Case and Washington'sEd Butka (who comes off the Senators' bench to join the brawl) are ejected. Potter ends up on the losing end of the 3–0 final.[36] The defeat drops his record to12–6 (3.13), but in his next eight starts, he'll go 7–1 (2.08) with seven complete games and two shutouts as a key figure in the Browns' pennant drive.[37]
TheDetroit Tigers (69–58) defeat the first-placeSt. Louis Browns, 6–3, to take their third straight decision in a crucial, four-game series atSportsman's Park, and shave the 71–58 Browns' American League lead to one game. TheNew York Yankees (70–59) are also a game back and theBoston Red Sox (70–60) are 1½ out. The Browns' AL lead had been as high as 6½ games in early August, but the next four weeks will see a topsy-turvy AL race between St. Louis, Detroit and New York.
September 21 – TheSt. Louis Cardinals clinch their third straight National League pennant, sweeping a doubleheader from theBoston Braves on the road in Boston. They lead the second-placePittsburgh Pirates, who sweep theBrooklyn Dodgers today, by 13 full games. The Redbirds will finish 1944 with 105 regular-season victories, capping a dominant three-year stretch in which they average 105.3 victories a season.
The last-placePhiladelphia Phillies give the NL championCardinals a battle before succumbing twice to the Redbirds in aShibe Park doubleheader. In Game 1, the Phillies'Ken Raffensberger and Cards'Mort Cooper battle for 16 innings before St. Louis emerges with a 4–3 victory on aWhitey Kurowski homer; Cooper allows 19 hits but holds the Phils to only three runs. In Game 2, the Cardinals'Ted Wilks and Phillies'Charley Schanz each go eight scoreless innings; then an unearned run in the top of the ninth seals a 1–0 triumph for the World Series-bound Cardinals.[39] The win gives Wilks a brilliant 17–3 record—awinning percentage of .850—in his rookie season.
September 29 –Nels Potter throws a two-hit shutout for his 19th win and hisBrowns make a first-inning run stand up, enabling St. Louis to sweep a doubleheader against the visitingNew York Yankees, 4–1 and 1–0, and move into a first-place tie withDetroit, which splits its twin bill against theSenators in Washington. The Tigers'Dizzy Trout (27–13) fails in his attempt to win his 28th game of 1944 in the nightcap.
The upcomingWorld Series will be the Browns' only Fall Classic appearance before they relocate toBaltimore ten years later. Matching the landlord Browns against their Sportsman's Park tenants, the 105–game-winningSt. Louis Cardinals, the 1944 Fall Classic marks only the third time in World Series history in which both teams share the same home field (the others occurred in1921 and1922 at thePolo Grounds). The match-up will be nicknamed the "Streetcar Series" and the "St. Louis Showdown".[42]
On the closing day of theNational League's regular season, iron-man catcherRay Mueller starts theCincinnati Reds' 155th game (out of 155) of 1944. Mueller, 32, catches only four innings today before he's relieved byJoe Just—but he's been behind the plate for 140 complete games and 1,355 innings of a possible 1,398 innings played on defense by the Reds. Mueller will spend 1945 in military service, but when he returns to baseball in1946, he'll continue his games-started streak through April 21, and his consecutive-games-played skein through May 5.
October 9 – In Game 6 of theWorld Series, the "St. Louis Showdown" concludes when theCardinals defeat theBrowns, 3–1, to win their fifth World Series since1926, four games to two. The Browns had led the Fall Classic, two games to one, on October 6, but are held to only two total runs over Games 4–6 by Cardinal hurlersHarry Brecheen,Mort Cooper,Max Lanier andTed Wilks.[43]
October 31 –The Sporting News names former 30-game-winner (and futureHall of Famer)Dizzy Dean the majors' "#1 baseball play-by-play announcer" for 1944.[44] Dean, whose sprinkling of non-grammatical country slang into his broadcasts has sometimes drawn criticism,[45] is the lead announcer forSt. Louis' two big-league teams—the World Series championCardinals and the AL-championBrowns.
November 1 – A three-person group headlined by club president/general managerBranch Rickey acquires one-quarter ownership in theDodgers from theBrooklyn Trust Company for an estimated $250,000. The stock, formerly held by the lateEdward J. McKeever, has been managed by the bank on behalf of the McKeever estate.[46] Others members of the ownership group are insurance executive Andrew L. Schmitz and the Dodgers' general counsel,Walter O'Malley. Brooklyn Trust still oversees 50% of the team's stock on behalf of theCharles Ebbets estate. Both Edward McKeever and Charles Ebbets died in 1925.
November 25 – Hospitalized with respiratory woes since October 2,Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the firstCommissioner of Baseball, dies at 78 inChicago, eight days after being re-elected to a new, seven-year term as "baseball'sczar." (SeeDeaths entry for this date below.) Autocratic, all-powerful, and feared by most owners and players, Landis has been Commissioner since January 12, 1921.[47] He will be immediately elected to theHall of Fame after a special ballot on December 10, 1944.
December 2 – Japan, where baseball has been banned as an undesirable enemy influence, mourns the death ofEiji Sawamura. The Japanese pitcher, who is killed in action in the Pacific, became a national hero by striking outBabe Ruth in an exhibition game.
At their annual winter meetings, MLB magnates decide that the position ofCommissioner of Baseball—vacant since the November 25 death ofKenesaw Mountain Landis—will temporarily be filled by a three-man Advisory Council consisting of league presidentsFord Frick andWill Harridge and Landis's chief aide,Leslie O'Connor, a Chicago attorney. Authority will return to a single Commissioner when Landis's successor is selected and takes office.[48]
December 22 –Connie Mack, speaking inLos Angeles on his 82nd birthday, predicts a new era of prosperity for baseball whenWorld War II ends, but warns his audience: "I don't believe that the major leagues will ever stretch to the Pacific Coast." He opposesexpansion, and notes that "thePacific Coast League is doing well in its present structure"—as a top-levelminor league.[50]
January 7 –George Mullin, 63, pitcher who won 228 games including a no-hitter, mainly with the Tigers, having five 20-win seasons.
January 8 –Harry Daubert, 51, pinch-hitter for the 1915 Pittsburgh Pirates.
January 13 –Kid Elberfeld, 68, shortstop for six clubs in 11 seasons between 1898 and 1914, who also managed the New York Highlanders of the American League in the 1908 season.
January 30 –Ed Clough, 37, outfielder and pitcher who played from 1924 through 1926 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
February 4 –Dixie Davis, 53, pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Browns during ten seasons spanning 1910–1926.
February 13 –Darltie Cooper, 41, pitcher, outfielder and first baseman who played in the Eastern Colored League, Negro National League, and other Black baseball organizations between 1923 and 1940; led 1929 ECL in games won (16), earned run average (2.51) and complete games; brother ofAnthony Cooper.
February 18 –Hub Pernoll, 55, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the 1910 and 1912 seasons.
February 20 –Harry Wilhelm, 69, pitcher for the 1899 Louisville Colonels.
February 21 –Jack Enzenroth, 58, catcher who played from 1914 to 1915 with the St. Louis Browns and the Kansas City Packers.
February 23 –Al Bauer, 84, pitcher who played with the Columbus Buckeyes in 1884 and for the St. Louis Maroons in 1886.
February 25 –Bill Knowlton, 45, pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Athletics during the 1920 season.
March 10 –Dan Howley, 58, player, coach and manager who caught in 1913 for the Philadelphia Phillies, later served as a coach for the Detroit Tigers in 1919 and 1921–1922, then managed the St. Louis Browns from 1927 to 1929 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1930 to 1932.
March 11 –Bill Duzen, 74, pitcher who played in 1890 for the Buffalo Bisons of the Players' League.
March 17 –Rube Kroh, 57, pitcher who played for the Boston Americans, Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves during six seasons spanning 1906–1912, being also credited as the player who got the ball into the hands ofJohnny Evers in the famousMerkle's Boner game.
March 18 –Frank Motz, 74, first baseman who played with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1890 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1893 to 1894.
March 19:
Joe Dunn, 59, catcher for the Brooklyn Superbas during the 1908 and 1909 baseball seasons, who later became a distinguished manager in the minor leagues, winning championship titles in 1919, 1920 and 1930.
John Kelly, 65, ot. Louis Cardinals in the 1907 season.
March 22 –Claude Hendrix, 54, pitcher who played from 1911 through 1920 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Chi-Feds,Chicago Whales and Chicago Cubs.
March 24 –Bob Glenalvin, 77, second baseman for the Chicago Colts of the National League in 1890 and 1893.
March 26 –Neil Stynes, 75, catcher who played in two games for the 1890 Cleveland Infants of the short-livedPlayers' League.
April 2 –Bob Brush, 69, backup catcher who played for the 1907 Boston Doves of the National League.
April 11 –Jack Dunleavy, 64, outfielder and pitcher who played from 1903 through 1905 for the St. Louis Cardinals.
April 16 –Pop Foster, 66, outfielder who spent 18 years in baseball, four of them in the Major Leagues with the New York Giants, Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox from 1898 to 1901.
April 20 –Elmer Gedeon, 27, outfielder for the 1939 Washington Senators, whose name is linked forever to that ofHarry O'Neill as the only two major leaguers that were killed during World War II.
April 25 –Tony Mullane, 85, first pitcher to throw left-handed and right-handed in a same game, who won 284 games a posted 3.05 ERA in 13 seasons, including five 30-win seasons and the first no-hitter in American Association history in 1882, while leading the league in shutouts twice and strikeouts once, and compiling 264 complete with the Cincinnati Reds, which remains a club record.
June 5 –Phil Knell, 79, pitcher for the Cleveland Spiders, Columbus Solons, Louisville Colonels, Philadelphia Athletics, Pittsburgh Alleghenys/Pirates and Washington Senators in a span of six years from 1888 to 1995, who had two 20-win seasons, and led three different leagues for the most hittershit by pitches from 1890 to 1892.
June 21 –Harry Swacina, 62, first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Terrapins in parts of four seasons from 1907 to 1915.
June 28 –Dan Stearns, 82, first baseman for six teams in seven seasons spanning 1880–1889, who is better known as the man that produced the final out inTony Mullane's no-hitter in 1882, he first no-no in American Association history.
Pete McBride, 68, pitcher for the 1898 Cleveland Spiders and the 1989 St. Louis Perfectos.
Charlie Reynolds, 79, catcher who played for the Kansas City Cowboys and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms during the 1889 season.
July 5 –Claude Rothgeb, 64, right fielder for the 1904 Washington Senators of the American League, who also enjoyed a distinguished career as a football coach at Colorado College and Rice University, and as a baseball coach at Texas A&M.
July 10 –Tom Walker, 62, pitcher who played with the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1902 season and for the Cincinnati Reds from 1904 to 1905.
July 16 –Hal Irelan, 53, second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1914 season.
July 22 –Irv Waldron, 68, catcher who played for the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Senators of the American League in 1901.
August 2 –Arthur Hauger, 50, fourth outfielder for the 1912 Cleveland Naps, who also spent more than 30 years in baseball as a player, coach and manager in the Minor Leagues.
August 4 –Camp Skinner, 47, backup outfielder who played in 1922 for the first-place New York Yankees and the next year played for the last-place Boston Red Sox.
August 16 –Tom Sullivan, 37, catcher who played briefly with the Cincinnati Reds in 1925.
August 21:
Bob Gilks, 80, infielder/outfielder and pitcher for the Cleveland Blues/Spiders and Baltimore Orioles in five seasons from 1887 to 1893, who hit .239 in 339 games and posted a 9–9 pitching record with a 3.98 ERA, while leading the American Association in saves in the 1888 season.
Lew Post, 69, outfielder for the 1902 Detroit Tigers.
August 29 –Willie McGill, 70, who made his major league debut in the Players' League in 1890 as a 16-year rookie, and the following year won 21 games in the last season that the American Association existed, pitching the rest of his career in the National League primarily during a lively ball era, ending with a career win–loss record of 72–74 for six teams before retiring at age 22.
August 30 –Bill Duggleby, 70, pitcher for three clubs during eight seasons from 1898 to 1907, who had a 20-win season and posted a career record of 93–102 with a 3.18 ERA in 241 pitching appearances, including 159 complete games.
September 4 –Jack Gleason, 90, third baseman for five teams in a span of six seasons from 1877 to 1886, and a member of the 1884 Union Association Champions St. Louis Maroons.
September 9:
Frank Shugart, 77, shortstop for six teams in eight seasons spanning 1890–1901, who was blacklisted from baseball after the 1901 season because of an altercation in which he punched an umpire in the face, and eventually had to resume his career in the Minor Leagues.
Orlin Collier, 37, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the 1931 season.
September 16 –Farmer Steelman, 69, catcher who played from 1899 through 1902 for the Louisville Colonels, Brooklyn Superbas and Philadelphia Athletics.
October 2 –Dick Robertson, 53, pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Robins and Washington Senators in parts of three seasons spanning 1913–1919.
October 9 –Joe DeBerry, 47, who played for the St. Louis Browns of the American League in 1920 and 1921.
October 10 –Louis Leroy, 65, pitcher for the New York Highlanders and the Boston Red Sox in a span of three seasons from 1905 to 1910.
October 14 –Topsy Hartsel, 70, outfielder for four teams in 14 seasons, who led the American League in stolen bases and runs scored in 1902, and was a member of the Philadelphia Athletics teams who clinched the league's pennant in 1902 and 1905, and the World Series in 1910 and 1911.
October 17 –Jack Powell, 70, pitcher who won 245 games, primarily for the St. Louis Browns and the St. Louis Cardinals.
October 22 –Jim Brown, 47, fourth outfielder who played for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1915 season and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916.
October 24 –Pinky Swander, 64, right fielder who played from 1903 to 1904 for the St. Louis Browns.
October 29 –Scott Hardesty, 74, shortstop for the 1899 New York Giants.
Ed Brandt, 39, pitcher who played from 1928 through 1938 for the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Bert Conn, 65, pitcher and second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1898 and 1901 seasons.
November 19 –Frank Brill, 80, pitcher and outfielder for the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.
November 25 –Kenesaw Mountain Landis, 78, commissioner of baseball since that office's creation in 1920, who established the position's authority in overseeing cleanup of corruption in wake of the Black Sox scandal, banishing eight players from the sport for life for involvement in throwing the1919 World Series. Previously, as federal judge had presided over 1914 case in which the Federal League challenged the Major Leagues under antitrust law, being also a strong advocate of the independence of Minor League Baseball from control of MLB.
November 28 –Elmer Miller, 54, outfielder who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in part of nine seasons between 1912 and 1922.
December 2 –Eiji Sawamura, 27, Hall of Fame Japanese pitcher who played for the Tokyo Kyojin.
December 4 –Roger Bresnahan, 65, Hall of Fame catcher and leadoff hitter who starred for the New York Giants from 1902 to 1908, known as the first major leaguer to wearshin guards, while remaining the only catcher to steal over 200 bases in a Major League career.
December 9 –Swat McCabe, 63, shortstop who played from 1909 to 1910 for the Cincinnati Reds.
December 12 –Ed Pinnance, 65, Canadian pitcher who played with the Philadelphia Athletics in its 1903 season.
December 13:
Lloyd Christenbury, 51, infield/outfield utility who played four seasons with the Boston Braves from 1919 to 1922.
Welcome Gaston, 69, pitcher who played for the Brooklyn's Bridegrooms and Superbas clubs in parts of the 1898 and 1899 seasons.
December 14 –Jouett Meekin, 77, who was reportedly as one of the three hardest-throwing pitchers of the 1890s, along withCy Young andAmos Rusie, while playing from 1891 to 1900 with five different National League teams, most prominently for the New York Giants from 1894 to 1899, winning 33 games for the team in 1894 en route to a postseason championship.
December 15 –Jim Chatterton, 80, infield/outfield utility and pitcher who played for the Kansas City Cowboys of the Union Association in 1884.
December 20 –Elmer Zacher, 64, outfielder who played for the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals during the 1910 season.
December 28 –Bill Bowman, 77, backup catcher for the Chicago Colts in 1891.
December 31 –Bill Chappelle, 63, pitcher who played for the Boston Doves, Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Tip-Tops in a span of three seasons from 1908 to 1914.
^The Associated Press (January 28, 1944)."Stengel Resigns as Braves' Pilot"(PDF).timesmachine.nytimes.com. The New York Times. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2025.
^abRampersad, Arnold (1997).Jackie Robinson: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 99–116.ISBN0-679-44495-5.
^abClancey, Erin (February 5, 2021)."United States v. 2LT Jack R. Robinson".nationalww2museum.org. New Orleans: The National World War II Museum. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2025.
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