1944 Cleveland Indians season

The 1944 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American major league baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 72–82–1.

1944 Cleveland Indians
League	American League
Ballpark	League Park Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners	Alva Bradley
General managers	Roger Peckinpaugh
Managers	Lou Boudreau
Radio	WCLE · WHK (Jack Graney, Lew Henry)
← 1943 Seasons 1945 →

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

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 v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	CHW	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 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 22 Jim Bagby 30 Bill Bonness 33 Paul Calvert 30 Red Embree 25 Steve Gromek 18 Mel Harder 34 Earl Henry 11 Joe Heving 12 Vern Kennedy 15 Hal Kleine 39 Ed Klieman 31 Mike Naymick 35 Ray Poat 21 Allie Reynolds 32 Al Smith		Catchers  4 Jim Devlin 38 Russ Lyon 29 Jim McDonnell  2 Buddy Rosar 16 Hank Ruszkowski  4 Norm Schlueter 28 George Susce Infielders 37 Steve Biras  5 Lou Boudreau 36 Jimmy Grant  8 Ken Keltner 38 Ray Mack  3 Rusty Peters  9 Mickey Rocco		Outfielders  1 Roy Cullenbine 24 Jeff Heath 17 Myril Hoag 34 Oris Hockett  6 Paul O'Dea 23 Pat Seerey		Manager  5 Lou Boudreau Coaches 27 Del Baker 26 Burt Shotton 28 George Susce

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	Buddy Rosar	99	331	87	.263	0	30
1B	Mickey Rocco	155	653	174	.266	13	70
2B	Ray Mack	83	284	66	.232	0	29
SS	Lou Boudreau	150	584	191	.327	3	67
3B	Ken Keltner	149	573	169	.295	13	91
OF	Oris Hockett	124	457	132	.289	1	50
OF	Pat Seerey	101	342	80	.234	15	39
OF	Roy Cullenbine	154	571	162	.284	16	80

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
Rusty Peters	88	282	63	.223	1	24
Myril Hoag	67	277	79	.285	1	27
Paul O'Dea	76	173	55	.318	0	13
Jeff Heath	60	151	50	.331	5	33
Norm Schlueter	49	122	15	.123	0	11
Jimmy Grant	61	99	27	.273	1	12
George Susce	29	61	14	.230	0	4
Jim McDonnell	20	43	10	.233	0	4
Russ Lyon	7	11	2	.182	0	0
Hank Ruszkowski	3	8	3	.375	0	1
Steve Biras	2	2	2	1.000	0	2
Jim Devlin	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
Steve Gromek	35	203.2	10	9	2.56	115
Mel Harder	30	196.1	12	10	3.71	64
Al Smith	28	181.2	7	13	3.42	44
Allie Reynolds	28	158.0	11	8	3.30	84
Jim Bagby	13	79.0	4	5	4.33	12
Vern Kennedy	12	59.0	2	5	5.03	17

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
Earl Henry	2	17.2	1	1	4.58	5
Mike Naymick	7	13.0	0	0	9.69	4
Bill Bonness	2	7.0	0	1	7.71	1
Paul O'Dea	3	4.1	0	0	2.08	0
Red Embree	3	3.1	0	1	13.50	4

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
Joe Heving	63	8	3	10	1.96	46
Ed Klieman	47	11	13	5	3.38	44
Ray Poat	36	4	8	1	5.13	40
Paul Calvert	35	1	3	0	4.56	31
Hal Kleine	11	1	2	0	5.75	13

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Lou Boudreau, Shortstop

Roy Cullenbine, Outfielder

Oris Hockett, Outfielder

Ken Keltner, Third baseman (starter)

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Baltimore Orioles	International League	Alphonse "Tommy" Thomas
A	Wilkes-Barre Barons	Eastern League	Jack Sanford
D	Batavia Clippers	PONY League	Jack Tighe

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Baltimore^[1]

References

1. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 1944 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Reference
• 1944 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Almanac