1944 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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The 1944 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

In its most recent release, Retrosheet released complete play-by-play data for the 1944 season for the first time. This article, then, looks at what Player won-lost records have to say about the 1944 season.

The Best of 1944

I calculate Player won-lost records two ways: pWins, which tie to team wins and eWins, which control for context and the ability of one's teammates. For players with more pWins than eWins, their Player wins contributed to more team wins than one might expect; for players with more eWins than pWins, just the opposite is true: their Player wins translated into fewer team wins than expected. Or more briefly: a player with more pWins than eWins was better in context, a player with more eWins than pWins was worse in context.

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Hal Newhouser	21.4	13.9	4.4	5.9	1	Vern Stephens	24.0	16.9	4.3	6.0
2	Vern Stephens	24.0	16.9	4.3	6.0	2	Hal Newhouser	21.4	13.9	4.4	5.9
3	Stan Musial	25.2	15.6	4.0	5.6	3	Dizzy Trout	23.8	17.4	3.9	5.7
4	Dizzy Trout	23.8	17.4	3.9	5.7	4	Stan Musial	25.2	15.6	4.0	5.6
5	Bucky Walters	19.3	13.0	3.7	5.1	5	Bucky Walters	19.3	13.0	3.7	5.1
6	Mort Cooper	17.0	10.7	3.5	4.7	6	Lou Boudreau	23.5	18.7	3.2	4.9
7	Lou Boudreau	23.5	18.7	3.2	4.9	7	Mort Cooper	17.0	10.7	3.5	4.7
8	Johnny Hopp	22.0	14.5	3.1	4.6	8	Johnny Hopp	22.0	14.5	3.1	4.6
9	Tex Hughson	14.1	8.8	3.0	4.0	9	Bobby Doerr	20.1	14.8	3.0	4.4
10	Bobby Doerr	20.1	14.8	3.0	4.4	10	Snuffy Stirnweiss	22.9	18.3	2.7	4.3

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Dizzy Trout	24.2	17.0	4.3	6.1	1	Dizzy Trout	24.2	17.0	4.3	6.1
2	Stan Musial	24.8	16.0	3.5	5.2	2	Stan Musial	24.8	16.0	3.5	5.2
3	Lou Boudreau	23.6	18.6	3.3	5.0	3	Lou Boudreau	23.6	18.6	3.3	5.0
4	Vern Stephens	22.9	17.9	3.2	4.9	4	Vern Stephens	22.9	17.9	3.2	4.9
5	Snuffy Stirnweiss	23.4	17.8	3.2	4.8	5	Snuffy Stirnweiss	23.4	17.8	3.2	4.8
6	Bobby Doerr	20.1	14.8	3.0	4.4	6	Hal Newhouser	20.0	15.3	2.9	4.4
7	Hal Newhouser	20.0	15.3	2.9	4.4	7	Bobby Doerr	20.1	14.8	3.0	4.4
8	Tex Hughson	13.5	9.5	2.4	3.4	8	Stan Spence	25.9	20.1	2.2	4.0
9	Indian Bob Johnson	23.6	17.2	2.2	3.9	9	Indian Bob Johnson	23.6	17.2	2.2	3.9
10	Johnny Hopp	21.1	15.5	2.2	3.7	10	Bill Nicholson	24.6	18.6	2.1	3.8

The big story in baseball and throughout the world in 1944 was the continuing impact of World War II. Major League Baseball during World War II was an unusual time which saw a lot of new and different names appearing in Major League Baseball games. One example of this is the relative lack of Hall-of-Famers in the above tables. I count 5 Hall-of-Famers who make an appearance in one of the four top tens above. In contrast, 10 years later, 12 Hall-of-Famers appear in one of the same top ten tables in 1954.

Dizzy Trout

One non-Hall-of-Famer who appears very high in all four tables, leading the majors in eWins over both positional average and replacement level, is Detroit Tigers pitcher Dizzy Trout.

Dizzy Trout had three excellent seasons in four years between 1943 and 1946. In 1944, Trout had a traditional won-lost record of 27-14 with a league-leading 2.12 ERA in a league-leading 352.1 innings pitched across a league-leading 40 starts (as well as 9 relief appearances) with a league-leading 33 complete games and 7 shutouts. The last of Trout's great seasons was 1946, after World War II was over, when he put up a 2.34 ERA over 276.1 innings. After that, his season-high in innings pitched was 191.2 innings (in 1951), his season-high in traditional wins was 13 (in 1950), and his season-low ERA was 3.43 (in 1948).

On the one hand, the obvious conclusion one would be inclined to draw was that Dizzy Trout merely benefited from the relatively weaker competition during World War II and he was, perhaps, never really as good as he looked in 1944. On the other hand, Dizzy Trout pitched 1,121.2 innings from 1943 - 1946 (280 innings per inning). Maybe he would have still been a star - albeit perhaps a lesser star - in the mid-1940's even without World War II who just pitched too damn many innings over those four seasons and burned out (although even after 1946, he wasn't a bad pitcher, just not a star).

Dizzy Trout's career, as measured by Player won-lost records, is presented in the next table. For seasons for which I do not have complete play-by-play data, Trout's record is extrapolated based on the games for which I do have data.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Dizzy Trout Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1939	DET	24	35	9.5	9.5	0.499	0.2	1.2	9.6	9.4	0.507	0.4	1.3
1940	DET	25	33	5.6	6.6	0.461	-0.3	0.3	5.7	6.5	0.465	-0.3	0.4
1941	DET	26	40	10.3	9.3	0.526	0.8	1.7	10.0	9.5	0.512	0.5	1.5
1942	DET	27	36	12.2	14.4	0.458	-0.7	0.4	12.8	13.7	0.485	-0.0	1.0
1943	DET	28	45	17.3	13.1	0.568	2.5	3.9	16.0	14.3	0.528	1.3	2.7
1944	DET	29	51	23.8	17.4	0.577	3.9	5.7	24.2	17.0	0.587	4.3	6.1
1945	DET	30	42	15.8	15.1	0.511	0.8	2.3	16.5	14.4	0.535	1.6	3.0
1946	DET	31	40	17.5	14.6	0.544	2.0	3.5	16.9	15.2	0.527	1.4	2.9
1947	DET	32	34	11.3	10.2	0.525	0.9	1.8	11.6	9.9	0.539	1.2	2.1
1948	DET	33	32	9.9	10.9	0.475	-0.2	0.7	10.9	9.9	0.525	0.8	1.7
1949	DET	34	33	2.5	2.6	0.489	-0.0	0.3	2.7	2.4	0.535	0.2	0.6
1950	DET	35	34	13.4	9.3	0.590	2.4	3.5	12.2	10.5	0.538	1.2	2.3
1951	DET	36	42	11.2	10.7	0.512	0.6	1.6	11.7	10.2	0.534	1.0	2.0
+– 1952		37	36	8.9	9.9	0.472	-0.3	0.7	9.0	9.9	0.477	-0.2	0.8
	BOS		26	6.9	7.1	0.495	0.1	0.8	7.0	7.0	0.499	0.2	0.8
	DET		10	2.0	2.9	0.406	-0.4	-0.1	2.0	2.8	0.414	-0.3	-0.1
1957	BAL	42	2	0.0	0.1	0.035	-0.0	-0.0	0.0	0.1	0.137	-0.0	-0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			535	169.2	153.8	0.524	12.5	27.5	170.1	152.9	0.527	13.4	28.4
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			3	1.1	1.0	0.517		0.2	1.1	1.0	0.539		0.2
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			538	170.2	154.8	0.524		27.6	171.3	153.8	0.527		28.6

1944 World Series

The 1944 World Series was historic, as it was the first and only World Series appearance by the St. Louis Browns in their 52-year history. The 1944 World Series was also one of two World Series which pitted two non-New York teams from the same city against each other (the other one being the 1906 all-Chicago World Series).

The National League's St. Louis Cardinals, who won 105 games for the third straight season (actually, they won 106 in 1942), beat the 89-win Browns 4 - 2. The top performances of the 1944 World Series, as measured by Player won-lost records, are presented in the next table.

	1944 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
George McQuinn	SLA	1.2	0.5	0.4
Mort Cooper	SLN	1.3	0.9	0.4
Max Lanier	SLN	1.0	0.5	0.3
Ray Sanders	SLN	1.0	0.4	0.3
Blix Donnelly	SLN	0.6	0.1	0.3

Although his Browns lost the World Series, it wasn't first baseman George McQuinn's fault. For the series, McQuinn batted .438/.609/.750 and either scored or drove in half of the runs the Browns scored in the series (6 of 12). The Browns won Game 1 2 - 1 on a 2-run home run by McQuinn in the top of the fourth inning. The Browns' other win was in Game 3, 6 - 2. In that game, McQuinn went 3-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in two runs (including the Browns' first run of the game, with two outs in the bottom of the third to tie the score at one) and scoring another.

Best of 1944 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) eWins over Positional Average in various aspects of the game. The numbers in this section have all been normalized to extrapolate player games for which I am missing play-by-play data. As above, this adjustment is based on individual player games for which I have play-by-play data.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 1944 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Indian Bob Johnson	15.1	9.0	2.8
Stan Musial	16.0	9.9	2.8
Bill Nicholson	16.4	10.6	2.7

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Roy Hughes	1.5	0.7	0.4

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Dizzy Trout	17.1	12.8	4.4
Hal Newhouser	15.3	11.7	3.6

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Early Wynn	0.6	0.3	0.3
Big Bill Lee	0.7	0.4	0.3
Hal Newhouser	0.7	0.5	0.3

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Ray Mueller	1.6	1.2	0.4

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Phil Weintraub	2.1	1.7	0.4
Frank McCormick	3.0	2.7	0.4

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Snuffy Stirnweiss	6.5	5.4	1.1

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Steve Mesner	4.1	3.6	0.5

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Eddie R. Miller	9.2	7.6	1.6

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Eric Tipton	7.2	5.8	1.4

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Stan Spence	8.5	7.2	1.3

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Roy Cullenbine	9.1	7.5	1.6

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1944 Major-League leaders in eWOPA by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position, and include no contextual adjustments (expected or actual).

	Catcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ray Mueller	14.9	13.2	1.3

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Phil Weintraub	12.5	9.2	1.1

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Snuffy Stirnweiss	23.7	18.8	2.9

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bob Elliott	18.9	15.4	1.6

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Lou Boudreau	24.2	20.0	2.9

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Indian Bob Johnson	23.6	17.6	2.0

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Johnny Hopp	19.2	14.3	1.9

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Stan Musial	20.1	12.9	2.9

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Dizzy Trout	16.8	13.0	1.9

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Jittery Joe Berry	5.9	4.2	0.8

For relief pitchers, context-neutral records may not be the best measure of how good they are, as context can matter a great deal, depending on how a pitcher is used. Here are the top relief pitchers of 1944 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1944, based on pWORL
Jittery Joe Berry	7.1	4.8	0.599	1.3	2.1
Joe Heving	6.7	5.3	0.558	0.8	1.6
Gordon Maltzberger	5.8	4.5	0.561	0.7	1.4
Xavier Rescigno	5.7	5.5	0.510	0.2	0.9
Ace Adams	7.4	8.0	0.482	-0.2	0.8

One of my favorite nicknames: Jittery Joe!

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitting, and pinch running.

	Pitcher Offense
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Dizzy Trout	3.0	2.7	0.8

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Paul Waner	1.6	1.0	0.3
Jeff Heath	0.8	0.3	0.3
Spud Davis	0.8	0.3	0.3

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Frankie Zak	0.2	0.1	0.06

Notable Debuts and Exits

Players Debuting in 1944

No players who debuted in 1944 have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, nor have any players who debuted that year come particularly close. The player who debuted in 1944 who ended up having the best major-league career, as measured by Player won-lost records, was Ed Lopat.

The second-best player to debut in 1944, as measured by career pWORL was Joe Nuxhall, who made his major-league debut on June 10th, at the age of 15! Nuxhall appeared in only one game in 1944, pitching 0.2 innings (allowing 5 runs, all earned), and did not re-appear in the major leagues until 1952 (by which time he was 23 years old, a much more reasonable age for a rookie major-league pitcher), where he began a 15-year career (not counting 1944), mostly with his hometown Cincinnati Reds.

Such was Major League Baseball during World War II.

Hall-of-Famers Retiring in 1944

Two Hall-of-Famers played their final games in 1944: Al Simmons and Chuck Klein, both of whom spent their best seasons in Philadelphia, but in different leagues. Since, as of this writing, 1944 is the last season for which I have complete play-by-play data, I am missing several games in both Simmons's and Klein's career, including, in fact, entire seasons (1924 and 1926 for Simmons, and 1928 and 1929 for both Simmons and Klein). Overall, I am missing 264 games from Simmons's career and -198 games from Klein's career.

The next table compares the career records of Al Simmons and Chuck Klein. For seasons for which I am missing games, the missing games are extrapolated based on the games for which I have play-by-play data. I made no attempt, however, to extrapolate the missing seasons.

Season	Games	eWins	eLosses	Win Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL	Games	eWins	eLosses	Win Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
	Al Simmons						Chuck Klein
1924	152	20.9	20.3	0.507	-0.2	1.4
1925	153	26.1	19.2	0.576	2.5	4.2
1926	147	21.7	18.8	0.536	0.7	2.2
1927	106	16.2	12.8	0.559	1.4	2.6
1928	119	17.6	14.5	0.549	0.9	2.2	64	8.6	7.3	0.542	0.4	1.0
1929	143	25.5	18.0	0.585	2.9	4.7	149	22.9	18.7	0.550	1.2	2.9
1930	138	24.4	16.6	0.595	3.0	4.9	156	26.7	20.7	0.563	1.7	3.9
1931	128	21.9	13.9	0.613	3.3	4.8	148	23.1	18.1	0.561	1.7	3.5
1932	154	24.0	19.7	0.549	1.4	3.3	154	28.7	21.3	0.575	2.3	4.4
1933	146	21.0	19.4	0.520	0.4	2.0	152	27.3	19.2	0.587	3.0	4.9
1934	138	21.5	16.5	0.566	1.9	3.6	115	17.3	13.5	0.561	1.4	2.8
1935	128	16.7	16.5	0.503	-0.1	1.3	119	17.3	14.4	0.546	1.1	2.4
1936	143	18.7	16.6	0.529	0.6	2.2	146	21.4	19.0	0.530	0.5	2.3
1937	103	14.1	14.4	0.494	-0.5	0.7	115	13.9	12.2	0.533	0.4	1.5
1938	125	15.3	14.3	0.516	0.2	1.4	129	16.0	16.2	0.498	-0.4	0.9
1939	102	12.3	12.3	0.500	-0.2	0.8	110	12.8	11.6	0.524	0.3	1.3
1940	37	2.9	2.5	0.535	0.1	0.4	115	12.1	13.2	0.479	-1.0	0.1
1941	9	0.4	1.0	0.310	-0.3	-0.2	50	2.1	2.8	0.423	-0.4	-0.1
1942							14	0.2	0.7	0.182	-0.3	-0.2
1943	40	3.9	4.2	0.479	-0.3	0.0	12	0.4	0.8	0.312	-0.2	-0.2
1944	4	0.2	0.2	0.467	-0.0	0.0	4	0.1	0.3	0.261	-0.1	-0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,215	325.2	271.7	0.545	17.7	42.4	1,752	250.8	209.8	0.545	11.7	31.3

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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