1944 Cincinnati Reds season

1944  Cincinnati Reds
League	National League
Ballpark	Crosley Field
City	Cincinnati
Owners	Powel Crosley, Jr.
General managers	Warren Giles
Managers	Bill McKechnie
Radio	WSAI (Roger Baker, Dick Bray) WKRC (Waite Hoyt, Dick Nesbitt)
←  1943 Seasons 1945  →

The 1944 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. It consisted of the Cincinnati Reds attempting to win the National League, although finishing in third place. They finished the season with 89 wins and 65 losses.

Offseason

• Prior to 1944 season (exact date unknown)
  • Kent Peterson was signed as an amateur free agent by the Reds. ^[1]
  • Kermit Wahl was signed as an amateur free agent by the Reds. ^[2]

Regular season

On June 10, Joe Nuxhall made his major league debut. At age 15, he is (as of the 2022 season) the youngest confirmed player ever to play Major League Baseball. He pitched just two-thirds of an inning, giving up 5 runs on 2 hits and 5 walks. He would not appear in the majors again until 1952.

Season standings

v t e 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 record v t e Sources:
Team	BSN	BRO	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
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	—

Roster

1944 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers 43 Joe Beggs 33 Arnold Carter 42 Tommy de la Cruz 28 Jake Eisenhart 39 Bob Ferguson 44 Howie Fox 37 Harry Gumbert 34 Ed Heusser 35 Bob Katz 35 Jim Konstanty 43 Bill Lohrman 38 Bob Malloy 43 Joe Nuxhall 39 Kent Peterson 41 Elmer Riddle 29,36 Clyde Shoun 31 Bucky Walters		Catchers  5 Joe Just  7 Ray Mueller  6 Len Rice  6 Johnny Riddle Infielders 14 Chuck Aleno -- Jodie Beeler 18 Buck Fausett 10 Frank McCormick 16 Steve Mesner 11 Eddie Miller 12 Kermit Wahl 17 Woody Williams		Outfielders 20 Dain Clay  3 Estel Crabtree 22 Tony Criscola 21 Max Marshall 24 Chucho Ramos 23 Eric Tipton 27 Gee Walker 21 Jo-Jo White Other batters 26 Mike Kosman  4 Al Lakeman		Manager  1 Bill McKechnie Coaches  3 Estel Crabtree  2 Hans Lobert  8 Jimmie Wilson

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	Ray Mueller	155	555	159	.286	10	73
1B	Frank McCormick	153	581	177	.305	20	102
2B	Woody Williams	155	653	157	.240	1	35
3B	Steve Mesner	121	414	100	.242	1	47
SS	Eddie Miller	155	536	112	.209	4	55
OF	Gee Walker	121	478	133	.278	5	62
OF	Eric Tipton	140	479	144	.301	3	36
OF	Dain Clay	110	356	89	.250	0	17

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
Max Marshall	66	229	56	.245	4	23
Tony Criscola	64	157	36	.229	0	14
Chuck Aleno	50	127	21	.165	1	15
Estel Crabtree	58	98	28	.286	0	11
Jo-Jo White	24	85	20	.235	0	5
Buck Fausett	13	31	3	.097	0	1
Joe Just	11	11	2	.182	0	0
Chucho Ramos	4	10	5	.500	0	0
Len Rice	10	4	0	.000	0	0
Jodie Beeler	3	3	0	.000	0	0
Al Lakeman	1	1	0	.000	0	0
Kermit Wahl	4	1	0	.000	0	0
Mike Kosman	1	0	0	----	0	0
Johnny Riddle	1	0	0	----	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
Bucky Walters	34	285.0	23	8	2.40	77
Ed Heusser	30	192.2	13	11	2.38	42
Harry Gumbert	24	155.1	10	8	3.30	40
Elmer Riddle	4	26.2	2	2	4.05	6
Joe Beggs	1	9.0	1	0	2.00	2

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
Clyde Shoun	38	202.2	13	10	3.02	55
Tommy de la Cruz	34	191.1	9	9	3.25	65
Arnold Carter	33	148.2	11	7	2.60	33
Jim Konstanty	20	112.2	6	4	2.80	19
Bob Ferguson	9	16.0	0	3	9.00	9
Bob Katz	6	18.1	0	1	3.93	4
Bill Lohrman	2	1.2	0	1	27.00	0

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
Bob Malloy	9	1	1	0	3.09	4
Buck Fausett	2	0	0	0	5.91	3
Howie Fox	2	0	0	0	0.00	0
Kent Peterson	1	0	0	0	0.00	0
Joe Nuxhall	1	0	0	0	67.50	0
Jake Eisenhart	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Syracuse Chiefs	International League	Jewel Ens
A1	Birmingham Barons	Southern Association	Johnny Riddle and Ted Petoskey

^[3]

References

1. Kent Peterson page at Baseball-Reference
2. Kermit Wahl page at Baseball-Reference
3. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 1944 Cincinnati Reds at Baseball-Reference