1944 American Association season

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The 1944 American Association season was the 43rd in the league's history, and ended with the Louisville Colonels winning their first league championship since 1940. The Colonels would go on to lose the Junior World Series.

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold .

	W	L	Pct.	GB	Manager	Affiliation
Milwaukee Brewers	102	51	.667	--	Charlie Grimm/Casey Stengel	None
Toledo Mud Hens	95	58	.621	7	Ollie Marquardt	St. Louis Browns
Louisville Colonels	85	63	.574	14½	Nemo Leibold	Boston Red Sox
St. Paul Saints	85	66	.563	16	Ray Blades	Brooklyn Dodgers
Columbus Red Birds	86	67	.562	16	Nick Cullop	St. Louis Cardinals
Indianapolis Indians	57	93	.380	43½	Donie Bush/Mike Kelly	Boston Braves
Minneapolis Millers	54	97	.358	47	Rosy Ryan	None
Kansas City Blues	41	110	.272	60	Jack Saltzgaver	New York Yankees

Playoffs

	First Round					Championship Finals
	1	Milwaukee Brewers	2
	3	Louisville Colonels	4
						3	Louisville Colonels	4
						4	St. Paul Saints	0
	2	Toledo Mud Hens	3
	4	St. Paul Saints	4

First Round

Milwaukee vs. Louisville Date Away Home September 13 Louisville 3 Milwaukee 2 September 14 Louisville 0 Milwaukee 5 September 16 Louisville 1 Milwaukee 6 September 17 Milwaukee 6 Louisville 8 September 18 Milwaukee 2 Louisville 4 September 19 Milwaukee 5 Louisville 7 Louisville wins series 4-2

Toledo vs. St. Paul Date Away Home September 13 St. Paul 2 Toledo 3 10 innings September 14 St. Paul 7 Toledo 10 September 16 St. Paul 3 Toledo 2 September 17 Toledo 7 St. Paul 13 September 18 Toledo 7 St. Paul 4 September 20 Toledo 1 St. Paul 2 10 innings September 21 Toledo 2 St. Paul 7 St. Paul wins series 4-3

Championship Finals

Louisville vs. St. Paul Date Away Home September 23 St. Paul 4 Louisville 11 September 24 St. Paul 0 Louisville 6 September 25 St. Paul 1 Louisville 2 September 27 Louisville 3 St. Paul 2 Louisville wins series 4-0 and advances to Junior World Series

League Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average Johnny Wyrostek, Columbus, .358
• Runs Scored Hal Peck, Milwaukee, 140
• Hits Peck, 200
• Doubles Wyrostek, 50
• Triples Frank Genovese, Louisville; Charles Baron, St. Paul, 11
• Home Runs Babe Barna, Minneapolis, 24
• Runs Batted In Nick Polly, Louisville, 120
• Stolen Bases James Cookson, Minneapolis, 47

Pitching

• Wins Jim Wilson, Louisville; Earl Caldwell, Milwaukee, 19
• Earned Run Average Mel Deutsch, Louisville, 2.47
• Complete Games Wilson, 22
• Shutouts Otho Nitcholas, St. Paul, 6
• Strikeouts Wilson, 147

All-Star Team

• First Base Joe Mack, Columbus
• Second Base Frank Drews, St. Paul
• Shortstop Dick Culler, Milwaukee
• Third Base Nick Polly, Louisville
• Outfield Johnny Wyrostek, Columbus; Hal Peck, Milwaukee; Wayne Blackburn, Indianapolis
• Catcher Tommy Heath, Columbus
• Pitchers Mel Deutsch, Louisville; Earl Caldwell, Baltimore; Sylvester Goedde, Toledo
• Manager Nick Cullop, Columbus

References

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. W. Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, editors. Baseball America, 1993.

1945 Baseball Guide

External Links

1944 Milwaukee Brewers tribute – MinorLeagueBaseball.com