# 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.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican 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 recordvte 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
## 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

| 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