# 1944 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1944 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing fifth in the American League with a record of 72 wins and 82 losses.

## Offseason
### Spring training

The Athletics considered using the Bader Field ballpark in Atlantic City for their 1944 spring training site. On November 17, 1943, Connie Mack examined Bader Field and the National Guard Armory as one possibility. But he knew the New York Yankees were already considering it. The A's went to McCurdy Field in Frederick, Maryland when the Yankees chose Atlantic City.

### Notable transactions

* October 11, 1943: Don Heffner and Bob Swift were traded by the Athletics to the Detroit Tigers for Rip Radcliff.
* February 17, 1944: Sam Zoldak and Barney Lutz (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the St. Louis Browns for Frankie Hayes.

## 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 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 15, 1944: Al Simmons was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

### 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 | Frankie Hayes | 155 | 581 | 144 | .248 | 13 | 78 |
| 1B | Dick Siebert | 132 | 468 | 143 | .306 | 6 | 52 |
| 2B | Irv Hall | 143 | 559 | 150 | .268 | 0 | 45 |
| SS | Ed Busch | 140 | 484 | 131 | .271 | 0 | 40 |
| 3B | George Kell | 139 | 514 | 138 | .268 | 0 | 44 |
| OF | Jo-Jo White | 85 | 267 | 59 | .221 | 1 | 21 |
| OF | Ford Garrison | 121 | 449 | 121 | .269 | 4 | 37 |
| OF | Bobby Estalella | 140 | 506 | 151 | .298 | 7 | 60 |

#### 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 |
| Bill McGhee | 77 | 287 | 83 | .289 | 1 | 19 |
| Hal Epps | 67 | 229 | 60 | .262 | 0 | 13 |
| Joe Rullo | 35 | 96 | 16 | .167 | 0 | 5 |
| Bill Burgo | 27 | 88 | 21 | .239 | 1 | 3 |
| Joe Burns | 28 | 75 | 18 | .240 | 1 | 8 |
| Woody Wheaton | 30 | 59 | 11 | .186 | 0 | 5 |
| Larry Rosenthal | 32 | 54 | 11 | .204 | 1 | 6 |
| Charlie Metro | 24 | 40 | 4 | .100 | 0 | 1 |
| Lew Flick | 19 | 35 | 4 | .114 | 0 | 2 |
| Bobby Wilkins | 24 | 25 | 6 | .240 | 0 | 3 |
| Bob Garbark | 18 | 23 | 6 | .261 | 0 | 2 |
| Hal Peck | 2 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Al Simmons | 4 | 6 | 3 | .500 | 0 | 2 |
| Jim Pruett | 3 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Mills | 5 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Hal Wagner | 5 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Tony Parisse | 4 | 4 | 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 |
| Bobo Newsom | 37 | 265.0 | 13 | 15 | 2.82 | 142 |
| Russ Christopher | 35 | 215.1 | 14 | 14 | 2.97 | 84 |
| Luke Hamlin | 29 | 190.0 | 6 | 12 | 3.74 | 58 |
| Jesse Flores | 27 | 185.2 | 9 | 11 | 3.39 | 65 |
| Don Black | 29 | 177.1 | 10 | 12 | 4.06 | 78 |
| Lum Harris | 23 | 174.1 | 10 | 9 | 3.30 | 33 |

#### 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 Berry | 53 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 1.94 | 44 |
| Carl Scheib | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.21 | 13 |
| Woody Wheaton | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.55 | 15 |
| John McGillen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 0 |
| Tal Abernathy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| A | Elmira Pioneers | Eastern League | Al Todd |
| B | Lancaster Red Roses | Interstate League | Lena Blackburne |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lancaster