# 1944 New York Yankees season

The 1944 New York Yankees season was the team's 42nd season in New York. The team finished in third place in the American League with a record of 83–71, finishing 6 games behind the St. Louis Browns. New York was managed by Joe McCarthy. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

## Offseason

* Prior to the 1944 season: Jim Greengrass was signed as an amateur free agent by the Yankees.

### Spring training

The Yankees trained in 1944 at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The team made the 300-room Senator Hotel their headquarters and practiced indoors at the Atlantic City Armory.
They played their first exhibition game in Atlantic City on April 1, 1944, and beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5–1, behind a home run by Johnny Lindell. The following day, 4,000 fans saw the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4–3.

## 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

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Pos | Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| C | Mike Garbark | 89 | 299 | 23 | 78 | .261 | 1 | 33 | 0 |
| 1B | Nick Etten | 154 | 573 | 88 | 168 | .293 | 22 | 91 | 4 |
| 2B | Snuffy Stirnweiss | 154 | 643 | 125 | 205 | .319 | 8 | 43 | 55 |
| 3B | Oscar Grimes | 116 | 387 | 44 | 108 | .279 | 5 | 46 | 6 |
| SS | Mike Milosevich | 94 | 312 | 27 | 77 | .247 | 0 | 32 | 1 |
| OF | Johnny Lindell | 149 | 594 | 91 | 178 | .300 | 18 | 103 | 5 |
| OF | Bud Metheny | 137 | 518 | 72 | 124 | .239 | 14 | 67 | 5 |
| OF | Hersh Martin | 85 | 328 | 49 | 99 | .302 | 9 | 47 | 5 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| Rollie Hemsley | 81 | 284 | 23 | 76 | .268 | 2 | 26 | 0 |
| Don Savage | 71 | 239 | 31 | 63 | .264 | 4 | 24 | 1 |
| Frankie Crosetti | 55 | 197 | 20 | 47 | .239 | 5 | 30 | 3 |
| Ed Levy | 40 | 153 | 12 | 37 | .242 | 4 | 29 | 1 |
| Russ Derry | 38 | 114 | 14 | 29 | .254 | 4 | 14 | 1 |
| Larry Rosenthal | 36 | 101 | 9 | 20 | .198 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| Tuck Stainback | 30 | 78 | 13 | 17 | .218 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| Johnny Cooney | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Paul Waner | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Bill Drescher | 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rip Collins | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .333 | 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 |
| Hank Borowy | 35 | 252.2 | 17 | 12 | 2.64 | 107 |
| Monk Dubiel | 30 | 232.0 | 13 | 13 | 3.38 | 79 |
| Tiny Bonham | 26 | 213.2 | 12 | 9 | 2.99 | 54 |
| Joe Page | 19 | 102.2 | 5 | 7 | 4.56 | 63 |
| Mel Queen | 10 | 81.2 | 6 | 3 | 3.31 | 30 |
| Spud Chandler | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Atley Donald | 30 | 159.0 | 13 | 10 | 3.34 | 48 |
| Bill Zuber | 22 | 107.0 | 5 | 7 | 4.21 | 59 |
| Steve Roser | 16 | 84.0 | 4 | 3 | 3.86 | 34 |
| Bill Bevens | 8 | 43.2 | 4 | 1 | 2.68 | 16 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Turner | 35 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3.46 | 13 |
| Johnny Johnson | 22 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4.05 | 11 |
| Al Lyons | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.54 | 14 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Kansas City Blues | American Association | Jack Saltzgaver |
| AA | Newark Bears | International League | Billy Meyer |
| A | Binghamton Triplets | Eastern League | Gene Martin |
| B | Norfolk Tars | Piedmont League | Garland Braxton |
| D | Wellsville Yankees | PONY League | Solly Mishkin |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Binghamton