Our countdown on the 50 greatest teams in baseball (called the best 50 balls) today poured into the 1944 St. Louis Cardinals sixth place. Ranking from my new book The best team in baseball.
Here is a quick boilerplate note attached to each story I have in this series:
I compiled the best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major league teams from 1903 to 2024. (The historical percentile for a given club is the percentage of its other 2,543 teams.)
Please refer to my book to explain my TS calculations. The book also offers a separate breakdown of the best and worst clubs every decade, along with a comprehensive overview of the best 50 (including a position-by-position lineup and more information than you will find in this newsletter), and a similar summary of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now enter today’s profile.
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Team: 1944 St. Louis Cardinals
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Team score: 91.706 points
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Ranking History: 6 of 2,544
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Historical percentile: 99.80%
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Seasonal record: 105-49 (.682)
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Season position: No. 1 in the National League
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Final identity: World Champion
The United States’ participation in World War II entered the third summer of 1944, and baseball began to show pressure. In the first two years of the war, even as more and more players enlisted or were selected, the quality of major league balls remained quite strong. But by 1944, the deterioration became obvious. By the start of the 44 season, about 340 major leagues were wearing military or naval uniforms.
Some teams were destroyed by military calls, while others were barely affected. Cardinals belong to the latter category. Stan Musical His draft committee has not been summoned, pre-war injury exempts star Mott Cooper and Marty Marion From military service.
The card breezes in the National League and takes seven games in mid-June, eventually expanding its profit margin to 14.5 games. “Every day, you know you’re going to win,” said St. Louis Left Domestic House. Danny Litwhiler. “If you lose, so what? We’ll get them tomorrow. We did. It’s so easy.”
Get a complete low in 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
The 1944 National League Pennant was the eighth place the St. Louis Cardinals won, an unfamiliar level of the city’s American League franchise. The Browns never qualified for the World Series before winning the amazing AL championship in 1944.
The media calls it the tram series, although the contestants don’t need mass transport. Both the Cardinals and the Browns play football in the same stadium, Athlete Park, and their manager even allocated rent on an apartment. (One or the other is always on the road all the time in the regular season, of course.)
Most American fans are rooted in underdog Brown, who have won two of the first three games. But the card rally won the championship, sweeping the last three games with a total of 10-2.
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Still only 23 years old, Stan Music consolidated his superstar status a year after being named the National League Most Valuable Player in 1944. Musical didn’t repeat as an MVP, and he finished fourth in the voting – but he ranked first in the 44 years by multiple categories, including HITS (197), doubles (51) (51), base percentage (.440) (.440) and average (.549).
Almost everyone was fascinated by the easy-going Mustir. “If you don’t like Stan, you don’t like anyone,” said teammate Marty Marion. However, the opposing pitcher is not fascinated by his strength and consistent excellence. “I threw my best court and supported third place, and had a success with the Musical side.” Carl Erskineis a long-term pitcher for the Dodgers.
Marion lacks the skills of Musical on the plate. He defeated only .267 in 1944, never surpassing .280 in his 13-year career. But he taught classes in the fields himself. “I’ve seen a lot of shortstops today,” Connie Mc“But that guy is the best I’ve ever seen.” Red Smith, a well-known columnist, wrote: “Marion might go and get a ball with no choice.”
Midfielder Johnny Hopp (.336) and the catcher Walker Cooper (.317) added Musical (.347) with a batting average of more than .300. Sports writer Fred Lieb praised Hopp as “the most progressive player in the national league.” Cooper is a good brother of Mort Cooper, the Cardinal pitcher’s temperament ace. More scored a rotation with 22 wins, and he led the league with seven behind closed doors.
