1944 Browns: Champs At Last! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Luke Sewell

Sewell and Jimmy McAleer were the only managers to have 3 winning seasons as manager of the Browns. Sewell's record as manager of St. Louis was 432 wins, 410 losses, and 8 ties.

Answer: True

The Browns led the league in only one category, with their pitching staff leading the league in strikeouts (581), but not in any offensive category. They were second in runs scored (684 to Boston's 739) and home runs (72 to New York's 96). They also finished 7th (in an 8-team league) in batting average, hitting .258 as a team.

Answer: Vern Stephens

In his time with the Browns (1941-48, 1953), "Buster" hit 113 pitches into the outfield seats. He led the Brownies in 1944 with 20 HR and led all of the American League in RBI with 109. After the 1947 season, Stephens was traded to the Boston Red Sox, where his offense exploded, hitting 29 homers in 1948, 39 in 1949 and 30 in 1950.

He also led the AL in RBI in 1949 (159) and 1950 (144). He finished his 15-year career with a .286 BA, 247 HR and 1174 RBI.

Answer: 0

Nels Potter was the ace of the staff, posting a 19-7 record, with an ERA of 2.83. Backing him up were fellow starters Jack Kramer (17-13, 2.49), Bob Muncrief (13-8, 3.08) and Sig Jakucki (13-9, 3.55).

Answer: 12

Caster, who had twice previously led the league in losses when he was with the Philadelphia A's, tied with Chicago's Gordon Maltzberger and Philly's Joe Berry for the AL lead in saves.

Answer: 1

Despite coming out of the gate 9-0, the Browns found themselves tied with Detroit on October 1. On the final day of the 1944 season, St. Louis finally brought home the pennant by defeating the New York Yankees 5-2, while the Tigers found themselves on the losing end of a 4-1 score against the Washington Senators.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

In the Gateway City's only post-season meeting of its major league teams, the 1944 World Series was played entirely at Sportsman Park, which served as home field for both the Cards and Browns during the season. This was unique in that it was only the 3rd time that all World Series games were played at the same stadium, with the teams trading off home field advantage.

The other two times were the 1921 and 1922 World Series, when the New York Yankees and the New York Giants squared off at the Polo Grounds.

Answer: George McQuinn

1st Baseman McQuinn was the only regular to provide any offense for the Brownies. McQuinn went 7 for 16 for a .438 BA in the Fall Classic. He also hit the Browns only HR of the Series, taking Mort Cooper deep in the 4th inning of Game 1. On the flip side, Stephens, the main offensive cog in the Browns line-up during the regular season, went 5 for 22 (.227), with only one extra-base hit, a double.

Answer: 2

The 1944 World Series, in which the Cards (105-49 in the regular season) and their lineup of RF Stan Musial, SS Marty Marion, and P Mort Cooper were heavily favored, was a lot closer than many believed it would be. Only two games were decided by more than two runs, those being Game 3, with the Browns winning 6-2, and Game 4, which saw the Cards on top 5-1.

The others were tight contests, as Games 5 and 6 were 2-run affairs, 2-0 and 3-1, respectively, both Cardinal victories, while Games 1 and 2 were one-run games, with the Browns taking Game 1 by a final score of 2-1, and Musial's Cardinals posting a 3-2 victory in Game 2.

Answer: True

The Browns had a team ERA of 1.49 versus that of 1.96 for the Cards. Also, while they only batted .183 as a team, the Browns pitching staff allowed the Cards to hit only .240, and the Cards scored only 16 runs to the Browns 12. So what led to the Browns defeat? Defense.

The Browns committed 10 errors, including 3 by 2B Don Gutteridge, while Stan Musial's error in Game 5 was the only one committed by the Cardinals' defense. This led to only 9 of the Card's 16 runs to be earned. All of the Browns runs were earned. Yet, in spite of this, the Browns held a 2 games to 1 lead going into Game 4. Cardinal pitchers took over from there, as they allowed the Browns only 2 runs total in Games 4, 5 and 6, to win the 1944 World Series 4 games to 2.