This is part of an ongoing series chronicling the greatest teams in Cardinal history. If you’d like to see the others featured, please browse them all by CLICKING HERE.

In the next installment of the greatest teams feature we take a look back at the 1944 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. This team was and will be the only team in franchise history to face off against their cross city rivals the St. Louis Browns, for they left to be renamed the Baltimore Orioles about ten years after their loss in the World Series.  This team featured some of the greatest players and coaches in the franchise of the Cardinals great history including Stan Musial, and our own Cardinal Legends Billy Southworth, Harry Breechen, Mort Cooper, and Marty Marion.  Now let’s take a look back at one of the greatest teams in the history of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise:

Record: 105-49 WS Champions

Roster:

Manager: Billy Southworth (HOF)

Rotation:  Mort Cooper (22-7, 2.46 ERA, 22 complete games, 7 shut outs, 97 K’s.), Max Lanier (17-12, 2.65 ERA, 141 K’s.), Ted Wilks (17-4, 2.64 ERA, 70 K’s.), Harry Breechen (16-5, 2.85 ERA, 88 K’s.), Red Munger (11-3, 1.34 ERA, 55 K’s.)

Bullpen: Al Jurisich (7-9, 3.39 ERA, 53 K’s.), Freddy Schmidt (7-3, 3.15 ERA, 58 K’s.), Blix Donnelly (2-1, 2.12 ERA, 45 K’s.), Bud Byerly (2-2, 3.40 ERA, 13 K’s.)

Catchers: Walker Cooper (.317 AVG, 13 HR, 72 RBI’s.), Ken O’Dea (.249 AVG, 6 HR, 37 RBI.)

Infielders: Ray Sanders(.295 AVG, 12 HR, 102 RBI’s.), Emil Verban (.257 AVG, 0 HR, 43 RBI’s.), Marty Marion (.267 AVG, 6 HR, 61 RBI’s.), Whitey Kurowski (.270 AVG, 20 HR, 83 RBI’s.)

Outfielders: Stan Musial(.347 AVG, 14 triples, 12 HR, 94 RBI’s.), Johnny Hopp (.336 AVG, 11 HR, 72 RBI’s.), Danny Litwhiler (.264 AVG, 15 HR, 82 RBI’s.)

Awards won: 

• MVP- Marty Marion

Player Highlights: 

• Stan Musial was easily snubbed by Marty Marion in the MVP voting, Musial had a much better season batting .347, hitting 12 home runs, and driving in 94 RBI’s.