Though the Cardinals were two-time defending National League champions, the American League Browns became the darlings of the St. Louis sports scene early in the 1944 season.
In April 1944, the Browns set an American League record by winning their first nine games.
Picked by national baseball scribes to finish fifth in the eight-team league, the Browns’ season-opening hot streak caught most people by surprise. The year before, the 1943 Browns finished 72-80 and 25 games out of first place.
On the eve of the 1944 season opener, Browns manager Luke Sewell told the Associated Press, “I can’t tell you what the Browns will do this year, but I know darned well we won’t be last. A lot depends on our pitching.”
The Browns held foes to two runs or less in six of the nine wins in the streak.
Jack Kramer, a Navy veteran who spent most of the 1943 season with the minor-league Toledo Mud Hens, was 3-0 with an 0.68 ERA during the streak. Nelson Potter and Steve Sundra each got two wins. George Caster and Sig Jakucki got one win apiece.
Vern Stephens, the Browns’ 23-year-old shortstop and cleanup hitter, batted .344 during the streak and first baseman George McQuinn hit .333.
The Browns’ stock price rose from $2.25 a share on Opening Day to $3.75 a share at the height of the streak.
The nine consecutive wins by the Browns shattered the American League record of seven consecutive wins to start a season set by the 1933 Yankees. The Browns tied the major-league mark held by two National League clubs, the 1918 Giants and 1940 Dodgers. Since then, the 1982 Braves and the 1987 Brewers each achieved the major-league record of 13 consecutive wins to start a season.
Here is a look at each of the Browns’ nine wins in the streak:
Win No. 1
The Browns opened the season on April 18 with a 2-1 victory at Detroit against the Tigers. The Browns scored in the first inning against Dizzy Trout and added another in the ninth on a home run by Stephens.
In the bottom of the ninth, Kramer struck out the first two batters before yielding a home run to Pinky Higgins. After Jimmy Outlaw singled, Caster, the Browns’ bullpen ace, relieved. Caster walked Don Ross before getting Bob Swift to ground out, ending the game. Boxscore
Win No. 2
Sundra, who five years earlier posted an 11-1 record for the 1939 Yankees, pitched a three-hitter for the Browns in their 3-1 triumph against the Tigers. Boxscore
Win No. 3
The Browns completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers with an 8-5 victory. Stephens had a RBI-single and a two-run double against Tigers ace Hal Newhouser. Boxscore
Win No. 4
The Browns beat the White Sox, 5-3, in the April 21 home opener before 2,021 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Mike Kreevich, a 5-foot-7 right fielder who had no home runs in 60 games for the 1943 Browns, hit a two-run home run in the first inning against Thornton Lee and a solo homer off Lee in the sixth. Boxscore
Win No. 5
In the first game of a Sunday doubleheader against the White Sox before 7,709 at St. Louis, the Browns won, 5-2. Kramer pitched a complete game and hit a two-run home run off Bill Dietrich in the second inning. Boxscore
Win No. 6
The Browns completed the doubleheader sweep with a 4-3 win. With the White Sox ahead, 3-1, the Browns rallied for a run in the seventh and two in the eighth. Al Zarilla drove in the winning run with a single. Boxscore
The Post-Dispatch reported, “Those are strange expressions you see on the faces of followers of the Browns today as they stagger around in a daze thinking of the club’s six-game winning streak.”
In The Sporting News, Frederick G. Lieb wrote, “St. Louis is holding its breath to see how long it lasts.”
Win No. 7
In the first of a two-game series versus the Indians, the Browns won, 5-2, before 960 spectators at St. Louis. “Leaden skies and weather too chilly for grandstand comfort held down the attendance,” according to the Post-Dispatch.
The Browns broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the sixth against Allie Reynolds. The big hit was a two-run double by Stephens. Boxscore
Win No. 8
The Browns established an American League record for most wins to start a season with a 5-1 triumph over the Indians before 1,106 witnesses at St. Louis. Stephens had a two-run single in the first and Hal Epps, a light-hitting outfielder, had his first RBI of the season with a two-run single in the second. Boxscore
Asked about setting the record, Sewell replied to The Sporting News, “I still get hungry at meal time and still get sleepy at bed time. Maybe I’m pleased, but otherwise I don’t feel any different from the days before the season started.”
Win No. 9
In the opener of a series against the White Sox at Chicago, Kramer pitched a four-hitter and the Browns won, 3-1. Boxscore
The rest of the story
The streak ended on April 29 with a 4-3 loss to the White Sox at Chicago. The Browns had a 3-0 lead, but the White Sox scored two in the seventh, one in the eighth and the winning run in the ninth. Boxscore
The Browns and Tigers went into the last game of the regular season tied atop the American League standings. When the Browns beat the Yankees, 5-2, at St. Louis and the Tigers were defeated, 4-1, by the Senators at Detroit, the Browns finished 89-65, one win better than the Tigers at 88-66. The Browns were 13-9 versus the Tigers in 1944.
In the World Series, the Cardinals, National League pennant winners for the third consecutive year, won four of six against the Browns for the championship.
RetroSimba 
I think Vern Stephens deserves serious Hall of Fame consideration. It’s too bad that the Browns’ star third baseman (and my Uncle’s favorite Brown), Harlund Clift was gone by 1944. He had some big pre-war years for the Browns, but injuries shortened his career.
Thanks. Good points. Vern Stephens is one of the best-hitting shortstops all-time. He produced 1,859 hits and 1,174 RBI. He was an 8-time all-star in the American League. He six times hit 20 or more home runs in a season. He three times led the AL in RBI _ 109 with 1944 Browns, 159 with 1949 Red Sox and 144 with 1950 Red Sox. Harlond Clift played 10 years (1934-43) for the Browns as their 3rd baseman and had 1,463 hits in 1,443 games for them. He had 5 consecutive seasons (1937-41) with 80 or more RBI and twice topped 100. He also hit 20 or more home runs four times. It is indeed unfortunate the Browns dealt him to Senators in August 1943 and he missed out on the 1944 championship season.
Thank you for showing this piece on the Browns. This inspired me to do some research on my own. I didn’t know that the DeWitt family had ties to them I had always known about Eddie Gaedel, but would have never guessed that the uniform he wore when he pinched hit belongs to our current owner.
I’m glad you discovered the connection between the DeWitt family and the Browns. It is amazing that current Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr., is the son of the former Browns owner, Bill DeWitt Sr. A St. Louis native, DeWitt Sr. was general manager of the Browns in their 1944 championship season and he and his brother owned the club from 1948-51.