The Cardinals vs the Browns
75 years ago this year Major League Baseball saw the first, and only, all St. Louis World Series when the National League Cardinals played the American League Browns. The National Baseball Hall of Fame has a great article about the series.
I was surprised to learn that the series took place entirely at Sportsman’s Park, the home of the Browns, and was played over six consecutive days. Can you imagine today’s games going back-to-back like that? It would never happen.
The series also saw baseball great and Cardinals legend Stan Musial, then 23, who went on to report to the Navy in 1945. I’m fairly young so my mind can barely comprehend how strange it is to see baseball players joining the war effort, another thing that I don’t think would happen today. A baseball player as a spy definitely wouldn’t.
With a war raging overseas and uncertainty overwhelming the nation, a unique World Series was taking place pitting two teams who shared the same home ballpark.
The 1944 World Series, considered a David versus Goliath matchup at the time, was an all-St. Louis affair featuring the prodigious Cardinals, a franchise having just won its third consecutive National League pennant, and the plucky Browns, the winners of its first American League pennant in its 43rd year of existence…
With no travel days needed, the 1944 Fall Classic was played over six consecutive day games from Oct. 4-9.
If you are a fan of baseball, and especially baseball history, go read the article. It really is a great read.