MVP Profile: Hal Newhouser, 1944

Pitcher, Detroit Tigers

Age:  23 (May 20)

5^th season with Tigers

Bats – Left, Throws – Left

Height: 6’2”    Weight: 180

Prior to 1944:

A Detroit native, Newhouser was the son of a Czech immigrant gymnast. A fine all-around athlete in his youth, he became a pitcher in a sandlot baseball league at 15. Thin and with the ability to throw hard, Newhouser was a serious-minded perfectionist who could be hard on teammates, a trait that would last into adulthood. Pitching for an American Legion team in 1937, he excelled with his fastball and curve, although he had occasional difficulty with his control. At 17, he signed with the hometown Tigers in 1938, whose scout got to him just before the Cleveland Indians could make him an offer. With two minor league teams in 1939, the 18-Year-old Newhouser produced a 13-18 record with a 3.21 ERA. He was called up for one late-September game with the Tigers and lost. Sticking with Detroit in 1940 he went 9-9 with a 4.86 ERA and 89 strikeouts The Tigers edged the Indians and Yankees for the pennant and the temperamental “Prince Hal” was not used during the World Series loss to Cincinnati. He remained inconsistent in 1941 and the brooding loner posted a 9-11 tally and 4.79 ERA with 137 walks and 106 strikeouts. Exempted from World War II military duty due to a heart condition, Newhouser’s mound performance improved to 8-14 with a 2.45 ERA in 1942 for the fifth-place Tigers. With pitching ranks depleted by the war, he also was an All-Star for the first time. He had difficulty with control in 1943 and was 8-17 with a 3.04 ERA and 144 strikeouts along with a league-leading 111 walks over the course of 195.2 innings pitched. During spring training in 1944 he worked with catcher Paul Richards to develop a slider to add to his arsenal and to harness his emotions as well.

1944 Season Summary

Appeared in 47 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 47 [4, tied with Ed Klieman]

Games Started – 34 [3]

Complete Games – 25 [2]

Wins – 29 [1]

Losses – 9

PCT - .763 [2]

Saves – 2 [12, tied with nine others]

Shutouts – 6 [2]

Innings Pitched – 312.1 [2]

Hits – 264 [3]

Runs – 94 [12, tied with four others]

Earned Runs – 77 [16, tied with Mickey Haefner]

Home Runs – 6

Bases on Balls – 102 [2]

Strikeouts – 187 [1]

ERA – 2.22 [2]

Hit Batters – 1

Balks – 2 [1, tied with Carl Scheib, Al Lyons & Jack Kramer]

Wild Pitches – 4 [13, tied with nine others]

League-leading wins were +2 ahead of runner-up Dizzy Trout

League-leading strikeouts were +43 ahead of runner-up Dizzy Trout

Midseason Snapshot: 13-5, ERA - 1.93, SO - 77 in 149 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 9 (in 9 IP) at Washington 6/29, (in 9 IP) at Cleveland 9/15, (in 9 IP) vs. Phila. A’s 9/27

10+ strikeout games – 0

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 9 IP) at Washington 6/29

Batting

PA – 132, AB – 120, R – 10, H – 29, 2B – 4, 3B – 0, HR – 0, RBI – 5, BB – 6, SO – 12, SB – 1, CS – 0, AVG - .242, GDP – 5, HBP – 0, SH – 6, SF – N/A

Fielding

Chances – 71

Put Outs – 9

Assists – 61

Errors – 1

DP – 5

Pct. - .986

Awards & Honors:

AL MVP: BBWAA

AL Pitcher of the Year: Sporting News

All-Star

Top 5 in AL MVP Voting:

Hal Newhouser, Det.: 236 pts. – 7 of 24 first place votes, 70% share

Dizzy Trout, Det.: 232 pts. – 10 first place votes, 69% share

Vern Stephens, StLB.: 193 pts. – 4 first place votes, 57% share

George Stirnweiss, NYY: 129 pts. – 1 first place vote, 38% share

Dick Wakefield, Det.: 128 pts. – 2 first place votes, 38% share

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Tigers went 88-66 to finish second in the AL, 1 game behind the pennant-winning St. Louis Browns. The pitching staff led the league in ERA (3.09), complete games (87), shutouts (20), and fewest earned runs allowed (480). Buoyed by the pitching tandem of Newhouser and RHP Dizzy Trout, the Tigers battled the Browns and Yankees and were a game in front heading into the season’s final weekend. Losing two games to the Washington Senators, they finished in second place as the Browns swept the Yanks.

Aftermath of ‘44:

The Tigers won a close AL pennant race in 1945 and Newhouser was again the league MVP as he compiled a 25-9 record with a league-best 1.81 ERA and 212 strikeouts, which also topped the circuit. He was 2-1 in the World Series victory over the Chicago Cubs, losing badly in the opener but winning the fifth and seventh games. In the offseason he was offered $200,000 over three years to pitch in the Mexican League, as Jorge Pasquel, the league’s president and principal team owner, sought to raid the major leagues for talent. Offered a $10,000 bonus to stay with Detroit, Newhouser had another outstanding season in 1946 while facing the talent returning from military service. The Tigers dropped to second place and Newhouser went 26-9 with a league-leading 1.94 ERA as well as 275 strikeouts. He finished second in league MVP voting this time. A forerunner of modern pitchers, he had his games taped and ran the movies between starts to search for flaws in his delivery. Detroit again finished second in 1947 and “Prince Hal” had a 17-17 record with a 2.87 ERA, AL-leading 24 complete games, and 176 strikeouts. He bounced back to 21-12 in 1948 with a 3.01 ERA and 143 strikeouts. Dealing with a sore shoulder and relying on finesse rather than speed, Newhouser had an 18-11 tally in 1949 with a 3.36 ERA and 144 strikeouts. In 1950 the production was 15-13 with a 4.34 ERA and 87 strikeouts. Missing half of 1951 due to the ongoing shoulder woes, his record dropped to 6-6 and a 3.92 ERA in just 15 appearances. The downward spiral continued with a 9-9 mark in 25 appearances in 1952 and 0-1 with a 7.06 ERA in 7 games in 1953. Released by the Tigers and contemplating retirement, he signed with the Cleveland Indians as a reliever in 1954 at the invitation of GM Hank Greenberg, his former teammate. The Indians won the AL pennant and Newhouser contributed a 7-2 record and 7 saves plus a 2.51 ERA as part of an effective bullpen. He appeared in just two games in 1955 before retiring. For his major league career he compiled a 207-150 record with a 3.06 ERA, 26 saves, 33 shutouts, and 1796 strikeouts over 2993 innings. With the Tigers he was 200-148 with a 3.07 ERA, 212 complete games, 33 shutouts, 19 saves, and 1770 strikeouts. During the three-year stretch from 1944 to ’46, he went 80-27 with a 1.99 ERA. Appearing in four World Series games he was 2-1 with 22 strikeouts over 20.2 innings. Newhouser remains the only pitcher to win MVP awards over two consecutive seasons and was also a seven-time All-Star. The Tigers retired his #16 and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992, six years before his death at age 77.

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MVP Profiles feature players in the National or American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award (1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present) as Most Valuable Player.