The Boys Who Were Left Behind: The 1944 World Series Between the Hapless St. Louis Browns And the Legendary St. Louis Cardinals

by John Heidenry

When the New York Times sportswriter Arthur Daley called the 1944 St. Louis Browns “the most astonishing ball club ever to reach the World Series,” he wasn’t handing out bouquets. An ill-assorted collection of castoffs, 4-Fs, no-accounts, farm boys, and brawlers with not much more than a few minor league games under their belts, the team was playing professional ball for only one the best players had been drafted or had enlisted. Adding to the drama, these misfits were facing the fabled St. Louis Cardinals and their mvp, Stan Musial, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. The story of this unlikely meeting between crosstown rivals—dubbed the “Streetcar Series” because so many fans took the trolley to Sportsman’s Park—is told here for the first time. Mining a treasure trove of coverage, including on-the-spot commentary by the Hall of Fame sportswriter Bob Broeg, the authors bring this contest between baseball’s David and Goliath vividly to life, giving readers a sense of what this suspenseful six-day series must have meant both to those on the homefront and U.S. servicemen around the world. A marvel of American sportsmanship, patriotism, and boyish innocence, the Streetcar Series will forever be remembered as the best and the “worst” of an era long past.

Genres: Sports, Baseball

173 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

About the author

Founding editor of St. Louis Magazine and the St. Louis Literary Supplement. Former executive editor of The Week.

Reviews

[Jazz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Besides being a really good read, this book is essential to understanding Philip Roth's "The Great American Novel," his 1973 satire of professional baseball in the World War II years. I was lucky to have found it, as it provides the historical context for his book.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to read while I was in St. Louis that tells the story of the 1944 World Series between the favorite St. Louis Cardinals and the upstart underdog St. Louis Browns in their only Fall Classic. The city came together that Fall as all six games were played at Sportsman Park. This book tells the story on how the series was going on at the same time as WWII and how many of the great players were off at war. I kind of wish this book had been longer, it's only 150 pages and even skims through the last three games of the World Series. I like John Heidenry's book on the 1934 Cardinals a lot more, but this is still a good read.