PLAYER of the MONTH

The Player for the Month of September 1944 is the RF for the St. Louis Bubonic Plague Stan (Stan the Man) 
Musial.  This is the second time this season Stan has won this award, he previously one it back in June.  
Stan has had a very consistent season for St. Louis playing at a high level the entire year.  He finished 
the month leading the league in average (.390), on-base percentage (.500), doubles (18), walks (26) and 
extra base hits (23).  Stan played in 30 games in September and had at least one hit in 24 of them 
including a ten game hitting streak.  He also had multiple base hits in 16 of those 24 games including 
two four hit games.  On top of everything else Stan had a slugging percentage of .642 with two triples 
and three home runs, knocked in 15 and scored 27 times with three stolen bases.

Other Player of the Month Candidates:

1B	Frank (Buck) McCormick of Montgomery who batted .362 (51-141) with a slugging percentage of .539 
with ten doubles and five home runs.  He also scored 23 times with 27 RBI, 13 walks and three stolen 
bases.  His 51 hits led the league

1B	Ray Sanders of Brooklyn who batted .353 (41-116) and a slugging percentage of .595 with eight 
doubles, one triple and six home runs.  Ray had the month of his career and chipped in with 23 runs 
scored, 26 RBI and 13 walks.

RF	Roy Cullenbine of North Dallas who continues to flex his home run muscles, by leading the league 
for the month with nine home runs.  He also batted .345 (38-110) with a slugging percentage of .645 with 
an additional four doubles and one triple.  Roy contributed with 23 runs scored and 26 RBI and 17 walks.

The Pitcher of the Month of September 1944 is RP Mike Ryba of the Montgomery Burns.  This is Mike second 
stint with Montgomery after being signed as a free agent in 1938 and again in 1941.  In his first full 
season in the DBS Mike powered through the competition and with the Month of September broke the single 
season save record (38) previously held by Roy Kolp when he saved 31 games back in 1932.  Mike was 2-1 in 
September with 10 saves in 23 appearances with an ERA of 1.91 allowing only eight earned runs in 37.66 
innings of work.  Most of Mike’s saves were of the 2 inning variety and he had a nine game appearance 
streak where he did not allow an earned run.  He also appeared in four straight games from September 
16th through the 19th.  He finished the month striking out 20, while only walking five and giving up 33 
hits.

Other Pitcher of the Month Candidates:

SP	Mort Cooper of Montgomery who was 4-1 in September in seven starts with four complete games and 
two shutouts.  Mort’s ERA was 2.03 with 13 earned runs in 57.66 innings of work.  Mort also struck out 
31, with 33 hits, but was hurt by the long ball, giving up seven home runs.

RP	Freddy Schmidt of Muskegon who was 4-1 with four saves in 16 appearances and an ERA of 2.52 with 
seven earned runs in 25 innings.  Freddy struck out 19 and allowed 21 hits.

SP	Steve Gromek of Harlem who was 4-1 in September in seven appearances, including six starts and 
three complete games.  Steve finished with an ERA of 2.61 with 14 earned runs in 48.33 innings.  Steve 
struck out 41 while walking 18 and allowing 42 hits.