1939 Cincinnati Reds season

1939  Cincinnati Reds
National League Champions
League	National League
Ballpark	Crosley Field
City	Cincinnati
Owners	Powel Crosley, Jr.
General managers	Warren Giles
Managers	Bill McKechnie
Radio	WCPO (Harry Hartman) WSAI (Roger Baker, Dick Bray)
←  1938 Seasons 1940  →

The 1939 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished first in the National League, winning the pennant by 4+1⁄2 games over the St. Louis Cardinals with a record of 97–57. The team went on to the 1939 World Series, which they lost in four straight games to the New York Yankees.

Regular season

During the season, Paul Derringer and Bucky Walters became the last pitchers to win at least 25 games in one season for the Reds in the 20th century. ^[1]

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	97	57	0.630	—	55–25	42–32
St. Louis Cardinals	92	61	0.601	4½	51–27	41–34
Brooklyn Dodgers	84	69	0.549	12½	51–27	33–42
Chicago Cubs	84	70	0.545	13	44–34	40–36
New York Giants	77	74	0.510	18½	41–33	36–41
Pittsburgh Pirates	68	85	0.444	28½	35–42	33–43
Boston Bees	63	88	0.417	32½	37–35	26–53
Philadelphia Phillies	45	106	0.298	50½	29–44	16–62

Record vs. opponents

1939 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–12–1	6–16	6–16	10–11	13–8	9–12	9–13
Brooklyn	12–10–1	—	11–11–2	10–12	12–10	17–4–1	13–9	9–13
Chicago	16–6	11–11–2	—	10–12	11–11	12–10	14–8	10–12
Cincinnati	16–6	12–10	12–10	—	11–11	19–3	16–6	11–11–2
New York	11–10	10–12	11–11	11–11	—	14–7	11–11	9–12
Philadelphia	8–13	4–17–1	10–12	3–19	7–14	—	8–14	5–17
Pittsburgh	12–9	9–13	8–14	6–16	11–11	14–8	—	8–14
St. Louis	13–9	13–9	12–10	11–11–2	12–9	17–5	14–8	—

Notable transactions

• August 19, 1939: Milt Shoffner was selected off waivers by the Reds from the Boston Bees. ^[2]
• August 31, 1939: Al Simmons was purchased by the Reds from the Boston Bees. ^[3]

Roster

1939 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers 37 Red Barrett 37 Peaches Davis 30 Paul Derringer 42 Lee Grissom 14 Art Jacobs 14 Hank Johnson 36 Wes Livengood 35 Whitey Moore 38 Pete Naktenis 36 Johnny Niggeling 14 Elmer Riddle 37 Milt Shoffner 39 Junior Thompson 33 Johnny Vander Meer 31 Bucky Walters 34 Jim Weaver		Catchers  5 Willard Hershberger  4 Ernie Lombardi  3 Jimmie Wilson Infielders 11 Lonny Frey 19 Milt Galatzer 17 Eddie Joost 10 Frank McCormick 12 Billy Myers 45 Nolen Richardson 15 Lew Riggs 18 Billy Werber		Outfielders 22 Wally Berger 27 Nino Bongiovanni 26 Frenchy Bordagaray 23 Harry Craft 28 Vince DiMaggio 25 Lee Gamble 24 Ival Goodman 36 Bud Hafey 38 Al Simmons 34,38 Dick West Other batters 16 Les Scarsella		Manager  1 Bill McKechnie Coaches  2 Hank Gowdy  3 Jimmie Wilson

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Ernie Lombardi	130	450	129	.287	20	85
1B	Frank McCormick	156	630	209	.332	18	128
2B	Lonny Frey	125	484	141	.291	11	55
SS	Billy Myers	151	509	143	.281	9	56
3B	Billy Werber	147	599	173	.289	5	57
OF	Ival Goodman	124	470	152	.323	7	84
OF	Harry Craft	134	502	129	.257	13	67
OF	Wally Berger	97	329	85	.258	14	44

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Lee Gamble	72	221	59	.267	0	14
Willard Hershberger	63	174	60	.345	0	32
Nino Bongiovanni	27	159	41	.258	0	16
Eddie Joost	23	143	36	.252	0	14
Frenchy Bordagaray	63	122	24	.197	0	12
Lew Riggs	22	38	6	.158	0	1
Al Simmons	9	21	3	.143	0	1
Dick West	8	19	4	.211	0	4
Vince DiMaggio	8	14	1	.071	0	2
Les Scarsella	16	14	2	.143	0	0
Bud Hafey	6	13	2	.154	0	1
Milt Galatzer	3	5	0	.000	0	0
Jimmie Wilson	4	3	1	.333	0	0
Nolen Richardson	1	3	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bucky Walters	39	319.0	27	11	2.29	137
Paul Derringer	38	301.0	25	7	2.93	128
Whitey Moore	42	187.2	13	12	3.45	81

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Lee Grissom	33	153.2	9	7	4.10	53
Junior Thompson	42	152.1	13	5	2.54	87
Johnny Vander Meer	30	129.0	5	9	4.67	102
Johnny Niggeling	10	40.1	2	1	5.80	20
Milt Shoffner	10	37.2	2	2	3.35	6

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Peaches Davis	20	1	0	2	6.26	4
Hank Johnson	20	0	3	1	2.01	10
Wes Livengood	5	0	0	0	5.93	4
Jim Weaver	3	0	0	0	3.00	3
Pete Naktenis	3	0	0	0	2.25	1
Red Barrett	2	0	0	0	1.69	1
Elmer Riddle	1	0	0	0	0.00	0
Art Jacobs	1	0	0	1	9.00	1

1939 World Series

Main article: 1939 World Series

Game 1

October 4, 1939, at Yankee Stadium in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cincinnati (N)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0
New York (A)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	6	0
W: Red Ruffing (1–0)  L: Paul Derringer (0–1)

In the opening game of the 1939 World Series, starters Paul Derringer of the Reds and Red Ruffing of the Yankees each pitched complete games. Cincinnati struck first in the top of the 4th inning, as with two outs, Ival Goodman walked, then stole second base, putting him in scoring position. Frank McCormick then hit a single to left field, scoring Goodman and giving the Reds an early 1–0 lead.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Yankees Joe Gordon hit a one out single. The next Yankees hitter, Babe Dahlgren, followed with a double to left field, scoring Gordon and tying the game 1–1.

The game would remain tied until the bottom of the 9th inning, as Yankees right fielder Charlie Keller hit a triple to right field with one out, putting the winning run on third base. Derringer then intentionally walked Joe DiMaggio, putting runners on first and third, setting up a possible double play with Yankees catcher Bill Dickey batting next. Dickey hit a single to centerfield, scoring Keller, giving the Yankees a 2–1 victory and taking an early 1–0 series lead.

Paul Derringer pitched the complete game, allowing six hits and two runs, while striking out seven Yankees hitters.

Game 2

October 5, 1939, at Yankee Stadium in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cincinnati (N)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
New York (A)	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	x	4	9	0
W: Monte Pearson (1–0)  L: Bucky Walters (0–1)
HR: : NYY – Babe Dahlgren (1)

The second game of the series took only 87 minutes to play, as both the Reds Bucky Walters and the Yankees Monte Pearson would pitch complete games. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 3rd inning, as Yankees first baseman Babe Dahlgren led off the inning with a ground-rule double to left field. Yankees pitcher Monte Pearson had a sacrifice bunt, moving Dahlgren to third base with one out. The next New York hitter, leadoff man Frankie Crosetti, grounded out to Reds shortstop Billy Myers, as Dahlgren scored from third base, giving the Yankees a 1–0 lead. With two outs, the Yankees Red Rolfe then singled off of Walters to right field. Charlie Keller then came to bat and hit a double left field, scoring Rolfe and giving New York a 2–0 lead. Joe DiMaggio then kept the inning alive for the Yankees, as he hit a weak ground ball to third base, fielded by the Reds pitcher Walters, as DiMaggio reached first base, while Keller moved to third. Yankees catcher Bill Dickey then stepped up and hit a line drive single to right field, as the Yankees took a 3–0 lead after three innings.

In the bottom of the 4th inning, Babe Dahlgren of the Yankees hit the first home run of the World Series, a solo shot to left field, as New York took a commanding 4–0 lead.

The Reds would only muster up two hits in the game, as Monte Pearson shut down Cincinnati, striking out eight batters, in the Yankees 4–0 win as New York took a 2–0 series lead.

Game 3

October 7, 1939, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (A)	2	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	0	7	5	1
Cincinnati (N)	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	10	0
W: Bump Hadley (1–0)   L: Junior Thompson (0–1)
HR: NYY – Charlie Keller (1, 2), Joe DiMaggio (1), Bill Dickey (1)

The series shifted to Crosley Field for game three, as it was the first time since the 1919 World Series that the city of Cincinnati hosted a World Series game. Junior Thompson got the start for the Reds against Lefty Gomez for the Yankees. New York got off to a quick start in the 1st inning, as leadoff batter Frankie Crosetti earned a walk, then moved to second base on a groundout by Red Rolfe. Charlie Keller came up to bat next for New York, and he hit a two-run home run to deep right field, giving the Yankees a 2–0 lead.

In the bottom of the 1st inning, with two outs, the Reds Ival Goodman and Frank McCormick hit back-to-back singles, putting runners on first and third base. Ernie Lombardi then singled to center field, scoring Goodman, as the Reds cut the Yankees lead to 2–1.

In the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Yankees replaced Gomez with Bump Hadley, and the Reds took advantage of the pitching change. With one out, Billy Myers and Junior Thompson hit back-to-back singles, putting runners on first and third. Reds leadoff man Billy Werber then hit a single to center field, scoring Myers, moved Thompson to third base, and tying the game 2–2. Lonny Frey then hit a grounder to Yankees first baseman Babe Dahlgren as Thompson broke for home, however, Dahlgren threw out Thompson at the plate, keeping the game tied. The next Reds batter, Ival Goodman, then singled to right field, scoring Werber and giving Cincinnati a 3–2 lead in the game.

In the top of the 3rd inning, the Yankees responded, as Charlie Keller earned a two-out walk. The next hitter, Joe DiMaggio, made the Reds pay for the walk, as he blasted a two-run home run to deep center field, restoring the lead for New York at 4–3.

The Yankees took control of the game in the top of the 5th inning, as with one out, Red Rolfe hit a single to right field. The next batter, Charlie Keller, then hit a two-run home run, extending the lead to 6–3 for New York. After getting Joe DiMaggio to pop out to third base for the second out, the Yankees Bill Dickey hit the second home run of the inning for New York, extending their lead to 7–3. As a result, the Reds replaced pitcher Junior Thompson with Lee Grissom.

Grissom pitched well over the next 1.1 innings, allowing no hits and walking one batter. Whitey Moore then pitched the final three innings for Cincinnati, allowing no hits or walks, however, the damage was done, as New York won the game 7–3 and took a 3–0 series lead.

Game 4

October 8, 1939, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
New York (A)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	3	7	7	1
Cincinnati (N)	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	4	11	4
W: Johnny Murphy (1–0)   L: Bucky Walters (0–2)
HR: NYY – Charlie Keller (3), Bill Dickey (2)

Down 3–0 in the series, the Reds started staff ace Paul Derringer in the fourth game, hoping to extend the series. Derringer pitched a complete game in the first game of the series in a 2–1 loss. The Yankees started Oral Hildebrand for the fourth game. Hildebrand pitched four innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits and striking out three before handing the ball off to Steve Sundra in the fifth inning in a 0–0 game.

The Yankees finally broke the scoreless tie in the top of the 7th inning, as Charlie Keller led the inning off with his third home run of the World Series, giving New York a 1–0 lead. After getting Joe DiMaggio to fly out to left field, the Yankees Bill Dickey hit his second home run of the series, extending the lead to 2–0.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, the Reds Frank McCormick led the inning off with a grounder to third base, however, Red Rolfe made a fielding error, putting McCormick on first base. After Ernie Lombardi struck out, Al Simmons hit a double to deep left-center field, moving McCormick to third base. Next, Wally Berger hit a grounder to Yankees shortstop Frankie Crosetti, who threw Berger out at first base, as McCormick came into score, cutting New York's lead to 2–1. With two outs, Billy Myers walked, putting runners at first and second base with Paul Derringer due up. The Reds decided to pinch hit for Derringer, as Willard Hershberger went up to bat in his place. Hershberger then hit a short fly ball to center field, which dropped for a single, allowing Simmons to score and tying the game 2–2 while Myers moved to third. The next Reds batter, Billy Werber, hit a line drive single to right field, giving Cincinnati their first lead of the game, as the Reds took a 3–2 lead.

In the bottom of the 8th, Ival Goodman hit a leadoff double off of Yankees pitcher Johnny Murphy. Up next, Frank McCormick had a sacrifice bunt groundout to first base, moving Goodman over to third base with one out. Ernie Lombardi then hits a single to center field, scoring Goodman, as the Reds take a 4–2 lead into the ninth inning.

With Bucky Walters now pitching for Cincinnati, as he entered the game in the 8th inning after Paul Derringer was pinch hit for in the 7th, the Yankees Charlie Keller leads off the inning with a single to right field. The following batter, Joe DiMaggio, hits a single left field, as Keller reaches third base on the play. Yankees catcher Bill Dickey steps up to the plate next, as he hits a grounder to Reds second baseman Lonny Frey. Frey threw it to shortstop Billy Myers, who dropped the throw, allowing DiMaggio to be safe on the play, and Keller to score, as the Yankees cut the Reds lead to 4–3 with runners on first and second base. The Yankees George Selkirk hits a line drive to right field for the first out of the inning, however, DiMaggio tags up and runs to third base. Joe Gordon then hits a ground ball single to third base, scoring DiMaggio, as New York tied the game 4–4. The Reds are able to get out of the inning, as Babe Dahlgren pops out to first base, and Johnny Murphy struck out looking.

As the Reds were unable to score in the bottom of the 9th inning, the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Yankees Frankie Crosetti leads off the inning with a walk. Red Rolfe then hits a sacrifice bunt first base, moving Crosetti to second base. Up next, Charlie Keller hit a ground ball to shortstop Billy Myers, however, Goodman committed an error, allowing Crosetti to move to third base, and Keller safe at first. The Yankees next hitter, Joe DiMaggio, hit a single to right field, allowing Crosetti to score to make the score 5–4. On the play, Reds right fielder Ival Goodman wasn't able to field to ball properly, allowing Keller to score on the play, making it 6–4. With DiMaggio running home, Reds catcher Ernie Lombardi wasn't able to tag him out, as the Yankees took a commanding 7–4 lead.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, looking for three runs to tie the game, the Reds Ival Goodman and Frank McCormick hit back-to-back singles, putting the tying run up to the plate. Ernie Lombardi was the first out of the inning, as he popped out to Yankees catcher Bill Dickey. Al Simmons then lined out to right field, followed by a Wally Berger line out to Yankees shortstop Frankie Crosetti, as the Yankees won the game 7–4 and swept the series in four games with their fourth consecutive World Series championship.

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Indianapolis Indians	American Association	Ray Schalk and Wes Griffin
A1	Birmingham Barons	Southern Association	Dutch Zwilling
A	Albany Senators	Eastern League	Rabbit Maranville
B	Durham Bulls	Piedmont League	Oscar Roettger
B	Columbia Reds	Sally League	Johnny Burnett
B	Waterloo Red Hawks	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Cap Crossley
C	El Dorado Lions	Cotton States League	Frank O'Rourke
C	Helena Seaporters	Cotton States League	Buster Blakeney
C	Erie Sailors	Middle Atlantic League	Jocko Munch
C	Ogden Reds	Pioneer League	Bill McCorry
C	Muskogee Reds	Western Association	Lester "Pat" Patterson
D	Bassett Furniture Makers	Bi-State League	Walter Novak

^[4]

Notes

1. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.98, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN   978-0-451-22363-0
2. Milt Shoffner page at Baseball Reference
3. Al Simmons page at Baseball Reference
4. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 1939 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference