1949 Boston Red Sox season

Last updated

1949  Boston Red Sox
League American League
Ballpark Fenway Park
City Boston, Massachusetts
Record96–58 (62,3%)
League place2nd
Owners Tom Yawkey
President Tom Yawkey
General managers Joe Cronin
Managers Joe McCarthy
Television WBZ-TV/WNAC-TV
(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey, Bump Hadley)
Radio WHDH
(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey, Leo Egan)
Stats ESPN.com
Baseball Reference
←  1948 Seasons 1950  →

The 1949 Boston Red Sox season was the 49th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished second in the American League (AL) with a record of 96 wins and 58 losses, one game behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1949 World Series.

Contents

The Red Sox set a major-league record which still stands for the most base on balls by a team in a season, with 835. [1] Center fielder Dom DiMaggio had a 34-game hitting streak, which still stands as the club record for the major-league Red Sox. [2]

Regular season

During the season, Mel Parnell was the last pitcher to win at least 25 games in one season for the Red Sox in the 20th century. [3] George Kell beat Ted Williams for the American League batting title by 0.0002 percentage points. [4]

Ted Williams set a major league record for the most consecutive games reaching base safely with 84. The streak began on July 1, and ended on September 28. The streak was ended by Washington Senators pitcher Ray Scarborough. [4] Williams was in the on-deck circle when Johnny Pesky made the final out, depriving him of one more chance to extend the streak.

The trade that wasn't

In 1949, Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees GM Larry MacPhail verbally agreed to trade Joe DiMaggio for Williams, but MacPhail refused to include Yogi Berra. [5]

Yankees and Red Sox toe-to-toe

Joe DiMaggio came back from heel surgery to demolish the Red Sox in a three-game series at Fenway Park. He hit four home runs, three of them game winners. It sent the Sox reeling, and they fell 12.5 games back by July 4. But Boston rallied after that, going 60-21 (.741) in their next 81 games, and they consequently went into Yankee Stadium for the final two games of the schedule with a one-game lead. The Red Sox needed just one win in two games and were to pitch Mel Parnell in the first game. After trailing 4–0, the Yankees came back to beat Parnell 5–4, as Johnny Lindell hit an eighth-inning, game-winning, home run and Joe Page had a great relief appearance for New York. [6] [7] And so it came down to the last game of the season. It was Ellis Kinder facing Vic Raschi.

The Yankees led 1–0 after seven innings, having scored in the first. In the eighth inning, Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy lifted Kinder for pinch hitter Tom Wright, who walked but was then erased on a double play. With Kinder out of the game, McCarthy then brought in Mel Parnell in relief, even though Parnell had pitched 4 innings the previous day (in which he had given up 8 hits, two walks and four runs). Parnell immediately yielded a homer to Tommy Henrich and a single to Yogi Berra, and after those two batters was quickly replaced by Tex Hughson, who had been on the disabled list and said his arm still hurt. But he came on and, with the bases loaded, Jerry Coleman hit a soft liner that Al Zarilla in right field tried to make a shoestring catch, but he missed and it went for a triple and three runs. [8]

In the ninth inning the Red Sox rallied for three runs but still fell short. McCarthy was criticized for pinch-hitting for Kinder, particularly when there were no fully-rested, effective arms in the bullpen to replace Kinder on the mound. Hughson also claimed his manager ruined his career by making him pitch with a sore arm—Hughson, an eight-year Red Sox veteran, never again appeared in the major leagues after this game.

It was the second year in a row McCarthy's late-season managing was called into question. In 1948, McCarthy had chosen journeyman pitcher Denny Galehouse to start the tie breaker that decided who went to the 1948 World Series, and the Red Sox lost that tiebreaker to the Cleveland Indians.

Season standings

American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 9757.630—54‍–‍2343‍–‍34
Boston Red Sox 9658.623161‍–‍1635‍–‍42
Cleveland Indians 8965.578849‍–‍2840‍–‍37
Detroit Tigers 8767.5651050‍–‍2737‍–‍40
Philadelphia Athletics 8173.5261652‍–‍2529‍–‍48
Chicago White Sox 6391.4093432‍–‍4531‍–‍46
St. Louis Browns 53101.3444436‍–‍4117‍–‍60
Washington Senators 50104.3254726‍–‍5124‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1949 American League record

Sources:
TeamBOSCWSCLEDETNYYPHASLBWSH
Boston —17–58–1415–7–19–1314–815–718–4
Chicago 5–17—7–158–147–156–1615–715–7
Cleveland 14–815–7—13–910–129–1315–713–9
Detroit 7–15–114–89–13—11–1114–814–818–4
New York 13–915–712–1011–11—14–817–5–115–7
Philadelphia 8–1416–613–98–148–14—12–1016–6
St. Louis 7–157–157–158–145–17–110–12—9–13
Washington 4–187–159–134–187–156–1613–9—

Opening Day lineup

 7 Dom DiMaggio   CF
 6 Johnny Pesky 3B
 9 Ted Williams LF
 5 Vern Stephens SS
 1 Bobby Doerr 2B
23 Tommy O'Brien RF
 3 Walt Dropo 1B
 8 Birdie Tebbetts C
15 Joe Dobson P

Notable transactions

Roster

1949 Boston Red Sox
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Birdie Tebbetts 122403109.270548
1B Billy Goodman 122443132.298056
2B Bobby Doerr 139541167.30918109
SS Vern Stephens 155610177.29039159
3B Johnny Pesky 148604185.306269
OF Al Zarilla 124474133.281971
OF Ted Williams 155566194.34343159
OF Dom DiMaggio 145605186.307860

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Matt Batts 6015738.242331
Billy Hitchcock 5514730.20409
Tommy O'Brien 4912528.224310
Sam Mele 18469.19607
Lou Stringer 354111.26816
Walt Dropo 11416.14601
Merl Combs 14245.20801
Stan Spence 7203.15001
Tom Wright 541.25001
Babe Martin 220.00000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Mel Parnell 39295.12572.77122
Ellis Kinder 43252.02363.36138
Joe Dobson 33212.214123.8587
Chuck Stobbs 26152.01164.0370
Jack Kramer 21111.2685.1624
Mickey McDermott 1280.0544.0550
Mickey Harris 737.2235.0214

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Walt Masterson 1855.0344.2519
Earl Johnson 1949.1367.4820

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Tex Hughson 294235.3335
Frank Quinn 80002.864
Windy McCall 500011.578
Harry Dorish 50002.355
Dave Ferriss 40004.051
Jack Robinson 30002.251
Denny Galehouse 200013.500
Johnnie Wittig 10009.000

Awards and honors

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Louisville Colonels American Association Fred Walters and Mike Ryba
AA Birmingham Barons Southern Association Pinky Higgins
A Scranton Red Sox Eastern League Mike Ryba and Jack Burns
B Roanoke Red Sox Piedmont League Red Marion
C San Jose Red Sox California League Marv Owen
C Oneonta Red Sox Canadian–American League Eddie Popowski
D Valley Rebels Georgia–Alabama League Jesse Danna, Malvern "Mal" Morgan
and Woodrow "Woody" Bottoms
D Marion Red Sox Ohio–Indiana League Wally Millies
D Hornell Maple Leafs PONY League Marius Russo

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose, Marion [11]

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References

  1. ↑ "Single Season Bases on Balls Records". Baseball-Almanac.com. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  2. ↑ Couture, Jon (August 14, 2021). "Worcester's Yairo Muñoz runs hit streak to 35 games, breaking a 70-year-old Red Sox record" . The Boston Globe . Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  3. ↑ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN   978-0-451-22363-0
  4. 1 2 3 4 Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 44, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN   978-1-55365-507-7
  5. ↑ ESPN.com – Page2 – The List: Baseball's biggest rumors
  6. ↑ "Yanks, Sox Settle Title In New York". The Victoria Advocate. Associated Press. September 29, 1949. p. 8. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  7. ↑ "October 1, 1949 Red Sox-Yankees box score". retrosheet.org. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  8. ↑ "October 2, 1949 Red Sox-Yankees box score". retrosheet.org. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
  9. ↑ Wally Moses page at Baseball Reference
  10. ↑ Ray Jablonski page at Baseball Reference
  11. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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