1949 Cleveland Indians season

Last updated

1949  Cleveland Indians
League American League
Ballpark Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City Cleveland, Ohio
Owners Bill Veeck, Ellis Ryan
General managers Bill Veeck
Managers Lou Boudreau
Television WEWS-TV
(Bob Neal, Tris Speaker)
Radio WJW
(Jack Graney, Jimmy Dudley)
←  1948 Seasons 1950  →

The 1949 season was the 49th season in the history of the Cleveland Indians. The club entered the season as the defending World Champions. On March 5, 1949, Indians minority owner Bob Hope donned a Cleveland Indians uniform and posed with manager Lou Boudreau and vice president Hank Greenberg as the World Series champions opened spring training camp in Tucson, Arizona. [1]

Contents

Offseason

Regular season

Following their 1948 World Series championship, the 1949 Indians season proved to be a disappointment. Despite having the best overall pitching and fielding statistics in either the American or National Leagues, the Indians finished a distant third place behind the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. A team roster that boasted eight future members of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby, Bob Feller, Joe Gordon, Bob Lemon, Satchel Paige, Minnie Miñoso, and Early Wynn) could not deliver a second consecutive championship to Cleveland. During the season, Indians fan Charlie Lupica spent 117 days on a flagpole, waiting for the Indians to regain first place. They never did, and he gave up his pursuit when the Indians were mathematically eliminated on September 25. [6]

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 97570.630—54–2343–34
Boston Red Sox 96580.623161–1635–42
Cleveland Indians 89650.578849–2840–37
Detroit Tigers 87670.5651050–2737–40
Philadelphia Athletics 81730.5261652–2529–48
Chicago White Sox 63910.4093432–4531–46
St. Louis Browns 531010.3444436–4117–60
Washington Senators 501040.3254726–5124–53

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—

Notable transactions

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters
#NamePosition
34 Dale Mitchell LF
37 Larry Doby CF
5 Lou Boudreau SS
4 Joe Gordon 2B
3 Mickey Vernon 1B
6 Ken Keltner 3B
33 Bob Kennedy RF
10 Jim Hegan C
19 Bob Feller P

[7]

Roster

1949 Cleveland Indians
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 Jim Hegan 152468105.224855
1B Mickey Vernon 153584170.2911883
2B Joe Gordon 148533136.2512084
SS Lou Boudreau 134475135.284460
3B Ken Keltner 8024657.232830
OF Dale Mitchell 149640203.317356
OF Larry Doby 147547153.2802485
OF Bob Kennedy 121424117.276957

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Ray Boone 8625865.252426
Thurman Tucker 8019748.244014
Johnny Berardino 5011623.198013
Allie Clark 357413.17619
Luke Easter 214510.22202
Al Rosen 23447.15905
Mike Tresh 38378.21601
Hal Peck 33299.31009
Minnie Miñoso 9163.18811
Hank Edwards 5154.26711
Bobby Ávila 31143.21403
Milt Nielsen 391.11100
Herman Reich 121.50000
Fred Marsh 100.---00

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Bob Lemon 37279.222102.99138
Bob Feller 36211.015143.75108
Early Wynn 26164.21174.1562
Gene Bearden 32127.0885.1041

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Steve Gromek 4092.0463.3322
Sam Zoldak 2753.0124.2511

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Al Benton 4096102.1241
Mike Garcia 4114522.3694
Satchel Paige 314753.0454
Frank Papish 251013.1923

Awards and honors

All Star Game

Larry Doby, Outfielder, reserve

Joe Gordon, Second baseman, reserve

Jim Hegan, Catcher, reserve

Bob Lemon, Pitcher, reserve

Dale Mitchell, Outfielder, reserve

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA San Diego Padres Pacific Coast League Bucky Harris
AA Oklahoma City Indians Texas League Joe Vosmik
A Dayton Indians Central League Ski Melillo
A Wilkes-Barre Barons Eastern League Bill Norman
B St. Petersburg Saints Florida International League Myril Hoag, Harry Sullivan,
Johnny Beazley and Dick Porter
B Harrisburg Senators Interstate League Les Bell
B Spartanburg Peaches Tri-State League Kerby Farrell
C Tucson Cowboys Arizona–Texas League Gene Lillard
C Bakersfield Indians California League Harry Griswold
C Pittsfield Indians Canadian–American League Gene Hasson
C Burlington Indians Central Association Lloyd Brown
D Cordele Indians Georgia–Florida League Hal Lee
D Iola Indians Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League Winlow Johnson
D Union City Greyhounds KITTY League Tony Rensa and Rudy York
D Stroudsburg Poconos North Atlantic League Frank Radler
D Zanesville Indians Ohio–Indiana League Pat McLaughlin
D Batavia Clippers PONY League Ed Kobesky
D Green Bay Blue Jays Wisconsin State League Phil Seghi

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Stroudsburg [11]

Notes

  1. ↑ "For our favorite son Bob Hope, all roads lead back home to Ohio". www.cleveland.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011.
  2. ↑ Bob Chakales at Baseball Reference
  3. 1 2 Grant Dunlap at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Mickey Vernon at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Brooks Lawrence at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ Veeck, Bill; Linn, Ed (April 7, 2001). Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck. University of Chicago Press. ISBN   9780226852188 . Retrieved April 22, 2018– via Google Books.
  7. ↑ 1949 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
  8. ↑ 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
  9. ↑ "1949 Major League Baseball Standard Pitching | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  10. ↑ "1949 American League Standard Fielding | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  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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References

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