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1949 in baseball

 
Wikipedia: 1949 in baseball

The following are the baseball events of the year 1949 throughout the world.  

Contents

Champions

Major League Baseball

Caribbean leagues

Caribbean World Series

Other champions

Awards and honors

MLB Statistical Leaders

American League National League
AVG George Kell DET .343 Jackie Robinson BRO .342
HR Ted Williams BOS 43 Ralph Kiner PIT 54
RBI Ted Williams BOS &
Vern Stephens BOS
159 Ralph Kiner PIT 127
Wins Mel Parnell BOS 25 Warren Spahn BSB 21
ERA Mike Garcia CLE 2.36 Dave Koslo NYG 2.50
Ks Virgil Trucks DET 153 Warren Spahn BSB 151

Major League Baseball final standings

American League final standings

American League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
1st New York Yankees 97   57 .630    --
2nd Boston Red Sox 96   58 .623   1.0
3rd Cleveland Indians 89   65 .578   8.0
4th Detroit Tigers 87   67 .565 10.0
5th Philadelphia Athletics 81   73 .526 16.0
6th Chicago White Sox 63   91 .409 34.0
7th St. Louis Browns 53 101 .344 44.0
8th Washington Senators 50 104 .414 47.0

National League final standings

National League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
1st Brooklyn Dodgers 97   57 .630    --
2nd St. Louis Cardinals 96   58 .623   1.0
3rd Philadelphia Phillies 81   73 .526 16.0
4th Boston Braves 75   79 .487 22.0
5th New York Giants 73   81 .474 24.0
6th Pittsburgh Pirates 71   83 .461 26.0
7th Cincinnati Reds 62   92 .403 35.0
8th Chicago Cubs 61   93 .396 36.0

Events

January-March

  • January 28 - The New York Giants sign their first black players, Negro Leaguers Monte Irvin (OF) and Ford Smith (P). They are assigned to minor league Jersey City. Irvin will star for the Giants but Smith never makes the major leagues.
  • February 2 - Brothers Bill DeWitt and Charlie DeWitt gain control of the St. Louis Browns by acquiring 57 percent of the stock from Dick Muckerman for $one million.
  • March 2 - Joe DiMaggio leaves the New York Yankees' spring training camp to have an ailing right heel examined at Johns Hopkins Hospital. DiMaggio is told that no surgery is needed and he returns to Florida, but the heel will continue to bother him. The star is hitting just 7-for-31 in the Grapefruit League.
  • March 8 - Max Lanier and Fred Martin, late of the Mexican League, file a $2.5 million suit against the major leagues. A federal judge on April one will deny their right to be reinstated.

April

  • April 28 - A New York fan charges Leo Durocher with assault after the Giants lose 15–2 to Brooklyn. Commissioner Happy Chandler suspends Durocher but he is absolved on May 3. Chandler criticizes teams for lax security that allows fans on the field.

May

  • May 1 - Elmer Valo becomes the first AL player to hit two bases-loaded triples in a game when he leads the Philadelphia Athletics to a 15–9 win in the first of two games against the Washington Senators. Valo will have a third bases-loaded triple during the season, to tie the AL mark of Shano Collins set in 1918. The A's take game 2, 7–3, called after seven innings.
  • May 6 - Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Bobby Shantz makes a sensational debut, tossing nine hitless innings in relief in a 13-inning 5–4 Athletics win over the Detroit Tigers. Shantz finally gives up two hits and a run in the 13th, but old-timer Wally Moses, now back with the A's, saves him with a two-run home run in the bottom of the 13th.
  • May 14 - Roy Sievers hits a home run and a double to drive in four runs, leading the St. Louis Browns' 8–3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Slick-fielding Detroit first baseman Paul Campbell ties a major league record by making two unassisted double plays. While with minor league Montreal in 1941, Campbell started 26 DPs at 1B.
  • May 22 - Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe makes his first major league start a dandy, shutting out the Cincinnati Reds 3–0 in the first game of a doubleheader at Crosley Field. It's the first shutout in an NL debut in eleven years and extends Brooklyn's win streak at Cincinnati to 19 games going back to June 1947. Newcombe gives up hits to the first two batters, then allows just three more hits while walking none. He drives in two runs as well. In the second game, Ken Raffensberger then matches Newcombe by firing a one-hitter to beat Brooklyn 2–0, tossing only 83 pitches. The only hit is a leadoff single by Gil Hodges in the eighth inning. Raffensberger pitched two one-hitters against the Dodgers in the 1948 season.
  • May 24 - Striking out the last six St. Paul batters, Maurice McDermott of minor league Louisville fans a total of 20 for a new league record. McDermott wins 3–1, striking out the side in the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th innings.
  • May 27 - The Cleveland Indians start the season so badly, 12–17, that owner Bill Veeck arranges a "Second Opening Day." Behind pitcher Al Benton, Cleveland make it a success, beating the Chicago White Sox 4–0. The Indians do rise to second place, within two 1/2 games of the top, but they will finish third, eight games back.

June

  • June 5 - Commissioner Happy Chandler lifts the ban on all players who jumped to the Mexican League, starting in 1946. Only Sal Maglie will make a significant mark after the exile. Lou Klein will be the first jumper to make a major-league box score, successfully pinch-hitting on June 16.
  • June 15:
    • Eddie Waitkus of the Philadelphia Phillies is shot by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. She will later be placed in a mental hospital. Waitkus battles for his life and will come back to play the following season.
    • San Francisco Seals rookie outfielder Dino Restelli joins the Pittsburgh Pirates and hits seven home runs in his first 39 at bats. He will finish with 12, hitting .250 in 72 games, and is out of the NL the next year.

July

August

  • August 8 - Carl Furillo returns to the Brooklyn Dodgers lineup after an injury and hits .431 in the final eight weeks of the season. He will finish at .322, fourth best in the NL.
  • August 21 - A barrage of bottles from the Shibe Park stands as protest of a decision by umpire George Barr over a trapped fly ball results in the first forfeiture in the major leagues in seven years. The New York Giants, who receive this 4–0 forfeit over the Philadelphia Phillies, gave one away in 1942 when hordes of youngsters invaded the Polo Grounds field.
  • August 27 - Former Mexican League jumpers Max Lanier and Fred Martin drop their $2.5 million suit against Major League Baseball.

September

  • September 3 - In American Association action, Columbus Red Birds pitcher Cot Deal started and completed a twenty-inning game against the Louisville Colonels. In addition to winning the game and giving up one earned run during the 20 innings, Deal collected four hits in eight at bats.
  • September 13 - For the second time in his career, Ralph Kiner hits home runs in four consecutive at bats, over two games. Kiner performed the same feat in 1947. The two home runs today are numbers 33 and 34. Kiner's 1949 total will include 25 on the road, 29 at Forbes Field, 14 of them in the bullpen enclosure still known as Greenberg Gardens.

October

  • Coming into the last weekend of the season, the Boston Red Sox are one game ahead of the New York Yankees, with the only games left for those teams being two against each other, thus there can be no playoff for the American League pennant. The Red Sox need to win only one of those games, but New York win both to take the pennant. The Yankees will go on to win 14 pennants in the 16-year stretch from 1949 through 1964.

November

December

Movies

Births

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

Deaths

January-March

  • January 9 - Harry McIntire, 69, NL pitcher for Brooklyn and Chicago, lost 20 games three times
  • February 10 - Johnny Bates, 66, outfielder for four NL teams, hit .305 for the Phillies in 1910
  • March 11 - Eric McNair, 39, infielder for four AL teams, hit .324 for the White Sox in 1939
  • March 15 - Bill Cissell, 45, middle infielder who struggled to overcome the high expectations of his $123,000 purchase from the minors in 1927
  • March 27 - Frank Gleich, 55, backup outfielder fot the 1919-1920 New York Yankees
  • March 30 - Bill Bernhard, 78, one of the first pitchers to jump from the NL to the AL, later a 20-game winner for Cleveland and a minor league manager

April-June

July-September

October-December


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