1949 Washington Senators | ||
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League | American League | |
Ballpark | Griffith Stadium | |
City | Washington, D.C. | |
Owners | Clark Griffith and the estate of George H. Richardson | |
Managers | Joe Kuhel | |
Television | WTTG (Arch McDonald, Bob Wolff, Howard Williams) | |
Radio | WWDC (FM) (Arch McDonald, Bob Wolff, Howard Williams) | |
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The 1949 Washington Senators, the 49th season of the Major League Baseball franchise, won 50 games, lost 104, and finished in eighth place in the American League. It was the worst showing by the Washington club in 40 years, since the 1909 Senators lost 110 games. The team was managed by Joe Kuhel; it played its home games at Griffith Stadium, where it drew 770,745 fans, seventh in the circuit.[1]
The Senators actually won 25 of their first 45 games and stood in third place after Sunday, June 5, 1949. But they would win only 25 games more all season, playing at an abysmal .229 rate over their last 109 contests. In today's 162-game schedule, that would have resulted in a 37–125 mark, surpassing the 1962 Mets' record for futility. At year's end, manager Kuhel would be replaced by Bucky Harris, the Senators' 1924 "boy wonder" manager, now 53, returning for a third term as skipper of the Senators.
Offseason
[edit]- October 4, 1948: John Sullivan, Tom Ferrick and $25,000 were traded by the Senators to the St. Louis Browns for Sam Dente.[2]
- Prior to 1949 season: Jim Pearce was signed as a free agent by the Senators.[3]
Regular season
[edit]On September 28, Senators pitcher Ray Scarborough ended Ted Williams' streak of most consecutive games reaching base safely at 84 games.[4] Scarborough gave up just four hits in a 4–1 complete game win over the Boston Red Sox. Johnny Pesky made the final out with Williams on deck.
Season standings
[edit]Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 54–23 | 43–34 |
Boston Red Sox | 96 | 58 | .623 | 1 | 61–16 | 35–42 |
Cleveland Indians | 89 | 65 | .578 | 8 | 49–28 | 40–37 |
Detroit Tigers | 87 | 67 | .565 | 10 | 50–27 | 37–40 |
Philadelphia Athletics | 81 | 73 | .526 | 16 | 52–25 | 29–48 |
Chicago White Sox | 63 | 91 | .409 | 34 | 32–45 | 31–46 |
St. Louis Browns | 53 | 101 | .344 | 44 | 36–41 | 17–60 |
Washington Senators | 50 | 104 | .325 | 47 | 26–51 | 24–53 |
Record vs. opponents
[edit]Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
Boston | — | 17–5 | 8–14 | 15–7–1 | 9–13 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 18–4 | |||||
Chicago | 5–17 | — | 7–15 | 8–14 | 7–15 | 6–16 | 15–7 | 15–7 | |||||
Cleveland | 14–8 | 15–7 | — | 13–9 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 13–9 | |||||
Detroit | 7–15–1 | 14–8 | 9–13 | — | 11–11 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 18–4 | |||||
New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 17–5–1 | 15–7 | |||||
Philadelphia | 8–14 | 16–6 | 13–9 | 8–14 | 8–14 | — | 12–10 | 16–6 | |||||
St. Louis | 7–15 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 5–17–1 | 10–12 | — | 9–13 | |||||
Washington | 4–18 | 7–15 | 9–13 | 4–18 | 7–15 | 6–16 | 13–9 | — |
Notable transactions
[edit]- May 24, 1949: Milo Candini was traded by the Senators to the Oakland Oaks for Lloyd Hittle.[5]
Roster
[edit]1949 Washington Senators | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters
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Manager
Coaches
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Player stats
[edit]Batting
[edit]Starters by position
[edit]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 | Al Evans | 109 | 321 | 87 | .271 | 2 | 42 |
1B | Eddie Robinson | 143 | 527 | 155 | .294 | 18 | 78 |
2B | Al Kozar | 105 | 350 | 94 | .269 | 4 | 31 |
SS | Sam Dente | 153 | 590 | 161 | .273 | 1 | 53 |
3B | Eddie Yost | 124 | 435 | 110 | .253 | 9 | 45 |
OF | Gil Coan | 111 | 358 | 78 | .218 | 3 | 25 |
OF | Bud Stewart | 118 | 388 | 110 | .284 | 8 | 43 |
OF | Clyde Vollmer | 129 | 443 | 112 | .253 | 14 | 59 |
Other batters
[edit]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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sherry Robertson | 110 | 374 | 94 | .251 | 11 | 42 |
Sam Mele | 78 | 264 | 64 | .242 | 3 | 25 |
Buddy Lewis | 95 | 257 | 63 | .245 | 3 | 28 |
Jake Early | 53 | 138 | 34 | .246 | 1 | 11 |
Roberto Ortiz | 40 | 129 | 36 | .279 | 1 | 11 |
Mark Christman | 49 | 112 | 24 | .214 | 3 | 18 |
John Simmons | 62 | 93 | 20 | .215 | 0 | 5 |
Ralph Weigel | 34 | 60 | 14 | .233 | 0 | 4 |
Hal Keller | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
Herman Reich | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Jay Difani | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
[edit]Starting pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sid Hudson | 40 | 209.0 | 8 | 17 | 4.22 | 54 |
Ray Scarborough | 34 | 199.2 | 13 | 11 | 4.60 | 81 |
Paul Calvert | 34 | 160.2 | 6 | 17 | 5.43 | 52 |
Mickey Harris | 23 | 129.0 | 2 | 12 | 5.16 | 54 |
Walt Masterson | 10 | 53.0 | 3 | 2 | 3.23 | 17 |
Dizzy Sutherland | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 45.00 | 0 |
Other pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lloyd Hittle | 36 | 109.0 | 5 | 7 | 4.21 | 32 |
Joe Haynes | 37 | 96.1 | 2 | 9 | 6.26 | 19 |
Dick Weik | 27 | 95.1 | 3 | 12 | 5.38 | 58 |
Mickey Haefner | 19 | 91.2 | 5 | 5 | 4.42 | 23 |
Forrest Thompson | 9 | 16.1 | 1 | 3 | 4.41 | 8 |
Jim Pearce | 2 | 5.1 | 0 | 1 | 8.44 | 1 |
Relief pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dick Welteroth | 52 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 7.36 | 37 |
Al Gettel | 16 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.45 | 7 |
Julio González | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.72 | 5 |
Milo Candini | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.76 | 1 |
Buzz Dozier | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.37 | 1 |
Ed Klieman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |
Farm system
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Baseball Reference: 1949 miscellaneous team information
- ^ John Sullivan at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Jim Pearce at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 44, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
- ^ Milo Candini at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007