1949 Washington Senators season

1949 Washington Senators
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkGriffith Stadium
CityWashington, D.C.
OwnersClark Griffith and the estate of George H. Richardson
ManagersJoe Kuhel
TelevisionWTTG
(Arch McDonald, Bob Wolff, Howard Williams)
RadioWWDC (FM)
(Arch McDonald, Bob Wolff, Howard Williams)
← 1948 Seasons 1950 →

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

Regular season

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

American League
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

1949 American League record

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

Roster

1949 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

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

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

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

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
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

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

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

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AA Chattanooga Lookouts Southern Association George Myatt and Fred Walters
B Havana Cubanos Florida International League Oscar Rodríguez
B Hagerstown Owls Interstate League Woody Wheaton
B Charlotte Hornets Tri-State League Clyde McDowell
C New Castle Nats Middle Atlantic League Bill Mongiello
D Orlando Senators Florida State League Red Dulaney, Walter Zurowski and George Myatt
D Fulton Railroaders KITTY League Ivan Kuester
D Concord Nationals North Carolina State League James Calleran
D Emporia Nationals Virginia League Morrie Aderholt

[6]

References

  1. ^ Baseball Reference: 1949 miscellaneous team information
  2. ^ John Sullivan at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Jim Pearce at Baseball-Reference
  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. ^ Milo Candini at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007