1949 Notes and Miscellaneous (Updated)

1949 was a bit of a transition year for baseball. Many players had missed time due to the war but were now beginning to edge past their prime. Many of the youngsters that should have been in line to replace them also missed time during the way, meaning they missed valuable time in honing their baseball skills. Throw in the introduction of television and the integration of black baseball players (there were eight in 1949), and big changes were coming. This was a new era of baseball, and many of the old-timers were ill-equipped to handle the new change.

Lou Brissie

But as baseball is wont to do, old stars soon faded away and new stars soon appeared. Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Banks, Matthews, and others rose to the top, all while lesser names got their chance as well. Franchises would soon start to migrate to better markets, expansion was but eleven years away … basically, baseball was ready to explode in ways most people at the time could never have fathomed in 1949

The war obviously had a major effect on baseball. Many professional ball players were drafted into the service during the war years, giving a few more years of baseball service to several veterans from the 1930 season whose baseball career would have ended much sooner. Many baseball draftees spent their time playing on military baseball teams, but not all did. You have likely heard the stories about Ted Williams and Jerry Coleman service as pilots in the Marine Corps in both World War Two and the Korean Conflict, but the bio's of Phil Marchildon (bio), Earl Johnson (bio), and Lou Brissie (bio) tell the stories of baseball players that encountered the real horrors of war. It is safe to assume all Americans were affected by the war in many different ways and baseball players were not immune to that effect either

My favorite trivia question: Clyde McCullough got out of the army in 1945 just in time to play in the 1945 World Series for Detroit, thus becoming the player who played in the post-season without having made a regular season appearance.

Of the players who played in my 1930 replay, Luke Appling and Ralph Winegarner both had their ML debut in 1930 and appeared in 1949. Appling was the regular starting shortstop for the White Sox during this time, though 1949 would be his last as a full-time player and he would retire after 1950.  Winegarner appeared as a third baseman in 1930, had several cups of coffee after that, last appearing in 1936 until he relieved in a handful of games for the 1949 Browns. Bobo Newsom also made his first appearance in 1930, pitched in 1948, but not in 1949, 1950, or 1951, but reappeared in 1952 and 1953

Jim Baumer was an 18-year-old prospect with the White Sox in 1949, getting in eight games at the end of the season. He next appeared with Cincinnati in 1961, meaning he missed the 1950's completely

Earl Johnson

Bruce Edwards, Brooklyn's backup catcher, was born in my hometown of Quincy, IL.  The only other Quincy news was that Emil Verban died there in 1989. Since I am talking about me, Hank Borowy and Yogi Berra share my birthday (May 12). Johnny Hetki would qualify as well, but his ML career skipped right around the 1949 season

When looking backward at 1930 and looking forward there are several family connections worth noting:

• Wally Hood is the son of Wally Hood
• Rip Sewell is the cousin of both Joe Sewell and Luke Sewell, both who appeared for me in 1930
• George Sisler played in 1930 and his son, Dick Sisler, was a regular in 1949. Fred Brickell played for me in 1930 but his son, Fritz Brickell, wouldn’t show up until 1958. Similarly, Earl Averill appeared for me in 1930 but Earl Averill Jr. wouldn’t appear until 1956.
• Of course, Joe DiMaggio and Dom DiMaggio were brothers, with Vince DiMaggio having made his final ML appearance in 1946. Charlie Keller and Hal Keller were also brothers that both appeared in 1949, as did Harry Walker and Dixie Walker, Mort Cooper and Walker Cooper, and Ed Sauer and Hank Sauer. Cloyd Boyer made his first ML appearance, with brothers Clete Boyer and Ken Boyer soon to follow.
• Granny Hamner and Ralph Hamner are not related, nor are Joe Ostrowski and Johnny Ostrowski, Clem Hausmann and George Hausmann,  Jack Robinson and Jackie Robinson, and not even Dixie Howell and Dixie Howell.
• In no particular order, Mike Tresh begat Tom Tresh, Ray Boone begat Bob Boone who in turn begat Aaron Boone and Bret Boone, Bob Kennedy begat Terry Kennedy, Jim Hegan begat Mike Hegan (all four of these players were with Cleveland in 1949), Yogi Berra begat Dale Berra, Dizzy Trout begat Steve Trout,  Roy Smalley begat Roy Smaller Jr., and Max Lanier begat Hal Lanier
• I am sure I overlooked someone, probably multiple someones. My apologies in advance

Just as Hal Carlson died during the 1930 season, Tiny Bonham died during the 1949 season. That doesn’t happen very much to begin with, so it really is an odd coincidence that this happened during the first two seasons I have chosen to replay

Eddie Waitkus was shot in a hotel room in Chicago on June 14, 1949, and missed the remainder of the season (bio). Barnard Malamud published "The Natural" in 1952, supposedly inspired by this incident. More details are provided at the bio link included here

Phil Marchildon

And of course, in another year or so a baseball simulation games using dice, player cards, and results boards, was marketed for the first time out of a town in western Pennsylvania … and the rest is APBA history

Update:

I remembered what I forgot: The Mexican League suspensions were lifted in 1949 (link). You can get details at the link, but basically what this means in a replay context is that ten players will be showing up at mid-season as the suspension is lifted. The ten are: Alex Carrasquel (CHW), Bobby Estalella (PHA), George Hausmann (NYG), Lou Klein (STL), Max Lanier (STL), Fred Martin (STL), Luis Olmo (BRO), Roberto Ortiz (WAS), Mickey Owen (CHC), and Adrian Zabala (NYG). Most of these players got a cup of coffee and were never seen at the ML league level again. However, the three Cardinals players were very helpful to the team as they made a late-season push that fell just short. Actually, the one returnee that would have a real impact would be Sal Maglie, who would return in 1950 to anchor the New York Giants rotation for those powerful early 1950's Giants teams.

Additional Family Connections: Elmer Riddle is the brother of Johnny Riddle, who made his ML debut for me in 1930 and played on major league teams sporadically up through 1948. Joe Coleman is the father of Joe Coleman. Rocky Krsnich is the brother of Mike Krsnich, Wally Westlake is the brother of Jim Westlake, and Bobby Shantz is the brother of Billy Shantz.

The 1949 Chicago Cubs have three players named Emil on their team: Emil "Dutch" Leonard, Emil Verban, and Emil Kush. Further, they were all three born in Illinois. That's a name you don't see much of anymore, and it is just unusual to see them all on one team at one time.

Schedule Notes:

Tie Games will be accounted for crediting the starting lineup with a game played and a game at a defensive position via an APBA utility:

AL (2)

05/03/49 BOS @ DET

08/07/49 SLB @ NYY

NL (6)

07/25/49 STL @ BRO

07/29/49 BRO @ STL

04/22/49 BSN @ NYG

08/11/49 BSN @ NYG

09/18/49 BSN @ CIN

09/03/49 CIN @ STL

Forfeiture

08/21/49 NYG @ PHP (Forfeiture for NYG) (link) It looks like just a regular game in the scorebook, so I think I can ignore the "forfeiture" part of this. However, I don't see that a pitcher was assigned either a win or a loss.

Suspended Game

07/07/49 BOS @ WAS - Completed 08/20/49 This may mean that my total wins/losses may not match the "Official Stats" until the game is completed, but the scorebook shows that game was played and completed on the initial date.

Still Living

Given this is being written in late 2018, that would mean that next year (2019) would be the 70th anniversary of Casey Stengel's first of five consecutive pennants with the New York Yankees in 1949. That's a long time ago, but yes, there are still several players from that season who are still among us.

There is a list of the 100 oldest living players in both Wikipedia and Basebal-Almanac.com (Link). When Bobby Doerr died recently he was the last of the players who had played in the 1930s (he was also the oldest living Hall-of-Fame player at the time). According to this list, there are 32 players who played in the 1940s who are still living, and these are 21 who appeared in 1949:

Cloyd Boyer (STL), Bobby Brown (NYY), Tommy Brown (BRO), Gil Coan (WAS), Clint Conatser (BSN), George Elder (SLB), Carl Erskine (BRO), Ed Fitz Gerald (PIT), Johnny Groth (DET), Howie Judson (CHW), Rocky Krsnich (CHW), Bob Miller (PHP), Al Naples (SLB), Don Newcombe (BRO), Eddie Robinson (WAS), Bobby Shantz (PHA), Charlie Silvera (NYY), Curt Simmons (PHP), Wayne Terwilliger (CHC), Wally Westlake (PIT), and George Yankowski (CHW).