1949 Replay NL Recap

St. Louis (105-49, 96-58, +9)

Similar to Boston in the AL, St. Louis got off to a fast start and held on from there. They went 5-0 in Week One, slipped behind Pittsburgh into second place in Week Three, but then led the NL from there through the end of the season. Along the way both New York and Boston made a push to catch them, but with the Cardinals playing a consistent .700 level of ball they could get close but couldn’t quite finish the job and St. Louis ended up winning the league by 11.0 games over Brooklyn.

Enos Slaughter

While Ralph Kiner would likely get the MVP award, one of the reasons would be that Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, and Red Schoendienst all would split votes away from each other. At about the 2/3’s point of the season, Slaughter went 14-for-18 in a series against Chicago (including two 5-for-5 games) and his average shot up over .400. Instead of immediately leveling back down, there it stayed until there were about ten days left in the season and finished at .397, still a pretty good number. Slaughter also led the league in hits (227), Triples (17), OBP (.454), multi-hit games (77), and came in fourth in RBI’s (112). Musial was second in batting average (.346), second in hits (208), second in runs (133), second in RBI’s (135), second in homeruns (39) and fourth in walks (92). Red Schoendienst, besides playing all over the infield and starting one game in centerfield, finish sixth in batting (.320), fifth in hits (197), and third in runs (127).

As much as the Cardinals triumvirate carried the team all season, they had plenty of contributions all up and down the lineup, and most important, timely contributions when they needed it. Nippy Jones and Rocky Nelson platooned at first base and drove in 114 runs between them and Eddie Kazak and Tommy Glaviano combined for 91 RBI’s from the third base position, and from behind the plate, Del Rice and Joe Garagiola combined for 81 RBI’s. Marty Marion played a stellar defensive shortstop and chipped in with 76 RBI’s as well.

While St. Louis led the league in hitting (.291) they also led the league in ERA (.3.28), led by Harry Brecheen (23-5, 2.46), Howie Pollet (18-8, 2.47), George Munger (15-14, 3.86), Al Brazle (15-4, 3.08), and Gerry Staley (10-4, 2.88). Their relief corps came in with the league-leading reliever ERA (3.55), led by Ted Wilks (8-2, 2.75, 10 Saves) and mid-season acquisition Fred Martin (6-1, 3.00). The quality of the Cardinals relievers should give them somewhat of an advantage against Boston in the World Series.

St. Louis wasn’t quite as strong defensively as Brooklyn (or the Red Sox) and finished fourth in the NL in fielding, plus they turned the fewest double plays (113) by a wide margin, and that could come into play in a short series. But with Marion and Schoendienst up the middle St. Louis believes they can compete with anyone. Can they win the World Series?

Brooklyn (94-60, 97-57, -3)

Brooklyn spent the first third of the season mired in and around sixth-place in the standings, even briefly toying with seventh-place once or twice. It was about this time that Don Newcombe was called up and the Dodgers pitching woes immediately settled and in Week 8 they finally passed Pittsburgh into fifth place and then following week they moved past Philadelphia into fourth. For the next ten weeks, Brooklyn continued to play well, but Boston and New York were playing well also and Brooklyn could never quite get past them to stay until Week 19. So, finally alone in second place with five weeks to go they were still 9.0 games behind St. Louis and it appeared they had used all of their energy just to get into second, so it was there where they rode out the remainder of the season.

Don Newcombe

Brooklyn finished second in hitting (.285) behind St. Louis but actually outscored the Cardinals 862-817. Pee Wee Reese (.277) led off and played a stellar shortstop, was fourth in the NL in runs (125), was third in walks (112), and hit 18 homeruns as well. Jackie Robinson finished fourth in hitting (.326), fourth in hits (201), fourth in runs (111), fifth in RBI’s (111), tied for second with three others in doubles (35), and led the league in steals (38). Robinson came in fourth in triples (11) as well. No Dodger hit 20 homeruns, although six different players hit between 16 and 19, and Gil Hodges (104) and Duke Snider (105) crept over the 100 RBI mark late in the season.

Brooklyn finished second in ERA (3.65), although they only allowed 25 more runs than did St. Louis. The aforementioned Newcombe (22-7, 2.06), Preacher Roe (18-8, 2.27), Jack Banta (10-4, 3.58), Joe Hatten (11-9, 4.03), Ralph Branca (15-5, 4.39), and Rex Barney (11-11, 5.21), so you can easily see who the cursed pitchers were – Hatten threw five shutouts or his ERA would have been over 5.00, and Barney walked 6.8/9 and always managed to finds a way to put an opponent on-base. On the other hand, Branca had a league-best 7.1 runs per nine innings of run support.

If you take the Dodgers runs scored and runs allowed and run them through the baseball Pythagorean theorem and then you do the same with St. Louis, they both come out to a record of 101-53, but St. Louis actually won 105 while Brooklyn won 94. Brooklyn spent a lot of time and energy trying to climb past Boston and New York, who both also exceeded their number of expected wins, so the three teams spent considerable time knocking each other down and preventing any one of the three from getting hot and directly challenging St. Louis. Brooklyn’s slow start essentially crippled them for the rest of the season.

New York (87-67, 73-81, +14)

New York finished third in hitting (.271), led the NL in homeruns (162), and finished a strong third in Team ERA (3.77), all of which pretty much explains the Giants game plan. They kept the score close and if (and when) they hit a homerun (or two) it was often to their direct advantage. They were dreadfully slow and their relief corps wasn’t much to write home about, but they did some things very well and they rode that into a 14-win improvement over their actual record.

Bobby Thomson

Likely team MVP Bobby Thomson (.273) finished sixth in runs (104), third in homeruns (31) and third in RBI’s (118). Sid Gordon contributed 23 homeruns and 87 RBI’s, Johnny Mize hit 19 homeruns before he was sold to the Yankees, and Wes Westrum (11) and Hank Thompson (13) contributed double figures in homeruns despite not appearing until the second third of the season. The defense was a liability for the Giants as they truly never settled on a second baseman (eight total) or a shortstop (six total) and they were in the lower half of the teams for turning double plays.

The New York starters, Monty Kennedy (17-7, 2.20), Dave Koslo (18-8, 2.29), Sheldon Jones (17-6, 2.44), and Larry Jansen (13-14, 3.52) carried the Giants as far as they could, but they kept giving phenom Clint Hartung (6-17, 7.16) his turn in the rotation until the final month in the season. The Giants relievers finished with an ERA of 5.50, had 12 blown saves, and had a collective 16-16 W/L record.

Like I said previously, some things the Giants did well and they maximized them as best they could to come through with a pretty successful season. Manager Leo Durocher hated that his team was so slow and has vowed to improve that in years to come.

Boston (80-74, 75-79, +5)

Boston had lost the 1948 World Series to Cleveland and had full intentions of repeating in the NL in 1949, but instead, they were plagued by injuries and were never truly a contender for the top position. Having said that, the Braves fought doggedly and never quit and ended up improving by five wins over their actual performance. The Braves finished fourth in the league both Hitting (.267) and Team ERA (4.12), so a fourth-place finish was about right.

Warren Spahn

Boston lost first baseman Earl Torgeson (.284) 25 games into the season, Jeff Heath (.250) missed the first half of the season and then missed the final month, Pete Reiser (.270) only played half a season, and nagging injuries limited Tommy Holmes (.251) to about 2/3’s of a season. Even shortstop Al Dark (.279) and second baseman Eddie Stanky (.271, second in the NL with 118 walks) eventually broke down and missed much of the final month of the season. Other Braves stood up though and team MVP Bob Elliott (.303) hit 23 homeruns and was seventh in the NL with 101 RBI’s and newcomer Del Crandall (.307) was promoted to the big club at mid-season and acquitted himself well with both the bat and glove. Part-time outfielder Marv Rickert (.392) hit over .400 most of the season, only falling below the magic number late in the season.

Warren Spahn (24-7, 2.40) was the likely Cy Young Award winner in the NL. Johnny Sain (15-13, 3.86) and Vern Bickford (14-17, 5.10) were the other primary starters, and Bill Voiselle (6-12, 4.00) was limited to only 22 starts. A young Johnny Antonelli (3-7, 4.58) usually got his starting opportunities in the second half of a doubleheader, but beyond that, it dropped off pretty quickly. Boston relievers had an ERA of 5.03, with Nels Potter (5-2, 4.63, 5 Saves) likely being the best of the bunch.

Boston was in the three-way dogfight for second place in the NL almost all season, only falling behind late when the injuries finally overtook them. They have a brighter future ahead of them, but it will be in a different city.

Philadelphia (71-83, 81-73, -10)

Philadelphia was supposed to have finished in third place with 81 wins, but instead, they stumbled through most of the season and finished in fifth place with 71 wins. While they had decent enough pitching, but their offense was lacking – they finished tied with Chicago for runs scored (626) and their team batting average (.253) bested only Cincinnati (.251).

Del Ennis

The Phillies got off to a good start, but after first baseman Eddie Waitkus (.370) was shot in a hotel room in Chicago in early June they were never quite the same. Dick Sisler (.287) was an out machine and only hit 5 homeruns and drove in 58 runs in his time at first base and batting third in the lineup. Richie Ashburn (.307) led off and was third in hits (204) and second in triples (13), but still didn’t score 100 runs (95). Del Ennis (.294) led the league in doubles (41), had 17 homeruns and drove in 96 runs, and Willie Jones hit 20 homeruns and drove in 75 runs, but did most of his damage in the first half of the season. Granny Hamner (.250) didn’t do much hitting from the second spot in the lineup, and beyond that, the Phillies got even less production out of the second base and right field positions.

Philadelphia finished fifth in Team ERA (4.16), just four points behind Boston, and their pitching staff was led by Russ Meyer (17-8, 2.80), Ken Heintzelman (14-11, 2.91), Robin Roberts (11-16, 3.67) and Hank Borowy (9-18, 5.80). Curt Simmons (4-11, 3.98) got to make 14 starts as well. The Phillies relievers had an ERA of 5.00, with Jim Konstanty (3-3, 3.74, 7 Saves) taking the lead role.

Manager Eddie Sawyer had been the minor league manager of most of the Phillies younger players and while they were destined to become the Whiz Kids just next year, they never showed me the magic that Sawyer was able to get out of them.

Pittsburgh (69-85, 71-83, -2)

Pittsburgh’s story for the 1949 replay revolves around one man: Ralph Kiner. The Pirates were not a good team to begin with and were destined to become worse, but at least for this year Kiner picked the whole team up, put them on his back, and carried them to sixth place. Without Kiner, I can’t imagine them finishing ahead of Cincinnati or Chicago. The Pirates did move some players around and make some trades during the season to try and bolster their roster, but to no avail, as it turned out to be just some minor shuffling.

Ralph Kiner

Kiner finished third in hitting (.327), second in OBP (.445), sixth in hits (185), first in runs (142), first in RBI’s (163), first in homeruns (57), and first in walks (124), plus he sat atop most of the calculated stat categories as well. Wally Westlake (.260) was second on the team with 17 homeruns and 85 RBI’s, and mid-season call-ups Dino Restelli (.276, 14 homeruns) and Tom Saffell (.326) did the best they could with their opportunity. At third base, Eddie Bockman (.215, 13 homeruns) did most of his damage in the first month of the season and eventually lost his job to Pete Castiglione (.284, 8 homeruns), and Johnny Hopp (.311) was never able to assume full-time duties at first base.

The Pirates starters were led by Cliff Chambers (9-10, 3.17), Murry Dickson (9-12, 3.36), Bill Werle (10-15, 4.66), and Bob Chesnes (11-13, 5.31). Before mid-season, the Pirates chose to take Dickson out of the rotation and use him primarily in long relief, which opened the door for other young starters to get some starts under their belt, but it didn’t really help much. The Pittsburgh reliever corps finished with an ERA of 4.20, led by Dickson (2.13) and Rip Sewell (2.72).

Pittsburgh roared into first place for a few days in Week Three, but then didn’t win for two weeks and settled into sixth place for almost the entire season. They made several runs at catching fifth-place Philadelphia but could never quite pull it off. Regardless, like rolling for Ted Williams, Kiner had a season for the ages and he brought some spark to an otherwise invisible team.

Cincinnati (55-99, 62-92, -7)

The 1949 Cincinnati Reds were a largely anonymous bunch that played hard and never gave up, but too often they just found themselves overmatched. The Reds finished last in hitting (.251) but managed to out-homer and out-score (barely) both Philadelphia and Chicago and their ERA (5.06) was the league worst. For some reason, both New York and Boston had trouble with the Reds as Cincinnati won ten games against both of these contenders

Grady Hatton

Cincinnati made a big trade early in the season with Chicago – Hank Sauer had gotten off to a very hot start and had 14 hit homeruns, but had stopped hitting and lost his job in left field so he was shipped to Chicago for Harry Walker, who was then hitting .367 for the Cubs at the time. Sauer did end up hitting 16 homeruns for Chicago, but Walker only hit .255 for the Reds. Grady Hatton (.279) was the likely Reds MVP as he led the team in runs (80), homeruns (17), and RBI’s (72). A young Ted Kluszewski (.303) got the full-time first base position and made a nice introduction to the league, finishing second on the team in runs (67) and RBI’s (69) and hit 13 homeruns.

The primary Reds starters were Ken Raffensberger (14-20, 3.48), Howie Fox (11-15, 4.31), Herm Wehmeier (8-16, 6.47), and Johnny Vander Meer (6-14, 6.63). Seven other pitchers got to make starts, with similar results. The relievers posted a somewhat more respectable 4.62 ERA.

The 1949 Cincinnati Reds with a few exceptions were largely a forgettable bunch. They would go on to have several more poor years before being able to turn it around, eventually reaching the World Series in 1961, a year after Pittsburgh completed their turnaround.

Chicago (55-99, 61-93, -6)

The Chicago Cubs had been to a World Series just four years previous in 1945 and had high expectations for returning in 1948 before the wheels fell off, but they had a veteran lineup and plenty of new blood to provide energy and I am sure they were confident about their chances in 1949 also. Things went from bad to worse pretty quickly though and they spent most of the season fighting with Cincinnati trying to avoid the cellar, finally settling on a tie on the final day of the season. Longtime Manager Charlie Grimm appeared to have his favorites and was relieved of his duties at mid-season, while replacement Frankie Frisch spent much of the second half of the season experimenting with lineups and shuffling players around trying to find the magic formula which just wasn’t there.

Andy Pafko

Andy Pafko (.282) was the team MVP as he split his time between three positions while he led the team in runs (89), tied for second in the NL in doubles (35), and led the team in homeruns (28) and RBI’s (80). Mid-season acquisition Hank Sauer (.274) chipped in with 16 homeruns, with no other Cubs reaching double digits in this category, the Cubs finishing last in the NL with only 101 homeruns. Roy Smalley (.281) committed 23 errors at shortstop but knocked 33 doubles and 12 triples. Smalley also led the NL in strikeouts with 89. Herm Reich (.335) was picked up early in the season and split his time between right field and first base, getting into 104 games but not having much to show for it (41 runs, 33 RBI’s).

The Cubs starters were led by veterans Johnny Schmitz (14-12, 4.05), Monk Dubiel (6-11, 4.42), Dutch Leonard (7-18, 4.59), and Bob Rush (8-16, 5.31). Three other pitchers made double-digit starts but with similar results. The team ERA was 4.97, next to last in the NL, and the ERA for the Cubs relievers were similar at 5.09.

At the time the Cubs had played in nine World Series in the first half of the century and just didn’t realize they really wouldn’t be in serious post-season contention again for another twenty years or that it would be 35 years before they actually did return to post-season play. The Cubs got bad in two different ways - slowly, and then quickly - and over time became more famous for their futility than their record of early success