The Brooklyn Dodgers entered spring training in 1947 wanting to do what no team has done since the Pittsburgh Pirates did it back in 1934-35. That was to win back-to-back world's championships. Brooklyn started out in a tie for 1st at the end of April but fell 4 1/2 games behind the New York Giants by the end of May. It was all Dodgers from that point on as Brooklyn caught the New York at the end of June then never looked back as they streaked to the NL title, winning by 11 games over the Giants. Slugger Hank Greenberg slugged 52 HRs and had 140 RBIs, both major league leaders, but it was teammate Ted Williams (.355-34-100) who took the league's MVP honors, his third in the NL after winning 4 times in the AL. The New York Giants, led by 18-game winner de la Cruz, finished in 2nd place, a distant 11 games behind. The Chicago Cubs finished in 3rd place, 14 games behind the front running Dodgers, and were led by the bat of Dale Mitchell, who led the majors with a .383 average.
In the American League, the St.Louis Browns won their first title since 1942 by going wire-to-wire but it wasn't as easy of a win as the Dodgers was. St.Louis faught all summer long with the Athletics, Tigers, Indians and White Sox. As Labor Day approached, the Browns and White Sox were tied with the Athletics 2 games back and both the Tigers and Indians 2 1/2 games behind. With a week and a half left, St.Louis was able to take control and had built a 7 game lead and coasted from there. The Browns were led by the bats of Mickey Vernon (.314 BA, 2nd in AL) and Charlie Keller (31 HRs, 109 RBIs). The Mackmen finished 6 games behind and in 2nd place led by the arm of 19-game winner Nels Potter. The White Sox ended up in 3rd place, 7 games back, thanks to the bat of Stan Musial (.376 BA) and on the mound by Warren Spahn, who won 20 games.
In the World Series, Brooklyn took command early by taking the first two games and won their second straight world's championship, 4 games to 1. The Dodgers were able to do this without the bat of "Hammerin' Hank" Greenberg, who's season ended with 2 weeks to go due to an injury. Ted Williams was the powerhouse for the Brooklyn attack as he batted .611, clouting 4 HRs and had 11 RBIs.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 88 66 .571 -- Brooklyn 92 62 .597 --
Philadelphia 82 72 .532 6 New York 81 73 .526 11
Chicago 81 73 .526 7 Chicago 78 76 .506 14
Cleveland 79 75 .513 9 Pittsburgh 77 77 .500 15
Detroit 79 75 .513 9 Philadelphia 75 79 .487 17
Washington 76 78 .494 12 Cincinnati 73 81 .474 19
Boston 75 79 .487 13 Boston 72 82 .468 20
New York 56 98 .364 32 St.Louis 68 86 .442 24
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
S.Musial,CHI .376 D.Mitchell,CHI .383
M.Vernon,STL .314 T.Williams,BRO .355
W.Kurowski,CLE .298 G.Kell,CIN .342
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
R.Cullenbine,CHI 31 H.Greenberg,BRO 52
H.Edwards,BOS 31 J.Mize,PIT 45
C.Keller,STL 31 R.Kiner,PIT 41
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
H.Edwards,BOS 111 H.Greenberg,BRO 140
C.Keller,STL 109 R.Kiner,PIT 138
R.Cullenbine,CHI 105 J.Mize,PIT 127
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
W.Westlake,CHI 114 J.Mize,PIT 123
S.Musial,CHI 103 G.Hermanski,BRO 119
J.Lipon,PHI 100 R.Kiner,PIT 109
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
E.Valo,BOS 26 R.Ashburn,BOS 27
C.Michaels,CHI 20 G.Hermanski,BRO 27
B.Blattner,BOS 19 B.Dillinger,NY 26
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
D.Leonard,WAS 2.73 B.Muncrief,BRO 2.90
S.Zoldak,DET 2.82 H.Newhouser,BRO 2.90
H.Brecheen,BOS 2.86 B.Feller,STL 3.22
Wins W Wins W
L.Jansen,CLE 22 B.Feller,STL 19
W.Spahn,CHI 20 F.Hutchinson,PIT 19
N.Potter,PHI 19 T.de la Cruz,NY 18
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Sayles,STL 19 R.Bauers,PIT 14
A.Carrasquel,CHI 14 B.Hogue,CIN 13
F.Barrett,NY 12 F.Caligiuri,BOS 11
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
V.Raschi,CHI 172 B.Feller,STL 236
H.Brecheen,BOS 163 H.Newhouser,BRO 206
W.Spahn,CHI 160 F.Hutchinson,PIT 156
1947 World Series
Game #1
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 8 0
Brooklyn 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 2 6 0
A.Brazle, B.Sayles (9) and A.Seminick
H.Newhouser and E.Lombardi
WP - H.Newhouser (1-0)
LP - B.Sayles (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
St.Louis (A) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 2 7 0
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 x - 5 13 0
S.Chandler and A.Seminick
H.Pollet and E.Lombardi
WP - H.Pollet (1-0)
LP - S.Chandler (0-1)
HR - BRO: T.Williams 2 (2)
Game #3
Brooklyn 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 - 4 10 0
St.Louis (A) 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 x - 5 9 0
B.Muncrief, M.Dickson (8) and E.Lombardi
C.Fannin, G.Maltzberger (7), B.Sayles (9) and A.Seminick
WP - G.Maltzberger (1-0)
LP - M.Dickson (0-1)
HR - STL: P.Reiser (1), C.Keller (1)
Game #4
Brooklyn 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 5 11 0
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 4 2
H.Newhouser and E.Lombardi
A.Brazle, G.Maltzberger (7) and A.Seminick
WP - H.Newhouser (2-0)
LP - A.Brazle (0-1)
HR - STL: C.Keller (2)
Game #5
Brooklyn 1 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 - 8 13 3
St.Louis (A) 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 - 7 11 2
H.Pollet, C.Covington (10) and E.Lombardi, E.Fitz Gerald (9)
S.Chandler, B.Sayles (10) and A.Seminick
WP - H.Pollet (2-0)
LP - S.Chandler (0-2)
HR - BRO: T.Williams 2 (4), STL: S.Chandler (1)
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Code:
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Year: 1947
Batting Average
.317 B.Nicholson
.300 T.Holmes
.280 Y.Berra
.271 C.Rikard
.266 E.Torgeson
Home Runs
27 B.Nicholson
23 Y.Berra
22 E.Torgeson
13 T.Holmes
10 C.Rikard
Runs Batted In
98 Y.Berra
96 B.Nicholson
82 E.Torgeson
78 T.Holmes
58 C.Rikard
Runs Scored
107 E.Torgeson
89 T.Holmes
86 B.Nicholson
84 E.Lake
70 Y.Berra
Stolen Bases
4 E.Lake
4 E.Torgeson
2 J.Grant
2 E.Lukon
2 A.Vaughan
Wins
15 M.Cooper
14 D.Galehouse
12 C.Simmons
10 D.Conger
9 M.Harder
Saves
10 H.Eisenstat
4 A.Hansen
2 J.Page
Earned Run Average
3.72 D.Galehouse
4.06 M.Cooper
4.24 M.Harder
4.33 C.Simmons
Strikeouts
126 D.Galehouse
106 C.Simmons
100 M.Cooper
67 D.Conger
57 R.Roberts