In the AL Detroit and New York jumped to the front of the pack but their lead was shortlived as the defending world champion St.Louis started picking up steam as the calendar turned to May. The Browns continued out in front but Washington was hot on their heels throughout the summer and it became a two team race as Labor Day rolled around. St.Louis started pulling away and ended up clinching the AL pennant with a week and 1/2 left in the schedule. The Browns were led by the power hitting combo of Andy Seminick (.236-29-93) and Don Lenhardt (.273-29-100) and the pitching of Bill Sayles, who led the junior circuit in wins (20) and ERA (2.25) and was awarded the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award. Washington ended the season in second place, five games behind, thanks to the hitting of the AL Rookie of the Year, Al Rosen (.280-33-103), who also picked up the league's Most Valuable Player Award as he led the AL in home runs and runs batted in. The White Sox, led by perennial All-Star Stan Musial (.341-20-69).
In the NL defending champion Brooklyn took the early lead but was in a dog fight all season long with the Boston Braves. Boston caught the Dodgers and had the lead by 1.5 games but Brooklyn, led by now five-time NL MVP Ted Williams (.336-41-124), regained the lead with a week and 1/2 to go then held on to clinch the title on the next to last day of the season. Howie Pollet led the NL in wins (21) and ERA (3.39) and took home the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award. Boston finished the season only 1 game back as Duke Snider finished second in the senior circuit in average (.328) and led the league in stolen bases (25). The Cincinnati Reds came up from as far back as 8 games out and ended up 4 games back and in third place. The Reds were led by Larry Doby (.323-17-95) as he continues his success after winning the league's ROY award two seasons ago.
In game one of the World Series, the Dodgers totally dominated the game to win 13-4 then the Browns won game two as they headed to Ebbets Field for games 3,4 and 5. Bill Sayles continued to pitch well for St.Louis as they won game 3 but Brooklyn, behind the pitching of Howie Pollet (2-0), belted Charlie Dean for a second time as they evened the series with a 10-2 win. Pitcher Max Lanier had one bad inning as he hurled St.Louis to a 6-4 win in game 5 then the Browns wrapped things up as Bill Sayles pitched into the 8th inning as St.Louis took a 5-0 lead after 2 innings and held on to win game 6, 5-4, to win their second straight world's championship and their 9th overall.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 90 64 .584 -- Brooklyn 85 69 .552 --
Washington 85 69 .552 5 Boston 84 70 .545 1
Philadelphia 83 71 .539 7 Cincinnati 81 73 .526 4
Chicago 78 76 .506 12 Philadelphia 80 74 .519 5
New York 75 79 .487 15 Pittsburgh 79 75 .513 6
Boston 74 80 .481 16 New York 71 83 .461 14
Detroit 67 87 .435 23 Chicago 68 86 .442 17
Cleveland 64 90 .416 26 St.Louis 68 86 .442 17
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
S.Musial,CHI .341 T.Williams,BRO .336
G.Hodges,PHI .318 D.Snider,BOS .328
R.Northey,DET .318 L.Doby,CIN .323
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
A.Rosen,WAS 33 R.Kiner,PIT 48
D.Lenhardt,STL 29 T.Williams,BRO 41
A.Seminick,STL 29 J.Mize,PIT 38
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
A.Rosen,WAS 103 T.Williams,BRO 124
D.Lenhardt,STL 100 J.Mize,PIT 121
T.Kluszewski,PHI 94 R.Kiner,PIT 118
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
A.Rosen,WAS 112 T.Williams,BRO 119
J.Hopp,WAS 105 R.Kiner,PIT 110
D.Lenhardt,STL 101 J.Groth,CIN 104
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.Robinson,NY 34 D.Snider,BOS 25
P.Rizzuto,CLE 26 E.Torgeson,PHI 16
S.Jethroe,CLE 18 J.Pesky,STL 15
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
B.Sayles,STL 2.25 H.Pollet,BRO 3.39
J.Schmitz,CHI 2.88 D.Conger,PHI 3.48
W.Ford,NY 2.95 P.Derringer,BOS 3.54
Wins W Wins W
B.Sayles,STL 20 H.Pollet,BRO 21
D.Trout,PHI 19 H.Newhouser,BRO 19
M.Lanier,STL 18 B.Feller,STL 16
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Fleming,CHI 16 C.Covington,BRO 20
T.Wilks,DET 16 N.Potter,STL 19
J.Antonelli,NY 14 E.Henry,BOS 17
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Jansen,CLE 182 C.Van Cuyk,CHI 177
W.Ford,NY 181 C.Simmons,PHI 168
W.Spahn,CHI 174 H.Pollet,BRO 140
1949 World Series
Game #1
Brooklyn 0 2 6 1 0 0 3 1 0 - 13 15 0
St.Louis (A) 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 5 1
H.Pollet and E.Lombardi
C.Dean, R.Prim (3), S.Chandler (8) and A.Seminick
WP - H.Pollet (1-0)
LP - C.Dean (0-1)
HR - BRO: E.Lombardi (1), A.Pafko (1), R.Schoendienst (1), W.Jones (1);
STL: D.Philley (1)
Game #2
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 6 0
St.Louis (A) 0 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 x - 5 6 1
B.Porterfield, J.Callahan (7), W.Lanfranconi (8) and E.Lombardi
M.Lanier and A.Seminick
WP - M.Lanier (1-0)
LP - B.Porterfield (0-1)
HR - STL: J.Heath (1), M.Lanier (1), D.Lenhardt (1)
Game #3
St.Louis (A) 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 - 7 10 0
Brooklyn 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 - 5 9 1
B.Sayles, R.Prim (7) and A.Seminick
H.Newhouser, C.Covington and B.Dickey
WP - B.Sayles (1-0)
LP - H.Newhouser (0-1)
HR - STL: P.Reese (1), A.Seminick (1), D.Williams (1), D.Lenhardt (2);
BRO: H.Sauer (1), B.Stewart (1), D.Sisler (1)
Game #4
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 - 2 9 0
Brooklyn 2 0 0 5 0 1 0 2 x - 10 17 1
C.Dean, S.Chandler (6) and A.Seminick
H.Pollet and E.Lombardi
WP - H.Pollet (2-0)
LP - C.Dean (0-2)
HR - STL: D.Lenhardt (3); BRO: W.Jones 2 (3)
Game #5
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 - 6 5 1
Brooklyn 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 - 4 7 2
M.Lanier and A.Seminick
B.Porterfield, J.Callahan (9) and E.Lombardi
WP - M.Lanier (2-0)
LP - B.Porterfield (0-2)
HR - STL: J.Heath (2), F.Baker (1)
Game #6
Brooklyn 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 4 11 0
St.Louis (A) 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 x - 5 10 0
H.Newhouser, W.Lanfranconi (8) and B.Dickey
B.Sayles, R.Prim (8), B.Donovan (9) and A.Seminick
WP - B.Sayles (2-0)
LP - H.Newhouser (0-2)
SV - B.Donovan (1)
HR - none
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Code:
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Year: 1949
Batting Average
.313 Y.Berra
.266 R.Sievers
.258 E.Torgeson
.236 T.Holmes
.208 P.Seerey
Home Runs
27 Y.Berra
23 P.Seerey
23 E.Torgeson
13 R.Sievers
11 T.Holmes
Runs Batted In
108 Y.Berra
87 E.Torgeson
70 R.Sievers
69 P.Seerey
61 T.Holmes
Runs Scored
91 Y.Berra
88 E.Torgeson
74 R.Sievers
64 J.Grant
64 P.Seerey
Stolen Bases
16 E.Torgeson
9 B.Dillinger
7 J.Grant
5 Y.Berra
5 D.Mitchell
Wins
15 R.Roberts
15 C.Simmons
14 J.Rigney
13 N.Garver
6 D.Conger
Saves
11 F.Caligiuri
1 H.Eisenstat
1 B.Harman
Earned Run Average
3.48 D.Conger
4.26 N.Garver
4.27 R.Roberts
4.40 J.Rigney
4.43 C.Simmons
Strikeouts
168 C.Simmons
133 R.Roberts
107 N.Garver
70 J.Rigney
48 D.Conger