# 1949 Chicago Cubs season

The 1949 Chicago Cubs season was the 78th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 74th in the National League and the 34th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished eighth and last in the National League with a record of 61–93.

## Offseason

* October 4, 1948: Bill Nicholson was traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Harry Walker.
* November 8, 1948: Bob Speake was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 48‍–‍29 | 49‍–‍28 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 96 | 58 | .623 | 1 | 51‍–‍26 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 81 | 73 | .526 | 16 | 40‍–‍37 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Boston Braves | 75 | 79 | .487 | 22 | 43‍–‍34 | 32‍–‍45 |
| New York Giants | 73 | 81 | .474 | 24 | 43‍–‍34 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 71 | 83 | .461 | 26 | 36‍–‍41 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 62 | 92 | .403 | 35 | 35‍–‍42 | 27‍–‍50 |
| Chicago Cubs | 61 | 93 | .396 | 36 | 33‍–‍44 | 28‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1949 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 10–12 | 12–10 | 12–10–1 | 12–10–2 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 6–16 |
| Brooklyn | 12–10 | — | 17–5 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 16–6 | 10–12–1 |
| Chicago | 10–12 | 5–17 | — | 9–13 | 12–10 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 8–14 |
| Cincinnati | 10–12–1 | 5–17 | 13–9 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 5–17–1 |
| New York | 10–12–2 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 11–11 | 12–10 | 7–15 |
| Philadelphia | 11–11 | 11–11 | 16–6 | 9–13 | 11–11 | — | 13–9 | 10–12 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 9–13 | — | 12–10 |
| St. Louis | 16–6 | 12–10–1 | 14–8 | 17–5–1 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 10–12 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 15, 1949: Peanuts Lowrey and Harry Walker were traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds for Frank Baumholtz and Hank Sauer.

### Roster
## 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 | Mickey Owen | 62 | 198 | 54 | .273 | 2 | 18 |
| 1B | Herman Reich | 108 | 386 | 108 | .280 | 3 | 34 |
| 2B | Emil Verban | 98 | 343 | 99 | .289 | 0 | 22 |
| SS | Roy Smalley Jr. | 135 | 477 | 117 | .245 | 8 | 35 |
| 3B | Frankie Gustine | 76 | 261 | 59 | .226 | 4 | 27 |
| OF | Hal Jeffcoat | 108 | 363 | 89 | .245 | 2 | 26 |
| OF | Andy Pafko | 144 | 519 | 146 | .281 | 18 | 69 |
| OF | Hank Sauer | 96 | 357 | 104 | .291 | 27 | 83 |

#### 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 |
| Phil Cavarretta | 105 | 360 | 106 | .294 | 8 | 49 |
| Bob Ramazzotti | 65 | 190 | 34 | .179 | 0 | 6 |
| Hank Edwards | 58 | 176 | 51 | .290 | 7 | 21 |
| Rube Walker | 56 | 172 | 42 | .244 | 3 | 22 |
| Frank Baumholtz | 58 | 164 | 37 | .226 | 1 | 15 |
| Harry Walker | 42 | 159 | 42 | .264 | 1 | 14 |
| Gene Mauch | 72 | 150 | 37 | .247 | 1 | 7 |
| Bob Scheffing | 55 | 149 | 40 | .268 | 3 | 19 |
| Wayne Terwilliger | 36 | 112 | 25 | .223 | 2 | 10 |
| Peanuts Lowrey | 38 | 111 | 30 | .270 | 2 | 10 |
| Rube Novotney | 22 | 67 | 18 | .269 | 0 | 6 |
| Smokey Burgess | 46 | 56 | 15 | .268 | 1 | 12 |
| Bill Serena | 12 | 37 | 8 | .216 | 1 | 7 |
| Hank Schenz | 7 | 14 | 6 | .429 | 0 | 1 |
| Clarence Maddern | 10 | 9 | 3 | .333 | 1 | 2 |
| Cliff Aberson | 4 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Kirby | 3 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 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 |
| Johnny Schmitz | 36 | 207.0 | 11 | 13 | 4.35 | 75 |
| Bob Rush | 35 | 201.0 | 10 | 18 | 4.07 | 80 |
| Dutch Leonard | 33 | 180.0 | 7 | 16 | 4.15 | 83 |

#### 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 |
| Monk Dubiel | 32 | 147.2 | 6 | 9 | 4.14 | 52 |
| Doyle Lade | 36 | 129.2 | 4 | 5 | 5.00 | 43 |
| Warren Hacker | 30 | 125.2 | 5 | 8 | 4.23 | 40 |
| Bob Chipman | 38 | 113.1 | 7 | 8 | 3.97 | 46 |
| Dewey Adkins | 30 | 82.1 | 2 | 4 | 5.68 | 43 |
| Cal McLish | 8 | 23.0 | 1 | 1 | 5.87 | 6 |
| Ralph Hamner | 6 | 12.1 | 0 | 2 | 8.76 | 3 |
| Lefty Sloat | 5 | 9.0 | 0 | 0 | 7.00 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Muncrief | 34 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4.56 | 36 |
| Emil Kush | 26 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3.78 | 22 |
| Jess Dobernic | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.25 | 0 |
| Mort Cooper | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | inf | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Los Angeles Angels | Pacific Coast League | Bill Kelly |
| AA | Nashville Vols | Southern Association | Rollie Hemsley |
| A | Macon Peaches | Sally League | Don Osborn |
| A | Des Moines Bruins | Western League | Stan Hack |
| B | Decatur Cubs | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Morrie Arnovich |
| B | Springfield Cubs | New England League | Bob Peterson |
| B | Selma Cloverleafs | Southeastern League | Leo Twardy and Joseph Szuch |
| C | Visalia Cubs | California League | Red Treadway, Jigger Statz and Claude Passeau |
| C | Clinton Steers | Central Association | Adolph Matulis and Joseph Blake |
| C | Sioux Falls Canaries | Northern League | Irvin Fortune and Lee Eilbracht |
| D | St. Augustine Saints | Florida State League | Frankie Piet |
| D | Carthage Cubs | Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League | Donald Anderson |
| D | Lumberton Cubs | Tobacco State League | Red Lucas and Jim Guinn |
| D | Rutherford County Owls | Western Carolina League | Sam Gibson and Halley Wilson |
| D | Janesville Cubs | Wisconsin State League | Jim Oglesby, Mike Frederick and Adolph Matulis |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Nashville, Macon, Rutherford County