# 1949 New York Yankees season

The 1949 New York Yankees season was the team's 47th season. The team finished with a record of 97–57, winning their 16th pennant, finishing 1 game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Casey Stengel in his first year. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in 5 games.

## Offseason

* November 15, 1948: Grant Dunlap was drafted by the Yankees from the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 minor league draft.
* Prior to 1949 season: Lou Skizas was signed as an amateur free agent by the Yankees.

## Regular season

The 1949 Yankees team was seen as "underdogs" who came from behind to catch and surprise the powerful Red Sox on the last two days of the season, a face off that fueled the beginning of the modern Yankees – Red Sox rivalry.
The Red Sox needed just one win in two games and were to pitch Mel Parnell in the first game. After trailing 4–0, the Yankees came back to beat Parnell 5–4, as Johnny Lindell hit an eighth-inning, game-winning, home run and Joe Page had a great relief appearance for New York. And so it came down to the last game of the season. It was Ellis Kinder facing Vic Raschi.
The Yankees led 1–0 after seven innings, having scored in the first. In the eighth inning, manager Joe McCarthy lifted Kinder for a pinch hitter who did not come through. Then he brought in Mel Parnell in relief, and Parnell yielded a homer to Tommy Henrich and a single to Yogi Berra. Parnell was replaced by Tex Hughson, who had been on the disabled list and said his arm still hurt. But he came on and, with the bases loaded, Jerry Coleman hit a soft liner that Al Zarilla in right field tried to make a shoestring catch, but he missed and it went for a triple and three runs scored. In the ninth inning the Red Sox rallied for three runs but still fell short. The post-season proved to be a bit easier, as the Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers four games to one.
In 1949, Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees GM Larry MacPhail verbally agreed to trade DiMaggio for Ted Williams, but MacPhail refused to include Yogi Berra. Phil Rizzuto moved from eighth to first in the batting lineup and finished the season second in voting for the American League MVP Award.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 54‍–‍23 | 43‍–‍34 |
| Boston Red Sox | 96 | 58 | .623 | 1 | 61‍–‍16 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Cleveland Indians | 89 | 65 | .578 | 8 | 49‍–‍28 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 87 | 67 | .565 | 10 | 50‍–‍27 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 81 | 73 | .526 | 16 | 52‍–‍25 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Chicago White Sox | 63 | 91 | .409 | 34 | 32‍–‍45 | 31‍–‍46 |
| St. Louis Browns | 53 | 101 | .344 | 44 | 36‍–‍41 | 17‍–‍60 |
| Washington Senators | 50 | 104 | .325 | 47 | 26‍–‍51 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1949 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 17–5 | 8–14 | 15–7–1 | 9–13 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 18–4 |
| Chicago | 5–17 | — | 7–15 | 8–14 | 7–15 | 6–16 | 15–7 | 15–7 |
| Cleveland | 14–8 | 15–7 | — | 13–9 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 13–9 |
| Detroit | 7–15–1 | 14–8 | 9–13 | — | 11–11 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 18–4 |
| New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 17–5–1 | 15–7 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 16–6 | 13–9 | 8–14 | 8–14 | — | 12–10 | 16–6 |
| St. Louis | 7–15 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 5–17–1 | 10–12 | — | 9–13 |
| Washington | 4–18 | 7–15 | 9–13 | 4–18 | 7–15 | 6–16 | 13–9 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 28, 1949: Grant Dunlap was returned by the Yankees to the Indians.

### 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 | Yogi Berra | 116 | 415 | 155 | .277 | 20 | 91 |
| 1B | Tommy Henrich | 115 | 411 | 118 | .287 | 24 | 85 |
| 2B | Jerry Coleman | 128 | 447 | 123 | .275 | 2 | 42 |
| 3B | Bobby Brown | 104 | 343 | 97 | .283 | 6 | 61 |
| SS | Phil Rizzuto | 153 | 614 | 169 | .275 | 5 | 65 |
| OF | Cliff Mapes | 111 | 304 | 75 | .247 | 7 | 38 |
| OF | Gene Woodling | 112 | 296 | 80 | .270 | 5 | 44 |
| OF | Hank Bauer | 103 | 301 | 82 | .272 | 10 | 45 |

#### 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 |
| Billy Johnson | 113 | 329 | 82 | .249 | 8 | 56 |
| Joe DiMaggio | 76 | 272 | 94 | .346 | 14 | 67 |
| Johnny Lindell | 78 | 211 | 51 | .242 | 6 | 27 |
| Dick Kryhoski | 54 | 177 | 52 | .294 | 1 | 27 |
| Snuffy Stirnweiss | 70 | 157 | 41 | .261 | 0 | 11 |
| Charlie Silvera | 58 | 130 | 41 | .315 | 0 | 13 |
| Charlie Keller | 60 | 116 | 29 | .250 | 3 | 16 |
| Jack Phillips | 45 | 91 | 28 | .308 | 1 | 10 |
| Gus Niarhos | 32 | 43 | 12 | .279 | 0 | 6 |
| Fenton Mole | 10 | 27 | 5 | .185 | 0 | 2 |
| Johnny Mize | 13 | 23 | 6 | .261 | 1 | 2 |
| Jim Delsing | 9 | 20 | 7 | .350 | 1 | 3 |
| Joe Collins | 7 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 4 |
| Ralph Houk | 5 | 7 | 4 | .571 | 0 | 1 |
| Mickey Witek | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 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 |
| Vic Raschi | 38 | 274.2 | 21 | 10 | 3.34 | 124 |
| Ed Lopat | 31 | 215.1 | 15 | 10 | 3.26 | 70 |
| Allie Reynolds | 35 | 213.2 | 17 | 6 | 4.00 | 105 |
| Tommy Byrne | 32 | 196.0 | 15 | 7 | 3.72 | 129 |

#### 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 |
| Fred Sanford | 29 | 95.1 | 7 | 3 | 3.87 | 51 |
| Bob Porterfield | 12 | 57.2 | 2 | 5 | 4.06 | 25 |
| Duane Pillette | 12 | 37.1 | 2 | 4 | 4.34 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Joe Page | 60 | 13 | 8 | 27 | 2.59 | 99 |
| Cuddles Marshall | 21 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5.11 | 13 |
| Spec Shea | 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.33 | 22 |
| Ralph Buxton | 14 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.05 | 14 |
| Hugh Casey | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8.22 | 5 |
| Frank Hiller | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.87 | 3 |
| Wally Hood | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |

## 1949 World Series

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Brooklyn Dodgers (1)
| Game | Score | Date | Attendance |
| 1 | New York 1, Brooklyn 0 | October 5 | 66,224 |
| 2 | Brooklyn 1, New York 0 | October 6 | 70,053 |
| 3 | New York 4, Brooklyn 3 | October 7 | 32,788 |
| 4 | New York 6, Brooklyn 4 | October 8 | 33,934 |
| 5 | New York 10, Brooklyn 6 | October 9 | 33,711 |

## Awards and honors

* Joe Page, Babe Ruth Award
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Kansas City Blues | American Association | Bill Skiff |
| AAA | Newark Bears | International League | Buddy Hassett |
| AA | Beaumont Exporters | Texas League | Chick Autry |
| A | Binghamton Triplets | Eastern League | George Selkirk |
| A | Augusta Tigers | Sally League | Alton Biggs and Jim Pruett |
| B | Quincy Gems | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | James Adlam |
| B | Manchester Yankees | New England League | Wally Berger |
| B | Norfolk Tars | Piedmont League | Earl Bolyard and Frank Novosel |
| B | Victoria Athletics | Western International League | Ted Norbert and Earl Bolyard |
| C | Ventura Yankees | California League | Bones Sanders |
| C | Amsterdam Rugmakers | Canadian–American League | Mayo Smith |
| C | Grand Forks Chiefs | Northern League | Eddie Kearse, Joe McDermott and Wally Berger |
| C | Twin Falls Cowboys | Pioneer League | Charlie Metro |
| C | Joplin Miners | Western Association | Johnny Sturm |
| D | Easton Yankees | Eastern Shore League | Jack Farmer |
| D | LaGrange Troupers | Georgia–Alabama League | Carl Cooper |
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| D | Independence Yankees | Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League | Harry Craft |
| D | Belleville Stags | Mississippi–Ohio Valley League | Les Mueller, Joe Yurkovich, Addie Nesbit and Bunny Mick |
| D | Newark Yankees | Ohio–Indiana League | Jim McLeod |
| D | McAlester Rockets | Sooner State League | Vern Hoscheit |
| D | Fond du Lac Panthers | Wisconsin State League | Fred Collins |