# 1940 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1940 Cincinnati Reds season was the 58th season for the franchise. Cincinnati entered the season as the reigning National League champions, having been swept by the New York Yankees in the World Series the previous year. They would defeat the Detroit Tigers four games to three to take the World Series title.

## Offseason

* October 14, 1939: Hank Sauer was drafted by the Reds from the New York Yankees in the 1939 minor league draft.
* October 19, 1939: Al Simmons was released by the Reds.

## Regular season

Cincinnati won 100 games for the first time in franchise history. The team finished first in the National League with a record of 100–53, winning the pennant by 12 games over the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the best record in MLB. They went on to face the Detroit Tigers in the 1940 World Series, beating them in seven games. This was their first championship since 1919.
In August, back up catcher Willard Hershberger, depressed over what he felt was culpability for losing both games of a doubleheader, took his life. Coach Jimmie Wilson was added to the roster as the back up catcher. The Reds players would vote to send Hershberger's share of the World Series winnings to his mother

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cincinnati Reds | 100 | 53 | .654 | — | 55‍–‍21 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 88 | 65 | .575 | 12 | 41‍–‍37 | 47‍–‍28 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 84 | 69 | .549 | 16 | 41‍–‍36 | 43‍–‍33 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 78 | 76 | .506 | 22½ | 40‍–‍34 | 38‍–‍42 |
| Chicago Cubs | 75 | 79 | .487 | 25½ | 40‍–‍37 | 35‍–‍42 |
| New York Giants | 72 | 80 | .474 | 27½ | 33‍–‍43 | 39‍–‍37 |
| Boston Bees | 65 | 87 | .428 | 34½ | 35‍–‍40 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 50 | 103 | .327 | 50 | 24‍–‍55 | 26‍–‍48 |

#### Detailed record

| Team | Home | Away | Total | Win % |
| National League |||||
| Brooklyn | 6–5 | 8–3–1 | 14–8–1 | .636 |
| Boston | 7–4 | 5–5 | 12–9 | .591 |
| Chicago | 9–2 | 7–4 | 16–6 | .727 |
| New York | 8–3 | 7–4 | 15–7 | .682 |
| Philadelphia | 8–2 | 7–5 | 15–7 | .682 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–1 | 6–5 | 16–6 | .727 |
| St. Louis | 7–4–1 | 5–6 | 12–10–1 | .545 |
| | 55–21 | 46–30 | 100–53 | .654 |
| Month | Games | Won | Lost | Win % |
| April | 9 | 6 | 3 | .667 |
| May | 26 | 19 | 7 | .731 |
| June | 27 | 16 | 11 | .593 |
| July | 28 | 20 | 8 | .714 |
| August | 32 | 16 | 16 | .500 |
| September | 31 | 23 | 8 | .742 |
| | 153 | 100 | 53 | .654 |
| | Games | Won | Lost | Win % |
| Home | 76 | 55 | 21 | .724 |
| Away | 77 | 45 | 32 | .584 |

#### Record vs. opponents

1940 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 9–13 | 8–14 | 9–12 | 7–15 | 15–6 | 9–13 | 8–14 |
| Brooklyn | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 8–14–1 | 16–5 | 17–5 | 15–7–1 | 9–13–1 |
| Chicago | 14–8 | 12–10 | — | 6–16 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 8–14 |
| Cincinnati | 12–9 | 14–8–1 | 16–6 | — | 15–7 | 15–7 | 16–6 | 12–10–1 |
| New York | 15–7 | 5–16 | 10–12 | 7–15 | — | 12–10 | 12–10 | 11–10 |
| Philadelphia | 6–15 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 7–15 | 10–12 | — | 6–16 | 6–16 |
| Pittsburgh | 13–9 | 7–15–1 | 11–11 | 6–16 | 10–12 | 16–6 | — | 15–7–1 |
| St. Louis | 14–8 | 13–9–1 | 14–8 | 10–12–1 | 10–11 | 16–6 | 7–15–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* August 23, 1940: Jimmy Ripple was selected off waivers by the Reds from the Brooklyn Dodgers.

### 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 | Ernie Lombardi | 109 | 376 | 120 | .319 | 14 | 74 |
| 1B | Frank McCormick | 155 | 618 | 191 | .309 | 19 | 127 |
| 2B | Lonny Frey | 150 | 563 | 150 | .266 | 8 | 54 |
| SS | Billy Myers | 90 | 282 | 57 | .202 | 5 | 30 |
| 3B | Billy Werber | 143 | 584 | 162 | .277 | 12 | 48 |
| OF | Mike McCormick | 110 | 417 | 125 | .300 | 1 | 30 |
| OF | Ival Goodman | 136 | 519 | 134 | .258 | 12 | 63 |
| OF | Harry Craft | 115 | 422 | 103 | .244 | 6 | 48 |

#### 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 |
| Eddie Joost | 88 | 278 | 60 | .216 | 1 | 24 |
| Morrie Arnovich | 62 | 211 | 60 | .284 | 0 | 21 |
| Willard Hershberger | 48 | 123 | 38 | .309 | 0 | 26 |
| Johnny Rizzo | 31 | 110 | 31 | .282 | 4 | 17 |
| Jimmy Ripple | 32 | 101 | 31 | .307 | 4 | 20 |
| Lew Riggs | 41 | 72 | 21 | .292 | 1 | 9 |
| Bill Baker | 27 | 69 | 15 | .217 | 0 | 7 |
| Lee Gamble | 38 | 42 | 6 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Jimmy Wilson | 16 | 37 | 9 | .243 | 0 | 3 |
| Dick West | 7 | 28 | 11 | .393 | 1 | 6 |
| Mike Dejan | 12 | 16 | 3 | .188 | 0 | 2 |
| Vince DiMaggio | 2 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Wally Berger | 2 | 2 | 0 | .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 |
| Bucky Walters | 36 | 305.0 | 22 | 10 | 2.48 | 115 |
| Paul Derringer | 37 | 296.2 | 20 | 12 | 3.06 | 115 |
| Gene Thompson | 33 | 225.1 | 16 | 9 | 3.32 | 103 |
| Jim Turner | 24 | 187.0 | 14 | 7 | 2.89 | 53 |

#### 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 |
| Whitey Moore | 25 | 116.2 | 8 | 8 | 3.63 | 60 |
| Johnny Hutchings | 19 | 54.0 | 2 | 1 | 3.50 | 18 |
| Johnny Vander Meer | 10 | 48.0 | 3 | 1 | 3.75 | 41 |

#### 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 Beggs | 37 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2.00 | 25 |
| Milt Shoffner | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.63 | 17 |
| Elmer Riddle | 15 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.87 | 9 |
| Red Barrett | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 0 |
| Lefty Guise | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.17 | 1 |

## 1940 World Series
### Game 1

October 2, 1940, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit (A) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| Cincinnati (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 |
| W: Bobo Newsom (1–0) L: Paul Derringer (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HR: DET – Bruce Campbell (1) |||||||||||||
| Attendance: 31,739 |||||||||||||

### Game 2

October 3, 1940, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit (A) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Cincinnati (N) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| W: Bucky Walters (1–0) L: Schoolboy Rowe (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HR: CIN – Jimmy Ripple (1) |||||||||||||
| Attendance: 30,640 |||||||||||||

### Game 3

October 4, 1940, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Cincinnati (N) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
| Detroit (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | x | 7 | 13 | 1 |
| W: Tommy Bridges (1–0) L: Jim Turner (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HR: : DET – Rudy York (1), Pinky Higgins (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 4

October 5, 1940, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Cincinnati (N) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 1 |
| Detroit (A) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| W: Paul Derringer (1–1) L: Dizzy Trout (0–1) |||||||||||||

### Game 5

October 6, 1940, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Cincinnati (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Detroit (A) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 8 | 13 | 0 |
| W: Bobo Newsom (2–0) L: Junior Thompson (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HR: : DET – Hank Greenberg (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 6

October 7, 1940, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Cincinnati (N) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| W: Bucky Walters (2–0) L: Schoolboy Rowe (0–2) |||||||||||||
| HR: CIN – Bucky Walters (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 7

October 8, 1940, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit (A) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Cincinnati (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | x | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| W: Paul Derringer (2–1) L: Bobo Newsom (2–1) |||||||||||||

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Wes Griffin and Jewel Ens |
| A1 | Birmingham Barons | Southern Association | Ira Smith |
| B | Durham Bulls | Piedmont League | Oscar Roettger |
| B | Columbia Reds | Sally League | Cap Crossley |
| C | Tucson Cowboys | Arizona–Texas League | Lester "Pat" Patterson |
| C | Ogden Reds | Pioneer League | Bill McCorry |
| D | Troy Trojans | Alabama State League | Ellis Johnson and Harold Fehrenbacher |
| D | Lenoir Reds | Tar Heel League | Ray Rice |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Durham