# 1949 Washington Senators season

The 1949 Washington Senators, the 49th season of the Major League Baseball franchise, won 50 games, lost 104, and finished in eighth place in the American League. It was the worst showing by the Washington club in 40 years, since the 1909 Senators lost 110 games. The team was managed by Joe Kuhel; it played its home games at Griffith Stadium, where it drew 770,745 fans, seventh in the circuit.
The Senators actually won 25 of their first 45 games and stood in third place after Sunday, June 5, 1949. But they would win only 25 games more all season, playing at an abysmal .229 rate over their last 109 contests. In today's 162-game schedule, that would have resulted in a 37–125 mark, surpassing the 1962 Mets' record for futility. At year's end, manager Kuhel would be replaced by Bucky Harris, the Senators' 1924 "boy wonder" manager, now 53, returning for a third term as skipper of the Senators.

## Offseason

* October 4, 1948: John Sullivan, Tom Ferrick and $25,000 were traded by the Senators to the St. Louis Browns for Sam Dente.
* Prior to 1949 season: Jim Pearce was signed as a free agent by the Senators.

## Regular season

On September 28, Senators pitcher Ray Scarborough ended Ted Williams' streak of most consecutive games reaching base safely at 84 games. Scarborough gave up just four hits in a 4–1 complete game win over the Boston Red Sox. Johnny Pesky made the final out with Williams on deck.

### 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

* May 24, 1949: Milo Candini was traded by the Senators to the Oakland Oaks for Lloyd Hittle.

### 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 | Al Evans | 109 | 321 | 87 | .271 | 2 | 42 |
| 1B | Eddie Robinson | 143 | 527 | 155 | .294 | 18 | 78 |
| 2B | Al Kozar | 105 | 350 | 94 | .269 | 4 | 31 |
| SS | Sam Dente | 153 | 590 | 161 | .273 | 1 | 53 |
| 3B | Eddie Yost | 124 | 435 | 110 | .253 | 9 | 45 |
| OF | Gil Coan | 111 | 358 | 78 | .218 | 3 | 25 |
| OF | Bud Stewart | 118 | 388 | 110 | .284 | 8 | 43 |
| OF | Clyde Vollmer | 129 | 443 | 112 | .253 | 14 | 59 |

#### 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 |
| Sherry Robertson | 110 | 374 | 94 | .251 | 11 | 42 |
| Sam Mele | 78 | 264 | 64 | .242 | 3 | 25 |
| Buddy Lewis | 95 | 257 | 63 | .245 | 3 | 28 |
| Jake Early | 53 | 138 | 34 | .246 | 1 | 11 |
| Roberto Ortiz | 40 | 129 | 36 | .279 | 1 | 11 |
| Mark Christman | 49 | 112 | 24 | .214 | 3 | 18 |
| John Simmons | 62 | 93 | 20 | .215 | 0 | 5 |
| Ralph Weigel | 34 | 60 | 14 | .233 | 0 | 4 |
| Hal Keller | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Herman Reich | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jay Difani | 2 | 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 |
| Sid Hudson | 40 | 209.0 | 8 | 17 | 4.22 | 54 |
| Ray Scarborough | 34 | 199.2 | 13 | 11 | 4.60 | 81 |
| Paul Calvert | 34 | 160.2 | 6 | 17 | 5.43 | 52 |
| Mickey Harris | 23 | 129.0 | 2 | 12 | 5.16 | 54 |
| Walt Masterson | 10 | 53.0 | 3 | 2 | 3.23 | 17 |
| Dizzy Sutherland | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 45.00 | 0 |

#### 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 |
| Lloyd Hittle | 36 | 109.0 | 5 | 7 | 4.21 | 32 |
| Joe Haynes | 37 | 96.1 | 2 | 9 | 6.26 | 19 |
| Dick Weik | 27 | 95.1 | 3 | 12 | 5.38 | 58 |
| Mickey Haefner | 19 | 91.2 | 5 | 5 | 4.42 | 23 |
| Forrest Thompson | 9 | 16.1 | 1 | 3 | 4.41 | 8 |
| Jim Pearce | 2 | 5.1 | 0 | 1 | 8.44 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Dick Welteroth | 52 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 7.36 | 37 |
| Al Gettel | 16 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.45 | 7 |
| Julio González | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.72 | 5 |
| Milo Candini | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.76 | 1 |
| Buzz Dozier | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.37 | 1 |
| Ed Klieman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Chattanooga Lookouts | Southern Association | George Myatt and Fred Walters |
| B | Havana Cubanos | Florida International League | Oscar Rodríguez |
| B | Hagerstown Owls | Interstate League | Woody Wheaton |
| B | Charlotte Hornets | Tri-State League | Clyde McDowell |
| C | New Castle Nats | Middle Atlantic League | Bill Mongiello |
| D | Orlando Senators | Florida State League | Red Dulaney, Walter Zurowski and George Myatt |
| D | Fulton Railroaders | KITTY League | Ivan Kuester |
| D | Concord Nationals | North Carolina State League | James Calleran |
| D | Emporia Nationals | Virginia League | Morrie Aderholt |