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1941 Brooklyn Dodgers season

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This article is about the baseball team. For the NFL team, see 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) season.

1941 Brooklyn Dodgers
National League Champions
LeagueNational League
BallparkEbbets Field
CityBrooklyn, New York
OwnersJames & Dearie Mulvey, Brooklyn Trust Company
PresidentLarry MacPhail
ManagersLeo Durocher
RadioWOR
Red Barber, Al Helfer
← 1940
1942 →

The 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers, led by manager Leo Durocher, won their first pennant in 21 years, edging the St. Louis Cardinals by 2.5 games. They went on to lose to the New York Yankees in the World Series.

In The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, this team was referenced as one of "The Greatest Teams That Never Was", due to the quality of its starting lineup. Dolph Camilli was the slugging star with 34 home runs and 120 RBI. He was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player. Pete Reiser, a 22-year-old rookie, led the league in batting average, slugging percentage, and runs scored. Other regulars included Hall of Famers Billy Herman, Joe Medwick, Pee Wee Reese, and Dixie Walker. Not surprisingly, the Dodgers scored the most runs of any NL team (800).

The pitching staff featured a pair of 22-game winners, Kirby Higbe and Whitlow Wyatt, having their best pro seasons.

On July 1, the Dodgers played the Phillies in Brooklyn; the game was televised by WNBT in New York (now WNBC), making the contest the first program aired by a commercial TV station in the United States. Although the Dodgers would later win the pennant and the Phillies would finish dead last in the NL, Philadelphia won the game 6–4, in 10 innings.[1]

Offseason

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Regular season

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Season standings

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Brooklyn Dodgers 100 54 .649 — 52‍–‍25 48‍–‍29
St. Louis Cardinals 97 56 .634 2½ 53‍–‍24 44‍–‍32
Cincinnati Reds 88 66 .571 12 45‍–‍34 43‍–‍32
Pittsburgh Pirates 81 73 .526 19 45‍–‍32 36‍–‍41
New York Giants 74 79 .484 25½ 38‍–‍39 36‍–‍40
Chicago Cubs 70 84 .455 30 38‍–‍39 32‍–‍45
Boston Braves 62 92 .403 38 32‍–‍44 30‍–‍48
Philadelphia Phillies 43 111 .279 57 23‍–‍52 20‍–‍59

Record vs. opponents

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1941 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 4–18–2 11–11 9–13 6–16 14–8 10–12 8–14
Brooklyn 18–4–2 — 13–9 14–8 14–8 18–4 12–10 11–11–1
Chicago 11–11 9–13 — 8–14 9–13 14–8–1 9–13 10–12
Cincinnati 13–9 8–14 14–8 — 15–7 16–6 12–10 10–12
New York 16–6 8–14 13–9 7–15 — 16–6 8–14–2 6–15–1
Philadelphia 8–14 4–18 8–14–1 6–16 6–16 — 6–16 5–17
Pittsburgh 12–10 10–12 13–9 10–12 14–8–2 16–6 — 6–16
St. Louis 14–8 11–11–1 12–10 12–10 15–6–1 17–5 16–6 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1941 Brooklyn Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
C Mickey Owen 128 386 32 89 .231 1 44 1
1B Dolph Camilli 149 529 92 151 .285 34 120 3
2B Billy Herman 133 536 77 156 .291 3 41 1
3B Cookie Lavagetto 132 441 75 122 .277 1 78 7
SS Pee Wee Reese 152 595 76 136 .229 2 46 10
OF Dixie Walker 148 531 88 165 .311 9 71 4
OF Pete Reiser 137 536 117 184 .343 14 76 4
OF Joe Medwick 133 538 100 171 .318 18 88 2

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
Jimmy Wasdell 94 265 39 79 .298 4 48 2
Lew Riggs 77 197 27 60 .305 5 36 1
Herman Franks 57 139 10 28 .201 1 11 0
Pete Coscarart 43 62 13 8 .129 0 5 1
Joe Vosmik 25 56 0 11 .196 0 4 0
Alex Kampouris 16 51 8 16 .314 2 9 0
Leo Durocher 18 42 2 12 .286 0 6 0
Paul Waner 11 35 5 6 .171 0 4 0
Babe Phelps 16 30 3 7 .233 2 4 0
Augie Galan 17 27 3 7 .259 0 4 0
Tommy Tatum 8 12 1 2 .167 0 1 0
Tony Giuliani 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
George Pfister 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS CG IP W L ERA BB SO
Kirby Higbe 48 39 19 298.0 22 9 3.14 132 121
Whit Wyatt 38 35 23 288.1 22 10 2.34 82 176
Freddie Fitzsimmons 13 12 3 82.2 6 1 2.07 26 19
Ed Albosta 2 2 0 13.0 0 2 6.23 8 5

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS CG IP W L ERA BB SO
Hugh Casey 45 18 4 162.0 14 11 3.89 57 61
Curt Davis 28 16 10 154.1 13 7 2.97 27 50
Luke Hamlin 30 20 5 136.0 8 8 4.24 41 58
Johnny Allen 11 4 2 57.1 3 0 2.51 12 21
Newt Kimball 15 5 1 52.0 3 1 3.63 29 17
Tom Drake 10 2 0 24.2 1 1 4.38 12 21
Larry French 6 1 0 15.2 0 0 3.45 4 8
Lee Grissom 4 1 0 11.1 0 0 2.38 8 5

Note: Hugh Casey was team leader in saves with 7.

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA BB SO
Mace Brown 24 42.2 3 2 3 3.16 26 22
Kemp Wicker 16 32.0 1 2 1 3.66 14 8
Vito Tamulis 12 22.0 0 0 1 3.68 10 8
Bill Swift 9 22.0 3 0 1 3.27 7 9
Bob Chipman 1 5.0 1 0 0 0.00 1 3
Van Mungo 2 2.0 0 0 0 4.50 2 0

1941 World Series

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Main article: 1941 World Series

The 1941 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Dodgers, with the Yankees winning in five games to capture their fifth title in six years, and their ninth overall.

The name "Subway Series" arose for a World Series played between two New York City teams. The series was punctuated by the Dodgers' Mickey Owen's dropped third strike of a sharply breaking curveball (a suspected spitball) pitched by Hugh Casey to Tommy Henrich in the 9th inning of Game 4. The play led to a Yankees rally and brought them one win away from another championship.

The Yankees were back after a one-year hiatus, having won thirteen (13) of their last fourteen (14) Series games and twenty-eight (28) of their last thirty-one (31) games in the World Series.

This was the first Subway Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, who had already faced the crosstown New York Giants five times, and the Series was now 1–0 in favor of the Bronx Bombers. These two teams would meet a total of seven (7) times from 1941 to 1956 – the Dodgers' only victory coming in 1955.

Game 1

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October 1, 1941, at Yankee Stadium in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brooklyn (N) 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 6 0
New York (A) 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 x 3 6 1
W: Red Ruffing (1–0)   L: Curt Davis (0–1)
HR: NYY – Joe Gordon (1)

Game 2

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October 2, 1941, at Yankee Stadium in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brooklyn (N) 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 6 2
New York (A) 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 1
W: Whit Wyatt (1–0)   L: Spud Chandler (0–1)

Game 3

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October 4, 1941, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 8 0
Brooklyn (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 0
W: Marius Russo (1–0)  L: Hugh Casey (0–1)

Game 4

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October 5, 1941, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York (A) 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 7 12 0
Brooklyn (N) 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 9 1
W: Johnny Murphy (1–0)  L: Hugh Casey (0–2)
HR: : BRO – Pete Reiser (1)

Game 5

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October 6, 1941, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York (A) 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 6 0
Brooklyn (N) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 1
W: Tiny Bonham (1–0)  L: Whit Wyatt (1–1)
HR: : NYY – Tommy Henrich (1)

Awards and honors

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Whit Wyatt had a career season in 1941.

League top ten finishers

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Dolph Camilli

  • NL leader in home runs (34)
  • NL leader in RBI (120)
  • #2 in NL in slugging percentage (.556)
  • #2 in NL in bases on balls (104)
  • #3 in NL in on-base percentage (.407)

Hugh Casey

Kirby Higbe

  • NL leader in wins (22)
  • #4 in NL in strikeouts (121)

Joe Medwick

  • #3 in NL in batting average (.318)
  • #3 in NL in runs scored (100)

Pete Reiser

  • NL leader in batting average (.343)
  • NL leader in slugging percentage (.558)
  • NL leader in runs scored (117)
  • NL leader in triples (17)
  • #4 in NL in on-base percentage (.406)

Whit Wyatt

  • MLB leader in shutouts (7)
  • NL leader in wins (22)
  • #2 in NL in strikeouts (176)
  • #2 in NL in ERA (2.34)
  • #2 in NL in complete games (23)

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AA Montreal Royals International League Clyde Sukeforth
A1 Knoxville Smokies Southern Association Fred Lindstrom
B Reading Brooks Interstate League Fresco Thompson
B Durham Bulls Piedmont League Bruno Betzel
C Santa Barbara Saints California League John Clancy
C Quebec Athletics Canadian–American League Del Bissonette
Roland Gladu
C Grand Rapids Colts Michigan State League Charles Lucas
C Dayton Ducks Middle Atlantic League Paul Chervinko
Howard Holmes
William McWilliams
C Troy Dodgers/Tuskegee Airmen Alabama State League Orace Powers
D Elizabethton Betsy Red Sox Appalachian League Hobe Brummitt
D Valdosta Trojans Georgia–Florida League Stew Hofferth
D Newport Dodgers Northeast Arkansas League Merle Settlemire
D Johnstown Johnnies Pennsylvania State Association George Treadwell
D Olean Oilers Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League Jake Pitler
D Big Spring Bombers West Texas–New Mexico League Joe Tate

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montreal, Durham, Santa Barbara, Elizebethton, Newport

Notes

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  1. ^ Baseball Reference
  2. ^ a b Vito Tamulis at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Tot Pressnell at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Boze Berger at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Glen Stewart at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Gus Mancuso at Baseball-Reference
  7. ^ Pep Young at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ Pep Rambert at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ a b Lefty Mills at Baseball-Reference
  10. ^ Wally Westlake at Baseball-Reference
  11. ^ Roxie Lawson at Baseball-Reference
  12. ^ Newt Kimball at Baseball-Reference
  13. ^ a b Mace Brown at Baseball-Reference
  14. ^ Johnny Hudson at Baseball-Reference
  15. ^ Joe Becker at Baseball-Reference

References

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