1949 Boston Red Sox season

MLB yearly infobox-pre1969 alt
name = Boston Red Sox
season = 1949
misc =

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
Uniform
ballpark = Fenway Park
y4 = 1912
city = Boston, Massachusetts
y5 = 1901
owners = Tom Yawkey
general manager =Joe Cronin
managers = Joe McCarthy
television = WBZ-TV/WNAC-TV
(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey, Bump Hadley)
radio = WHDH
(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey, Leo Egan)|The 1949 Boston Red Sox season involved the Red Sox finishing 2nd in the American League with a record of 96 wins and 58 losses. 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 [ [http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/baseballrumors.html ESPN.com - Page2 - The List: Baseball's biggest rumors ] ] . Had the deal gone through, Williams could have benefited from Yankee Stadium's short right-center fence while DiMaggio could have thrived at Fenway Park with its Green Monster. During the season, Milt Parnell would be the last pitcher to win at least 25 games in one season for the Red Sox in the 20th Century. [Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0]

Regular season: Yankees and Red Sox toe-to-toe

Joe DiMaggio came back from heel surgery to demolish the Red Sox in a three-game series at Fenway Park. He hit four home runs, three of them game winners. It sent the Sox reeling, and they fell 12.5 games back by July 4. But Boston rallied late in the season and went into Yankee Stadium for the final two games of the schedule with a one-game lead.The Red Sox needed just one win in two games and were to pitch Mel Parnell in the first game. The Yanks beat Parnell 5-4, as Joe Black had a great relief appearance for New York. And so it came down to the second game. It was Ellis Kinder facing Vic Raschi and the Yankees.

31 Years And Sadly Counting

The Yankees led 1-0 after seven innings, having scored in the first. In the eighth, manager Joe McCarthy lifted Kinder for a pinch hitter who did not come through. Then he brought in Mel Parnell in relief, and Parnell yield 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 shoestring, but he missed and it went for a triple and three runs.

In the ninth inning the Red Sox rallied for three runs but still fell short, and for the second year in a row McCarthy's managing was called into question. Why, said critics, with a power-laden lineup, pinch hit for Kinder? See what happened in the ninth? McCarthy had walked on thin ice. Hughson also claimed his manager ruined his career by making him pitch with a sore arm.

eason standings

Opening Day Line Up

Other batters

Relief pitchers

Awards and Honors

* Ted Williams, OF, American League MVP

Farm system [Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., "The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball," 3rd edition. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 2007]

* Class AAA: Louisville Colonels (American Association; Fred Walters and Mike Ryba, managers)
* Class AA: Birmingham Barons (Southern Association; Pinky Higgins, manager)
* Class A: Scranton Red Sox (Eastern League; Mike Ryba and Jack Burns, managers)
* Class B: Roanoke Red Sox (Piedmont League; Red Marion, manager)
* Class C: San Jose Red Sox (California League; Marv Owen, manager) — LEAGUE CHAMPION
* Class C: Oneonta Red Sox (Canadian-American League; Eddie Popowski, manager)
* Class D: Valley Rebels (Georgia-Alabama League; Jesse Dana, Mal Morgan and Woodrow Bottoms, managers)
* Class D: Marion Red Sox (Ohio-Indiana League; Wally Millies, manager) — LEAGUE CHAMPION
* Class D: Hornell Maple Leafs (PONY League; Marius Russo, manager)

References

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1949.shtml 1949 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1949&t=BOS 1949 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com]