1942 Brooklyn Dodgers season explained

Brooklyn Dodgers
Season:	1942
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Ebbets Field
City:	Brooklyn, New York
Owners:	James & Dearie Mulvey, Brooklyn Trust Company
Managers:	Leo Durocher
Radio:	WHN, WOR Red Barber, Alan Hale

The 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers team won 104 games in the season, but fell two games short of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League pennant race. The Dodgers' 104 wins tied the 1909 Chicago Cubs for the most wins by a team that failed to finish first in its league (or, since 1969, division); this record lasted until 2021, when the Dodgers won 106 games but finished a game behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.^[1]

Offseason

December 9, 1941: Heinie Mueller was purchased by the Dodgers from the Philadelphia Phillies.^[2]
December 10, 1941: Mace Brown was purchased from the Dodgers the Boston Red Sox.^[3]
December 10, 1941: Don Padgett was purchased by the Dodgers from the St. Louis Cardinals.^[4]
December 10, 1941: Johnny Rizzo was purchased by the Dodgers from the Philadelphia Phillies.^[5]
December 12, 1941: Pete Coscarart, Luke Hamlin, Babe Phelps and Jimmy Wasdell were traded by the Dodgers to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Arky Vaughan.^[6]
March 13, 1942: Billy Sullivan was purchased by the Dodgers from the Detroit Tigers.^[7]
March 23, 1942: Frenchy Bordagaray was purchased by the Dodgers from the New York Yankees.^[8]
Prior to 1942 season: Steve Nagy was signed as an amateur free agent by the Dodgers.^[9]

Regular season

The Dodgers were 73–30 and 10 games ahead on August 4, but the Cardinals went on to win 45 of their last 56 to grab the NL title. To exacerbate the problem, the Dodgers had also dropped several close games to St. Louis in September.

Defending NL batting champ Pete Reiser, hitting .380, was sidelined in mid-season after repeatedly crashing into the unpadded outfield wall in Ebbets Field. While he recovered from a fractured skull, Brooklyn could not keep up their early pace. A healthy Reiser may very well have made up the two-game difference.^[10]

Notable transactions

April 30, 1942: Schoolboy Rowe was purchased by the Dodgers from the Detroit Tigers.^[11]
May 19, 1942: Babe Dahlgren was purchased by the Dodgers from the Chicago Cubs.^[12]
August 30, 1942: Bobo Newsom was purchased by the Dodgers from the Washington Senators.^[13]

Roster

1942 Brooklyn Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

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	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	133	421	53	109	.259	0	44	10
1B	150	524	89	132	.252	26	109	10
2B	155	571	76	146	.256	2	65	6
3B	128	495	82	137	.277	2	49	8
SS	151	564	87	144	.255	3	53	15
LF	142	553	69	166	.300	4	96	2
CF	125	480	89	149	.310	10	64	20
RF	118	393	57	114	.290	6	54	1

Other batters

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

G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
78	217	31	50	.230	4	27	2
69	209	24	55	.263	0	22	2
70	199	20	50	.278	3	22	0
43	101	11	27	.267	1	14	1
48	58	11	14	.241	0	5	2
10	21	3	5	.238	0	3	0
17	19	2	1	.053	0	0	0
8	17	2	8	.471	1	9	0
1	0	1	0	----	0	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

G	GS	CG	IP	W	L	ERA	BB	SO
38	32	13	221.2	16	11	3.25	106	115
31	30	16	217.1	19	7	2.73	63	104
32	26	13	206.0	15	6	2.36	51	60
6	5	2	32.0	2	2	3.38	14	21
1	1	0	3.0	0	0	15.00	1	0

Other pitchers

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