1949 Washington Senators season explained

Washington Senators
Season:	1949
League:	American League
Ballpark:	Griffith Stadium
City:	Washington, D.C.
Owners:	Clark Griffith and the estate of George H. Richardson
Managers:	Joe Kuhel
Television:	WTTG (Arch McDonald, Bob Wolff, Howard Williams)
Radio:	WWDC (FM) (Arch McDonald, Bob Wolff, Howard Williams)
Season List:	List of Minnesota Twins seasons

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.^[1]

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.^[2]
• Prior to 1949 season: Jim Pearce was signed as a free agent by the Senators.^[3]

Regular season

On September 28, Senators pitcher Ray Scarborough ended Ted Williams' streak of most consecutive games reaching base safely at 84 games.^[4] 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.

Notable transactions

• May 24, 1949: Milo Candini was traded by the Senators to the Oakland Oaks for Lloyd Hittle.^[5]

Roster

1949 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

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		109	321	87	.271	2	42
1B		143	527	155	.294	18	78
2B		105	350	94	.269	4	31
SS		153	590	161	.273	1	53
3B		124	435	110	.253	9	45
OF		111	358	78	.218	3	25
OF		118	388	110	.284	8	43
OF		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
	110	374	94	.251	11	42
	78	264	64	.242	3	25
	95	257	63	.245	3	28
	53	138	34	.246	1	11
	40	129	36	.279	1	11
	49	112	24	.214	3	18
	62	93	20	.215	0	5
	34	60	14	.233	0	4
	3	3	1	.333	0	0
	2	2	0	.000	0	0
	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
	40	209.0	8	17	4.22	54
	34	199.2	13	11	4.60	81
	34	160.2	6	17	5.43	52
	23	129.0	2	12	5.16	54
	10	53.0	3	2	3.23	17
	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
	36	109.0	5	7	4.21	32
	37	96.1	2	9	6.26	19
	27	95.1	3	12	5.38	58
	19	91.2	5	5	4.42	23
	9	16.1	1	3	4.41	8
	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
	52	2	5	2	7.36	37
	16	0	2	1	5.45	7
	13	0	0	0	4.72	5
	3	0	0	1	4.76	1
	2	0	0	0	11.37	1
	2	0	0	0	18.00	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[6]

External links

• 1949 Washington Senators at Baseball-Reference
• 1949 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. [Baseball Reference]
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sullijo06.shtml John Sullivan
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pearcji01.shtml Jim Pearce
4. Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 44, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC,
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/candimi01.shtml Milo Candini
6. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007