1949 New York Yankees season

The 1949 New York Yankees season was the team's 47th season. The team finished with a record of 97–57, winning their 16th pennant, finishing 1 game ahead of the [1949 1949 Boston Red Sox season|Boston Red Sox season|Boston Red Sox]. New York was managed by Casey Stengel in his first year. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they defeated the [1949 1949 Brooklyn Dodgers season|Brooklyn Dodgers season|Brooklyn Dodgers] in 5 games.

Offseason

November 15, 1948: Grant Dunlap was drafted by the Yankees from the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 minor league draft.
Prior to 1949 season: Lou Skizas was signed as an amateur free agent by the Yankees.

Regular season

The 1949 Yankees team was seen as "underdogs" who came from behind to catch and surprise the powerful Red Sox on the last two days of the season, a face off that fueled the beginning of the modern Yankees–Red Sox rivalry.
The Red Sox needed just one win in two games and were to pitch Mel Parnell in the first game. After trailing 4–0, the Yankees came back to beat Parnell 5–4, as Johnny Lindell hit an eighth-inning, game-winning, home run and Joe Page had a great relief appearance for New York. And so it came down to the last game of the season. It was Ellis Kinder facing Vic Raschi.
The Yankees led 1–0 after seven innings, having scored in the first. In the eighth inning, manager Joe McCarthy lifted Kinder for pinch hitter Tom Wright who walked but was erased in a double play, ending the inning. Then he brought in Mel Parnell in relief, and Parnell yielded 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 make a shoestring catch, but he missed and it went for a triple and three runs scored. In the ninth inning the Red Sox rallied for three runs but still fell short. The post-season proved to be a bit easier, as the Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers four games to one.
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. Phil Rizzuto moved from eighth to first in the batting lineup and finished the season second in voting for the American League MVP Award.

Notable transactions

April 28, 1949: Grant Dunlap was returned by the Yankees to the Indians.

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		116	415	155	.277	20	91
1B		115	411	118	.287	24	85
2B		128	447	123	.275	2	42
3B		104	343	97	.283	6	61
SS		153	614	169	.275	5	65
OF		111	304	75	.247	7	38
OF		112	296	80	.270	5	44
OF		103	301	82	.272	10	45

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
	113	329	82	.249	8	56
	76	272	94	.346	14	67
	78	211	51	.242	6	27
	54	177	52	.294	1	27
	70	157	41	.261	0	11
	58	130	41	.315	0	13
	60	116	29	.250	3	16
	45	91	28	.308	1	10
	32	43	12	.279	0	6
	10	27	5	.185	0	2
	13	23	6	.261	1	2
	9	20	7	.350	1	3
	7	10	1	.100	0	4
	5	7	4	.571	0	1
	1	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
	38	274.2	21	10	3.34	124
	31	215.1	15	10	3.26	70
	35	213.2	17	6	4.00	105
	32	196.0	15	7	3.72	129

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
	29	95.1	7	3	3.87	51
	12	57.2	2	5	4.06	25
	12	37.1	2	4	4.34	9

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
	60	13	8	27	2.59	99
	21	3	0	3	5.11	13
	20	1	1	1	5.33	22
	14	0	1	2	4.05	14
	4	1	0	0	8.22	5
	4	0	2	1	5.87	3
	2	0	0	0	0.00	2

1949 World Series

'''AL New York Yankees vs. NL Brooklyn Dodgers '''

Awards and honors

Joe Page, Babe Ruth Award

'''All-Star Game'''