1949 Season

The 1949 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

As part of their last update, Retrosheet added two new seasons with "deduced games" to supplement their play-by-play data. These are games for which they do not have full play-by-play data, but they have been able to deduce enough about what happened from box scores and newspaper reports that they were able to reconstruct play-by-play data. Combining games with full play-by-play and deduced games, I now have full play-by-play data for all seasons dating back to 1949. This gives me two new full seasons: 1949 and 1950

This article looks at the earliest season for which I now have complete play-by-play data (some of it deduced): 1949.

The Best of 1949

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Vern Stephens	27.3	18.1	4.8	6.6	1	Vern Stephens	27.3	18.1	4.8	6.6
2	Jackie Robinson	25.4	16.6	4.4	6.1	2	Jackie Robinson	25.4	16.6	4.4	6.1
3	Bob Lemon	21.4	14.6	4.1	5.4	3	Bob Lemon	21.4	14.6	4.1	5.4
4	Eddie Joost	23.2	16.2	3.8	5.3	4	Pee Wee Reese	23.6	16.6	3.7	5.4
5	Pee Wee Reese	23.6	16.6	3.7	5.4	5	Eddie Joost	23.2	16.2	3.8	5.3
6	Howie Pollet	17.5	11.1	3.6	4.8	6	Ted Williams	26.7	17.3	3.6	5.3
7	Ted Williams	26.7	17.3	3.6	5.3	7	Stan Musial	25.0	16.8	3.5	5.2
8	Duke Snider	21.0	12.9	3.6	4.9	8	Duke Snider	21.0	12.9	3.6	4.9
9	Mel Parnell	19.7	13.8	3.5	4.8	9	Howie Pollet	17.5	11.1	3.6	4.8
10	Stan Musial	25.0	16.8	3.5	5.2	10	Mel Parnell	19.7	13.8	3.5	4.8

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Jackie Robinson	24.4	17.6	3.4	5.1	1	Vern Stephens	25.7	19.7	3.3	5.1
2	Ted Williams	26.5	17.5	3.3	5.0	2	Jackie Robinson	24.4	17.6	3.4	5.1
3	Eddie Joost	22.7	16.6	3.3	4.9	3	Ted Williams	26.5	17.5	3.3	5.0
4	Vern Stephens	25.7	19.7	3.3	5.1	4	Ralph Kiner	27.0	18.5	3.1	4.9
5	Ralph Kiner	27.0	18.5	3.1	4.9	5	Eddie Joost	22.7	16.6	3.3	4.9
6	Stan Musial	24.3	17.5	2.8	4.5	6	Stan Musial	24.3	17.5	2.8	4.5
7	Bob Lemon	20.0	15.9	2.7	4.1	7	Pee Wee Reese	22.4	17.8	2.5	4.1
8	Pee Wee Reese	22.4	17.8	2.5	4.1	8	Bob Lemon	20.0	15.9	2.7	4.1
9	Howie Pollet	16.1	12.6	2.2	3.4	9	Virgil Trucks	18.8	15.4	2.2	3.5
10	Virgil Trucks	18.8	15.4	2.2	3.5	10	Sid Gordon	20.3	15.8	1.9	3.4

AL MVP: Ted Williams vs. Vern Stephens

The top player in all four of the tables above was a position player for the 1949 Boston Red Sox, who lost the American League pennant on the last game of the season.

The top player in the major leagues in 1949, as measured by pWins over positional average or replacement level was Red Sox shortstop Vern Stephens.

The top player in the major leagues in 1949, as measured by (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) eWins over positional average or replacement level was Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams.

The next table compares the 1949 seasons for Stephens and Williams in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Vern Stephens	155	27.3	18.1	0.601	4.8	6.6	25.7	19.7	0.566	3.3	5.1
Ted Williams	155	26.7	17.3	0.608	3.6	5.3	26.5	17.5	0.602	3.3	5.0

Williams batted .343/.490/.650 in 1949 versus .290/.392/.539 for Stephens. But Stephens matched Williams in RBI with 159, although Williams scored 150 to 113 for Stephens. Williams batted before Stephens and his .490 OBP was a big reason for Stephens RBI total (Stephens drove in Williams 35 times). But Stephens also stepped his game up in the clutch.

Baseball-Reference breaks players' batting lines into high-, medium-, and low-leverage. Ted Williams' OPS in high/medium/low leverage was .983/1.079/1.259. The lower the leverage in the game, the better Williams hit.

In contrast, Stephens' split by leverage was .977/.931/.883. Two things: (1) Stephens' OPS improved the higher the leverage, just the opposite of Williams and much more favorable to the chances of the Red Sox winning games, but (2) Williams still had a higher OPS than Stephens in high-leverage situations. But Stephens also played the more important defensive position. And that, combined with his clutch hitting, ended up making Vern Stephens somewhat more valuable than Ted Williams, at least as measured by pWins.

NL MVP: Jackie Robinson

The 1949 National League MVP was Brooklyn Dodgers' second baseman Jackie Robinson. Player won-lost records agree. Jackie Robinson is the top National League player in all four of the above tables. Robinson's 1949 season was an outstanding season, but it actually was not the best season of Robinson's career - that would have been either 1951 (as measured by pWins over positional average or replacement level) or 1952 (as measured by eWins over positional average or replacement level).

Jackie Robinson's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is shown in the next table.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Jackie Robinson Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1947	BRO	28	151	18.5	16.1	0.535	0.3	1.7	18.3	16.3	0.528	0.1	1.5
1948	BRO	29	147	21.6	15.6	0.581	3.1	4.6	20.3	16.9	0.545	1.8	3.3
1949	BRO	30	156	25.4	16.6	0.604	4.4	6.1	24.4	17.6	0.581	3.4	5.1
1950	BRO	31	144	19.9	15.6	0.561	2.3	3.7	19.3	16.1	0.544	1.7	3.1
1951	BRO	32	153	25.7	15.2	0.628	5.3	6.9	24.2	16.6	0.593	3.9	5.5
1952	BRO	33	149	23.0	14.8	0.609	4.3	5.8	22.7	15.1	0.601	4.0	5.5
1953	BRO	34	136	21.6	14.1	0.604	3.1	4.6	20.5	15.3	0.573	2.0	3.5
1954	BRO	35	124	14.6	12.2	0.545	0.8	1.9	15.0	11.9	0.557	1.1	2.2
1955	BRO	36	105	11.6	9.2	0.558	1.0	1.8	10.6	10.1	0.512	0.0	0.9
1956	BRO	37	117	14.1	10.7	0.568	1.6	2.6	13.4	11.4	0.540	0.9	1.9
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,382	195.9	140.1	0.583	26.1	39.7	188.6	147.4	0.561	18.8	32.4
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			38	4.1	4.7	0.465		-0.0	4.5	4.3	0.512		0.4
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,420	200.1	144.9	0.583		39.7	193.2	151.7	0.561		32.8

Eddie Joost

The third-best player in major-league baseball, on all four tables above, was Philadelphia A's shortstop Eddie Joost. Joost is probably best known today (if he's known at all) as one of the "Walking Eddies" along with Eddie Yost and Eddie Stanky. Joost drew over 100 walks in six consecutive seasons from 1947 - 1952. His best walk total came in 1949 - 149. Those 149 walks bumped Joost's .263 batting average up to a .429 on-base percentage, good for 128 runs scored while playing an above-average defensive shortstop. Pretty nice season.

The 1949 season was easily the best of Joost's career, but he put together a solid career.

Eddie Joost's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is shown in the next table. I am missing a number of games in his career prior to 1949. The records below only reflect games for which I have play-by-play data. Overall, Joost actually played 1,574 games in his major-league career.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Eddie Joost Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1936	CIN	20	13	0.5	0.9	0.341	-0.2	-0.1	0.6	0.8	0.407	-0.1	-0.1
1937	CIN	21	6	0.4	0.6	0.379	-0.1	-0.1	0.4	0.6	0.370	-0.1	-0.1
1939	CIN	23	42	4.9	4.9	0.500	0.0	0.4	4.4	5.4	0.450	-0.5	-0.0
1940	CIN	24	88	9.2	9.4	0.494	0.1	0.8	8.4	10.2	0.451	-0.7	0.0
1941	CIN	25	152	20.9	17.6	0.542	1.8	3.5	19.3	19.2	0.500	0.2	1.9
1942	CIN	26	142	19.1	18.0	0.515	0.8	2.3	18.3	18.8	0.494	0.0	1.5
1943	BSN	27	124	12.9	14.8	0.467	-0.9	0.2	13.3	14.4	0.481	-0.5	0.6
1945	BSN	29	35	3.8	4.3	0.469	-0.3	0.1	3.5	4.7	0.429	-0.6	-0.3
1947	PHA	31	151	21.9	18.9	0.537	1.4	3.0	20.9	19.9	0.512	0.4	2.0
1948	PHA	32	135	18.6	15.9	0.539	1.5	2.9	18.1	16.4	0.525	1.1	2.4
1949	PHA	33	144	23.2	16.2	0.590	3.8	5.3	22.7	16.6	0.578	3.3	4.9
1950	PHA	34	131	16.1	16.6	0.493	0.0	1.3	16.8	16.0	0.513	0.7	2.0
1951	PHA	35	140	19.7	17.9	0.524	1.4	2.8	20.6	17.0	0.547	2.2	3.7
1952	PHA	36	146	21.7	17.2	0.558	2.4	4.0	21.3	17.5	0.549	2.1	3.6
1953	PHA	37	51	7.2	6.6	0.522	0.4	1.0	7.6	6.1	0.553	0.9	1.4
1954	PHA	38	19	1.4	1.7	0.448	-0.2	-0.0	1.7	1.4	0.550	0.2	0.3
1955	BOS	39	56	3.2	4.8	0.400	-0.7	-0.4	3.6	4.4	0.447	-0.3	0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,575	204.7	186.3	0.523	11.3	27.0	201.5	189.5	0.515	8.2	23.8
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			7	0.6	0.8	0.443		-0.0	0.5	0.9	0.376		-0.1
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,582	205.3	187.1	0.523		27.0	202.0	190.3	0.515		23.7

The 1949 World Series

From 1947 - 1956, the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers met in the World Series 6 times in 10 years. The 1949 World Series was the second of those meetings. It was also the shortest of those meetings, with the Yankees winning in five games.

The top two players in the 1949 World Series, as measured by Player won-lost records, won complete-game 1-0 wins in Games 1 and 2: Allie Reynolds, who added a 3.1-inning save in Game 4; and Preacher Roe, who picked up the Dodgers' only victory of the Series.

	1949 World Series
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Allie Reynolds	NYA	1.4	0.4	0.6
Preacher Roe	BRO	1.1	0.3	0.5
Joe Page	NYA	0.8	0.3	0.4
Johnny Mize	NYA	0.5	0.0	0.3
Tommy Henrich	NYA	0.9	0.6	0.2
Bobby 'Doc' Brown	NYA	0.6	0.3	0.2
Vic Raschi	NYA	0.8	0.5	0.2
Cliff Mapes	NYA	0.5	0.2	0.1
Ed Lopat	NYA	0.4	0.2	0.1
Jerry Coleman	NYA	0.7	0.5	0.1
Phil Rizzuto	NYA	0.7	0.6	0.1
Gene Woodling	NYA	0.4	0.3	0.1

Best of 1949 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) eWins over Positional Average in various aspects of the game.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 1949 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ted Williams	18.9	10.4	4.0

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Johnny Pesky	1.4	0.8	0.3
Eddie Joost	1.4	0.8	0.2
Phil Rizzuto	1.5	1.0	0.2
Dave Philley	1.4	0.9	0.2
Dale Mitchell	1.5	1.0	0.2
Granny Hamner	1.2	0.7	0.2
Alvin Dark	1.1	0.7	0.2
Sherry Robertson	1.0	0.6	0.2
Catfish Metkovich	0.8	0.4	0.2
Mickey Vernon	1.3	0.9	0.2
Jackie Robinson	2.0	1.6	0.2
Cliff Mapes	0.6	0.3	0.2
Bobby Thomson	1.2	0.8	0.2

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Virgil Trucks	15.0	11.7	3.4
Howie Pollet	12.0	9.1	3.0
Gerry Staley	8.4	5.7	2.8
Hal Newhouser	16.0	13.3	2.7
E. Mike Garcia	9.3	6.9	2.5

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Vic Raschi	0.7	0.3	0.3
Larry Jansen	0.5	0.2	0.3
Don Newcombe	0.5	0.2	0.3
Erv Palica	0.7	0.4	0.3
Dave Koslo	0.4	0.2	0.3

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Andy Seminick	1.8	1.2	0.6

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Billy Goodman	2.1	1.7	0.4

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Jackie Robinson	5.3	4.5	0.9

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Johnny Pesky	5.1	4.3	0.8

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Pee Wee Reese	6.3	5.1	1.1

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Elmer Valo	7.1	6.0	1.1

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Duke Snider	4.6	3.1	1.5

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Carl Furillo	6.6	5.3	1.3

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1949 Major-League leaders in eWOPA by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position, and include no contextual adjustments (expected or actual).

	Catcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Andy Seminick	11.6	8.5	1.6

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Gil Hodges	17.7	15.0	1.2

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Jackie Robinson	24.1	17.9	3.1

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
George Kell	18.3	15.1	1.3

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Joost	22.5	17.2	2.9

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ted Williams	26.3	18.0	3.0

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Duke Snider	19.5	15.6	1.5

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Stan Musial	13.6	9.7	1.6

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Virgil Trucks	14.4	11.5	1.5
Mel Parnell	14.5	11.6	1.4
Hal Newhouser	16.1	13.5	1.3

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Al Benton	3.1	1.8	0.6
Gerry Staley	2.9	1.7	0.6

For relief pitchers, context-neutral records may not be the best measure of how good they are, as context can matter a great deal, depending on how a pitcher is used. Here are the top relief pitchers of 1949 in context, as measured by pWins over replacement level (pWORL).

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1949, based on pWORL
Joe Page	11.3	9.0	0.559	1.4	2.8
Ted Wilks	6.1	5.0	0.546	0.6	1.4
Jack Banta	8.5	8.6	0.497	0.1	1.1
Erv Palica	6.1	6.1	0.500	0.1	0.9
Bobby Shantz	6.6	6.6	0.501	0.2	0.9

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitter, and pinch runner.

	Pitcher Offense
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bob Lemon	2.9	2.1	1.0

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Paul Campbell	0.6	0.2	0.2
Pete Reiser	0.7	0.3	0.2
Fred 'Dixie' Walker	1.2	0.8	0.2
Billy Johnson	0.7	0.4	0.2
Wally Moses	0.7	0.4	0.2
Buddy Lewis	0.9	0.6	0.2
Yogi Berra	0.4	0.1	0.2
Buddy Blattner	0.9	0.7	0.2

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Gil Coan	0.1	0.0	0.04
Bobby Adams	0.1	0.0	0.03

Notable Debuts

The 1949 season saw the major-league debut of several notable players who shared a similar theme: the first trickles of integration. The last two tables of this article show the career records, as measured by Player won-lost records, of four prominent African-American players who made their major-league debut in 1949: Minnie Minoso, Don Newcombe, Monte Irvin, and Luke Easter.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Minnie Minoso						Don Newcombe
1949	9	0.6	0.7	0.430	-0.1	-0.1	39	15.4	12.6	0.550	1.9	2.9
1950							40	17.4	15.8	0.525	1.4	2.9
1951	146	18.9	15.7	0.546	1.1	2.4	40	17.2	13.4	0.562	2.3	3.6
1952	147	20.4	18.1	0.529	0.5	2.0
1953	151	24.2	16.1	0.601	3.2	4.9
1954	153	27.6	18.1	0.605	4.0	5.9	31	10.1	9.2	0.524	0.7	1.6
1955	139	19.8	17.9	0.525	0.4	2.0	57	17.9	14.0	0.560	2.5	3.7
1956	151	23.5	18.9	0.554	1.3	3.0	52	19.2	13.7	0.584	3.4	4.8
1957	153	25.5	19.0	0.573	1.9	3.7	34	11.7	13.7	0.462	-0.5	0.4
1958	149	22.8	19.8	0.535	0.3	1.9	50	10.4	12.7	0.450	-0.8	0.1
1959	148	23.4	16.9	0.580	2.6	4.2	61	15.8	12.0	0.568	2.5	3.7
1960	154	21.9	18.8	0.538	0.5	2.2	47	7.3	9.4	0.438	-0.8	-0.0
1961	152	22.0	18.1	0.548	1.4	3.2
1962	39	2.6	2.9	0.474	-0.3	-0.1
1963	109	9.0	11.5	0.439	-1.6	-0.8
1964	30	0.8	1.0	0.430	-0.1	0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,830	262.9	213.7	0.552	15.3	34.6	451	142.4	126.5	0.530	12.5	23.8

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Monte Irvin						Luke Easter
1949	36	2.7	2.6	0.511	0.0	0.3	21	1.0	1.1	0.466	-0.1	-0.0
1950	110	13.1	10.1	0.565	1.1	2.0	141	17.8	13.4	0.571	1.4	2.7
1951	151	23.4	16.2	0.590	2.8	4.4	128	16.5	13.1	0.558	1.4	2.5
1952	46	4.3	3.7	0.539	0.1	0.5	127	16.0	11.3	0.587	1.7	2.8
1953	124	17.6	14.5	0.550	1.0	2.3	68	5.7	5.4	0.513	0.0	0.5
1954	135	17.5	14.9	0.540	0.8	2.1	6	0.1	0.2	0.179	-0.1	-0.1
1955	51	5.0	5.6	0.475	-0.4	0.0
1956	111	12.4	12.7	0.494	-0.7	0.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	764	96.1	80.3	0.545	4.7	12.0	491	57.1	44.5	0.562	4.4	8.4

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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