1949 Chicago White Sox season

1949 Chicago White Sox
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Comiskey Park (since 1910)
Chicago (since 1900)
Other information
Owner(s)	Grace Comiskey
General manager(s)	Frank Lane
Manager(s)	Jack Onslow
Local television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Harry Creighton)
Local radio	WJJD/WFMF (Bob Elson)
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The 1949 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 49th season in the major leagues, and their 50th season overall. They finished with a record 63–91, good enough for 6th place in the American League, 34 games behind the first place New York Yankees.

Offseason

• November 10, 1948: Tod Davis was drafted from the White Sox by the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1948 rule 5 draft.^[1]

Regular season

The 1949 White Sox were the last American League team in the 20th century to hit more triples than home runs. The club had 66 triples compared to 43 home runs.^[2]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	97	57	.630	--
Boston Red Sox	96	58	.623	1
Cleveland Indians	89	65	.578	8
Detroit Tigers	87	67	.565	10
Philadelphia Athletics	81	73	.526	16
Chicago White Sox	63	91	.409	34
St. Louis Browns	53	101	.344	44
Washington Senators	50	104	.325	47

Record vs. opponents

1949 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	17–5	8–14	15–7–1	9–13	14–8	15–7	18–4
Chicago	5–17	—	7–15	8–14	7–15	6–16	15–7	15–7
Cleveland	14–8	15–7	—	13–9	10–12	9–13	15–7	13–9
Detroit	7–15–1	14–8	9–13	—	11–11	14–8	14–8	18–4
New York	13–9	15–7	12–10	11–11	—	14–8	17–5–1	15–7
Philadelphia	8–14	16–6	13–9	8–14	8–14	—	12–10	16–6
St. Louis	7–15	7–15	7–15	8–14	5–17–1	10–12	—	9–13
Washington	4–18	7–15	9–13	4–18	7–15	6–16	13–9	—

Opening Day lineup

• Floyd Baker, 3b
• Dave Philley, cf
• Luke Appling, ss
• Gus Zernial, lf
• Pat Seerey, rf
• Cass Michaels, 2b
• Steve Souchock, 1b
• Joe Tipton, c
• Al Gettel, p

Notable transactions

• June 2, 1949: Jerry Scala, a player to be named later, and cash were traded by the White Sox to the Oakland Oaks for Catfish Metkovich. The Oaks returned Jerry Scala to the White Sox on June 11, and the Chicago White Sox sent Earl Rapp to the Oaks to complete the trade.^[3]
• September 13, 1949: Jack Bruner was signed as an amateur free agent by the White Sox.^[4]

Roster

1949 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers 39 Fred Bradley 49 Jack Bruner 56 Bob Cain 34 Alex Carrasquel 56 Bill Evans 28 Al Gettel 36 Ernest Groth 45 Orval Grove 18 Randy Gumpert 12 Mickey Haefner 48 Howie Judson 35,39,49 Ed Klieman 46 Bob Kuzava 19 Billy Pierce 14 Marino Pieretti 37,40 Clyde Shoun 16 Max Surkont 29 Bill Wight		Catchers 28 Eddie Malone 15 Joe Tipton 38 Don Wheeler 58 George Yankowski Infielders  4 Luke Appling  8 Floyd Baker 58 Jim Baumer 25 Gordon Goldsberry 26,59 Fred Hancock 47 Don Kolloway 25 Chuck Kress 24 Rocky Krsnich  7 Cass Michaels  2 Bobby Rhawn		Outfielders 24 Herb Adams 12 Billy Bowers 58 Bill Higdon 12 Dick Lane 47 Catfish Metkovich  2 Johnny Ostrowski  9 Dave Philley 26 Earl Rapp  2 Jerry Scala  5 Pat Seerey 63 Steve Souchock  6 Gus Zernial		Manager 23 Jack Onslow Coaches 44 Ray Berres 33 Bing Miller 22 Buster Mills

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Herb Adams, CF,LF	56	208	26	61	5	3	0	16	9	16	.293	1
Luke Appling, SS	142	492	82	148	21	5	5	58	121	24	.301	7
Floyd Baker, 3B	125	388	38	101	15	4	1	40	84	32	.260	3
Jim Baumer, SS	8	10	2	4	1	1	0	2	2	1	.400	0
Billy Bowers, OF	26	78	5	15	2	1	0	6	4	5	.192	1
Gordon Goldsberry, 1B	39	145	25	36	3	2	1	13	18	9	.248	2
Fred Hancock, SS,3B	39	152	7	7	2	1	0	9	8	9	.135	0
Bill Higdon, CF	11	23	3	7	3	0	0	1	6	3	.304	1
Don Kolloway, 3B	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
Chuck Kress, 1B	97	353	45	98	17	6	1	44	39	44	.278	6
Rocky Krsnich, 3B	16	55	7	12	3	1	1	9	6	4	.218	0
Dick Lane, LF	12	42	4	5	0	0	0	4	5	3	.119	0
Eddie Malone, C	55	170	17	46	7	2	1	16	29	19	.271	2
Catfish Metkovich, CF,LF	93	338	50	80	9	4	5	45	41	24	.237	5
Cass Michaels, 2B	154	561	73	173	27	9	6	83	101	50	.308	5
Johnny Ostrowski, LF,3B	49	158	19	42	9	4	5	31	15	41	.266	4
Dave Philley, RF	146	598	84	171	20	8	0	44	54	51	.286	13
Earl Rapp, LF,RF	19	54	3	14	1	1	0	11	5	6	.259	1
Bobby Rhawn, 3B,SS	24	73	12	15	4	1	0	5	12	8	.205	0
Jerry Scala, CF	37	120	17	30	7	1	1	13	17	19	.250	3
Pat Seerey, RF	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	.000	0
Bud Souchock, LF,1B	84	252	29	59	13	5	7	37	25	38	.234	5
Joe Tipton, C	67	191	20	39	5	3	3	19	27	17	.204	1
Don Wheeler, C	67	192	17	46	9	2	1	22	27	19	.240	2
George Yankowski, C	12	18	0	3	1	0	0	2	0	2	.167	0
Gus Zernial, LF	73	198	29	63	17	2	5	38	15	26	.318	0

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Fred Bradley, P	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
Jack Bruner, P	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
Bob Cain, P	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
Bill Evans, P	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Al Gettel, P	19	18	2	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	.167	0
Randy Gumpert, P	34	84	7	16	1	0	0	6	3	16	.190	0
Mickey Haefner, P	14	23	0	6	0	0	0	0	4	7	.261	0
Howie Judson, P	26	31	0	2	1	0	0	2	1	11	.065	0
Ed Klieman, P	18	8	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.250	0
Bob Kuzava, P	29	56	1	2	0	0	0	1	3	19	.036	0
Billy Pierce, P	39	51	7	9	0	0	0	2	5	15	.176	0
Marino Pieretti, P	48	38	6	9	1	0	0	3	0	7	.237	0
Clyde Shoun, P	16	5	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	.200	0
Max Surkont, P	44	22	1	1	0	0	0	2	4	12	.045	0
Bill Wight, P	35	85	7	14	3	0	0	6	6	27	.165	0
Team totals	154	5204	648	1340	207	66	43	591	702	593	.257	62

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K
Fred Bradley	0	0	13.50	1	1	0	2.0	4	3	3	0	3	0
Jack Bruner	1	2	8.22	4	2	0	7.2	10	7	7	0	8	4
Bob Cain	0	0	2.45	6	0	1	11.0	7	3	3	0	5	5
Alex Carrasquel	0	0	14.73	3	0	0	3.2	8	6	6	1	4	1
Bill Evans	0	1	7.11	4	0	0	6.1	6	6	5	0	8	1
Al Gettel	2	5	6.43	19	7	1	63.0	69	48	45	12	26	22
Ernest Groth	0	1	5.40	3	0	0	5.0	2	3	3	2	3	1
Orval Grove	0	0	54.00	1	0	0	0.2	4	4	4	1	1	1
Randy Gumpert	13	16	3.81	34	32	1	234.0	223	111	99	22	83	78
Mickey Haefner	4	6	4.37	14	12	1	80.1	84	40	39	9	41	17
Howie Judson	1	14	4.58	26	12	1	108.0	114	65	55	13	70	36
Ed Klieman	2	0	3.00	18	0	3	33.0	33	15	11	2	15	9
Bob Kuzava	10	6	4.02	29	18	0	156.2	139	76	70	6	91	83
Billy Pierce	7	15	3.88	32	26	0	171.2	145	89	74	11	112	95
Marino Pieretti	4	6	5.51	39	9	4	116.0	131	77	71	10	54	25
Clyde Shoun	1	1	5.79	16	0	0	23.1	37	17	15	1	13	8
Max Surkont	3	5	4.78	44	2	4	96.0	92	61	51	9	60	38
Bill Wight	15	13	3.31	35	33	1	245.0	254	106	90	9	96	78
Team totals	63	91	4.30	154	154	17	1363.1	1362	737	651	108	693	502

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Memphis Chicks	Southern Association	Al Todd
A	Muskegon Reds	Central League	Red Ruffing
A	Charleston Rebels	Sally League	Herb Crompton and Albert Fisher
B	Fall River Indians	New England League	Dick Porter
B	Waterloo White Hawks	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Bennie Huffman and Fred Shaffer
C	Stockton Ports	California League	Nino Bongiovanni
C	Hot Springs Bathers	Cotton States League	Pete Fox and Glen Stewart
C	Oil City Refiners	Middle Atlantic League	Otto Denning
C	Superior Blues	Northern League	George Sobek
D	Madisonville Miners	KITTY League	Joe DiMasi
D	Seminole Oilers	Sooner State League	Hugh Willingham and Paul Schoendienst
D	Wisconsin Rapids White Sox	Wisconsin State League	Glen Stewart and George Mitro

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Madisonville

Fall River club folded, July 19, 1949^[5]

Notes

1. Tod Davis page at Baseball Reference
2. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 96, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
3. Catfish Metkovich page at Baseball-Reference
4. Jack Bruner page at Baseball Reference
5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

References

• 1949 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference