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1940 in baseball

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The following are the baseball events of the year 1940 throughout the world.

List of years in baseball
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Champions

Major League Baseball

Other champions

Awards and honors

Hank Greenberg, Hall of Famer and 2-time MVP

Statistical leaders

American League National League
AVG Joe DiMaggio NYY .352 Debs Garms PIT .355
HR Hank Greenberg DET 41 Johnny Mize SLC 43
RBI Hank Greenberg DET 159 Johnny Mize SLC 137
Wins Bob Feller CLE 27 Bucky Walters CIN 22
ERA Bob Feller CLE 2.61 Bucky Walters CIN 2.48
Ks Bob Feller CLE 261 Kirby Higbe PHP 137

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

American League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
1st Detroit Tigers 90   64 .584    --
2nd Cleveland Indians 89   65 .578   1
3rd New York Yankees 88   66 .571   2
4th Chicago White Sox 82   72 .532   8
4th Boston Red Sox 82   72 .532   8
6th St. Louis Browns 67   87 .435   23
7th Washington Senators 64   90 .416   26
8th Philadelphia Athletics 54   100 .351   36

National League final standings

National League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
1st Cincinnati Reds 100   53 .654    --
2nd Brooklyn Dodgers 88   65 .575   12
3rd St. Louis Cardinals 84   69 .549   16
4th Pittsburgh Pirates 78   76 .506   22.5
5th Chicago Cubs 75   79 .487   25.5
6th New York Giants 72   80 .474   27.5
7th Boston Bees 65   87 .428   34.5
8th Philadelphia Phillies 50   103 .327   50

Negro league baseball final standings

Negro American League final standings

Negro American League
Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
Kansas City Monarchs 28 7 .800
Memphis Red Sox 12 4 .750
St. Louis–New Orleans Stars 3 2 .600
Chicago American Giants 11 11 .500
Birmingham Black Barons 9 11 .450
Indianapolis Crawfords 3 5 .375
Cleveland Bears 6 16 .273

Negro National League final standings

Negro National League
Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
Washington Homestead Grays 42 23 .646
Baltimore Elite Giants 54 30 .643
Newark Eagles 32 22 .593
New York Cubans 16 21 .432
Philadelphia Stars 30 44 .405
New York Black Yankees 9 23 .281

Events

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January

  • January 3 – Mike Mahoney, 88, first baseman who played from 1897 to 1898 for the Boston Beaneaters and St. Louis Browns.
  • January 3 – Parke Swartzel, 74, pitcher for the 1889 Kansas City Cowboys.
  • January 12 – Ed Keas, 77, pitcher for the 1888 Cleveland Blues of the American Association.
  • January 20 – Wally Andrews, 60, infield utility man who played with the Louisville Eclipse in 1884 and for the Louisville Colonels in 1888.
  • January 31 – Red Fisher, 52, left fielder who played in 1910 with the St. Louis Browns of the American League.

February

  • February 5 – Frank Decker, 83, catcher/infielder who played with the Syracuse Stars in 1879 and for the St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1882.
  • February 5 – Byrd Lynn, 50, Chicago White Sox catcher who served as a backup for Hall of Famer Ray Schalk and also was a member of the White Sox club that won the World Series in 1917.
  • February 13 – Walter Barnes, 79, sports editor for several Boston newspapers from 1891 to 1933 who was that city's first regular sports columnist.
  • February 15 – Chick Fulmer, 89, shortstop who played for eight teams in three different leagues during 11 seasons from 1871 to 1884.
  • February 15 – Ray Morgan, 50, second baseman who was part of a stellar double play combo along with shortstop George McBride for the Washington Senators from 1911 through 1918.
  • February 16 – Charlie Berry, 79, second baseman for the Altoona Mountain City, Kansas City Cowboys, and Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies during the 1884 Union Association season.
  • February 21 – John Taber, 71, pitcher for the 1890 Boston Beaneaters of the National League.
  • February 26 – Matt Broderick, 62, second baseman for the Brooklyn Superbas of the National League in 1903.

March

  • March 2 – Matt Kilroy, 73, pitcher for six teams in 10 seasons spanning 1896–1898, who won 46 games in 1887, hurled a no-hitter in 1886 and struck out 513 batters that season, the most ever in a single season and far ahead of second-place Charles Radbourn, who struck out 441 in 1884
  • March 6 – Marshall Locke, 82, outfielder for the 1884 Indianapolis Hoosiers
  • March 7 – Johnny Johnston, 49, left fielder who played with the St. Louis Browns in 1913
  • March 13 – Ira Flagstead, 46, outfielder with a strong arm and a reliable glove who played for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators and Pittsburgh Pirates in a span of 14 seasons from 1917 to 1930, hitting .290 with 40 home runs and 450 RBI in 1,218 career games, while leading all American League outfielders for the most assists in 1923 (31) and 1925 (24), and for the best fielding average in 1927 (.986)
  • March 22 – Libe Washburn, 29, outfielder and pitcher who played from 1902 to 1903 with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies
  • March 30 – Roy Crabb, 49, pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Athletics during the 1912 season
  • March 30 – George McQuillan, 55, pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians during ten seasons from 1907–1918, who in 1907 set one of the longest-lived records in Major League history when he pitched 25 innings before giving up the first earned run of his career, a feat broken by Brad Ziegler in 2008.

April

  • April 8 – Bill Abstein, 57, first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Browns in part of three seasons spanning 1906–1910.
  • April 8 – Dave Murphy, 63, shortstop for the 1905 Boston Beaneaters.
  • April 10 – Tom Seaton, 52, pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Brooklyn Tip-Tops, Newark Pepper and Chicago Cubs in six seasons from 1912–1917, who posted a record of 93-63 and a 3.14 ERA in 231 career games, while leading the National League in wins and strikeouts during the 1913 season.
  • April 12 – Fred Klobedanz, 68, pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters in a span of five seasons from 1896–1902, who was a member of the Boston team that clinched the National League pennant in 1897 and 1898 and led the league in winning percentage in 1897.
  • April 22 – Alex Hardy, 62, Canadian-born pitcher who played for the Chicago Cubs/Orphans of the National League in 1902 and 1903.
  • April 28 – Henry Cote, 76, pitcher for the Louisville Colonels of the National League in the 1894 and 1895 seasons.
  • April 30 – Patsy Dougherty, 63, outfielder for the Boston Americans and Chicago White Sox clubs that won the World Series in 1903 and 1906 respectively, who became the first player to hit two home runs in a single World Series game with a pair in 1903, while leading the American League with 47 stolen bases in 1908.

May

  • May 5 – Bill Wise, 79, pitcher/outfielder who played for the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association in 1882, the Washington Nationals of the Union Association in 1884, and the Washington Nationals of the National League in 1886.
  • May 8 – Chick Fraser, 66, pitcher for seven teams in 14 seasons from 1896 through 1909, most prominently for the 1907 and 1908 Chicago Cubs clubs that won the World Series, who hurled a no-hitter in 1903 and ranks second on the all-time list of most hit batsmen by a Major League Baseball pitcher.
  • May 14 – Harry Gaspar, 57, pitcher who played from 1909 through 1912 for the Cincinnati Reds.
  • May 16 – Spike Shannon, 62, outfielder over parts of five seasons from 1904–1908 with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates, who led the National League for the most scored runs in the 1907 season.

June

July

August

September

October

  • October 5 – Crazy Schmit, 74, pitcher.
  • October 9 – Bill Massey, 69, first baseman.
  • October 17 – George Davis, 70, Hall of Fame shortstop for the Cleveland Spiders, New York Giants and Chicago White Sox in 20 seasons spanning 1890–1909, who hit over .300 in nine consecutive seasons from 1893 to 1901, fashioned a then-record 33-game hitting streak in 1893, and set Major League records for the most career hits (2600+) and RBI (1437) by a switch-hitter, while leading the Hitless Wonder White Sox in their victory over the Chicago Cubs in the 1906 World Series.
  • October 23 – Harry Krause, 52, pitcher.

November

December

  • December 7 – Harry Eells, 60, pitcher.
  • December 16 – Billy Hamilton, 74, Hall of Fame center fielder and a prolific hitter who hit better than .300 in 12 successive seasons en route to a career mark of .344, including two batting crowns, while collecting eleven 100-run seasons with a record 192 in 1894; 914 career stolen bases, a single-season total of 111 steals in 1891 and a single-game of seven in 1894, ending his career as one of only three big leaguers whose runs scored (1,691) exceeded his games played (1,578).
  • December 18 – John Kiley, 81, left fielder/pitcher.
  • December 22 – Patsy McGaffigan, 52, infielder.
  • December 22 – Bill Schwartz, 76, catcher.