1949 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1949 Pittsburgh Pirates
1949 Pittsburgh Pirates
Ballpark	Forbes Field
City	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Owners	Frank E. McKinney, John W. Galbreath, Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson
Managers	Billy Meyer
Television	none
Radio	WWSW; Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince

The 1949 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 68th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 63rd in the National League. The Pirates finished sixth in the league standings with a record of 71–83.

Offseason

Prior to 1949 season: Dick Smith was signed as an amateur free agent by the Pirates.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
National League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Dodgers	97	57	.630	—	48‍–‍29	49‍–‍28
St. Louis Cardinals	96	58	.623	1	51‍–‍26	45‍–‍32
Philadelphia Phillies	81	73	.526	16	40‍–‍37	41‍–‍36
Boston Braves	75	79	.487	22	43‍–‍34	32‍–‍45
New York Giants	73	81	.474	24	43‍–‍34	30‍–‍47
Pittsburgh Pirates	71	83	.461	26	36‍–‍41	35‍–‍42
Cincinnati Reds	62	92	.403	35	35‍–‍42	27‍–‍50
Chicago Cubs	61	93	.396	36	33‍–‍44	28‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

1949 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–12	12–10	12–10–1	12–10–2	11–11	12–10	6–16
Brooklyn	12–10	—	17–5	17–5	14–8	11–11	16–6	10–12–1
Chicago	10–12	5–17	—	9–13	12–10	6–16	11–11	8–14
Cincinnati	10–12–1	5–17	13–9	—	7–15	13–9	9–13	5–17–1
New York	10–12–2	8–14	10–12	15–7	—	11–11	12–10	7–15
Philadelphia	11–11	11–11	16–6	9–13	11–11	—	13–9	10–12
Pittsburgh	10–12	6–16	11–11	13–9	10–12	9–13	—	12–10
St. Louis	16–6	12–10–1	14–8	17–5–1	15–7	12–10	10–12	—

Game log

1949 Game Log: 71–83 (Home: 36–41; Away: 35–42)

April: 5–6 (Home: 3–1; Away: 2–5)

May: 11–18 (Home: 5–8; Away: 6–10)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
12	May 1	@ Reds	10–4	Chesnes (1–0)	Howell	Casey (2)		6–6
13	May 1	@ Reds	2–5	Lively	Chambers (1–1)	—	24,872	6–7
14	May 3	@ Giants	3–5	Hartung	Dickson (1–2)	—	33,995	6–8
15	May 4	@ Giants	4–11	Jansen	Muncrief (0–2)	—	9,874	6–9
16	May 5	@ Giants	2–3 (10)	Behrman	Dickson (1–3)	—	8,422	6–10
17	May 6	@ Phillies	3–4	Meyer	Riddle (0–2)	—	15,754	6–11
18	May 7	@ Phillies	6–4	Gregg (1–0)	Rowe	—	6,832	7–11
19	May 8	@ Braves	8–3	Chambers (2–1)	Sain	Muncrief (1)		8–11
20	May 8	@ Braves	11–8	Casey (1–1)	Potter	Riddle (1)	27,211	9–11
21	May 9	@ Braves	1–4	Bickford	Dickson (1–4)	—	13,706	9–12
22	May 11	@ Dodgers	5–3	Werle (2–1)	Barney	—	22,709	10–12
23	May 12	@ Dodgers	6–11	Branca	Gregg (1–1)	—	7,455	10–13
24	May 13	Cardinals	3–2	Casey (2–1)	Munger	—	34,893	11–13
25	May 14	Cardinals	3–4	Pollet	Dickson (1–5)	Wilks	18,914	11–14
26	May 15	Cardinals	3–4	Staley	Werle (2–2)	Wilks	26,909	11–15
27	May 17	Giants	3–2	Chesnes (2–0)	Hartung	—	30,450	12–15
28	May 18	Giants	5–3	Muncrief (1–2)	Jansen	Casey (3)	14,240	13–15
29	May 19	Braves	2–3	Bickford	Riddle (0–3)	—	9,586	13–16
30	May 20	Braves	2–1	Werle (3–2)	Hall	—	29,807	14–16
31	May 21	Braves	2–8	Spahn	Dickson (1–6)	Hogue	16,724	14–17
32	May 22	Phillies	5–6	Roberts	Riddle (0–4)	Konstanty	31,467	14–18
33	May 24	Dodgers	1–6	Branca	Chesnes (2–1)	—	29,625	14–19
34	May 25	Dodgers	6–8	Banta	Muncrief (1–3)	—	13,988	14–20
35	May 26	@ Cardinals	6–13	Wilks	Higbe (0–1)	—	10,402	14–21
36	May 27	@ Cardinals	1–2	Brazle	Dickson (1–7)	—	12,110	14–22
37	May 28	@ Cardinals	2–4	Wilks	Werle (3–3)	—	15,931	14–23
38	May 29	@ Cardinals	4–2	Riddle (1–4)	Brecheen	Muncrief (2)	16,535	15–23
39	May 30	Cubs	5–8	Rush	Higbe (0–2)	—		15–24
40	May 30	Cubs	8–6	Chesnes (3–1)	McLish	Muncrief (3)	38,089	16–24

June: 11–15 (Home: 8–7; Away: 3–8)

July: 18–10 (Home: 6–5; Away: 12–5)

August: 12–19 (Home: 4–9; Away: 8–10)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
95	August 1	Dodgers	0–9	Branca	Bonham (6–3)	—	29,483	45–50
96	August 2	Dodgers	2–5	Barney	Chesnes (5–6)	—	27,697	45–51
97	August 3	Dodgers	5–10	Erskine	Riddle (1–8)	—	13,007	45–52
98	August 4	Dodgers	3–11	Newcombe	Lombardi (4–2)	—	14,363	45–53
99	August 5	Phillies	1–0	Werle (8–8)	Rowe	—	24,944	46–53
100	August 6	Phillies	3–4	Konstanty	Gumbert (1–2)	—	13,260	46–54
101	August 7	Phillies	3–7	Borowy	Chambers (6–3)	—		46–55
102	August 7	Phillies	4–5	Konstanty	Chesnes (5–7)	Roberts	27,928	46–56
103	August 9	@ Cubs	8–3	Chambers (7–3)	Schmitz	Gumbert (1)	11,313	47–56
104	August 10	@ Cubs	0–2	Lade	Walsh (0–1)	—	10,326	47–57
105	August 11	@ Cubs	3–2	Werle (9–8)	Dubiel	Gumbert (2)	5,415	48–57
106	August 12	@ Cardinals	2–8	Staley	Bonham (6–4)	—	22,231	48–58
107	August 13	@ Cardinals	6–3	Dickson (5–12)	Munger	—	25,745	49–58
108	August 14	@ Cardinals	4–0	Chambers (8–3)	Pollet	—	22,996	50–58
109	August 15	@ Reds	9–7	Sewell (6–1)	Wehmeier	Gumbert (3)	11,371	51–58
110	August 16	@ Reds	1–2 (10)	Fox	Chesnes (5–8)	—	2,526	51–59
111	August 18	Cubs	2–0	Walsh (1–1)	Lade	—	6,922	52–59
112	August 19	Cardinals	8–2	Chambers (9–3)	Staley	—	32,476	53–59
113	August 20	Cardinals	3–4	Pollet	Gumbert (1–3)	—	20,659	53–60
114	August 21	Cardinals	2–4	Martin	Werle (9–9)	—		53–61
115	August 21	Cardinals	8–0	Dickson (6–12)	Brecheen	—	34,408	54–61
116	August 23	@ Braves	2–5	Sain	Chesnes (5–9)	—	14,405	54–62
117	August 24	@ Braves	5–6	Spahn	Chambers (9–4)	—	6,467	54–63
118	August 25	@ Phillies	5–1	Dickson (7–12)	Meyer	—	4,548	55–63
119	August 25	@ Phillies	2–4	Roberts	Walsh (1–2)	—	7,179	55–64
120	August 26	@ Phillies	3–2	Werle (10–9)	Heintzelman	—	9,586	56–64
121	August 27	@ Phillies	8–2	Bonham (7–4)	Rowe	—	6,070	57–64
122	August 28	@ Dodgers	0–9	Newcombe	Chesnes (5–10)	—	23,663	57–65
123	August 29	@ Dodgers	1–5	Banta	Chambers (9–5)	—	24,031	57–66
124	August 30	@ Dodgers	3–4	Barney	Dickson (7–13)	—	13,708	57–67
125	August 31	@ Giants	5–12	Jones	Werle (10–10)	—	4,701	57–68

September: 13–14 (Home: 9–10; Away: 4–4)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
126	September 1	@ Giants	5–9	Hansen	Lombardi (4–3)	Higbe	3,973	57–69
127	September 3	@ Cubs	7–11	Adkins	Chambers (9–6)	Chipman	13,289	57–70
128	September 4	@ Cubs	7–11 (7)	Muncrief	Chesnes (5–11)	Rush	18,082	57–71
129	September 5	@ Cardinals	1–9	Munger	Dickson (7–14)	—		57–72
130	September 5	@ Cardinals	5–4 (10)	Lombardi (5–3)	Munger	—	32,214	58–72
131	September 6	Reds	3–6 (10)	Blackwell	Walsh (1–3)	—	11,797	58–73
132	September 7	Reds	2–5	Raffensberger	Chambers (9–7)	—	12,367	58–74
133	September 8	Reds	7–9	Wehmeier	Lombardi (5–4)	—	4,170	58–75
134	September 9	Cubs	1–8	Dubiel	Chesnes (5–12)	—	7,905	58–76
135	September 10	Cubs	5–9	Leonard	Werle (10–11)	Rush	5,369	58–77
136	September 11	Cubs	7–3	Dickson (8–14)	Adkins	—	9,851	59–77
137	September 13	Phillies	11–6	Chambers (10–7)	Borowy	—	11,878	60–77
138	September 14	Phillies	4–12	Roberts	Walsh (1–4)	—	3,920	60–78
139	September 16	Dodgers	9–2	Werle (11–11)	Newcombe	—	28,202	61–78
140	September 17	Dodgers	7–2	Dickson (9–14)	Palica	—	14,842	62–78
141	September 18	Giants	4–13	Jones	Chesnes (5–13)	—		62–79
142	September 18	Giants	7–2 (6)	Chambers (11–7)	Behrman	—	28,291	63–79
143	September 19	Giants	4–6 (10)	Jones	Gumbert (1–4)	—	11,542	63–80
144	September 20	Braves	2–4	Bickford	Lombardi (5–5)	—	11,348	63–81
145	September 21	Braves	7–9	Hall	Werle (11–12)	—	11,881	63–82
146	September 22	Braves	1–0	Dickson (10–14)	Sain	—	8,261	64–82
147	September 24	@ Reds	6–5	Chambers (12–7)	Raffensberger	—	2,019	65–82
148	September 25	@ Reds	7–3	Chesnes (6–13)	Wehmeier	—		66–82
149	September 25	@ Reds	5–3	Dickson (11–14)	Fox	—	9,086	67–82
150	September 27	Cardinals	6–4	Werle (12–12)	Munger	Lombardi (1)	27,283	68–82
151	September 29	Cardinals	7–2	Dickson (12–14)	Staley	—	9,573	69–82
152	September 30	Reds	3–2	Chesnes (7–13)	Wehmeier	—	9,416	70–82

October: 1–1 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–0)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Pirates team member

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

May 19, 1949: Ed Bahr and Grady Wilson were traded by the Pirates to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Nanny Fernandez.^[3]
September 21, 1949: The Pirates traded a player to be named later and cash to the San Francisco Seals for Bill Werle. The Pirates completed the deal by sending Steve Nagy to the Seals on September 27.^[4]

Roster

1949 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

19 Jack Cassini

Manager

1 Billy Meyer

Coaches

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

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
Jack Phillips	18	56	13	.232	0	3

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
Bill Werle	35	221	12	13	4.24	106
Tiny Bonham	18	89	7	4	4.25	25

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

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

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Indianapolis Indians	American Association	Al López
AA	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Hugh Luby
A	Albany Senators	Eastern League	Pinky May
B	Waco Pirates	Big State League	Buddy Hancken
B	Davenport Pirates	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Bill Burwell
B	York White Roses	Interstate League	Frank Oceak
C	Modesto Reds	California League	Bill Jackson and Max Macon
C	Keokuk Pirates	Central Association	Charlie Hargreaves
C	Uniontown Coal Barons	Middle Atlantic League	Wes Griffin
D	Greenville Pirates	Alabama State League	Walt Tauscher
D	Tallahassee Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Norman Veazey, Bob Shawkey, Johnnie Heving and Gene Cabaniss
D	Bartlesville Pirates	Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League	Tedd Gullic
D	Salisbury Pirates	North Carolina State League	John Corriden and Mickey O'Neil

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Indianapolis, Waco

Notes

^ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
^ Dick Smith at Baseball-Reference
^ Nanny Fernandez at Baseball-Reference
^ Steve Nagy at Baseball-Reference

References

1949 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
1949 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Dick Smith at Baseball-Reference

[3] Nanny Fernandez at Baseball-Reference

[4] Steve Nagy at Baseball-Reference

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e 1949 MLB season by team
American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1949 All-Star Game 1949 World Series