Brooklyn Dodgers - The War Years - WWII (1940-1945)
 
   
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                  Yr P W L                         Decade
                  1940 2 88 65                         Click  
                  1941 1 100 54                         on Logo
                  1942 2 104 50                            
                  1943 3 81 72                            
                    1944 7 63 91                            
                          1945 3 87 67                            
                                                       
   
  Titles: NL Champs 1941  Top Dodgers Players of the War Years   
  Lost World Series to Yankees    
    Pitchers:  
  BallPark: Ebbets Field Whitlow Wyatt (16.9) -    52  
    Curt Davis (13.1) -    41  
  Team Name: Dodgers Kirby Higbe (6.26) -    36  
    Hugh Casey (5.84) -    22  
  Owner: Ebbets and McKeever Trusts (1940-1943) Hal Gregg (0.5) -    19  
  Branch Rickey, Walter O'Malley, John Lawrence Smith (1944-1945) Fred Fitzsimmons (4.86) -    11  
    Hot Potato Hamlin (3.19) -    10  
  President: Larry MacPhail (1940-1942) Ed Head (3.88) -  9  
  Branch Rickey (1943-1945) Larry French (4.42) -   8  
    Vic Lombardi (1.45) -    7  
  General Manager: None Vito Tamulis (4.1) -   6  
    Bobo Newsom (1.46) -    3  
  Managers: Leo Durocher (1940-1945)  
    Catchers:  
  No Hitters: Tex Carleston (1940) Mickey Owen (3.96) -    22  
    Babe Phelps (2.83) -  8  
  Hall of Famers: Bobby Bragan (0) -    0  
  Billy Herman    
  Pee Wee Reese First Basemen:  
  Arky Vaughn Dolph Camilli (18.39) -    47  
  Ducky Medwick  
    Second Basemen:  
  MVP Billy Herman (11.44) -    19  
  Dolph Camilli (1941) Eddie Stanky (5.36) -    10  
     
  Notable Events: ShortStop:  
  Pee Wee Reese (9.7) -    35  
  1940 - Hall of Fame outfielder Ducky Medwick, 28, and righthander  Arky Vaughn (6.9) -    20  
   Curt Davis, 36, are acquired in a deal with the Cards that included  
   $125K cash. The deal worked out badly as Medwick was beaned six days Third Base:  
   later by Cards pitcher Bob Bowman and was never the same player Cookie Lavagetto (3.55) -    10  
   after that. Tough break for everybody except Branch Rickey of the Cards.  
    Outfield:  
   1940 - Pee Wee Reese, 21, Hall of Fame shortstop is a rookie.  Dixie Walker (25) -    66  
  He was stolen from the Red Sox a year earlier in a deal which Augie Galan (17.5) -    44  
   caused Boston GM Billy Evans to resign in disgust. Pete Reiser (12.12) -    37  
  In Boston's defense, they did have HOF SS Joe Cronin on their roster   Ducky Medwick (10.23) -    25  
   and they had PCL star SS Johnny Pesky in their sights and signed  Luis Olmo (2.87) -    23  
  him a short while later. That being said, Pesky was no Reese. Goody Rosen (5.33) -    18  
       
  1940 - Outfielder Pete Reiser, 21, is a rookie. Reiser was a Hall of Fame  Notable Events:  
   calibre talent who ruined his health running into outfield walls.    
    1942 - The Dodgers hire the saviest baseball executive in history,   
   1941 - Righthander Kirby Higbe ,26, is obtained from the Phillies in a  Branch Rickey, to take over the GM reins from MacPhail.  
   trade plus cash. The Bums had grabbed star first baseman Dolph    MacPhail's act would have been impossible for anyone else to follow,  
  Camilli from the hapless Phils in a similar deal a couple of years earlier.   but not for Rickey. Rickey was always looking for an edge.  
  He built the Cardinals into a dynasty by inventing and developing the   
  1941 - Outfielder Augie Galan, 29, is obtained from the Cubs in a    farm system. He also deliberately put together a team of 4F's with the   
  trade plus cash Cards (guys who would be rejected for military service) as the war  
     became imminent. Thus while everyone was playing with replacement  
   1941 - Second baseman Billy Herman, 31, is obtained from the now  players, the Cards were playing with bonafide major leaguers during the  
  hapless Cubs in a trade plus cash, Cubs owner Pk Wrigley, who had  war. With the Dodgers, Rickey used two strategies to build Brooklyn's   
  inherited the team from his father several years earlier, obviously was  post war dynasty. He started signing black players, knowing there were a   
  not into winning and MacPhail took advantage.  bunch of primo talents in the Negro leagues and he signed teenagers  
     during the war,  betting that they would be OK, mature and ready to go  
  1941 - Dodgers win their first pennant in 21 years  going 100-54   when the war ended. Other baseball executives didn't want to sign  
  In World Series Game four,  a two out passed ball by Mickey Owen costs   teenagers because they were afraid that it would be lost money when   
  the Dodgers the game and eventually the Series to the Yankees  the kids were drafted into the military. Rickey's gambles both paid off.   
   Branch had no competition for the top  talents in both areas from  
  1942 - Hall of Fame shortstop Arky Vaughn, 30, is obtained in a trade from   other major league clubs - he had the picks of the litter  
  the Pirates for four players. The deal doesn't pan out due to Vaughn    
   going into the army and his hatred for Dodgers manager Leo Durocher 1942 - The Dodgers win 104 games and don't win the pennant as    
    St. Louis wins 106  
   1942 - GM Larry MacPhail leaves his position to join the Army.  
   When he returns after the  war, MacPhail heads a syndicate that  1943 - First baseman / catcher Gil Hodges, 19, is signed by Branch Rickey.   
  buys.the Yankees. His GM position with Brooklyn had been filled   He is brought up  to the Dodgers briefly in '43 before going into the military  
  more than ably by Branch Rickey (the greatest baseball GM of all time) Gil should be a member of the Hall of Fame, but mysteriously isn't.  
    after MacPhail had left for the war. MacPhail had been the guy who was  When you think of some of the people who made it into the Hall ahead  
  responsible for turning the Dodgers organization around into a winner. of Hodges, it makes you cringe.  
   MacPhail's dynamism and talent convinced the Ebbets / McKeever Trust    
   to open up the purse strings to bring a winner to Brooklyn. 1943 - Outfielder Duke Snider, 16, is signed by the Dodgers.  
   His ideas on night baseball and radio broadcasts, brought over from   He will go into the military in '45. Snider comes up as a   
  his previous tenure with the Reds, made good business sense, as did rookie in 1947. Duke is a member of the Hall of Fame  
    funding a winning team. The Dodgers won 100 games twice in the first    
    half of the decade and won the 1941 pennant as a result of 1944 - Righthander Ralph Branca, 18, is signed by Branch Rickey.    
   MacPhail's manueverings. He is brought up to the Dodgers '44 and will be a mainstay on the   
    staff for a decade. Ralph never got drafted into the military.  
       
    1944 - Righthander Cal McLish, 18, is signed by the Dodgers.   
     He is brought up to the Dodgers in '44 and gets drafted into the military   
    in '45. Cal will end up being a star, but not with Brooklyn.  
     After a long journey, Cal makes it big with Cleveland in the late Fifties.  
       
    1944 - Second baseman Eddie Stanky, 28, is obtained in a deal with the   
    Cubs, one of a number of deals in which the Dodgers took advantage   
    Chicago in the Thirties and Forties