Brooklyn Dodgers - The War Years  (1940-1949)
 
   
  Brooklyn
Home
Click
on Logo
                                              1940    
        Yr P W L   Yr P W L   Yr P W L             Decade  
        1940 2 88 65   1943 3 81 72   1947 1 94 60             Click    
        1941 1 100 54   1944 7 63 91   1948 3 84 70             on Logo  
        1942 2 104 50   1945 3 87 67   1949 1 97 57                  
                  1946 2 96 60                            
                                                       
   
  Titles: NL Champs 1941, 1947, 1949  Top Dodgers Players of the Forties  
  Lost World Series to Yankees each time  
    Pitchers:  
  BallPark: Ebbets Field Whitlow Wyatt (16.9) -   52  
    Kirby Higbe (9.12) -   48  
  Team Name: Dodgers Curt Davis (13.1) -   41  
    Joe Hatten (10.4) -   37  
  Owner: Ebbets and McKeever Trusts (1940-1943) Ralph Branca (12.7) -   34  
  Branch Rickey, Walter O'Malley, John Lawrence Smith (1944-1949) Hugh Casey (7.75) -   33  
    Vic Lombardi (7.27) -   21  
   President:  Hal Gregg (0.7) -   21  
  Larry MacPhail (1940-1942) Preacher Roe (10.8) -   17  
  Branch Rickey (1943-1949) Rex Barney (2.24) -   15  
    Don Newcombe (5.56) -   12  
  General Manager: None Fred Fitzsimmons (4.86) -   11  
    Hot Potato Hamlin (3.19) -   10  
  Managers: Leo Durocher (1940-1946,1948) Ed Head (4.33) -   9  
  Clyde Sukeforth (1947) Rube Melton (4.43) -   8  
  Burt Shotton (1947,1948-1949) Larry French (4.42) -   8  
  Ray Blades (1947) Vito Tamulis (4.1) -   6  
    Bobo Newsom (1.46) -   3  
  No Hitters: Tex Carleston (1940)  
  Ed Head (1946) Catchers:  
  Rex Barney (1948) Mickey Owen (3.96) -   22  
    Roy Campanella (6.11) -   16  
  Hall of Famers: Bruce Edwards (6.23) -   14  
  Roy Campanella Bobby Bragan (0.7) -   0  
  Billy Herman  
  Pee Wee Reese First Basemen:  
  Arky Vaughn Dolph Camilli (18.39) -   47  
  Jackie Robinson Gil Hodges (2.96) -   11  
  Duke Snider Chuck Connors (0.05) -   0  
  Gil Hodges  
  Ducky Medwick Second Basemen:  
  Jackie Robinson (18.1) -   44  
  Rookie of the Year Eddie Stanky (14.81) -   23  
  Jackie Robinson (1947) Billy Herman (12.66) -   20  
  Don Newcombe (1949)  
    ShortStop:  
  MVP Pee Wee Reese (33.68) -   93  
  Dolph Camilli (1941) Arky Vaughn (8.94) -   21  
  Jackie Robinson (1949)  
    Third Base:  
  Notable Events: Cookie Lavagetto (4.44) -   11  
   
  1940 - Hall of Fame outfielder Ducky Medwick, 28, and righthander  Outfield:  
   Curt Davis, 36, are acquired in a deal with the Cards that included Dixie Walker (33.19) -   81  
   $125K cash. The deal worked out badly as Medwick was beaned six days Pete Reiser (19.67) -   62  
   later by Cards pitcher Bob Bowman and was never the same player Augie Galan (20.53) -   49  
   after that. Tough break for everybody except Branch Rickey of the Cards. Carl Furillo (12,66) -   36  
    Ducky Medwick (10.66) -   25  
   1940 - Pee Wee Reese, 21, Hall of Fame shortstop is a rookie.  Luis Olmo (2.69) -   23  
  He was stolen from the Red Sox a year earlier in a deal which Gene Hermanski (7.58) -   21  
   caused Boston GM Billy Evans to resign in disgust. Goody Rosen (5.33) -   18  
  In Boston's defense, they did have HOF SS Joe Cronin on their roster   Duke Snider (5.05) -   12  
   and they had PCL star SS Johnny Pesky in their sights and signed  Al Gionfriddo (0.12) -   0  
  him a short while later. That being said, Pesky was no Reese.    
    Notable Events:  
  1940 - Outfielder Pete Reiser, 21, is a rookie. Reiser was a Hall of Fame     
   calibre talent who ruined his health running into outfield walls. 1944 - Righthander Ralph Branca, 18, is signed by Branch Rickey.    
    He is brought up to the Dodgers '44 and will be a mainstay on the   
   1941 - Righthander Kirby Higbe ,26, is obtained from the Phillies in a staff for a decade. Ralph never got drafted into the military.  
   trade plus cash. The Bums had grabbed star first baseman Dolph     
  Camilli from the hapless Phils in a similar deal a couple of years earlier. 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   
  1941 - Outfielder Augie Galan, 29, is obtained from the Cubs in a  in '45. Cal will end up being a star, but not with Brooklyn.  
  trade plus cash  After a long journey, Cal makes it big with Cleveland in the late Fifties.  
       
   1941 - Second baseman Billy Herman, 31, is obtained from the now 1944 - Second baseman Eddie Stanky, 28, is obtained in a deal with the   
  hapless Cubs in a trade plus cash, Cubs owner Pk Wrigley, who had  Cubs, one of a number of deals in which the Dodgers took advantage   
  inherited the team from his father several years earlier, obviously was Chicago in the Thirties and Forties  
  not into winning and MacPhail took advantage.    
    1946 - Outfielder Carl Furillo, 24, is a rookie. He was signed in 1941  
  1941 - Dodgers win their first pennant in 21 years  going 100-54    
  In World Series Game four,  a two out passed ball by Mickey Owen costs  1946 - Dodgers and St. Louis tie for first and have a best of three playoff  
  the Dodgers the game and eventually the Series to the Yankees which the Cardinals win 2-0  
       
  1942 - Hall of Fame shortstop Arky Vaughn, 30, is obtained in a trade from  1947 - Jackie Robinson breaks the color line. He will play first, second   
  the Pirates for four players. The deal doesn't pan out due to Vaughn  and third during his Dodger Hall of Fame career.  
   going into the army and his hatred for Dodgers manager Leo Durocher  Jackie is twenty eight years old when he comes up to the Dodgers.   
  He played earlier in the Negro Leagues.  
   1942 - GM Larry MacPhail leaves his position to join the Army.    
   When he returns after the  war, MacPhail heads a syndicate that  1947 - Dodgers win the pennant and lose the World Series to the Yanks  
  buys.the Yankees. His GM position with Brooklyn had been filled  Cookie Lavagetto breaks up a no hitter by Bill Bevans of the Yanks with   
  more than ably by Branch Rickey (the greatest baseball GM of all time)  two outs in the ninth.  
    after MacPhail had left for the war. MacPhail had been the guy who was   Not only that but the Dodgers end up winning the game.  
  responsible for turning the Dodgers organization around into a winner.    
   MacPhail's dynamism and talent convinced the Ebbets / McKeever Trust 1947 - Al Gionfriddo makes a spectacular catch against Joe DiMaggio   
   to open up the purse strings to bring a winner to Brooklyn.  in the World Series  
   His ideas on night baseball and radio broadcasts, brought over from     
  his previous tenure with the Reds, made good business sense, as did 1947 - Manager Leo Durocher is suspended for a year for making an   
    funding a winning team. The Dodgers won 100 games twice in the first  inappropriate and erroneous comment about former Dodger President   
    half of the decade and won the 1941 pennant as a result of Larry MacPhail regarding consorting with gamblers.  
   MacPhail's manueverings.    
    1948 - Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella, 26, is a rookie signed out   
  1942 - The Dodgers hire the saviest baseball executive in history,   of the Negro Leagues.  
   Branch Rickey, to take over the GM reins from MacPhail.    
    MacPhail's act would have been impossible for anyone else to follow, 1948 - Righthander Carl Erskiine, 21, is a rookie. He was signed in 1946  
    but not for Rickey. Rickey was always looking for an edge.    
  He built the Cardinals into a dynasty by inventing and developing the  1948 - Ace righthander Preacher Roe, 32, and slick fielding third baseman   
    farm system. He also deliberately put together a team of 4F's with the   Billy Cox, 28, are obtained from the Pirates for Hal Gregg,   
  Cards (guys who would be rejected for military service) as the war Vic Lombardi and Dixie Walker  
   became imminent. Thus while everyone was playing with replacement    
   players, the Cards were playing with bonafide major leaguers during the 1949 - Righthander Don Newcombe, 23, is a rookie. He was signed out    
  war. With the Dodgers, Rickey used two strategies to build Brooklyn's  of the Negro Leagues.  
   post war dynasty. He started signing black players, knowing there were a     
   bunch of primo talents in the Negro leagues and he signed teenagers 1949 - The Dodgers win the pennant but again lose the World Series to   
   during the war,  betting that they would be OK, mature and ready to go  the Yankees for the third time in the decade.  
    when the war ended. Other baseball executives didn't want to sign    
   teenagers because they were afraid that it would be lost money when  The Dodger team of the Golden Age (1946-57) was one of the best ever   
   the kids were drafted into the military. Rickey's gambles both paid off.   assembled in baseball history.  
   Branch had no competition for the top  talents in both areas from There was an eight player core of this team that was there pretty much    
   other major league clubs - he had the picks of the litter throughout the entire twelve years.   
       Three (Robinson, Campanella and Newcombe) were picked up from the  
  1942 - The Dodgers win 104 games and don't win the pennant as    Negro Leagues where GM Branch Rickey was recruiting players  
  St. Louis wins 106  well before most other owners.  
         Two others (Hodges and Snider) were signed by Rickey as teenagers   
  1943 - First baseman / catcher Gil Hodges, 19, is signed by Branch Rickey.   during  World War II when most other owners were reticent to do so.   
   He is brought up  to the Dodgers briefly in '43 before going into the military     Two of the others (Erskine and Furillo) were signed by Rickey   
  Gil should be a member of the Hall of Fame, but mysteriously isn't.   shortly after the war.  
  When you think of some of the people who made it into the Hall ahead      The eighth (Reese) was traded for earlier by Larry MacPhail.  
  of Hodges, it makes you cringe.    
      The awesome eight:   
  1943 - Outfielder Duke Snider, 16, is signed by the Dodgers.    catcher - Roy Campanella - Hall of Fame  1948 - 1957  
   He will go into the military in '45. Snider comes up as a     first base - Gil Hodges - 7 consecutive 100 plus rbi seasons  1946 - 1957  
  rookie in 1947. Duke is a member of the Hall of Fame   second base - Jackie Robinson - Hall of Fame 1947- 1956  
      shortstop - Pee Wee Reese - Hall of Fame  1946 - 1957  
      outfield - Carl Furillo - .284 hitter or better in 11 of 12 seasons    1946 - 1957  
      outfield - Duke Snider - Hall of Fame   1946 - 1957  
      righthander - Carl Erskine - 117-71 W-L from 1948 - 1957  
      righthander - Don Newcombe - 123-60 W-L from 1949 - 1957