1949 American League

The 1949 season of the American League was the forty-ninth season of the league.

Season summary[edit]

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	New York Yankees	155	97	57	1	.626	-.-	829 (5.35)	637 (4.11)	0.269	0.359	0.400	3.69	0.977
2	Boston Red Sox	155	96	58	1	.619	1.0	896 (5.78)	667 (4.30)	0.282	0.379	0.420	3.97	0.980
3	Cleveland Indians	154	89	65	0	.578	8.0	675 (4.38)	574 (3.73)	0.260	0.336	0.384	3.36	0.983
4	Detroit Tigers	155	87	67	1	.561	10.0	751 (4.85)	655 (4.23)	0.267	0.359	0.378	3.77	0.978
5	Philadelphia Athletics	154	81	73	0	.526	16.0	726 (4.71)	725 (4.71)	0.260	0.358	0.369	4.23	0.976
6	Chicago White Sox	154	63	91	0	.409	34.0	648 (4.21)	737 (4.79)	0.257	0.346	0.347	4.30	0.978
7	St. Louis Browns	155	53	101	1	.342	44.0	667 (4.30)	913 (5.89)	0.254	0.336	0.377	5.21	0.972
8	Washington Senators	154	50	104	0	.325	47.0	584 (3.79)	868 (5.64)	0.254	0.330	0.356	5.10	0.973

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Vern Stephens Vic Wertz Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox Detroit Tigers Boston Red Sox	155
At Bats	Dale Mitchell	Cleveland Indians	640
Runs Scored	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	150
Hits	Dale Mitchell	Cleveland Indians	203
Doubles	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	39
Triples	Dale Mitchell	Cleveland Indians	23
Home Runs	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	43
Total Bases	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	368
Runs Batted In	Vern Stephens Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox Boston Red Sox	159
Stolen Bases	Bob Dillinger	St. Louis Browns	20
Caught Stealing	Bob Dillinger	St. Louis Browns	14
Walks	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	162
Hit by Pitch	Larry Doby Eddie Robinson	Cleveland Indians Washington Senators	7
Strikeouts	Dick Kokos	St. Louis Browns	91
Sacrifice Hits	Phil Rizzuto	New York Yankees	25
Grounded into Double Plays	Bobby Doerr	Boston Red Sox	31
Batting Average	George Kell Ted Williams	Detroit Tigers Boston Red Sox	0.343
On-Base Percentage	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	0.490
Slugging Percentage	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	0.650
On-Base plus Slugging	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	1.140
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	192

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Mel Parnell	Boston Red Sox	25
Losses	Paul Calvert Ned Garver Sid Hudson	Washington Senators St. Louis Browns Washington Senators	17
Win-Loss Percentage	Ellis Kinder	Boston Red Sox	0.793
Appearances	Joe Page	New York Yankees	60
Games Started	Vic Raschi	New York Yankees	37
Complete Games	Mel Parnell	Boston Red Sox	27
Shutouts	Ellis Kinder Virgil Trucks	Boston Red Sox Detroit Tigers	6
Games Finished	Joe Page	New York Yankees	48
Saves	Joe Page	New York Yankees	27
Innings Pitched	Mel Parnell	Boston Red Sox	295.1
Batters Faced	Mel Parnell	Boston Red Sox	1240
Hits Allowed	Hal Newhouser	Detroit Tigers	277
Home Runs Allowed	Randy Gumpert	Chicago White Sox	22
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Tommy Byrne	New York Yankees	179
Hit Batsmen	Tommy Byrne	New York Yankees	13
Strikeouts	Virgil Trucks	Detroit Tigers	153
Wild Pitches	Gene Bearden	Cleveland Indians	11
Balks	Alex Kellner	Philadelphia Athletics	3
Runs Allowed	Ned Garver	St. Louis Browns	126
Earned Runs Allowed	Lou Brissie Hal Newhouser	Philadelphia Athletics Detroit Tigers	109
Earned Run Average	Mike Garcia	Cleveland Indians	2.36
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Fred Hutchinson	Detroit Tigers	1.161

The American League won the sixteenth midsummer classic at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, NY on Tuesday, July 12, 1949 by a score of 11 to 7. The league's manager was Lou Boudreau.

In the World Series, the American League champion New York Yankees defeated the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 1.

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Ted Williams, an outfielder with the Boston Red Sox. In the award's voting, he had 272 out of a possible 336 points and 13 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Roy Sievers, an outfielder with the St. Louis Browns. In the award's voting, he had 10 out of a possible 24 points and 10 first place votes.

The eighth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on June 13 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Washington Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League by a score of 8 to 7.