1941 Boston Red Sox season

The 1941 Boston Red Sox season was the 41st season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished second in the American League (AL) with a record of 84 wins and 70 losses, 17 games behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1941 World Series.

1941 Boston Red Sox
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkFenway Park
CityBoston, Massachusetts
Record84–70 (.545)
League place2nd (17 GB)
OwnersTom Yawkey
PresidentTom Yawkey
General managersEddie Collins
ManagersJoe Cronin
RadioWAAB
(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
← 1940 Seasons 1942 →

The Red Sox featured five future Hall of Famers: player-manager Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, and Ted Williams.

Offseason edit

  • Prior to 1941 season: Virgil Stallcup was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.[1]

Regular season edit

Williams was one of the biggest stories of the 1941 major league season, becoming, as of 2022, the last player to bat .400 (batting .406) in a full season. He led an offense that scored the most runs of any major league team. During the season, Williams reached base safely in 69 consecutive games.[2]

Transactions edit

Season standings edit

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 101 53 0.656 51–26 50–27
Boston Red Sox 84 70 0.545 17 47–30 37–40
Chicago White Sox 77 77 0.500 24 38–39 39–38
Cleveland Indians 75 79 0.487 26 42–35 33–44
Detroit Tigers 75 79 0.487 26 43–34 32–45
St. Louis Browns 70 84 0.455 31 40–37 30–47
Washington Senators 70 84 0.455 31 40–37 30–47
Philadelphia Athletics 64 90 0.416 37 36–41 28–49

Record vs. opponents edit


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston 16–6 9–13 11–11 9–13–1 16–6 9–13 14–8
Chicago 6–16 17–5 12–10–1 8–14 10–12 11–11–1 13–9
Cleveland 13–9 5–17 10–12 7–15 15–7 13–9–1 12–10
Detroit 11–11 10–12–1 12–10 11–11 13–9 11–11 7–15
New York 13–9–1 14–8 15–7 11–11 14–8 18–4 16–6–1
Philadelphia 6–16 12–10 7–15 9–13 8–14 11–11 11–11
St. Louis 13–9 11–11–1 9–13–1 11–11 4–18 11–11 11–11–1
Washington 8–14 9–13 10–12 15–7 6–16–1 11–11 11–11–1


Opening Day lineup edit

  7 Dom DiMaggio     CF
  8 Lou Finney RF
12 Pete Fox LF
  3 Jimmie Foxx 1B
  4 Joe Cronin SS
  1 Bobby Doerr 2B
  5 Jim Tabor 3B
  2 Frankie Pytlak     C
10 Lefty Grove P

Roster edit

1941 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats edit

Batting edit

Starters by position edit

Abbreviations: Pos=Position; GP=Games Played; AB=At Bats; R=Runs; H=Hits; 2B=Doubles; 3B=Triples; HR=Home Runs; RBI=Runs Batted In; BB=Walks; AVG=Batting Average; OBP=On Base Percentage; SLG=Slugging Percentage

Note: Stats in brackets are derived from Retrosheet which differ from official MLB stats.

Pos Player GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB AVG OBP SLG References
C Frankie Pytlak 106 336 91 2 39 .271
1B Jimmie Foxx 135 487 146 19 105 .300
2B Bobby Doerr 132 500 141 16 93 .282
SS Joe Cronin 143 518 161 16 95 .311
3B Jim Tabor 126 498 139 16 101 .279
OF Ted Williams 143 456 135 185 33 3 37 120 (119) 145 (147) .406 .551 (.553) .735 [4][5]
OF Lou Finney 127 497 143 4 53 .288
OF Dom DiMaggio 144 584 117 165 37 6 8 58 90 .283 .385 .408 [6]

Other batters edit

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
Pete Fox 73 268 81 .302 0 31
Johnny Peacock 79 261 74 .284 0 27
Skeeter Newsome 93 227 51 .225 2 17
Stan Spence 86 203 47 .232 2 28
Al Flair 10 30 6 .200 0 2
Odell Hale 12 24 5 .208 1 1
Tom Carey 25 21 4 .190 0 2
Paul Campbell 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching edit

Starting pitchers edit

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dick Newsome 36 213.2 19 10 4.13 58
Charlie Wagner 29 187.1 12 8 3.07 51
Lefty Grove 21 134.0 7 7 4.37 54
Earl Johnson 17 93.2 4 5 4.52 46

Other pitchers edit

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Joe Dobson 27 134.1 12 9 4.49 69
Jack Wilson 27 116.1 4 13 5.03 55
Tex Hughson 12 61.0 5 3 4.13 22
Emerson Dickman 9 31.0 1 1 6.39 16
Woody Rich 2 3.2 0 0 17.18 4

Relief pitchers edit

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mike Ryba 40 7 3 6 4.46 54
Bill Fleming 16 1 1 1 3.92 20
Nels Potter 10 2 0 0 4.50 6
Oscar Judd 7 0 0 1 8.76 5
Herb Hash 4 1 0 1 5.40 3

Awards and honors edit

  • Ted Williams, 20th-century record, Highest on-base percentage in one season (.553) [7]

All-Stars edit

League top five finishers edit

Dom DiMaggio

  • Third in MLB in Runs Scored (117).[8]

Dick Newsome

Fifth in MLB in Wins (19).[9]

  • Third in AL in Wins.[10]

Charlie Wagner

    1. 3 in AL in ERA (3.07)

Ted Williams

  • AL leader, reached base safely in 69 consecutive games.[2]
  • MLB leader in batting average (.406).[11]
  • MLB leader in home runs (37).[12]
  • MLB leader in runs scored (135).[8]
  • MLB leader in on-base percentage (.553).[13]
  • MLB leader in slugging percentage (.735).[14]
  • MLB leader in walks drawn (145).[15]
    1. 4 in AL in RBI (120)

Farm system edit

Level Team League Manager
AA Louisville Colonels American Association Bill Burwell
A Scranton Red Sox Eastern League Nemo Leibold
B Greensboro Red Sox Piedmont League Heinie Manush
C Canton Terriers Middle Atlantic League Floyd "Pat" Patterson
D Danville-Schoolfield Leafs Bi-State League Elmer Yoter
D Centreville Red Sox Eastern Shore League Ed Walls and Eddie Popowski
D Owensboro Oilers KITTY League Hughie Wise

Source:[16]

References edit

  1. ^ Virgil Stallcup page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ a b Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 44, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  3. ^ "Red Sox Purchase Two Shortstops". Meriden Record. September 9, 1941. p. 4. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  4. ^ "Ted Williams Stats: Splits; Regular Season; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
  5. ^ "The 1941 BOS A Batting Splits for Ted Williams". Retrosheet. Archived from the original on June 24, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
  6. ^ "Dom DiMaggio Stats: Splits; Regular Season; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
  7. ^ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 36, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  8. ^ a b "Stats: Runs, 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  9. ^ "Stats: Pitching; Wins; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  10. ^ "Stats: Pitching; Wins; American League; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  11. ^ "Stats: Batting Average, 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  12. ^ "Stats: Home Runs; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  13. ^ "Stats: On-Base-Percentage; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  14. ^ "Stats: Slugging Percentage; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  15. ^ "Stats: Walks; 1941". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024.
  16. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links edit