1942 Brooklyn Dodgers
LeagueNational League
BallparkEbbets Field
CityBrooklyn, New York
OwnersJames & Dearie Mulvey, Brooklyn Trust Company
PresidentLarry MacPhail
ManagersLeo Durocher
RadioWHN, WOR
Red Barber, Alan Hale
← 1941
1943 →

The 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers team won 104 games in the season, but fell two games short of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League pennant race. The Dodgers' 104 wins tied the 1909 Chicago Cubs for the most wins by a team that failed to finish first in its league (or, since 1969, division); this record lasted until 2021, when the Dodgers won 106 games but finished a game behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.[1]

Offseason

Regular season

The Dodgers were 73–30 and 10 games ahead on August 4, but the Cardinals went on to win 45 of their last 56 to grab the NL title. To exacerbate the problem, the Dodgers had also dropped several close games to St. Louis in September.

Defending NL batting champ Pete Reiser, hitting .380, was sidelined in mid-season after repeatedly crashing into the unpadded outfield wall in Ebbets Field. While he recovered from a fractured skull, Brooklyn could not keep up their early pace. A healthy Reiser may very well have made up the two-game difference.[10]

Season standings

National League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 106 48 0.688 — 60–17 46–31
Brooklyn Dodgers 104 50 0.675 2 57–22 47–28
New York Giants 85 67 0.559 20 47–31 38–36
Cincinnati Reds 76 76 0.500 29 38–39 38–37
Pittsburgh Pirates 66 81 0.449 36½ 41–34 25–47
Chicago Cubs 68 86 0.442 38 36–41 32–45
Boston Braves 59 89 0.399 44 33–36 26–53
Philadelphia Phillies 42 109 0.278 62½ 23–51 19–58

Record vs. opponents

1942 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 6–16 13–9 5–16–1 8–12 14–8 7–12–1 6–16
Brooklyn 16–6 — 16–6 15–7 14–8–1 18–4 16–6 9–13
Chicago 9–13 6–16 — 13–9 9–13–1 14–8 11–11 6–16
Cincinnati 16–5–1 7–15 9–13 — 9–13 16–6 12–9–1 7–15
New York 12–8 8–14–1 13–9–1 13–9 — 17–5 15–7 7–15
Philadelphia 8–14 4–18 8–14 6–16 5–17 — 6–13 5–17
Pittsburgh 12–7–1 6–16 11–11 9–12–1 7–15 13–6 — 8–14–2
St. Louis 16–6 13–9 16–6 15–7 15–7 17–5 14–8–2 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1942 Brooklyn Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
C Mickey Owen 133 421 53 109 .259 0 44 10
1B Dolph Camilli 150 524 89 132 .252 26 109 10
2B Billy Herman 155 571 76 146 .256 2 65 6
3B Arky Vaughan 128 495 82 137 .277 2 49 8
SS Pee Wee Reese 151 564 87 144 .255 3 53 15
LF Joe Medwick 142 553 69 166 .300 4 96 2
CF Pete Reiser 125 480 89 149 .310 10 64 20
RF Dixie Walker 118 393 57 114 .290 6 54 1

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
Johnny Rizzo 78 217 31 50 .230 4 27 2
Augie Galan 69 209 24 55 .263 0 22 2
Lew Riggs 70 199 20 50 .278 3 22 0
Billy Sullivan 43 101 11 27 .267 1 14 1
Frenchy Bordagaray 48 58 11 14 .241 0 5 2
Alex Kampouris 10 21 3 5 .238 0 3 0
Babe Dahlgren 17 19 2 1 .053 0 0 0
Cliff Dapper 8 17 2 8 .471 1 9 0
Stan Rojek 1 0 1 0 ---- 0 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS CG IP W L ERA BB SO
Kirby Higbe 38 32 13 221.2 16 11 3.25 106 115
Whit Wyatt 31 30 16 217.1 19 7 2.73 63 104
Curt Davis 32 26 13 206.0 15 6 2.36 51 60
Bobo Newsom 6 5 2 32.0 2 2 3.38 14 21
Freddie Fitzsimmons 1 1 0 3.0 0 0 15.00 1 0

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS CG IP W L ERA BB SO
Larry French 38 14 5 147.2 15 4 1.83 36 62
Ed Head 36 15 5 136.2 10 6 3.56 47 78
Johnny Allen 27 15 5 118.0 10 6 3.20 39 50
Max Macon 14 8 4 84.0 5 3 1.93 33 27
Les Webber 19 3 1 51.2 3 2 2.96 22 23
Schoolboy Rowe 9 2 0 30.1 1 0 5.34 12 6
Chet Kehn 3 1 0 7.2 0 0 7.04 4 3

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA BB SO
Hugh Casey 50 112.0 6 3 13 2.25 44 54
Newt Kimball 14 29.1 2 0 0 3.68 19 8
Bob Chipman 2 1.1 0 0 0 0.00 2 1

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Dolph Camilli

Hugh Casey

Curt Davis

Kirby Higbe

Ducky Medwick

Pistol Pete Reiser

Farm System

Level Team League Manager
AA Montreal Royals International League Clyde Sukeforth
AA San Francisco Seals Pacific Coast League Lefty O'Doul
B Durham Bulls Piedmont League Bruno Betzel
C Santa Barbara Saints California League John Clancy
C Dayton Ducks Middle Atlantic League Paul Chervinko
Howard Holmes
William McWilliams
D Kingsport Dodgers Appalachian League Merle Settlemire
D Valdosta Trojans Georgia–Florida League Stew Hofferth
Clancy Odell
D Johnstown Johnnies Pennsylvania State Association Jay Kirke, Jr.
D Olean Oilers Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League Jake Pitler
D Lamesa Dodgers West Texas–New Mexico League Joe Tate

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Santa Barbara

Notes

  1. ^ "Trea Turner wins NL batting title, Dodgers beat Brewers 10-3". Associated Press. October 3, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021 – via ESPN.
  2. ^ Heinie Mueller page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Mace Brown page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Don Padgett page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Johnny Rizzo page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Pete Coscarart page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Billy Sullivan page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Frenchy Bordagaray page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Steve Nagy page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ "HowStuffWorks "1942 Baseball Season"". entertainment.howstuffworks.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  11. ^ Schoolboy Rowe page at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Babe Dahlgren page at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Bobo Newsom page at Baseball Reference

References

External links

1942 MLB season by team
Los Angeles Dodgers
Categories