The following are the baseball events of the year 1948 throughout the world.
Years in baseball |
|
|
Winter Leagues
American League | National League | |||
AVG | Ted Williams BSR | .369 | Stan Musial SLC | .376 |
HR | Joe DiMaggio NYY | 39 | Ralph Kiner PIT & Johnny Mize NYG |
40 |
RBI | Joe DiMaggio NYY | 155 | Stan Musial SLC | 131 |
Wins | Hal Newhouser DET | 21 | Johnny Sain BSB | 24 |
ERA | Gene Bearden CLE | 2.43 | Harry Brecheen SLC | 2.24 |
Ks | Bob Feller CLE | 164 | Harry Brecheen SLC | 149 |
|
|
Birmingham won the first half of the season while Kansas City won the second half.
Negro American League | |||||
Club | Wins | Losses | Ties | Win % | GB |
Kansas City Monarchs | 60 | 30 | 2 | .667 | |
Birmingham Black Barons | 46 | 21 | 1 | .687 | 2.5 |
Cleveland Buckeyes | 41 | 35 | 2 | .539 | 12 |
Indianapolis Clowns | 32 | 50 | 3 | .390 | 24 |
Chicago American Giants | 27 | 47 | .365 | 25 | |
Memphis Red Sox | 28 | 51 | 2 | .354 | 26.5 |
This was the sixteenth and final season of the Negro National League (1933–1948). Homestead and Baltimore each won a half of the season. As such, they were matched against each other in the postseason. In the playoffs, Homestead won Games 1 and 2 before a curfew called Game 3 in the ninth inning. Game 4 went to Baltimore, but Homestead had protested that Game 3 should be played from where Game 3 had been stopped (8-4, bases loaded) rather than the start of the ninth inning (tied). The league agreed, but Baltimore refused to play and therefore forfeited.[1]
Negro National League | |||||
Club | Wins | Losses | Ties | Win % | GB |
Homestead Grays | 44 | 23 | 1 | .657 | |
Baltimore Elite Giants | 49 | 29 | 2 | .628 | 0.5 |
Newark Eagles | 29 | 28 | 1 | .509 | 10 |
Philadelphia Stars | 28 | 31 | 1 | .475 | 12 |
New York Cubans | 17 | 30 | 1 | .362 | 17 |
New York Black Yankees | 9 | 35 | .205 | 23.5 |
1948 was the 23rd and final time that there was a "Playoff Series" held between black baseball teams. 1913 is retroactively the only one not in the major league era of Negro league baseball (1920-1948). 1948 is the only time that saw both the American and National League hold a postseason series to determine the pennant (Major League Baseball would not hold such a format for 21 years).[2][3]