1940 Major League Baseball season

The 1940 Major League Baseball season saw many stars have great years, the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series against the Detroit Tigers and the following players won MVP in their respective divisions, Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers and Frank McCormick of the Cincinnati Reds. The season started on April 16 and was carried out until October 8, 1940.

1940 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 16 – October 8, 1940
Regular season
Season champions	AL: Detroit Tigers NL: Cincinnati Reds
Season MVP	AL: Hank Greenberg (DET) NL: Frank McCormick (CIN)
World Series
Champions	Cincinnati Reds
Runners-up	Detroit Tigers

Awards and honors

Hank Greenberg, Hall of Famer and 2-time MVP

• Most Valuable Player
  • Hank Greenberg (AL) – OF, Detroit Tigers
  • Frank McCormick (NL) – 1B, Cincinnati Reds
• The Sporting News Player of the Year Award
  • Bob Feller – P, Cleveland Indians
• The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award
  • Hank Greenberg (AL) – OF, Detroit Tigers
  • Frank McCormick (NL) – 1B, Cincinnati Reds
• The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award
  • Bill McKechnie – Cincinnati Reds

Frank McCormick 1940 NL MVP and 9x All-Star

Statistical leaders

American League National League Type Name Stat Name Stat AVG Joe DiMaggio NYY .352 Debs Garms PIT .355 HR Hank Greenberg DET 41 Johnny Mize SLC 43 RBI Hank Greenberg DET 150 Johnny Mize SLC 137 Wins Bob Feller^1 CLE 27 Bucky Walters CIN 22 ERA Bob Feller^1 CLE 2.61 Bucky Walters CIN 2.48 SO Bob Feller^1 CLE 261 Kirby Higbe PHP 137 SV Al Benton DET 17 Joe Beggs CIN Jumbo Brown NYG Mace Brown PIT 7 SB George Case WSH 35 Lonny Frey CIN 22

¹ American League Triple Crown Pitching Winner

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Detroit Tigers	90	64	0.584	—	50–29	40–35
Cleveland Indians	89	65	0.578	1	51–30	38–35
New York Yankees	88	66	0.571	2	52–24	36–42
Boston Red Sox	82	72	0.532	8	45–34	37–38
Chicago White Sox	82	72	0.532	8	41–36	41–36
St. Louis Browns	67	87	0.435	23	37–39	30–48
Washington Senators	64	90	0.416	26	36–41	28–49
Philadelphia Athletics	54	100	0.351	36	29–42	25–58

National League final standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	100	53	0.654	—	55–21	45–32
Brooklyn Dodgers	88	65	0.575	12	41–37	47–28
St. Louis Cardinals	84	69	0.549	16	41–36	43–33
Pittsburgh Pirates	78	76	0.506	22½	40–34	38–42
Chicago Cubs	75	79	0.487	25½	40–37	35–42
New York Giants	72	80	0.474	27½	33–43	39–37
Boston Bees	65	87	0.428	34½	35–40	30–47
Philadelphia Phillies	50	103	0.327	50	24–55	26–48

Season Overview

The 1940 MLB season was dominated by stars such as Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, and Frank McCormick. Bob Feller took home the American league pitching triple crown by having the most wins, strikeouts and lowest era in his respective league. Debs Garms led the entire league in batting average by hitting .355. Hank Greenberg and Johnny Mize led their respective leagues in homerun's and runs batted in by having (41,150) and (43,137). The Sporting News manager of the year award went to Bill McKechnie for leading his team to the World Series and winning it. The World Series was won in Game 7 by the Reds over the Tigers, due to a strong pitching performance by Paul Derringer.

1940 All Star Game

This was the 8th time the MLB all star game "mid summer classic" had been played. It was held in St. Louis Missouri at Sportsman's Park on July 9, 1940. The NL was led to victory by the lone home run of the game by Max West of the Braves and they won the game 4–1. The two starting pitchers of the game were Red Ruffing of the New York Yankees for the American League who took the loss for this game and Paul Derringer of the Cincinnati Reds for the National League who got the win in this game.

The starting rosters for the both the National League and the American League are shown below:

American League Starting Lineup

Order	Player	Team	Position
1	Cecil Travis	Senators	3B
2	Ted Williams	Red Sox	LF
3	Charlie Keller	Yankees	RF
4	Joe DiMaggio	Yankees	CF
5	Jimmie Foxx	Red Sox	1B
6	Luke Appling	White Sox	SS
7	Bill Dickey	Yankees	C
8	Joe Gordon	Yankees	2B
9	Red Ruffing	Yankees	P

National League Starting Lineup

Order	Player	Team	Position
1	Arky Vaughan	Pirates	SS
2	Billy Herman	Cubs	2B
3	Max West	Braves	RF
4	Johnny Mize	Cardinals	1B
5	Ernie Lombardi	Reds	C
6	Joe Medwick	Dodgers	LF
7	Cookie Lavagetto	Dodgers	3B
8	Terry Moore	Cardinals	CF
9	Paul Derringer	Reds	P

Negro League Standings

At this time there was also a separate professional baseball league composed primarily of African American and Latin baseball players which was called the Negro League. These leagues were created for minorities to play professional baseball because of the racism at the time that would not allow certain races to play in the Major Leagues.

The standings for the 1940 Negro League season are shown below:

American League

Team	G	W	L	Win %
Kansas City Monarchs	19	12	7	.632
Birmingham Black Barons	18	9	9	.500
Memphis Red Sox	24	12	12	.500
Cleveland Bears	20	10	10	.500
Chicago American Giants	24	9	15	.375
Indianapolis Crawfords	8	3	5	.375

National League

Team	G	W	L	Win %
Washington Homestead Grays	41	28	13	.683
Baltimore Elite Giants	39	25	14	.641
Newark Eagles	42	25	17	.595
New York Cubans	31	12	19	.387
Philadelphia Stars	47	16	31	.340
New York Black Yankees	32	10	22	.313

Playoffs

In a 7 game world series between the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds the Cincinnati Reds won in game 7. The 1940 World Series was a showdown between the best team in each league. The Reds were led by NL MVP Frank McCormick and the Tigers were led by AL MVP Hank Greenberg. This series game down to the very last game where Paul Derringer threw a complete game no earned runs, and the Reds won 2-1.

Managers

American League

Team	Manager	Comments
Boston Red Sox	Joe Cronin
Chicago White Sox	Jimmy Dykes
Cleveland Indians	Ossie Vitt
Detroit Tigers	Del Baker
New York Yankees	Joe McCarthy
Philadelphia Athletics	Connie Mack
St. Louis Browns	Fred Haney
Washington Senators	Bucky Harris

National League

Team	Manager	Comments
Boston Braves	Casey Stengel
Brooklyn Dodgers	Leo Durocher
Chicago Cubs	Gabby Hartnett
Cincinnati Reds	Bill McKechnie
New York Giants	Bill Terry
Philadelphia Phillies	Doc Prothro
Pittsburgh Pirates	Frankie Frisch
St. Louis Cardinals	Ray Blades, Mike González and Billy Southworth

Events

April 16, 1940 – Bob Feller pitches his first career no hitter on opening day against the Chicago White Sox. This no hitter remains the only no hitter ever on opening day.

April 23, 1940 – Pee Wee Reese makes his Major League Baseball debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Pee Wee Reese later in his career goes into the Hall of Fame.

June 6, 1940 – Warren Spahn signs with the Boston Bees. Spahn later becomes a pitcher icon and wins the Cy young award.

July 9, 1940 – All star game held at Sportsman Park in St. Louis Missouri. The National League beat the American League 4–1 with help from Max West's home run.

September 24, 1940 – Jimmie Foxx "The Beast" hits his 500th career home run.

October 8, 1940 – The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Detroit Tigers in game 7 of the World Series. This is the second time the Reds have won the World Series, they were led by NL MVP Frank McCormick.

References

[1][2][3][4][5]

External links

• 1940 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference

1. "1940 MLB Season History - Major League Baseball - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
2. "1940 Major League Baseball Season Summary". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
3. "1940 Baseball Season". HowStuffWorks. 2007-08-30. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
4. "Baseball History in 1940 American League by Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
5. "1940 in the Negro Leagues - BR Bullpen". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-05-06.