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. The team featured five future Hall of Famers: player-manager Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, and Ted Williams.
1941 Boston Red Sox | |
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Owner(s) | Tom Yawkey |
General manager(s) | Eddie Collins |
Manager(s) | Joe Cronin |
Local radio | WAAB (Jim Britt, Tom Hussey) |
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Offseason
- Prior to 1941 season: Virgil Stallcup was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.[1]
Regular season
Williams was one of the biggest stories of the 1941 major league season, becoming, as of 2019, 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]
Season standings
American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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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
1941 American League Records Sources: | |||||||||||||
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Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHI | STL | 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
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
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Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
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Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
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C | Frankie Pytlak | 106 | 336 | 91 | .271 | 2 | 39 |
1B | Jimmie Foxx | 135 | 487 | 146 | .300 | 19 | 105 |
2B | Bobby Doerr | 132 | 500 | 141 | .282 | 16 | 93 |
SS | Joe Cronin | 143 | 518 | 161 | .311 | 16 | 95 |
3B | Jim Tabor | 126 | 498 | 139 | .279 | 16 | 101 |
OF | Ted Williams | 143 | 456 | 185 | .406 | 37 | 120 |
OF | Lou Finney | 127 | 497 | 143 | .288 | 4 | 53 |
OF | Dom DiMaggio | 144 | 584 | 165 | .283 | 8 | 58 |
Other batters
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 |
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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
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Dick Newsome | 36 | 213.2 | 19 | 10 | 4.13 | 58 |
Charlie Wagner | 29 | 187.1 | 12 | 8 | 3.07 | 51 |
Lefty Grove | 21 | 134 | 7 | 7 | 4.37 | 54 |
Earl Johnson | 17 | 93.2 | 4 | 5 | 4.52 | 46 |
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Joe Dobson | 27 | 134.1 | 12 | 9 | 4.49 | 69 |
Jack Wilson | 27 | 116.1 | 4 | 13 | 5.03 | 55 |
Tex Hughson | 12 | 61 | 5 | 3 | 4.13 | 22 |
Emerson Dickman | 9 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 6.39 | 16 |
Woody Rich | 2 | 3.2 | 0 | 0 | 17.18 | 4 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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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
- Ted Williams, 20th-century record, Highest on-base percentage in one season (.553) [3]
All-Stars
- Joe Cronin starting SS
- Dom DiMaggio reserve
- Bobby Doerr starting 2B
- Jimmie Foxx reserve
- Ted Williams starting LF
League top five finishers
- #3 in AL in runs scored (117)
- #3 in AL in wins (19)
- #3 in AL in ERA (3.07)
- AL leader, reached base safely in 69 consecutive games[2]
- MLB leader in batting average (.406)
- MLB leader in home runs (37)
- MLB leader in runs scored (135)
- MLB leader in on-base percentage (.553)
- MLB leader in slugging percentage (.735)
- MLB leader in walks drawn (147)
- #4 in AL in RBI (120)
Farm system
Level | Team | League | Manager |
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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-Scholfield Leafs | Bi-State League | Elmer Yoter |
D | Centreville Colts | Eastern Shore League | Ed Walls and Eddie Popowski |
D | Owensboro Oilers | KITTY League | Hughie Wise |
Notes
- Virgil Stallcup page at Baseball Reference
- Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 44, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
- Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 36, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
- Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007