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I’m very happy to report that Baseball History Comes Alive is alive and well! After being out of service for nearly two weeks due to technical issues well above my pay grade, I finally stumbled on someone who was able to work out the kicks! The site has a new, updated look that I hope you will like. Believe me…it was a harrowing experience and a close call, as I was just about ready to throw in the towel!
Anyway, I’m happy to welcome Vince Jankoski back with an interesting essay on the record-setting 1950 Boston Red Sox. This was all new to me, and I suspect it will be to all but the most ardent Sox fans. I think you’ll enjoy what Vince has on tap for us today.
In the featured photo, we see the great Ted Williams with teammates Vern Stephens and Walt Dropo.
The Remarkable 1950 Boston Red Sox!
On September 25, 1950, in the top of the third inning in the second game of a doubleheader between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics, Sox shortstop Vern Stephens doubled off Bobby Shantz, driving home Johnny Pesky and giving the Sox a 2-0 lead. Boston went on to win the game 3-0 in one hour and forty-six minutes. The score was significant because the run was Boston’s 1,000 of the season, a milestone unmatched since. The Sox went on to score 1,027 runs that season. The pennant-winning New York Yankees had the second most runs scored with 914.
Since 1900, the only other major league team to exceed 1,000 runs in a single season was the Yankees. The Yanks did it three times, 1930 (1,062 runs), 1931 (a record-setting 1,067 runs), and 1936 (1,065 runs).
The Sox feat is all the more remarkable considering that two of its best hitters, Ted Williams and Billy Goodman, missed substantial parts of the season. Williams broke his arm during the All-Star Game and was limited to 89 games. Goodman suffered a chip fracture in his ankle and participated in only 110 games.
Still, the Sox boasted seven .300 hitters with at least 400 plate appearances: catcher Birdie Tebbetts (.310), first baseman and Rookie of the Year Walt Dropo (.322), third baseman Pesky (.312), right fielder Al Zarilla (.325), center fielder Dom DiMaggio (.328, .027 higher than his brother Joe), Williams (.317), and Goodman who despite missing over 40 games still qualified for the batting title which he won with a .354 mark. Reserve Tom Wright (.318) and Ken Keltner (.321 in 32 plate appearances) also passed the magic .300 barrier. Even pitcher Mickey McDermott (.364) batted over .300. As a team, the Sox hit .302.
Five Sox scored over 100 runs, including the entire infield of Dropo (101), Doerr (103), Stephens (125), and Pesky (112). The fifth was league leader DiMaggio (131). Stephens was second and Pesky eighth among the league leaders. Dropo and Stephens each drove in 144 runs to tie for the league lead. Stephens knocked in 120, finishing fifth in that category. Eight players had at least 100 hits.
On consecutive days in June, they beat the St. Louis Browns 20-4 and 29-4, Parenthetically, neither game lasted longer than two hours and forty-six minutes. Dropo knocked in ten runs in the two games; Doerr drove in nine. A few weeks later, they scored 22 runs against the Athletics with Williams driving in six. In that game, they led 14-7 at the end of the second inning. Thirty-four times they scored in double digits.
The Sox ended the season with a .610 won-loss percentage but finished in third place four games out of first.
There was little to suggest that the 1950 version of Boston’s American League franchise would score so many runs. The previous year the team scored a more modest 896 runs with a team batting average of .282. Williams and Stephens each knocked in 159 runs. Doerr contributed 109 RBIs. Those three accounted for more than half the team’s RBI total. There were four .300 hitters: Williams, DiMaggio, Doerr, and Pesky – nothing to suggest the record-shattering year to follow.
Things changed dramatically in 1951. Tebbets was gone, traded to Cleveland. So was Zarilla, shipped off to the White Sox. William’s return left little playing time for Wright, and his average fell to .222 in 76 plate appearances. Williams took up some of the slack for the departed players and those whose performances fell, but it was not enough.
Boston’s run production plummeted to 804 as the team batting average fell to .266. Goodman’s average fell precipitously to .297. Likewise, Dropo’s average dropped to .239. His home run production fell from 34 to 11 and his RBI total from 144 to 57. Stephens’ RBI production also fell dramatically, from 144 to 75. Doerr’s RBIs fell from 129 to 73. Only Pesky, Williams, and Stephens hit .300. Only Williams knocked in over 100 runs, and only Williams and DiMaggio crossed the plate more than 100 times.
So, the Yankees of the thirties and the 1950 Boston Red Sox are the only two teams to plate more than 1,000 runs in a season post-1900. The 1950 Sox stand alone, in my view, for one major factor: it was easier to hit in the 1930s than in 1950. The reason was day games. The first night major league game was played on May 24, 1935. The American League did not go under the lights until May 16, 1939. All of the Yankee games in 1930, 1931, and 1936 were played in sunshine. By contrast, the 1950 Red Sox played 40 games at night. Ask anyone. It is harder to see at night than in the daytime, making the Sox accomplishment in 1950 all the more remarkable.
The question left unanswered is: What if Williams and Goodman been healthy for the entire season? Would the Sox would have scored an additional 41 runs to surpass the 1931 Yankees as the all-time post-1900 run-scoring team?
Vince Jankoski
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