1949 Year of ....The Yankees

Mix’s father likes baseball as we’ve seen in the Mix Tapes trilogy. A team that he really liked was the 1949 Yankees. 

This version of the team had a 97-57 record, they won the World Series, and had a lot of stars. I'll be writing about the many stars during the rest of the summer. 

The team was managed by Casey Stengel, who had a successful career. The team consisted of 34 year old outfielder, Joe DiMaggio; 36 year old first baseman, Tommy Henrich; 31 year old pitcher Joe Page; 31 year old pitcher, Eddie Lopat; 31 year old shortstop Phil Rizzuto; and 24 year old catcher Yogi Berra. 

Did you notice the age of the stars? Many of these athletes took time away from baseball to join the military during World War II. 

Of all these stars, Vic Raschi was the MVP that year. Raschi was born March 1919. He won 21 games as pitcher. In his career he had, 132 wins and 66 loses. He died October 1988.

The 1949 team was full of talented players, they had this goodwill as veterans. It sounds like a storybook team, but it wasn't. 

1949 was supposed to be Boston Red Sox’s year. They lead the division for most of the year. They hadn't been near the World Series in decades. There was the "Curse of the Bambino." This was a belief that Boston was cursed because they traded away a young pitcher named Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth would go on to win batting titles, hold the home run record for decades. Boston looked to break through in 1949. 

 The Yankees played steady. They won games and kept pace with The Red Sox. They tied the Red Sox at the end of the season. As circumstances happened the last game of the season was the Yankees vs. The Red Sox. 

A whole season. A whole series. A whole curse. It was all depending on one game in September. Yankees won. This win clinched the division for the Yankees. 

The Yankees would go onto a subway series. Subway series is what they called the World Series that year because the Dodgers were from Brooklyn, a subway ride away from Yankee Stadium. 

The Yankees would win the Series 4 games to 1. 

I'll be writing about some of the stars of this team during the rest of the summer. You can read about Mix and his father at "Mix Tapes and Stuff" Mix Tapes and Stolen Tests and Mix Tapes and Empty Buildings.