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 1940s
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The 1940s were the beginning of the Dodgers' emergence as a powerhouse and a historical first as Brooklyn broke baseball's color line with the signing of Jackie Robinson.
Under the guidance of Leo Durocher, who became the Dodger manager in 1939, the Dodgers in 1941 won their first National League pennant in 21 years with a 100-54 record and played the first of their classic World Series confrontations against the New York Yankees.
Outfielder Pete Reiser was dynamite in 1941. Reiser led the league in batting, runs scored, total bases, slugging percentage and triples, while teammate Dolph Camilli topped the league in home runs and RBI and was honored as the National League MVP. Whit Wyatt and Kirby Higbe paced the pitching staff with 22 victories apiece.
The Dodgers in 1942 won four more games than the previous year, but finished second to the St. Louis Cardinals. Over the next three years, the Dodgers finished third, seventh and third, respectively. During World War II, many Dodger players were called to military duty.
With the end of the war in 1945, Brooklyn came back in 1946 and put together a big season, going 96-60, and finished tied for first with the St. Louis Cardinals. The two teams played the first-ever playoff series, but it was not a happy one for the Dodgers as the Cardinals won the pennant and went on to win the World Championship.
No playoff series was necessary in 1947 as the Dodgers won the National League pennant by five games over the Cardinals. That was not the only big story in 1947 as Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues. In 1945, Robinson had signed a contract with Dodger President and General Manager Branch Rickey. In 1946, the former UCLA star endured his first year of professional baseball playing for the club's top minor league affiliate, the Montreal Royals.
In 1947, Robinson was given an opportunity with Brooklyn. Rickey's thorough research to find an exceptional African-American player was evident in his quote: "I'm looking for a ballplayer with enough guts not to fight back." He found his man in Robinson, who faced all forms of abuse and pressure. The more Robinson was taunted and threatened, the more he let his performance on the field speak for himself. Overcoming the critics and the prejudice, Robinson became one of the great stars of the game, later becoming the first African-American elected to the Hall of Fame. In his first season, Robinson hit .297, scored 125 runs and stole 29 bases en route to being the first-ever Major League Rookie of the Year.
In the 1947 World Series, the Dodgers fell to the Yankees in seven games, but there were two memorable moments for the Dodgers. Cookie Lavagetto broke up Bill Bevens' no-hitter in the ninth inning of Game 4 with a game-winning two-run double to give the Dodgers a 3-2 victory; and Al Gionfriddo's great catch of a Joe DiMaggio ball which preserved an 8-6 victory in Game 6.
Leo Durocher returned as manager of the Dodgers in 1948 after being suspended for the 1947 season. Durocher, though, lasted only half the season and was replaced by Burt Shotton, who guided the Dodgers in 1949 to their third pennant of the decade. Robinson was named the N.L. Most Valuable Player and pitcher Don Newcombe won Rookie of the Year honors. The Yankees, though, again defeated the Dodgers in the 1949 World Series.
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| 1940 |
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April 30, 1940: James "Tex" Carleton's no-hitter in Cincinnati gives the Dodgers a 3-0 win in his first game as a Dodger and the team's ninth straight victory to open the season.
June 12, 1940: Larry MacPhail picks up star Joe Medwick in a trade with St. Louis, but six days later, Cardinals hurler Bob Bowman beans Medwick, who is never the same hitter.
July 3, 1940: Pee Wee Reese breaks a 3-3 tie at the Polo Grounds with a grand slam to beat the Giants, 7-3.
July 5, 1940: The Dodgers and Braves tie a record with a 20-inning marathon. It takes 5 hours and 19 minutes for the Dodgers to prevail, 6-2.
July 14, 1940: "Fat" Freddie Fitzsimmons notches his 200th victory.
July 23, 1940: Pete Reiser makes his Major League debut.
Aug. 7, 1940: The Giants' Mel Ott Night at the Polo Grounds is spoiled as the Dodgers make a National League-record crowd for a night game witness an 8-4 victory for Brooklyn. |
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| 1941 |
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Sept. 1, 1941: Dolph Camilli slugs home run No. 200 to force extra innings with the Braves before his fifth hit of the game wins it in the 15th inning. Camilli will be the 1941 National League Most Valuable Player.
Sept. 15, 1941: Johnny Allen tosses 15 innings for Brooklyn, but it's Hugh Casey who gets the win as the Dodgers put five on the board after 16 scoreless innings for a 5-1 win over the Reds.
Sept. 28, 1941: The Dodgers clinch the NL pennant with a 5-1 win over the Phillies.
Sept. 29, 1941: Brooklyn is flooded by an estimated one million cheering fans, celebrating the Dodgers' pennant.
Oct. 2, 1941: The Dodgers beat the Yankees, 3-2, in Game 2 behind a complete-game effort by Whit Wyatt to even the World Series.
Oct. 6, 1941: The Yankees win Game 5 of the World Series to capture the title. |
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| 1942 |
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May 31, 1942: Dixie Walker belts an inside-the-park grand slam.
July 19, 1942: Pete Reiser suffers a concussion after crashing into the outfield wall at Sportsman's Park, one of 11 times the outfielder had to be carried off the field in his career.
Sept. 23, 1942: Larry French tosses a one-hitter to beat the Phillies. It's French's 197th win and his last because he leaves soon after for a career in the U.S. Navy. Dodgers president Larry MacPhail announces that he will return to the U.S. Army at the end of the season.
Sept. 27, 1942: A win at Shibe Park gives the Dodgers 104 for the season, but not enough to win the pennant.
Oct. 3, 1942: Gil Hodges makes his Major League debut.
Nov. 1, 1942: Branch Rickey becomes general manager of the Dodgers. |
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| 1944 |
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May 23, 1944: The Dodgers beat the Giants, 3-2, in the first night game at Ebbets Field since 1941. The lights had been out for ballgames in New York during the war.
May 31, 1944: 18-year-old Cal McLish beats the Pirates, 8-4, for his first Major League win.
June 12, 1944: 18-year-old Ralph Branca makes his Major League debut.
Aug. 3, 1944: At 16 years and eight months, Tommy Brown becomes the youngest player to appear in a big-league game.
Sept. 2, 1944: Dixie Walker hits for the cycle.
Nov. 1, 1944: Branch Rickey, Brooklyn attorney Walter O'Malley and Andrew Schmitz, purchase 25 percent of the Dodgers.
Dec. 21, 1944: The National League announces that Dixie Walker's .357 batting average was the tops in 1944. |
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| 1945 |
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May 18, 1945: Luis Olmo is the last player to hit a bases-loaded triple and a bases-loaded homer in the same game. Olmo also doubled in the 15-12 win over Chicago.
July 8, 1945: With rosters thin during the war, Babe Herman returns to the Dodgers after nearly eight years out of the game.
Aug. 13, 1945: After obtaining another 50 percent of the Dodgers, president Branch Rickey, Walter O'Malley and John Lawrence Smith each control 25 percent of the Dodgers. Mrs. Dearie Mulvey and her husband, James, own the remaining 25 percent.
Aug. 20, 1945: With a year of service under his belt, Tommy Brown is now 17 years old, and on this day, he becomes the youngest player to hit a home run in the Majors. Eight days later, Brown will be the youngest to steal home.
Sept. 14, 1945: The Dodgers survive a train wreck on their way from St. Louis to Chicago.
Sept. 30, 1945: In the last game of the season, Eddie Stanky sets a record with his 148th walk. Dixie Walker finishes the season leading the NL with 124 RBIs.
Oct. 30, 1945: Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson. |
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| 1946 |
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April 18, 1946: Jackie Roosevelt Robinson steps into the batter's box at Roosevelt Stadium as a member of the Montreal Royals, the first time an African-American ballplayer appeared in a Major League organization's game in the 20th Century.
April 23, 1946: Edward Head tosses a no-hitter against Boston for a 5-0 victory at Ebbets Field, his first start since coming back from military service.
July 5, 1946: Leo Durocher coins the phrase, "Nice guys finish last."
Sept. 11, 1946: A 19-inning marathon with the Reds at Ebbets Field results in the longest scoreless tie game.
Sept. 29, 1946: The season ends with the Dodgers and Cardinals tied for the lead in the National League, forcing the first best-of-three league playoff series. Dodgers lose the first two games, both at Ebbets Field, and the Cards advance to the World Series. |
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| 1947 |
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April 10, 1947: The Dodgers announce that Jackie Robinson's contract has been purchased from the Montreal Royals.
April 15, 1947: Segregation in Major League Baseball comes to an end as Jackie Robinson makes his debut in a 5-3 win against Johnny Sain and the Braves.
April 17, 1947: Jackie Robinson gets his first hit in the Majors, a bunt single.
April 18, 1947: Jackie Robinson powers the Dodgers to a win over the Giants with his first Major League home run. The 10-4 win also marks the managerial debut of Burt Shotton.
May 18, 1947: The largest crowd in Wrigley Field history turns out to see Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers beat the Cubs, 4-2, after 19 scoreless innings.
June 4, 1947: A priest administers last rights to Dodgers outfielder Pete Reiser after he crashes into the wall, but holds on to the ball in a 9-4 victory over the Pirates. Reiser recovered after a stint in the hospital.
June 24, 1947: Jackie Robinson steals home for the first time in a 4-2 win over Pittsburgh. He would end his career with 19 stolen home plates.
Aug. 26, 1947: Dan Bankhead, the first black pitcher in the Major Leagues makes his debut and homers in his first at-bat.
Sept. 11, 1947: Ralph Branca beats the Cardinals, 4-3, to become the youngest Dodger to rack up 20 victories at age 21.
Sept. 17, 1947: Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of the Year.
Sept. 22, 1947: A Cardinals loss clinches the pennant for the idle Dodgers.
Oct. 3, 1947: With two down in the bottom of the ninth, Cookie Lavagetto comes up with a two-run pinch-hit double to break up a no-hitter and give the Dodgers a Game 4 World Series win at Ebbets Field.
Oct. 5, 1947: Al Gionfriddo's robs Joe DiMaggio of a home run and helps preserve Brooklyn's 8-6 Game 6 win in front of a World Series-record crowd of 74,065 at Yankee Stadium.
Oct. 6, 1947: The New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-2, to win the World Series in seven games.
Dec. 11, 1947: An agreement between the Dodgers and Vero Beach's Bud Holman is announced, setting the stage for the Dodgers' Spring Training complex at Dodgertown. |
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| 1948 |
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April 21, 1948: Leo Durocher returns from a one-year suspension to manage the Dodgers.
May 2, 1948: Duke Snider hits his first two big-league homers and is a double short of a cycle.
July 1, 1948: Roy Campanella makes his Major League debut, doubling in his first at-bat and adding two singles.
July 4, 1948: Roy Campanella drills his first two home runs.
July 15, 1948: Ray Blades manages for one game after Leo Durocher and the Dodgers part ways. Burt Shotton returns to the helm before the next game.
Aug. 4, 1948: Ernie Harwell joins Red Barber and Connie Desmond in the broadcast booth.
Aug. 5, 1948: Gene Hermanski hits three consecutive homers to help beat the Cubs, 6-4, in Carl Erskine's first start.
Aug. 29, 1948: Jackie Robinson hits for the cycle in the opener of a twin bill with the Cardinals.
Sept. 9, 1948: Rex Barney tosses a no-hitter against the Giants for a 2-0 win on a rainy day at the Polo Grounds. |
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| 1949 |
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May 22, 1949: Don Newcombe shuts out the Reds, 3-0, in his Major League debut.
July 12, 1949: Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and Don Newcombe appear in the first integrated All-Star Game. Larry Doby appears on the victorious American League roster.
Oct. 2, 1949: The Dodgers come up with a pair of runs in the 10th inning to beat the Phillies and win the National League pennant.
Oct. 6, 1949: Preacher Roe comes up big for the Dodgers in a 1-0 win over the Yankees to even the World Series in Game 2. But the Yankees would go on to win the Series in five.
Nov. 18, 1949: Jackie Robinson is named National League Most Valuable Player after leading the league with a .342 average and 37 stolen bases. |
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