1941 New York Yankees season

The 1941 New York Yankees season was the 39th season for the team in New York, and its 41st season overall. The team finished with a record of 101–53, winning their 12th pennant, finishing 17 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Joe McCarthy. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in 5 games.

1941 New York Yankees
1941 World Series Champions 1941 American League Champions
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Yankee Stadium (since 1923) New York City, New York (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s)	Estate of Jacob Ruppert
General manager(s)	Ed Barrow
Manager(s)	Joe McCarthy
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Books and songs have been written about the 1941 season, the last before the United States became drawn into World War II. Yankees' center fielder Joe DiMaggio captured the nation's fancy with his lengthy hitting streak that extended through 56 games before finally being stopped. A big-band style song called Joltin' Joe DiMaggio was recorded by the Les Brown orchestra and became a hit the following year.

Regular season

• May 15, 1941: In a game against the Chicago White Sox, Joe DiMaggio began his major league record 56-game hitting streak with a hit off Sox pitcher Eddie Smith.[1]

During the hitting streak, DiMaggio had a batting average of .408, hit 15 home runs, and accumulated 55 runs batted in. After the streak ended, DiMaggio began a 16-game hitting streak. DiMaggio would hit safely in 72 of 73 games, another record.[1]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
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:
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	—

Roster

1941 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers 20 Tiny Bonham 30 Norm Branch 24 Marv Breuer 21 Spud Chandler 28 Atley Donald 11 Lefty Gomez 19 Johnny Murphy 18 Steve Peek 15 Red Ruffing 22 Marius Russo 17 Charley Stanceu 29 George Washburn		Catchers  8 Bill Dickey 12 Buddy Rosar 26 Ken Silvestri Infielders  1 Frankie Crosetti  6 Joe Gordon 14 Jerry Priddy 10 Phil Rizzuto  2 Red Rolfe 34 Johnny Sturm		Outfielders 27 Frenchy Bordagaray  5 Joe DiMaggio  7 Tommy Henrich  9 Charlie Keller  3 George Selkirk Other batters 16 Johnny Lindell		Manager -- Joe McCarthy Coaches 32 Earle Combs 31 Art Fletcher 33 Johnny Schulte

Player stats

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
C	Bill Dickey	109	348	99	.284	7	71
1B	Johnny Sturm	124	524	125	.239	3	36
2B	Joe Gordon	156	588	162	.276	24	87
3B	Red Rolfe	136	561	148	.264	8	42
SS	Phil Rizzuto	133	515	158	.307	3	46
OF	Joe DiMaggio	139	541	193	.357	30	125
OF	Tommy Henrich	144	538	149	.277	31	85
OF	Charlie Keller	140	507	151	.298	33	122

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
Buddy Rosar	67	209	60	.287	1	36
Jerry Priddy	56	174	37	.213	1	26
George Selkirk	70	164	36	.220	6	25
Frankie Crosetti	50	148	33	.223	1	22
Frenchy Bordagaray	36	73	19	.260	0	4
Ken Silvestri	17	40	10	.250	1	4
Johnny Lindell	1	1	0	.000	0	0

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
Marius Russo	28	209.2	14	10	3.09	105
Lefty Gomez	23	156.1	15	5	3.74	76
Red Ruffing	23	185.2	15	6	3.54	60
Spud Chandler	28	163.2	10	4	3.19	60
Atley Donald	22	159	9	5	3.57	71
George Washburn	1	2	0	1	13.50	1

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
Marv Breuer	26	141	9	7	4.09	77
Tiny Bonham	23	126.2	10	6	2.98	43
Steve Peek	17	80	4	2	5.06	18

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
Norm Branch	27	5	1	2	2.87	28
Johnny Murphy	35	8	3	15	1.98	29
Charley Stanceu	22	3	3	0	5.63	21

1941 World Series

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Brooklyn Dodgers (1)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Dodgers – 2, Yankees – 3	October 1	Yankee Stadium	68,540
2	Dodgers – 3, Yankees – 2	October 2	Yankee Stadium	66,248
3	Yankees – 2, Dodgers – 1	October 4	Ebbets Field	33,100
4	Yankees – 7, Dodgers – 4	October 5	Ebbets Field	33,813
5	Yankees – 3, Dodgers – 1	October 6	Ebbets Field	34,072

Awards and honors

• Joe DiMaggio, AL MVP
• Joe DiMaggio, Associated Press Athlete of the Year[2]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Kansas City Blues	American Association	Billy Meyer
AA	Newark Bears	International League	Johnny Neun
A	Binghamton Triplets	Eastern League	Phil Page
B	Norfolk Tars	Piedmont League	Eddie Sawyer
B	Augusta Tigers	Sally League	Lefty Jenkins and Alton Biggs
C	Amsterdam Rugmakers	Canadian–American League	Paul O'Malley
C	Akron Yankees	Middle Atlantic League	Buzz Boyle
C	Idaho Falls Russets	Pioneer League	Bob Coltrin and Doc Marshall
C	Joplin Miners	Western Association	Doc Bennett
D	Easton Yankees	Eastern Shore League	Dallas Warren
D	Butler Yankees	Pennsylvania State Association	Tom Kain
D	Norfolk Yankees	Western League	Ray Powell

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Joplin, Easton, Butler[3]

Notes

1. Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.5, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
2. Associated Press Athlete of the Year (male)
3. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

• 1941 New York Yankees
• 1941 World Series
• 1941 New York Yankees team page at www.baseball-almanac.com