More 1942 Baseball Season Highlights
See below for more highlights of the 1942 baseball season, including pitcher Jim Tobin hitting three home runs in one game and Larry French throwing a no-hitter in his last game before heading to war:
- Cleveland's Clint Brown sets a record when he pitches 220 straight games in relief roles.
- Run production in both leagues is the lowest since 1919, the last year of the dead-ball era.
- The Cardinals' 2.55 ERA is the best by any major league team from 1920 through 1966.
- Cardinal Howie Krist has a 10-0 record, giving him the National League mark for most wins in a season without a loss.
- In his last major league start before going into the Navy, Brooklyn's Larry French pitches a one-hitter.
- French leads the National League with .789 win pct. -- the highest in history by a pitcher in his final major league season.
- French leaves the majors with 197 wins -- the most at this juncture by any pitcher who never won 20 games in a season.
- Hans Lobert of the Phils is the first rookie manager in major league history who's past the age of 60.
- Washington's George Case tops the American League in steals with 44 in 50 attempts.
- Johnny Mize leads the National League in RBI (110).
- Red Sox rookie Johnny Pesky hits .331 and tops majors with 205 hits.
- White Sox Ted Lyons goes 14-6 as he makes just 20 mound appearances, all of them CGs.
- The American League wins the All-Star Game 3-1 at the Polo Grounds on July 6.
- Detroit's Al Benton pitches a full five innings to get the save.
- The next night, the American League wins 5-0 over the Service All-Stars, who are made up mostly of major leaguers in the armed forces.
- Paul Waner collects his 3,000th hit. He was the last player to do this until 1957.
- The average player's salary is down to $6,400.
- The Phils score just 394 runs in 151 games.
- Phillie outfielder Danny Litwhiler is the first major league regular to play a whole season without an error.
- On August 14, the Yankees make a record seven DPs versus the A's.
- On May 13, Brave Jim Tobin becomes the only pitcher in this century to hit three homers in a game.
- Gordon and Rizzuto set an American League keystone record (since broken) when they total a combined 234 DPs.
- Pittsburgh's Elbie Fletcher leads the National League in OBP (.417) for the third consecutive year.
- Slaughter leads the National League in hits (188), triples (17), total bases (292), and runs produced (185).
- Giant reliever Ace Adams appears in 61 games, which is a new NL mound record.
- A's and Phils both finish last for the third year in a row.
- In July, with the Dodgers 13-1/2 games ahead of the Cards, Pete Reiser crashes into a fence and fractures his skull.
- Cardinals catch up to the Dodgers while Reiser's out with his injury.
