1939 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1939 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1887);
Location
	Forbes Field (since 1909); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1] (since 1907);
Other information
Owner(s)	Bill Benswanger
Manager(s)	Pie Traynor
Local radio	KDKA; Rosey Rowswell, Jack Craddock
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The 1939 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 58th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 53rd in the National League. The Pirates finished sixth in the league standings with a record of 68–85.

Offseason

December 16, 1938: Johnny Dickshot, Al Todd and cash were traded by the Pirates to the Boston Bees for Ray Mueller.[2]

Regular season

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	97	57	0.630	—	55–25	42–32
St. Louis Cardinals	92	61	0.601	4½	51–27	41–34
Brooklyn Dodgers	84	69	0.549	12½	51–27	33–42
Chicago Cubs	84	70	0.545	13	44–34	40–36
New York Giants	77	74	0.510	18½	41–33	36–41
Pittsburgh Pirates	68	85	0.444	28½	35–42	33–43
Boston Bees	63	88	0.417	32½	37–35	26–53
Philadelphia Phillies	45	106	0.298	50½	29–44	16–62

Record vs. opponents

1939 National League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–12–1	6–16	6–16	10–11	13–8	9–12	9–13
Brooklyn	12–10–1	—	11–11–2	10–12	12–10	17–4–1	13–9	9–13
Chicago	16–6	11–11–2	—	10–12	11–11	12–10	14–8	10–12
Cincinnati	16–6	12–10	12–10	—	11–11	19–3	16–6	11–11–2
New York	11–10	10–12	11–11	11–11	—	14–7	11–11	9–12
Philadelphia	8–13	4–17–1	10–12	3–19	7–14	—	8–14	5–17
Pittsburgh	12–9	9–13	8–14	6–16	11–11	14–8	—	8–14
St. Louis	13–9	13–9	12–10	11–11–2	12–9	17–5	14–8	—

Game log

1939 Game Log: 68–85 (Home: 35–42; Away: 33–43)

April: 1–8 (Home: 0–2; Away: 1–6)

May: 18–10 (Home: 8–6; Away: 10–4)

June: 8–13 (Home: 4–4; Away: 4–9)

July: 19–11 (Home: 8–6; Away: 11–5)

August: 8–22 (Home: 4–10; Away: 4–12)

September: 13–20 (Home: 10–13; Away: 3–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
119	September 2	@ Cardinals	11–3	Brown (7–11)	Bowman	—	2,636	55–64
120	September 3	@ Cardinals	6–14	Davis	Bowman (10–9)	Shoun	—	55–65
121	September 3	@ Cardinals	0–3	Weiland	Blanton (2–3)	—	11,066	55–66
122	September 4	@ Cubs	2–1	Butcher (4–2)	Dean	—	—	56–66
123	September 4	@ Cubs	6–3	Klinger (12–15)	Page	—	32,974	57–66
124	September 6	Reds	5–4 (11)	Swift (5–4)	Johnson	—	—	58–66
125	September 6	Reds	3–4 (10)	Derringer	Bowman (10–10)	—	7,548	58–67
126	September 7	Reds	8–7 (11)	Sewell (9–8)	Johnson	—	2,484	59–67
127	September 8	Reds	2–5	Walters	Butcher (4–3)	—	4,479	59–68
128	September 9	Cardinals	2–12	Weiland	Brown (7–12)	—	3,817	59–69
129	September 10	Cardinals	3–9	Davis	Klinger (12–16)	—	—	59–70
130	September 10	Cardinals	4–11	Bowman	Bowman (10–11)	—	12,588	59–71
131	September 11	Cardinals	8–6	Tobin (9–9)	Andrews	—	1,134	60–71
132	September 13	Giants	0–2	Gumbert	Swift (5–5)	—	—	60–72
133	September 13	Giants	7–4	Klinger (13–16)	Melton	Sewell (2)	3,426	61–72
134	September 14	Dodgers	4–3	Brown (8–12)	Tamulis	—	—	62–72
135	September 14	Dodgers	4–8	Crouch	Swigart (0–1)	—	3,637	62–73
136	September 15	Dodgers	2–4 (10)	Hutchinson	Butcher (4–4)	—	1,548	62–74
137	September 16	Dodgers	2–3	Fitzsimmons	Bowman (10–12)	Tamulis	2,457	62–75
138	September 17	Phillies	3–7	Johnson	Gee (0–1)	—	—	62–76
139	September 17	Phillies	10–1	Klinger (14–16)	Pearson	—	8,008	63–76
140	September 18	Phillies	7–4	Brown (9–12)	Bruner	—	688	64–76
141	September 19	Bees	5–3	Sewell (10–8)	Turner	—	702	65–76
142	September 21	Bees	6–4	Gee (1–1)	Veigel	—	1,980	66–76
143	September 21	Bees	7–0	Swigart (1–1)	Posedel	—	1,980	67–76
144	September 22	@ Reds	0–6	Thompson	Brown (9–13)	—	—	67–77
145	September 22	@ Reds	9–10	Shoffner	Klinger (14–17)	—	5,841	67–78
146	September 23	@ Reds	5–6	Walters	Swift (5–6)	—	—	67–79
147	September 23	@ Reds	1–6	Grissom	Bowman (10–13)	—	20,951	67–80
148	September 24	@ Reds	2–11	Derringer	Gee (1–2)	—	19,929	67–81
149	September 27	Cubs	8–9 (10)	French	Sewell (10–9)	—	—	67–82
150	September 27	Cubs	5–9 (10)	Russell	Swift (5–7)	Whitehill	1,483	67–83
151	September 29	Reds	1–2	Grissom	Bowman (10–14)	—	1,477	67–84

October: 1–1 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–0)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Pirates team member

Roster

1939 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

51 Russ Bauers

46 Cy Blanton

48 Joe Bowman

47 Mace Brown

40 Max Butcher

40 Bill Clemensen

24 Johnny Gee

53 Ken Heintzelman

41 Bob Klinger

-- Pep Rambert

44 Rip Sewell

45 Bill Swift

-- Oad Swigart

50 Jim Tobin

Catchers

32 Ray Berres

30 Ray Mueller

-- Joe Schultz

31 George Susce

Infielders

25 Bill Brubaker

16 Elbie Fletcher

-- Frankie Gustine

20 Lee Handley

22 Red Juelich

24 Gus Suhr

21 Arky Vaughan

26 Pep Young

Outfielders

17 Fern Bell

-- Bob Elliott

16 Woody Jensen

14 Chuck Klein

14 Heinie Manush

12 Johnny Rizzo

-- Maurice Van Robays

10 Lloyd Waner

11 Paul Waner

Other batters

-- Eddie Yount

Manager

35 Pie Traynor

Coaches

36 Jewel Ens

34 Johnny Gooch

33 Honus Wagner

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	Ray Berres	81	231	53	.229	0	16
1B	Elbie Fletcher	102	370	112	.303	12	71
2B	Pep Young	84	293	81	.276	3	29
SS	Arky Vaughn	152	595	182	.306	6	62
3B	Lee Handley	101	376	107	.285	1	42
OF	Johnny Rizzo	94	330	86	.261	6	55
OF	Lloyd Waner	112	379	108	.285	0	24
OF	Paul Waner	125	461	151	.328	3	45

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
Bill Brubaker	100	345	80	.232	7	43
Chuck Klein	85	270	81	.300	11	47
Fern Bell	83	262	75	.286	2	34
Gus Suhr	63	204	59	.289	1	31
Ray Mueller	86	180	42	.233	2	18
Bob Elliott	32	129	43	.333	3	19
Maurice Van Robays	27	105	33	.314	2	16
George Susce	31	75	17	.227	1	4
Frankie Gustine	22	70	13	.186	0	3
Red Juelich	17	46	11	.239	0	4
Joe Schultz Jr.	4	14	4	.286	0	2
Heinie Manush	10	12	0	.000	0	1
Woody Jensen	12	12	2	.167	0	1
Eddie Yount	2	2	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
Bob Klinger	37	225	14	17	4.36	64
Joe Bowman	37	184.2	10	14	4.48	58
Jim Tobin	25	145.1	9	9	4.52	43
Max Butcher	14	86.2	4	4	3.43	21
Oad Swigart	3	24.1	1	1	4.44	8
Johnny Gee	3	19.2	1	2	4.12	16

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
Mace Brown	47	200.1	9	13	3.37	71
Rip Sewell	52	176.1	10	9	4.08	69
Bill Swift	36	129.2	5	7	3.89	56
Russ Bauers	15	53.2	2	4	3.35	12
Cy Blanton	10	42	2	3	4.29	11

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	ERA	SO
Ken Heintzelman	17	1	1	5.05	18
Bill Clemensen	12	0	1	7.33	13
Pep Rambert	2	0	0	8.82	4

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A1	Knoxville Smokies	Southern Association	Neil Caldwell
B	Gadsden Pilots	Southeastern League	Yam Yaryan
C	Hutchinson Pirates	Western Association	Jimmy Jordan
D	Carthage Pirates	Arkansas–Missouri League	Buzz Arlitt
D	Valdosta Trojans	Georgia–Florida League	Bill Morrell
D	McKeesport Little Pirates	Pennsylvania State Association	Leo Mackey and Joe Agee
D	Jamestown Jaguars	PONY League	Mickey LaLange

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Carthage

Notes

From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
Johnny Dickshot page at Baseball Reference

References

1939 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
1939 Pittsburgh Pirates Page at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

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[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Johnny Dickshot page at Baseball Reference

1939 MLB season by team
American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1939 All-Star Game 1939 World Series