1949 Pittsburgh Pirates Replay

October 2. Gm#’s 153, 154 Forbes Field Pittsburgh 5, 6 Cincinnati 4, 5

BUCS WIN TWICE; KINER FINISHES WITH 57 HR’S; CASTIGLIANTO HITS CYCLE

What a wild way to finish the season. The Pirates, as a team, weren’t going anywhere. They finished in sixth place and have been there for quite a while.

That being the case, they did have a player who had a season for the ages, along with a double header sweep of Cincinnati to end the season.

Ralph Kiner homered in each game, getting #56 in game one, off of Ernie Errautt, in the seventh inning. Then in the second game, Kiner took Ken Raffensberger deep in inning #1.

Kiner was the unquestioned MVP of the Pirates, finishing with a .322 batting average, 185 hits, 120 runs scored, 6 triples, 57 homeruns and 147 runs batted in.

He set 3 Stratball records, most homers in a season, as well as most runs and most rbi’s. He was one away from tying Mickey Mantle’s season high walks record as well.

Perhaps most impressive, Kiner had more homeruns than strikeouts, 57 to 51.

Another rare feat came in the second game of the twinbill, which was won by Pittsburgh, 6-5. Pete Castigliano became only the fourth player in Stratball history to hit for the cycle in a game.

Pete got a double in the first to start things off. He then tripled in the third and singled in the fifth, all off starter, Raffensberger. He lined out in the fifth, but incredibly, hit his first homer of the year, off reliever, Buddy Lively, in the bottom of the ninth.

That blast tied the game, but it would take Wally Westlake’s(22) homer in the bottom of the eleventh, to win it for Pittsburgh.

The Pirates finished in sixth place, with a record of 69-85 .441. That was well behind National League pennant winners, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Here are the final other National League scores: Boston 2 New York 1; St. Louis 13 Chicago 5; Brooklyn 9 Philadelphia 7.

1949 Final National League Standings

St. Louis/157/104/50/3/.672

Brooklyn/156/96/58/2/.622

Philadelphia/154/78/76/.506

New York/156/75/79/2/.487

Boston/157/74/80/3//481

Pittsburgh/154/69/85/.448

Cincinnati/156/62/92/2/.395

Chicago/154/58/96/.377

If you take Kiner out of the equation, Wally Westlake was Pittsburgh’s best offensive player. He had 22 homeruns and 82 rbi’s. He scored 70 runs and made only 3 errors in the field, far less than Kiner’s 12.

Here are top five Pirate averages(min 200 at bats)

Kiner .322

Stevens .284

Westlake .259

McCullough .254

Restelli .249

TOP FIVE IN HOMERUNS

Kiner 57

Westlake 22

Restelli 17

Bockman 9

Stevens 9

TOP FIVE IN RUNS BATTED IN

Kiner 147

Westlake 82

Stevens 48

Restelli 43

Murtaugh 35

On the pitching side:

TOP FIVE IN WINS

Chambers 13

Chesnes 9

5 tied with 6

LOWEST ERA(min 100 innings)

Chambers 3.26

Dickson 3.91

Gregg 4.20

Bonham 4.34

Lombardi 4.46

MOST STRIKEOUTS

Chambers 105

Lombardi 89

Sewell 83

Dickson 62

Werle 57

Chambers gets the nod as the top pitcher. He was 13-10, with an ERA of 3.26. He struck out 105 and walked 50. He also had some tough luck, giving up a team high, 20 unearned runs.

Rip Sewell had a poor record(6-12) but he struck out 83 to 64 walks. His ERA was 5.38. His bugaboo was the gopher ball, as he allowed 21 homers. Though appearing late in the season, Junior Walsh pitched well. He had a 3-5 record, with a 2.65 earned run average. He fanned 31 and walked 13.