The New York Yankees

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

 season was the team's 46th season in New York and its 48th overall. The team finished with a record of 94-60, finishing 2.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians

1948 Cleveland Indians season

The Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team won a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox and would then go onto win their second World Series in franchise history, its first in 28 years.-Off-season:...

 and 1.5 games behind the second-place Boston Red Sox

1948 Boston Red Sox season

The Boston Red Sox season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Red Sox finishing second in the American League with a record of 96 wins and 59 losses.- Offseason :...

. New York was managed by Bucky Harris

Bucky Harris

Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was a Major League Baseball player, manager and executive. In 1975, the Veterans Committee elected Harris, as a manager, to the Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...

. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

The fractional games-behind came about due to the frenzied pennant race, which saw the Yankees, Red Sox and Indians all battling it out to the end. The Yankees fell just a little short, and the Red Sox and Indians finished in a tie for first at 96-58. They held a one-game playoff, which counted as part of the regular season, so the Indians' victory raised their record to 97-58, and dropped the Red Sox to 96-59.

The Yankees did not renew Bucky Harris' contract after the season, opting instead to hire Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel

Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel , nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in ....

 starting in 1949. This move raised some eyebrows, but Stengel had just led the Oakland Oaks

Oakland Oaks (PCL)

The Oakland Oaks were a minor league baseball team in Oakland, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1955, after which the club transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia...

 to the Pacific Coast League

Pacific Coast League

The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...

 pennant in 1948, demonstrating that with good talent, he had a good chance to succeed. The Yankees were about to begin the most dominating stretch of their long dynasty.

Babe Ruth's Death

On July 26, 1948, Babe Ruth attended the premiere of the film The Babe Ruth Story

The Babe Ruth Story

The Babe Ruth Story is a 1948 baseball film biography of Babe Ruth, the famed New York Yankees slugger. It stars William Bendix as the ballplayer and Claire Trevor as his wife. It was rush released while Ruth himself was still alive. It makes no mention whatsoever of Ruth's first wife,...

, a biopic about his life. William Bendix

William Bendix

William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley...

 portrayed Ruth. Shortly thereafter, Ruth returned to the hospital for the final time. He was barely able to speak. Ruth's condition gradually became worse, and in his last days, scores of reporters and photographers hovered around the hospital. Only a few visitors were allowed to see him, one of whom was National League

National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 president and future Commissioner of Baseball

Commissioner of Baseball

The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...

, Ford Frick

Ford Frick

Ford Christopher Frick was an American sportswriter and executive who served as president of the National League from to and as the third Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...

. “Ruth was so thin it was unbelievable. He had been such a big man and his arms were just skinny little bones, and his face was so haggard,” Frick said years later.

On August 16, the day after Frick's visit, Babe Ruth died at age 53. His body lay in repose

Lying in repose

Lying in repose is a term used to describe when a deceased person, often of some stature, is available for public viewing. "Lying in repose" is different from the formal honor of "lying in state", which is generally held at the principal government building of the country and often accompanied by...

 in Yankee Stadium. His funeral was two days later at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York

The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...

. Ruth was then buried in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York

Hawthorne, New York

Hawthorne is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York. The population was 4,586 at the 2010 census.-History:...

.

At his death, the New York Times called Babe Ruth, "a figure unprecedented in American life. A born showman off the field and a marvelous performer on it, he had an amazing flair for doing the spectacular at the most dramatic moment."

Offseason

• February 24, 1948: Bill Wight
  Bill Wight
  William Robert Wight was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from through for the New York Yankees , Chicago White Sox , Boston Red Sox , Detroit Tigers , Cleveland Indians , Baltimore Orioles , Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals . Listed at 6' 1", 180 lb...
  
  , Fred Bradley
  Fred Bradley
  Fred Langdon Bradley is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played in and for the Chicago White Sox. Listed at 6' 1", 180 lb., he batted and threw right handed....
  
  , and Aaron Robinson
  Aaron Robinson
  Aaron Andrew Robinson , was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to for the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox...
  
   were traded by the Yankees to the Chicago White Sox
  Chicago White Sox
  The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
  
   for Eddie Lopat
  Eddie Lopat
  Edmund Walter ""The Junkman"" Lopat was a Major League Baseball pitcher.Lopat was born in New York, New York. His Major League debut was on April 30, 1944, playing for the Chicago White Sox....
  
  .
• Prior to 1948 season: Al Cicotte
  Al Cicotte
  Alva Warren Cicotte , , nicknamed "Bozo," was a Major League Baseball player....
  
   and Gus Triandos
  Gus Triandos
  Gus Triandos is a Greek-American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball mostly as a catcher but also played as a first baseman for the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers of the American League and the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros...
  
   were signed as an amateur free agents by the Yankees.

Roster

1948 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders Other batters		Manager Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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		82	228	61	.268	0	19
1B		94	302	75	.248	11	41
2B		141	515	130	.252	3	32
3B		127	446	131	.294	12	64
SS		128	464	117	.252	6	50
OF		153	594	190	.320	39	155
OF		88	309	138	.317	13	55
OF		146	598	181	.308	25	100

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
	125	469	143	.305	14	98
	113	363	109	.300	3	48
	83	247	66	.267	6	44
	44	118	24	.203	3	11
	53	88	22	.250	1	12
	19	50	9	.180	1	9
	22	38	8	.211	0	4
	14	29	8	.276	0	3
	4	14	8	.571	0	1
	17	14	4	.286	0	0
	5	5	1	.200	0	2
	6	5	1	.200	0	0
	1	2	0	.000	0	0
	1	0	0	----	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
	39	236.1	16	7	3.77	101
	33	226.2	17	11	3.65	83
	36	222.2	19	8	3.84	124
	28	155.2	9	10	3.41	71
	16	78	5	3	4.50	30

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
	31	133.2	8	5	3.30	101
	20	76.2	5	3	3.76	25
	22	62.1	5	2	4.04	25

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	55	107.2	7	8	16	4.26	77
	19	38	2	3	1	3.79	11
	15	25	1	0	0	2.88	12
	1	2	0	0	0	4.50	2
	1	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Grand Forks, Twin Falls, Independence, Blackstone