During the season, Mel Parnell was the last pitcher to win at least 25 games in one season for the Red Sox in the 20th century. George Kell beat Ted Williams for the American League batting title by 0.0002 percentage points. Ted Williams set a major league record for the most consecutive games reaching base safely with 84. The streak began on July 1, and ended on September 28. The streak was ended by Washington Senators pitcher Ray Scarborough. Williams was in the on-deck circle when Johnny Pesky made the final out, depriving him of one more chance to extend the streak.
came back from heel surgery to demolish the Red Sox in a three-game series at Fenway Park. He hit four home runs, three of them game winners. It sent the Sox reeling, and they fell 12.5 games back by July 4. But Boston rallied late in the season and went into Yankee Stadium for the final two games of the schedule with a one-game lead. The Red Sox needed just one win in two games and were to pitch Mel Parnell in the first game. After trailing 4–0, the Yankees came back to beat Parnell 5–4, as Johnny Lindell hit an eighth-inning, game-winning, home run and Joe Page had a great relief appearance for New York. And so it came down to the last game of the season. It was Ellis Kinder facing Vic Raschi. The Yankees led 1–0 after seven innings, having scored in the first. In the eighth inning, manager Joe McCarthy lifted Kinder for a pinch hitter who did not come through. Then he brought in Mel Parnell in relief, and Parnell yielded a homer to Tommy Henrich and a single to Yogi Berra. Parnell was replaced by Tex Hughson, who had been on the disabled list and said his arm still hurt. But he came on and, with the bases loaded, Jerry Coleman hit a soft liner that Al Zarilla in right field tried to make a shoestring catch, but he missed and it went for a triple and three runs. In the ninth inning the Red Sox rallied for three runs but still fell short. "Why", said critics, "with a power-laden lineup, pinch hit for Kinder? See what happened in the ninth?" McCarthy had walked on thin ice. Hughson also claimed his manager ruined his career by making him pitch with a sore arm. It was the second year in a row McCarthy's late-season managing was called into question. In 1948, McCarthy had chosen journeyman pitcher Denny Galehouse to start the tie breaker that decided who went to the 1948 World Series, and the Red Sox lost that tiebreaker to the Cleveland Indians.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day lineup
Notable transactions
November 15, 1948: Wally Moses was released by the Red Sox.
November 24, 1948: Ray Jablonski was drafted from the Red Sox by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1948 minor league draft.
Roster
Player stats
Batting
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
122
403
109
.270
5
48
1B
122
443
132
.298
0
56
2B
139
541
167
.309
18
109
SS
155
610
177
.290
39
159
3B
148
604
185
.306
2
69
OF
124
474
133
.281
9
71
OF
155
566
194
.343
43
159
OF
145
605
186
.307
8
60
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
