1941 – The entire Brooklyn Dodgers squad leaves New York to train in Havana, Cuba for most of the spring. Babe Phelps, a reluctant traveler and still unsigned, will leave the team in Miami, FL, rather than take a boat, and return to Maryland.
1941 – Paul Waner, released by the Pittsburgh Pirates last December, signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Waner will play 11 games before moving to the Boston Braves, but he will return to Brooklyn in 1943.
1940 – Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail still needs a starting pitcher to make his team a threat to the Reds. He acquires pitcher Kirby Higbe from the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Mickey Livingston, pitchers Bill Crouch and Vito Tamulis, and $100,000. Higbe, who won 14 games in 1940, will win 22 games next season to lead National League pitchers.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic candidate who broke with tradition to run for an unprecedented third term, is re-elected, defeating Wendell Willkie by a comfortable margin. The unlikely dark horse Republican candidate had once served as the Dodgers’ lawyer, but the independent-minded barrister’s involvement in politics proved not to be beneficial for a team that was in constant chaos at the time.
September 22, 1940 – At Ebbets Field‚ the 2nd-place Dodgers sweep a pair from the last-place Phillies‚ winning 6-3 and 8-6. In between games‚ there is a 3-inning oldtimer match between the Robins and Dodger players of the 1930s. Included on the Robins side are fan-favorite Zach Wheat‚ Tim Jordan‚ Otto Miller‚ Rube Marquard‚ Sherry…
August 8, 1940. After a Daily News story reported that the New York Giants’ bullpen had an awning, the Dodgers decided to bring their own awning to the Polo Grounds; it was supplied by Leffert’s Bar and Grill. Pictured are pitcher Hugh Casey, catcher Gus Mancuso and coach Charley Dressen.
A crowd of 53,997, a National League record for a night game, watches the Dodgers beat the Giants, 8 – 4, on Mel Ott Night at the Polo Grounds.
On June 25, 1940 The Cubs score five times in the 13th to beat the Dodgers, 8 – 3. Claude Passeau pitches four innings of relief for the win. It’s the Dodgers’ 7th loss in nine games. @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IGp1c3QgY2xpY2sgdGhlIHRhZ3MhICAiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImxpbmtfdG9fdGVybV9wYWdlIjoib24iLCJzZXBhcmF0b3IiOiIgfCAiLCJjYXRlZ29yeV90eXBlIjoicG9zdF90YWcifX0=@
On June 18, 1940, Joe Medwick of the Brooklyn Dodgers acquired in a trade less than a week ago is beaned by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Bowman and needs to be carried off the field on a stretcher. Brooklyn president Lee MacPhail accuses the St. Louis pitcher of deliberately hitting Medwick in the head…
May 30, 1940 – Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants throws 87 pitches in a 7 – 0 one-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hubell faces the minimum 27 batters, as Johnny Hudson, who singles for the only hit, is caught stealing. @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IGp1c3QgY2xpY2sgdGhlIHRhZ3MhICAiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImxpbmtfdG9fdGVybV9wYWdlIjoib24iLCJzZXBhcmF0b3IiOiIgfCAiLCJjYXRlZ29yeV90eXBlIjoicG9zdF90YWcifX0=@
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