| 1942 MLB season | |
| League: | American League (AL) National League (NL) |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Duration: | Regular season:World Series: |
| No Of Games: | 154 |
| No Of Teams: | 16 (8 per league) |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Mvp: | AL Joe Gordon (NYY) |
| Mvp Link: | Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Conf1: | AL |
| Conf1 Champ: | New York Yankees |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | Boston Red Sox |
| Conf2: | NL |
| Conf2 Champ: | St. Louis Cardinals |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Brooklyn Dodgers |
| Finals: | World Series |
| Finals Link: | 1942 World Series |
| Seasonslist: | List of MLB seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
| Prevseason Link: | 1941 Major League Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1941 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1943 Major League Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1943 |
The 1942 major league baseball season began on April 14, 1942. The regular season ended on September 27, with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 39th World Series on September 30 and ended with Game 5 on October 5. The Cardinals defeated the Yankees, four games to one.
The tenth Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played on July 6, hosted by the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in New York City, New York, with the American League winning, 3–1.
In the National League, the Brooklyn Dodgers had a record of 104–50, but finished two games behind the Cardinals; the Dodgers tied the 1909 Chicago Cubs, who had a record of 104–49, for the most wins in an MLB regular season without reaching the postseason.[1]
The Philadelphia Athletics set a record for the fewest runs batted in during a season, with only 354.[2]
See also: Major League Baseball schedule. The 1942 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the season (except for) and would be used until in the American League and in the National League.
Opening Day, April 16, featured all sixteen teams, the first since the season. The final day of the regular season was on September 27 and featured ten teams. The World Series took place between September 30 and October 5.
An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at
| Team | Former Manager | New Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Indians | Roger Peckinpaugh | Lou Boudreau | |
| New York Giants | Bill Terry | Mel Ott | |
| Philadelphia Phils | Doc Prothro | Hans Lobert |
| Total | |||
| Ted Williams1 (BRS) | .356 | ||
| Ted Williams1 (BRS) | 36 | ||
| Ted Williams1 (BRS) | 137 | ||
| Ted Williams (BRS) | 141 | ||
| Johnny Pesky (BRS) | 205 | ||
| George Case (WSH) | 44 |
| Total | |||
| Tex Hughson (BRS) | 22 | ||
| Eddie Smith (CWS) | 20 | ||
| Ted Lyons (CWS) | 2.10 | ||
| Tex Hughson (BRS) Bobo Newsom (WSH) | 113 | ||
| Tex Hughson (BRS) | 281.0 | ||
| Johnny Murphy (NYY) | 11 |
| Total | |||
| Ernie Lombardi (BSB) | .330 | ||
| Mel Ott (NYG) | 30 | ||
| Johnny Mize (NYG) | 110 | ||
| Mel Ott (NYG) | 118 | ||
| Enos Slaughter (SLC) | 188 | ||
| Pete Reiser (BKN) | 20 |
| Total | |||
| Mort Cooper (SLC) | 22 | ||
| Jim Tobin (BSB) | 21 | ||
| Mort Cooper (SLC) | 1.78 | ||
| Johnny Vander Meer (CIN) | 186 | ||
| Jim Tobin (BSB) | 287.2 | ||
| Hugh Casey (BKN) | 13 |
| Team name | Wins | Home attendance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn Dodgers[3] | 104 | 4.0% | 1,037,765 | −14.6% | 13,136 | |
| New York Yankees[4] | 103 | 2.0% | 922,011 | −4.4% | 11,974 | |
| New York Giants[5] | 85 | 14.9% | 779,621 | 2.2% | 9,869 | |
| Boston Red Sox[6] | 93 | 10.7% | 730,340 | 1.6% | 9,485 | |
| Chicago Cubs[7] | 68 | −2.9% | 590,972 | 8.4% | 7,577 | |
| Detroit Tigers[8] | 73 | −2.7% | 580,087 | −15.3% | 7,534 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals[9] | 106 | 9.3% | 553,552 | −12.6% | 7,097 | |
| Cleveland Indians[10] | 75 | 0.0% | 459,447 | −38.4% | 5,743 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[11] | 66 | −18.5% | 448,897 | −6.9% | 5,830 | |
| Cincinnati Reds[12] | 76 | −13.6% | 427,031 | −33.6% | 5,546 | |
| Chicago White Sox[13] | 66 | −14.3% | 425,734 | −37.1% | 6,082 | |
| Philadelphia Athletics[14] | 55 | −14.1% | 423,487 | −19.9% | 5,572 | |
| Washington Senators[15] | 62 | −11.4% | 403,493 | −2.9% | 5,240 | |
| Boston Braves[16] | 59 | −4.8% | 285,332 | 8.2% | 4,019 | |
| St. Louis Browns[17] | 82 | 17.1% | 255,617 | 45.0% | 3,320 | |
| Philadelphia Phils[18] | 42 | −2.3% | 230,183 | −0.5% | 3,111 |