There were 16 big league teams in 1950 compared to 30 today. The American League and the National League each had eight teams in 1950 and the team with the best won-lost record in each league faced each other in the World Series.
In 1950 each team had a roster of 25 players, today the 30 teams have rosters of 26 players. That’s a total of 780 players in the major leagues compared to 400, 75 years ago. That’s close to twice as many major leaguers playing today. It’s much harder to collect a complete set of baseball cards now and much more expensive.
Are the players better today? They are certainly bigger and the pitchers can throw harder. Last year only seven players batted over .300. Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt led both leagues with a .332 batting average, Vladmir Guerrero, first baseman of the Toronto Blue Jays was one point ahead of Aaron Judge at .323. Then four players batted between .302 and .314.
In 1950, with almost half the number of players in the major leagues, 26 players batted over .300. Billy Goodman of the Boston Red Sox led the American League with a .354 average while Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals led the National League at .346. Goodman was an unusual player as he played all over the field. He played every infield position and the outfield, too. In his 16-year big league career, Goodman had a lifetime average of .300.
With Goodman, the Red Sox had five players that batted over .300. To be eligible for the batting championship in 1950, a player had to have a minimum of 400 official at-bats. Bases on balls (walks) didn’t count. Ted Williams only had 388 official at-bats, so his .317 average was not counted in the 26 over .300 and the five BoSox players on the team over .300.
Some of the magic names at the time that batted over .300 were the DiMaggio brothers (Joe and Dom), Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider. Home run leaders in 1950 were Ralph Kiner, who blasted 47 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and in the American League Jewish third baseman of the Cleveland Indians. Al Rosen hit 37, batted .287 and drove in 116 runs (RBI). It was the first year of several that Rosen would star.
While the major leagues had 16 teams in 1950, New York had three with the New York Yankees, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. St. Louis had two, the Cardinals and the Browns, who shared the same ballpark while Boston had two ballparks, one for the Red Sox and one for the Braves.
Braves Field was located in Brighton a short walk from the other Jewish neighborhood of Brookline. The biggest star on the Braves was Jewish outfielder Sid Gordon, who batted .304, with 28 homers and 103 RBI. After the 1952 season the Braves moved to Milwaukee and a year later the Browns left St. Louis and became the Baltimore Orioles.
