Baseball in the 1940s

Cleveland pitcher who threw the first (and so far only) opening day no-hitter

Known as "The Beast", this slugger hit his 500th home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox

Player that finished the season with a .406 batting average, the last time any qualifying hitter broke the .400 mark

Player that set a record by getting a hit in 56 consecutive games

NL team that won 106 games and won the first of three world championships in the decade

Led by Satchel Paige, this team swept the Homestead Grays to win the Negro League World Series

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League begins play with four teams: the Kenosha Comets, Racine Belles, South Bend Blue Sox, and this team, famously featured in a 1992 film starring Geena Davis

This "Man" hits .357, leads the NL in hits, doubles, and triples, and wins the first of three MVP awards

The Homestead Grays defeat the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro League World Series this year, led by Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, and this power-hitting catcher

For only the third time in MLB history, the World Series features two teams that share a home field. What was the name of the stadium used by both the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns?

This "Prince" of a player won 25 games and led the AL in ERA en route his second consecutive MVP. He is one of only two pitchers ever to win two MVP awards and the only one to do it in back-to-back seasons.

Team that lost the World Series to the Detroit Tigers in seven games. It would be 71 years before they played in another Fall Classic.

One year before his history-making MLB debut, this player makes his first appearance with the minor league Montreal Royals.

Pirates rookie that led the NL in home runs with a relatively paltry total of 23. He would go on to lead the league in home runs for the next six years as well, including 51 in his sophomore season.

After playing the first half of the season for the Newark Eagles, this player joined the Cleveland Indians in July, and in the process became the first black ballplayer in the AL.

Braves pitcher who led the league in shutouts with seven and won 21 games on his way to a career total of 363, the most by any left-hander in MLB history

In his return from a one-year suspension for associating with known gamblers, this Hall of Fame manager, known as "The Lip", uses an MLB record 24 players in a single game.

This team won the World Series in six games over the Boston Braves. They have not won another championship since.

A third granite monument, erected alongside others honoring Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins, is implemented in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park in center field in honor of this great slugger, who had passed away the previous summer.

This team lost 104 games and finished in eighth place, adding to the club's long-held reputation for futility. Indeed, this franchise was so historically inept that a sportwriter had once joked the team's city was "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League."