1946 Red Sox
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Contents |
General Info
W-L Record: 104-50
Pythagorean W-L: 97-57
Scored 792 runs, Allowed 594 runs
1st in the American League
Won the American League Pennant
Manager: Joe Cronin
Summary
A magical year that saw the Red Sox run away with the pennant, Ted Williams winning the Triple Crown, and the Sox just losing the World Series on Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" and Leon Culberson's incompetence (not Johnny Pesky!), this year can be up there with 1967, 1975, 1986, 1999, 2003, and 2004 for many Sox fan's favorite memories.
Although the on-field miscues may be what has survived in lore, in actuality it may have been an off-field screwup which lined the Sox up for failure. Already heavy favorite (bookies favored them 20-7) and with their potential World Series opponents tied up in an extended playoff, Joe Cronin and Eddie Collins setup a series of three games against select AL All-Stars to stave off rust during the extended layoff. Not only were the games a failure, but Ted Williams was hit in the elbow with a pitch (from Mickey Haefner of the Senators). His elbow required heat treatments for the rest of the series.
Feeling relieved by regaining many players from the war, including the nucleus of Williams, Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Dominic DiMaggio, the Red Sox started to feel a pennant early. Also contributing to this was their strong young pitching staff led by Tex Hughson and young Boo Ferriss, who had made a name for himself in 1945, compiling a 21-10 record with a 2.96 ERA.
Trivia
- After winning 33 of its first 42 games, fans started mailing World Series ticket requests to the Red Sox in June.
- Friday, Sept. 13, with a 1-0 win over Cleveland. The one run scored: Ted Williams' only career inside-the-park HR
- This was the final pre-television World Series
External Links
- 1946 Boston Red Sox Statistics: Baseball Reference's 1946 Red Sox Page
- 1946 Boston Red Sox Schedule: 1946 Schedule via Baseball Almanac
Books
- The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship, By David Halberstam
Roster
| REGULARS | BA | HR | RBI | |||
| 1B | Rudy York | .276 | 17 | 119 | ||
| 2B | Bobby Doerr | .271 | 18 | 116 | ||
| SS | Johnny Pesky | .335 | 2 | 55 | ||
| 3B | Rip Russell | .208 | 2 | 36 | ||
| OF | Ted Williams | .342 | 38 | 123 | ||
| OF | Dominic DiMaggio | .316 | 7 | 73 | ||
| OF | Catfish Metkovich | .246 | 4 | 25 | ||
| C | Birdie Tebbetts | .270 | 5 | 48 | ||
| Other position players: Pinky Higgins (.275, 2, 28), Leon Culberson (.313, 3, 18), Wally Moses (.206, 2, 17), Tom McBride (.301, 0, 19), Roy Partee (.315, 0, 9), Eddie Pellagrini (.211, 2, 4), Don Gutteridge (.234, 1, 6), Ernie Andres (.098, 0, 1), Eddie McGah (.216, 0, 1), Johnny Lazor (.138, 1, 4), Paul Campbell (.115, 0, 0), Frankie Pytlak (.143, 0, 1), Tom Carey (.200, 0, 0), Ben Steiner (.250, 0, 0), Andy Gilbert (.000, 0, 0) | ||||||
| STARTERS | W-L | ERA | SV | |||
| R | Dave Ferriss | 25-6 | 3.25 | 3 | ||
| R | Tex Hughson | 20-11 | 2.75 | 3 | ||
| L | Mickey Harris | 17-9 | 3.64 | 0 | ||
| R | Joe Dobson | 13-7 | 3.64 | 0 | ||
| R | Jim Bagby | 13-7 | 3.71 | 0 | ||
| BULLPEN | ||||||
| R | Bob Klinger | 3-2 | 2.37 | 9 | ||
| L | Earl Johnson | 5-4 | 3.71 | 3 | ||
| L | Clem Dreisewerd | 4-1 | 4.18 | 0 | ||
| R | Mace Brown | 3-1 | 2.05 | 1 | ||
| R | Bill Zuber | 5-1 | 2.54 | 0 | ||
| Other pitchers: Charlie Wagner (1-0, 5.87), Bill Butland (1-0, 11.02), Randy Heflin (0-1, 2.45), Mike Ryba (0-1, 3.55), Mel Deutsch (0-0, 5.68), Jim Wilson (0-0, 27.00)
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