1945 Major League Baseball season

In the 1945 Major League Baseball season there were the usual sixteen teams, eight in both the American League and the National League. The Detroit Tigers defeated the Chicago Cubs for the World Series championship. It would prove the Cubs’ last appearance in the World Series until 2016.

This article is about the 1945 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1945 in baseball.
1945 MLB season
LeagueMajor League Baseball
SportBaseball
DurationApril 17 – October 10, 1945
Regular season
Season championsAL: Detroit Tigers
NL: Chicago Cubs
Season MVPAL: Hal Newhouser (DET)
NL: Phil Cavarretta (CHC)
World Series
ChampionsDetroit Tigers
  Runners-upChicago Cubs

Awards and honors

The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award went to Detroit Tigers third baseman Eddie Mayo; however, following a post-season vote the official AL MVP Award was given to fellow Detroit Tiger Hal Newhouser, a pitcher.[1] Newhouser ended the season with an ERA of 1.81, a record of 25 wins and 9 losses, and 212 strikeouts.[1] Both of them helped lead the Detroit Tigers to a World Series win, and Newhouser remarked that Eddie Mayo was the driving force behind the 1945 pennant chase and that Mayo was a "take-charge kind of guy in our field."[2]

The NL Most Valuable Player Award went to Chicago Cubs first baseman and outfielder Phil Cavarretta.[3] He ended the season with an impressive batting average of .355 and an on-base-percentage of .455.[4] The second-place finisher was Boston Braves player Tommy Holmes who finished the season with a batting average of .352 and an impressive slugging percentage of .577.[3]

Hal Newhouser won the pitching Triple Crown in addition to the official AL MVP Award.[5] To win this award you have to lead the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA.

There was no hitter that was awarded the Triple Crown, which entails leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.[5]

There were nine players and one manager inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during the year 1945.[6] The players were: Jim O'Rourke, King Kelly, Hughie Jennings, Hugh Duffy, Ed Delahanty, Jimmy Collins, Fred Clarke, Dan Brouthers, and Roger Bresnahan.[6] Wilbert Robinson was the manager that was inducted in the Hall of Fame.[6]

Statistical leaders
 American LeagueNational League
TypeNameStatNameStat
AVGS. Stirnweiss.309P. Cavarretta.355
HRV. Stephens24T. Holmes28
RBIN. Etten111D. Walker124
WinsH. Newhouser25R. Barrett23
ERAH. Newhouser1.81R. Prim2.40
KsH. Newhouser212P. Roe148

Major league Baseball final standings

American League final standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 8865 0.575 — 50–26 38–39
Washington Senators 8767 0.565 1½ 46–31 41–36
St. Louis Browns 8170 0.536 6 47–27 34–43
New York Yankees 8171 0.533 6½ 48–28 33–43
Cleveland Indians 7372 0.503 11 44–33 29–39
Chicago White Sox 7178 0.477 15 44–29 27–49
Boston Red Sox 7183 0.461 17½ 42–35 29–48
Philadelphia Athletics 5298 0.347 34½ 39–35 13–63

National League final standings
National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 9856 0.636 — 49–26 49–30
St. Louis Cardinals 9559 0.617 3 48–29 47–30
Brooklyn Dodgers 8767 0.565 11 48–30 39–37
Pittsburgh Pirates 8272 0.532 16 45–34 37–38
New York Giants 7874 0.513 19 47–30 31–44
Boston Braves 6785 0.441 30 36–38 31–47
Cincinnati Reds 6193 0.396 37 36–41 25–52
Philadelphia Phillies 46108 0.299 52 22–55 24–53

Managers

American League
Team Manager Comments
Boston Red Sox Joe Cronin
Chicago White Sox Jimmy Dykes
Cleveland Indians Lou Boudreau
Detroit Tigers Del Baker
New York Yankees Joe McCarthy
Philadelphia Athletics Connie Mack
St. Louis Browns Luke Sewell
Washington Senators Ossie Bluege

National League
Team Manager Comments
Boston Braves Bob Coleman and Del Bissonette
Brooklyn Dodgers Leo Durocher
Chicago Cubs Charlie Grimm
Cincinnati Reds Bill McKechnie
New York Giants Mel Ott
Philadelphia Phillies Freddie Fitzsimmons and Ben Chapman
Pittsburgh Pirates Frankie Frisch
St. Louis Cardinals Billy Southworth

Events
  • On April 17, Pete Gray became the first (and so far, only) one-armed man to ever play in the Major Leagues. He batted .218 in 77 games with the St. Louis Browns.
  • This would prove the last World Series appearance for the Chicago Cubs until 2016.

World Series

The World Series was between the Detroit Tigers (88–65) and the Chicago Cubs (98–56), and the series went 4–3 in favor of the Tigers.[7] Hal Newhouser, the official AL MVP of this year, pitched three of the games. He was the losing pitcher Game 1 of the Series, but was the winning pitcher in Game 5 and the pivotal Game 7. In Game 7, the Detroit Tigers gave Newhouser an early lead to work with by scoring five runs in the first inning. The Chicago Cubs would use six pitchers throughout the game while Newhouser pitched a complete game only allowing three runs, which led to a 9–3 Detroit Tigers victory thus clinching the 1945 World Series title.[7]

Deaths

See also

References
  1. "1945 Awards Voting | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  3. "Tommy Holmes Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  4. "Phil Cavarretta Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  5. "MLB Triple Crown Winners | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  6. "MLB Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  7. "1945 World Series - Detroit Tigers over Chicago Cubs (4-3) | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
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