1945 Washington Senators season
1945 Washington Senators | ||
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League | American League | |
Ballpark | Griffith Stadium | |
City | Washington, D.C. | |
Owners | Clark Griffith and George H. Richardson | |
Managers | Ossie Bluege | |
Radio | WOL (AM)/WWDC (FM) (Arch McDonald, Russ Hodges) | |
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The 1945
When the regular season ended on September 30, Washington trailed the
Outstanding pitching drove the 1945 Senators' success. Washington led the American League in team earned run average (2.92). Its starting rotation featured four knuckleball artists—Roger Wolff, Dutch Leonard, Johnny Niggeling and Mickey Haefner—who combined for 60 victories.[2] Wolff and Leonard posted sterling 2.12 and 2.13 earned run averages, third and fourth in the league.
Regular season
- August 4, 1945: Amputee and World War II veteran fighter pilot who lost his right leg 11 inches below the knee when his plane was shot down over Germany on May 21, 1944, was fitted with an artificial leg. In spring 1945, the Senators signed the former minor league hurler as a coach and batting practice pitcher and activated him in August. Called into a one-sided contest in the second game of a doubleheader at Griffith Stadium on August 4, Shepard gave up only one run in 5+1⁄3 innings while striking out two Red Sox batters.[3][4][5]
- September 7, 1945: Washington first baseman Joe Kuhel homers off the Browns' Bob Muncrief to provide the winning margin in a 3–2 Senator victory at Griffith Stadium. It is the only four-bagger struck all season by the Senators in 78 home games in their spacious ballpark—and it was an inside-the-park job.[6] Opposing teams hit only six home runs themselves in 1945 at Washington's home field.
Season standings
American League | W
|
L
|
Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Detroit Tigers | 88 | 65 | 0.575 | — | 50–26 | 38–39 |
Washington Senators | 87 | 67 | 0.565 | 1½ | 46–31 | 41–36 |
St. Louis Browns | 81 | 70 | 0.536 | 6 | 47–27 | 34–43 |
New York Yankees | 81 | 71 | 0.533 | 6½ | 48–28 | 33–43 |
Cleveland Indians | 73 | 72 | 0.503 | 11 | 44–33 | 29–39 |
Chicago White Sox | 71 | 78 | 0.477 | 15 | 44–29 | 27–49 |
Boston Red Sox | 71 | 83 | 0.461 | 17½ | 42–35 | 29–48 |
Philadelphia Athletics | 52 | 98 | 0.347 | 34½ | 39–35 | 13–63 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
Boston | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 6–16 | 14–8 | 8–14–1 | 11–11–1 | |||||
Chicago | 13–9 | — | 11–8–1 | 10–12 | 9–12 | 12–10 | 8–13 | 8–14 | |||||
Cleveland | 11–11 | 8–11–1 | — | 11–11 | 12–9 | 12–6–1 | 11–10 | 8–14 | |||||
Detroit | 10–12–1 | 12–10 | 11–11 | — | 15–7 | 15–7–1 | 15–6 | 10–12 | |||||
New York | 16–6 | 12–9 | 9–12 | 7–15 | — | 16–6 | 7–15 | 14–8 | |||||
Philadelphia | 8–14 | 10–12 | 6–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 6–16 | — | 10–12–1 | 5–17 | |||||
St. Louis | 14–8–1 | 13–8 | 10–11 | 6–15 | 15–7 | 12–10–1 | — | 11–11–1 | |||||
Washington | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 17–5 | 11–11–1 | — |
Roster
1945 Washington Senators | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Rick Ferrell | 91 | 286 | 76 | .266 | 1 | 38 |
1B | Joe Kuhel | 142 | 533 | 152 | .285 | 2 | 75 |
2B | George Myatt | 133 | 490 | 145 | .296 | 1 | 39 |
SS | Gil Torres |
147 | 562 | 133 | .237 | 0 | 48 |
3B | Harlond Clift | 119 | 375 | 79 | .211 | 8 | 53 |
OF | Buddy Lewis | 69 | 258 | 86 | .333 | 2 | 37 |
OF | George Binks | 145 | 550 | 153 | .278 | 6 | 81 |
OF | George Case | 123 | 504 | 148 | .294 | 1 | 31 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fred Vaughn | 80 | 268 | 63 | .235 | 1 | 25 |
Mike Kreevich | 45 | 158 | 44 | .278 | 1 | 23 |
Al Evans | 51 | 150 | 39 | .260 | 2 | 19 |
Hillis Layne | 60 | 147 | 44 | .299 | 1 | 14 |
Mike Guerra | 56 | 138 | 29 | .210 | 1 | 15 |
José Zardón | 54 | 131 | 38 | .290 | 0 | 13 |
Jake Powell | 31 | 98 | 19 | .194 | 0 | 3 |
Vince Ventura | 18 | 58 | 12 | .207 | 0 | 2 |
Cecil Travis | 15 | 54 | 13 | .241 | 0 | 10 |
Dick Kimble | 20 | 49 | 12 | .245 | 0 | 1 |
Walt Chipple | 18 | 44 | 6 | .136 | 0 | 5 |
Howie McFarland | 6 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 2 |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Roger Wolff | 33 | 250.0 | 20 | 10 | 2.12 | 108 |
Mickey Haefner | 37 | 238.1 | 16 | 14 | 3.47 | 83 |
Dutch Leonard | 31 | 216.0 | 17 | 7 | 2.13 | 96 |
Johnny Niggeling | 26 | 176.2 | 7 | 12 | 3.16 | 90 |
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marino Pieretti | 44 | 233.1 | 14 | 13 | 3.32 | 66 |
Alex Carrasquel | 35 | 122.2 | 7 | 5 | 2.71 | 38 |
Sandy Ullrich | 28 | 81.1 | 3 | 3 | 4.54 | 26 |
Walt Masterson | 4 | 25.0 | 1 | 2 | 1.08 | 14 |
Pete Appleton | 6 | 21.1 | 1 | 0 | 3.38 | 12 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wally Holborow | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.30 | 14 |
Dick Stone | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
Armando Roche | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 0 |
Bert Shepard | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.69 | 2 |
Joe Cleary | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 189.00 | 1 |
Farm system
Level | Team | League | Manager |
---|---|---|---|
A1 | Chattanooga Lookouts | Southern Association | Bert Niehoff |
A | Williamsport Grays | Eastern League
|
Ray Kolp |
Notes
- ^ "1945: Hank's Heroic Rescue". This Great Game: The Online Book of Baseball. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
- ^ Neyer, Rob. "A Last Great Season: The Senators in '45". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
- Baseball in Wartime. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ^ "Boston Red Sox 15, Washington Senators 2". retrosheet.org. Retrosheet. August 4, 1945. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
- ^ Retrosheet box score: 1945-09-07
- ^ "Baseball Almanac" entry
- ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007