1946_Brooklyn_Dodgers_season
1946 Brooklyn Dodgers season
Major League Baseball team season
The 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers finished the season tied for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals. The two teams played in the first ever regular season tie-breaker to decide the pennant, and the Cardinals took two straight to win the title.
| 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers | |
|---|---|
| League | National League |
| Ballpark | Ebbets Field |
| City | Brooklyn, New York |
| Owners | James & Dearie Mulvey, Walter O'Malley, Branch Rickey, John L. Smith |
| President | Branch Rickey |
| Managers | Leo Durocher |
| Radio | WHN Red Barber, Connie Desmond |
With their star players back from the war, Brooklyn had jumped back into serious contention. They would be respectable until their move to Los Angeles 10 years later.
This season was the team's – and Major League Baseball's – last non-integrated one.
On October 23, 1945, the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson as a free agent. Robinson was the first black player to be officially a part of a major league organization in over 60 years, since the barring of Fleet and Welday Walker in 1884. For the 1946 season, Robinson was assigned to the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' top farm team.
Later in the offseason, the Dodgers signed two more players from the Negro leagues, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe, who were assigned to the Nashua Dodgers.
Season standings
| National League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals | 98 | 58 | 0.628 | — | 49–29 | 49–29 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 96 | 60 | 0.615 | 2 | 56–22 | 40–38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 82 | 71 | 0.536 | 14½ | 44–33 | 38–38 |
| Boston Braves | 81 | 72 | 0.529 | 15½ | 45–31 | 36–41 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 69 | 85 | 0.448 | 28 | 41–36 | 28–49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 67 | 87 | 0.435 | 30 | 35–42 | 32–45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 63 | 91 | 0.409 | 34 | 37–40 | 26–51 |
| New York Giants | 61 | 93 | 0.396 | 36 | 38–39 | 23–54 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL | |||||
| Boston | — | 5–17 | 12–9–1 | 15–7 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 7–15 | |||||
| Brooklyn | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 8–16 | |||||
| Chicago | 9–12–1 | 11–11 | — | 13–9 | 17–5 | 12–10 | 12–10–1 | 8–14 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 7–15 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | — | 14–8 | 8–14–1 | 13–9 | 8–14 | |||||
| New York | 9–13 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 8–14 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 10–12 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 14–8–1 | 10–12 | — | 14–8 | 8–14 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 7–15 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 8–14 | — | 9–13 | |||||
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 16–8 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 13–9 | — | |||||
Opening Day lineup
Notable transactions
- April 27, 1946: Jack Graham[1] and Goody Rosen[2] were purchased from the Dodgers by the New York Giants.
- June 12, 1946: Don Padgett was purchased from the Dodgers by the Boston Braves.[3]
- June 15, 1946: Billy Herman was traded by the Dodgers to the Boston Braves for Stew Hofferth.[4]
Roster
| 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters
|
Manager
Coaches | ||||||
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 | Bruce Edwards | 92 | 292 | 78 | .267 | 1 | 25 |
| 1B | Ed Stevens | 103 | 310 | 75 | .242 | 10 | 60 |
| 2B | Eddie Stanky | 144 | 483 | 132 | .273 | 0 | 36 |
| 3B | Cookie Lavagetto | 88 | 242 | 57 | .236 | 3 | 27 |
| SS | Pee Wee Reese | 152 | 542 | 154 | .284 | 5 | 60 |
| OF | Carl Furillo | 117 | 335 | 95 | .284 | 3 | 35 |
| OF | Pete Reiser | 122 | 423 | 117 | .277 | 11 | 73 |
| OF | Dixie Walker | 150 | 576 | 184 | .319 | 9 | 116 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augie Galan | 99 | 274 | 85 | .310 | 3 | 38 |
| Dick Whitman | 104 | 265 | 69 | .260 | 2 | 31 |
| Howie Schultz | 90 | 249 | 63 | .253 | 3 | 27 |
| Ferrell Anderson | 79 | 199 | 51 | .256 | 2 | 14 |
| Billy Herman | 47 | 184 | 53 | .288 | 0 | 28 |
| Bob Ramazzotti | 62 | 120 | 25 | .208 | 0 | 7 |
| Gene Hermanski | 64 | 110 | 22 | .200 | 0 | 8 |
| Joe Medwick | 41 | 77 | 24 | .312 | 2 | 18 |
| Eddie Miksis | 23 | 48 | 7 | .146 | 0 | 5 |
| Stan Rojek | 45 | 47 | 13 | .277 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Sandlock | 19 | 34 | 5 | .147 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Padgett | 19 | 30 | 5 | .167 | 1 | 9 |
| Joe Tepsic | 15 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Graham | 2 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Lew Riggs | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Goody Rosen | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Earl Naylor | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Otis Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
| John Corriden | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Hatten | 42 | 222.0 | 14 | 11 | 2.84 | 85 |
| Kirby Higbe | 42 | 210.2 | 17 | 8 | 3.03 | 134 |
| Vic Lombardi | 41 | 193.0 | 13 | 10 | 2.89 | 60 |
| Hal Gregg | 26 | 117.1 | 6 | 4 | 2.99 | 54 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hank Behrman | 47 | 150.2 | 11 | 5 | 2.93 | 78 |
| Rube Melton | 24 | 99.2 | 6 | 3 | 1.99 | 44 |
| Ralph Branca | 24 | 67.1 | 3 | 1 | 3.88 | 42 |
| Ed Head | 13 | 56.0 | 3 | 2 | 3.21 | 17 |
| Rex Barney | 16 | 53.2 | 2 | 5 | 5.87 | 36 |
| Les Webber | 11 | 43.0 | 3 | 3 | 2.30 | 16 |
| Jean-Pierre Roy | 3 | 6.1 | 0 | 0 | 9.95 | 6 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hugh Casey | 46 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1.99 | 31 |
| Art Herring | 35 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3.35 | 34 |
| Harry Taylor | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.86 | 6 |
| Paul Minner | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Curt Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |
| Glen Moulder | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |
| Cal McLish | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | inf | 0 |
- 1946 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
- Dixie Walker starter
- Kirby Higbe reserve
- Pee Wee Reese reserve
- Pete Reiser reserve
League top five finishers
- #2 in NL in strikeouts (134)
- #3 in NL in wins (17)
- MLB leader in stolen bases (34)
- #3 in NL in runs scored (98)
- #2 in NL in RBI (116)
- #3 in NL in batting average (.319)
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montreal, Nashua, Newport News, Trois-Rivières, Zanesville
- 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers uniform
- Brooklyn Dodgers reference site
- Acme Dodgers page Archived September 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- Retrosheet
