1945 Chicago Cubs season

The 1945 Chicago Cubs season was the 74th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 70th in the National League and the 30th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs won the National League pennant with a record of 98–56, 3 games ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. The team went on to the 1945 World Series, which they lost to the Detroit Tigers in seven games. It would take 71 years before the Cubs made it to another World Series.

1945 Chicago Cubs
1945 National League Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Philip K. Wrigley
General manager(s)James T. Gallagher
Manager(s)Charlie Grimm
Local radioWIND
(Bert Wilson, Wayne Osborne)
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Regular season

Season 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

Record vs. opponents
1945 National League Records

Sources:
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston —9–13–17–1510–1210–10–214–87–1510–12
Brooklyn 13–9–1—8–14–111–1115–719–312–109–13
Chicago 15–714–8–1—21–111–1117–514–86–16
Cincinnati 12–1011–111–21—6–1612–1010–129–13
New York 10–10–27–1511–1116–6—17–511–116–16
Philadelphia 8–143–195–1710–125–17—6–169–13
Pittsburgh 15–710–128–1412–1011–1116–6—10–12–1
St. Louis 12–1013–916–613–916–613–912–10–1—

Roster
1945 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CMickey Livingston7122457.254223
1BPhil Cavarretta132498177.355697
2BDon Johnson138557168.302258
SSLennie Merullo12139494.239237
3BStan Hack150597193.323243
OFPeanuts Lowrey143523148.283789
OFAndy Pafko144534159.29812110
OFBill Nicholson151559136.2431388

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
Roy Hughes6922258.26108
Paul Gillespie7516347.288325
Heinz Becker6713338.286227
Dewey Williams5910028.28025
Len Rice329923.23207
Ed Sauer499324.258211
Frank Secory35579.15806
Bill Schuster45479.19102
Reggie Otero14239.39105
Johnny Ostrowski7103.30001
Cy Block271.14301
Johnny Moore761.16702
Loyd Christopher100---00

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
Hank Wyse38278.122102.6877
Claude Passeau342271792.4698
Paul Derringer35213.216113.4586
Ray Prim34165.11382.4088
Hank Borowy15122.11122.1347

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
Hy Vandenberg3095.1733.4935
Bob Chipman2572453.5029
Lon Warneke914013.866
Ray Starr913.1007.435
Jorge Comellas712024.506
Ed Hanyzewski24.2005.792

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
Paul Erickson287433.3253
Mack Stewart160104.769
Walter Signer60013.380
George Hennessey20007.362

1945 World Series
Main article: 1945 World Series

The Curse of Billy "The Goat" Sianis
Main article: Curse of the Billy Goat

The Curse of the Billy Goat was a curse on the Chicago Cubs that was started in 1945 and ended in 2016. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, a Greek immigrant (from Paleopyrgos, Greece[1]), who owned a nearby tavern (the now-famous Billy Goat Tavern), had two $7.20 box seat tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, and decided to bring along his pet goat, Murphy (or Sinovia according to some references), which Sianis had restored to health when the goat had fallen off a truck and subsequently limped into his tavern. The goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it which read "We got Detroit's goat".[2] Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded about on the playing field before the game before ushers intervened and led them off the field. After a heated argument, both Sianis and the goat were permitted to stay in the stadium occupying the box seat for which he had tickets. At this point, Andy Frain (head of Wrigley Field's hired security company at the time), waved the goat's box-seat ticket in the air and proclaimed, "If he eats the ticket that would solve everything."[2] However, the goat did not. Before the game was over, it started to rain and Sianis and the goat were ejected from the stadium at the command of Cubs owner Philip Knight Wrigley due to the objectionable odor of wet goat. Sianis was outraged at the ejection and allegedly placed a curse upon the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field again because the Cubs organization had insulted his goat, and subsequently left the U.S. to vacation in his home in Greece. The Cubs lost Game 4 and eventually the 1945 World Series, prompting Sianis to write to Wrigley from Greece, saying, "Who stinks now?" The Cubs would eventually break the curse and what would turn out to be a 108-year drought by winning the World Series in 2016 over the Cleveland Indians in seven games.

Game 1

October 3, 1945, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit

Team123456789RHE
Chicago4030002009130
Detroit000000000060
WP: Hank Borowy (1–0)   LP: Hal Newhouser (0–1)
Home runs:
CHI: Phil Cavarretta (1)
DET: None

Game 2

October 4, 1945, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit

Team123456789RHE
Chicago000100000170
Detroit000040000470
WP: Virgil Trucks (1–0)   LP: Hank Wyse (0–1)
Home runs:
CHI: None
DET: Hank Greenberg (1)

Game 3

October 5, 1945, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit

Team123456789RHE
Chicago000200100380
Detroit000000000012
WP: Claude Passeau (1–0)   LP: Stubby Overmire (0–1)

Game 4

October 6, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team123456789RHE
Detroit000400000471
Chicago000001000151
WP: Dizzy Trout (1–0)   LP: Ray Prim (0–1)

Game 5

October 7, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team123456789RHE
Detroit0010041028110
Chicago001000201472
WP: Hal Newhouser (1–1)   LP: Hank Borowy (1–1)

Game 6

October 8, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team123456789101112RHE
Detroit0100002400007131
Chicago0000412000018153
WP: Hank Borowy (2–1)   LP: Dizzy Trout (1–1)
Home runs:
DET: Hank Greenberg (2)
CHI: None

Game 7

October 10, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Team123456789RHE
Detroit510000120991
Chicago1001000103100
WP: Hal Newhouser (2–1)   LP: Hank Borowy (2–2)

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AA Los Angeles Angels Pacific Coast League Bill Sweeney
A1 Nashville Vols Southern Association Larry Gilbert
B Hagerstown Owls Interstate League Mickey Balla and Dutch Dorman
B Portsmouth Cubs Piedmont League Ival Goodman
C Leaksville-Draper-Spray Triplets Carolina League Jack Warner
D Elizabethton Betsy Cubs Appalachian League Bill Kelly
D Statesville Cubs North Carolina State League Jim Poole

References
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