1945 Washington Senators season

The 1945 Washington Senators won 87 games, lost 67, and finished in second place in the American League. They were managed by Ossie Bluege and played their home games at Griffith Stadium, where they drew 652,660 fans, fourth-most in the eight-team league. The 1945 Senators represented the 45th edition of the Major League Baseball franchise and were the last of the 20th-century Senators to place higher than fourth in the American League; the team moved to Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1961 to become the modern Minnesota Twins.

1945 Washington Senators
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Clark Griffith and George H. Richardson
Manager(s)Ossie Bluege
Local radioWOL (AM)/WWDC (FM)
(Arch McDonald, Russ Hodges)
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When the regular season ended on September 30, Washington trailed the pennant-winning Detroit Tigers (88–65) by 1​1⁄2 games. But because of World War II travel restrictions and the need to convert Griffith Stadium's playing field to host its autumn football tenants, the NFL Washington Redskins and Georgetown University, the Senators' 1945 schedule had actually ended seven days before, on Sunday, September 23. On that day, the "Griffs" stood one full game behind 86–64 Detroit. As the idle Senators waited, the Tigers had four games to play, two each against the fifth-place Cleveland Indians and third-place St. Louis Browns. After splitting against the Indians, Detroit was rained out for three days in St. Louis. When the Tigers defeated the Browns 6–3 in the first game of the doubleheader on September 30 (on a come-from-behind, grand slam home run by Hank Greenberg), the Tigers clinched the pennant. The second game of the twin bill was rained out.[1]

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 14, 1945: Handicapped Senators coach Bert Shepard pitched in a game against the Red Sox. Shepard had an artificial leg but managed to give up only one run in 5⅓ innings while striking out two Red Sox batters.[3]
  • 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.[4] 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 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

Record vs. opponents
1945 American League Records

Sources:
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHI STL WSH
Boston —9–1311–1112–10–16–1614–88–14–111–11–1
Chicago 13–9—11–8–110–129–1212–108–138–14
Cleveland 11–118–11–1—11–1112–912–6–111–108–14
Detroit 10–12–112–1011–11—15–715–7–115–610–12
New York 16–612–99–127–15—16–67–1514–8
Philadelphia 8–1410–126–12–17–15–16–16—10–12–15–17
St. Louis 14–8–113–810–116–1515–712–10–1—11–11–1
Washington 11–11–114–814–812–108–1417–511–11–1—

Roster
1945 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders 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
CRick Ferrell9128676.266138
1BJoe Kuhel142533152.285275
2BGeorge Myatt133490145.296139
SSGil Torres147562133.237048
3BHarlond Clift11937579.211853
OFBuddy Lewis6925886.333237
OFGeorge Binks145550153.278681
OFGeorge Case123504148.294131

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 Vaughn8026863.235125
Mike Kreevich4515844.278123
Al Evans5115039.260219
Hillis Layne6014744.299114
Mike Guerra5613829.210115
José Zardón5413138.290013
Jake Powell319819.19403
Vince Ventura185812.20702
Cecil Travis155413.241010
Dick Kimble204912.24501
Walt Chipple18446.13605
Howie McFarland6111.09102

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
Mickey Haefner37238.116143.4783
Dutch Leonard312161772.1396
Roger Wolff3325020102.12108
Johnny Niggeling26176.27123.1690

[5]

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 Pieretti44233.114133.3266
Alex Carrasquel35122.2752.7138
Sandy Ullrich2881.1334.5426
Walt Masterson425121.0814
Pete Appleton621.1103.3812

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 Holborow151102.3014
Dick Stone30000.000
Armando Roche20006.000
Bert Shepard10001.692
Joe Cleary1000189.001

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
A1 Chattanooga Lookouts Southern Association Bert Niehoff
A Williamsport Grays Eastern League Ray Kolp

[6]

Notes
  1. "1945: Hank's Heroic Rescue". This Great Game: The Online Book of Baseball. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  2. Neyer, Rob. "A Last Great Season: The Senators in '45". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  3. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 193, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  4. Retrosheet box score: 1945-09-07
  5. "Baseball Almanac" entry
  6. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References
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