1946 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1946 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1887);
Location
	Forbes Field (since 1909); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1] (since 1907);
Other information
Owner(s)	Bill Benswanger; Frank E. McKinney, Bing Crosby, John W. Galbreath and Thomas P. Johnson
General manager(s)	Ray Kennedy
Manager(s)	Frankie Frisch, Spud Davis
Local radio	WWSW; Rosey Rowswell, Jack Craddock
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The 1946 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 65th in the history of the Major League Baseball franchise and its 60th year in the National League. The Pirates finished seventh in the league standings with a record of 63–91, and attracted 749,962 fans to Forbes Field, also seventh in the eight-team Senior Circuit and 13th among the 16 MLB clubs.

It was a year of transition for the Pirates. Ralph Kiner made his debut, and he proceeded to lead the National League in home runs with 23. He was one of only two NL players to reach 20+ home runs that year (Johnny Mize was runner-up with 22), but 1946 would be the first of seven straight years in which Kiner would lead his league, or tie for the lead, in homers en route to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

On August 8, the Pirates changed hands for the first time since 1900 when the heirs of Hall of Fame owner Barney Dreyfuss sold the franchise to a syndicate led by Indianapolis banker Frank E. McKinney and including John W. Galbreath, Thomas P. Johnson and Bing Crosby. Galbreath became majority owner in 1950, and under his family's 35-year stewardship, the Pirates would win the 1960, 1971 and 1979 World Series championships.

The sale was accompanied by changes in the dugout and front office. Frankie Frisch, manager since 1940, resigned his post September 27 with three games to go in the season. After coach Spud Davis finished the campaign, the Pirates acquired 37-year-old Billy Herman, like Frisch a Hall of Fame second baseman, and named him playing manager for 1947. General manager Ray Kennedy, in only his first year in the position, was demoted by the new owners to farm system director and replaced by Roy Hamey.

In addition, the 1946 Pirates were the focus of an unsuccessful unionizing campaign by the recently formed American Baseball Guild. After the Guild successfully enrolled 34 of the club's 36 roster players when the season began, it was rebuffed by Pirates' then-president William Benswanger when it attempted to start collective bargaining talks. In response, the Guild called for a strike authorization vote on June 7 before a game at Forbes Field. Although 20 of the team's 36 players voted yes to a strike, the union fell short of the needed two-thirds supermajority, and the Guild movement collapsed. Players would form their own association in 1953, and the MLBPA would become their first official bargaining unit in 1966.

Regular season

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

1946 National League Records 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	—

Game log

1946 Game Log: 63–91 (Home: 37–40; Away: 26–51)

April: 5–8 (Home: 4–4; Away: 1–4)

May: 10–10 (Home: 8–5; Away: 2–5)

June: 11–19 (Home: 8–9; Away: 3–10)

July: 11–19 (Home: 5–7; Away: 6–12)

August: 11–15 (Home: 9–10; Away: 2–5)

September: 15–20 (Home: 3–5; Away: 12–15)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
121	September 1	Cardinals	6–7 (10)	Pollet	Sewell (6–10)	—		48–72
122	September 1	Cardinals	2–1 (7)	Ostermueller (10–9)	Brecheen	—	28,167	49–72
123	September 2	Cubs	4–1	Bahr (7–4)	Erickson	—		50–72
124	September 2	Cubs	3–7	Bauers	Sewell (6–11)	—	18,237	50–73
125	September 3	Cubs	0–2	Chipman	Hallett (3–5)	—	1,802	50–74
126	September 4	@ Reds	0–6	Beggs	Strincevich (9–12)	—	10,465	50–75
127	September 5	@ Reds	2–1	Sewell (7–11)	Vander Meer	—	1,254	51–75
128	September 6	@ Cardinals	6–7	Beazley	Heintzelman (8–11)	Burkhart	17,496	51–76
129	September 7	@ Cardinals	9–2	Ostermueller (11–9)	Pollet	—	17,266	52–76
130	September 8	@ Cardinals	4–5 (11)	Munger	Bahr (7–5)	—		52–77
131	September 8	@ Cardinals	2–12	Brazle	Strincevich (9–13)	—	25,572	52–78
132	September 10	@ Giants	7–4	Gerheauser (2–1)	Trinkle	—	9,971	53–78
133	September 11	@ Giants	7–6	Lanning (4–4)	Thompson	—		54–78
134	September 11	@ Giants	7–5	Gables (1–4)	Voiselle	Heintzelman (1)	6,358	55–78
135	September 12	@ Braves	1–0	Hallett (4–5)	Johnson	—		56–78
136	September 12	@ Braves	1–2	Wright	Strincevich (9–14)	—	3,822	56–79
137	September 13	@ Braves	4–2 (14)	Ostermueller (12–9)	Cooper	—		57–79
138	September 13	@ Braves	10–1	Bahr (8–5)	Lee	—	2,776	58–79
139	September 14	@ Braves	3–9	Sain	Gerheauser (2–2)	—	6,077	58–80
140	September 15	@ Phillies	5–6 (11)	Karl	Sewell (7–12)	—	14,279	58–81
141	September 16	@ Phillies	0–2	Raffensberger	Hallett (4–6)	—	19,247	58–82
142	September 18	@ Dodgers	3–2	Ostermueller (13–9)	Higbe	—		59–82
143	September 18	@ Dodgers	0–3	Branca	Heintzelman (8–12)	—	26,659	59–83
144	September 19	@ Dodgers	0–7	Gregg	Strincevich (9–15)	—	11,462	59–84
145	September 21	Reds	2–1 (13)	Hallett (5–6)	Gumbert	—	13,810	60–84
146	September 22	Reds	2–4	Beggs	Lanning (4–5)	—		60–85
147	September 22	Reds	5–6	Blackwell	Walsh (0–1)	Malloy	11,138	60–86
148	September 24	@ Cubs	3–13	Erickson	Ostermueller (13–10)	Chipman		60–87
149	September 24	@ Cubs	13–0 (8)	Sewell (8–12)	Lade	—	8,396	61–87
150	September 25	@ Cubs	6–5 (16)	Gables (2–4)	Lade	—	3,339	62–87
151	September 26	@ Cubs	3–5	Hanyzewski	Hallett (5–7)	Meyer	5,369	62–88
152	September 27	@ Reds	0–8	Beggs	Bahr (8–6)	—	1,120	62–89
153	September 28	@ Reds	10–3	Strincevich (10–15)	Blackwell	—	1,930	63–89
154	September 29	@ Reds	0–1	Vander Meer	Howard (0–1)	—		63–90
155	September 29	@ Reds	2–3	Hetki	Tate (0–1)	—	6,329	63–91

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Notable transactions

June 17, 1946: Frank Colman was purchased from the Pirates by the New York Yankees.[2]
September 25, 1946: The Pirates traded $35,000 to the Oakland Oaks for Wally Westlake. The Pirates completed the deal by sending Johnny Hutchings to the Oaks on December 5.[3]

Roster

1946 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

24 Ed Albosta

46 Ed Bahr

47 Bill Clemensen

45 Ken Gables

40 Al Gerheauser

26 Hank Gornicki

39 Jack Hallett

20 Ken Heintzelman

42 Jim Hopper

11 Lee Howard

25 Johnny Lanning

21 Fritz Ostermueller

29 Preacher Roe

30 Rip Sewell

22 Nick Strincevich

11,47 Al Tate

27 Junior Walsh

31 Lefty Wilkie

Catchers

44 Bill Baker

10 Hank Camelli

31 Roy Jarvis

12 Al López

1 Bill Salkeld

28 Vinnie Smith

Infielders

2 Jimmy Brown

5 Pete Coscarart

4 Billy Cox

15 Elbie Fletcher

16 Frankie Gustine

6 Lee Handley

9 Burgess Whitehead

14 Frankie Zak

Outfielders

18 Johnny Barrett

23 Frank Colman

8 Bob Elliott

3 Al Gionfriddo

49 Ben Guintini

43 Ralph Kiner

32 Jim Russell

7,19 Maurice Van Robays

41 Chuck Workman

Other batters

37 Alf Anderson

17 Vic Barnhart

Manager

36 Spud Davis

35 Frankie Frisch

Coaches

34 Del Bissonette

36 Spud Davis

33 Honus Wagner

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
SS	Billy Cox	121	411	119	.290	2	36

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
Frank Colman	26	53	9	.170	1	6

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

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
Ed Bahr	27	136.2	8	6	2.63	44
Ed Albosta	17	39.2	0	6	6.13	19

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
Hank Gornicki	7	0	0	0	3.55	4

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Hollywood Stars	Pacific Coast League	Buck Fausett and Jimmy Dykes
AA	Birmingham Barons	Southern Association	Frank Snyder
A	Albany Senators	Eastern League	Ripper Collins
B	York White Roses	Interstate League	Boom-Boom Beck
B	Anniston Rams	Southeastern League	Tommy West
B	Selma Cloverleafs	Southeastern League	Frank Oceak
B	Yakima Stars	Western International League	Spencer Harris and Harlond Clift
C	Oil City Oilers	Middle Atlantic League	Charles Muse and Charles Harig
D	Tallassee Indians	Georgia–Alabama League	Johnnie Heving
D	Tallahassee Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Art Doll
D	Bartlesville Owls	Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League	Keith Willoughby
D	Salisbury Pirates	North Carolina State League	Tuck McWilliams
D	Hornell Pirates	PONY League	Lou Briganti and Phil Seghi

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Anniston, Tallassee

References

From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
Frank Colman page at Baseball Reference
Wally Westlake page at Baseball Reference

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Frank Colman page at Baseball Reference

[3] Wally Westlake page at Baseball Reference

1946 MLB season by team
American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1946 All-Star Game 1946 World Series