1946 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1946 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1946 in baseball.

Sports season

1946 MLB season

League| Major League Baseball
Sport| Baseball
Duration| April 16 – October 15, 1946
Number of games| 154
Number of teams| 16
Regular season
Season MVP| AL: Ted Williams (BSR)
NL: Stan Musial (SLC)
AL champions| Boston Red Sox
AL runners-up| Detroit Tigers
NL champions| St. Louis Cardinals
NL runners-up| Brooklyn Dodgers
World Series
Champions| St. Louis Cardinals
Runners-up| Boston Red Sox
MLB seasons

← 1945

1947 →

The 1946 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 16 to October 15, 1946. The St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox were the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a best-of-three series, for the National League title. It was Major League Baseball's first-ever regular season tie-breaker. The Cardinals then defeated the Red Sox in the World Series, four games to three.

Many notable ballplayers returned from their military service this season, following the end of World War II, such as Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, and Ted Williams.

This was the last MLB season to be played under the color barrier, as Jackie Robinson would make his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers to start the following baseball season.

## Awards and honors[edit]

* Baseball Hall of Fame
* Sam Crawford
* Joe McCarthy
* MLB Most Valuable Player Award
* American League: Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox, OF
* National League: Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B
* The Sporting News Player of the Year Award
* Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals
* The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award
* Eddie Dyer, St. Louis Cardinals

## Standings[edit]

### American League[edit]

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American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road

|
|
|
|
|
|

Boston Red Sox | 104 | 50  | 0.675  | —  | 61–16  | 43–34
Detroit Tigers | 92 | 62  | 0.597  | 12  | 48–30  | 44–32
New York Yankees | 87 | 67  | 0.565  | 17  | 47–30  | 40–37
Washington Senators | 76 | 78  | 0.494  | 28  | 38–38  | 38–40
Chicago White Sox | 74 | 80  | 0.481  | 30  | 40–38  | 34–42
Cleveland Indians | 68 | 86  | 0.442  | 36  | 36–41  | 32–45
St. Louis Browns | 66 | 88  | 0.429  | 38  | 35–41  | 31–47
Philadelphia Athletics | 49 | 105  | 0.318  | 55  | 31–46  | 18–59

### National League[edit]

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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

* The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in best-of-three playoff series to earn the National League pennant.

## Postseason[edit]

### Bracket[edit]

| World Series |

|
|

|  |  |  |
| AL | Boston Red Sox | 3 |
| NL | St. Louis Cardinals | 4 |

## Managers[edit]

### American League[edit]

Team  | Manager  | Comments

|
|

Boston Red Sox | Joe Cronin | Won Pennant
Chicago White Sox | Jimmy Dykes and Ted Lyons |
Cleveland Indians | Lou Boudreau |
Detroit Tigers | Del Baker | Finished 2nd
New York Yankees | Joe McCarthy, Bill Dickey and Johnny Neun | Finished 3rd
Philadelphia Athletics | Connie Mack |
St. Louis Browns | Luke Sewell and Zack Taylor |
Washington Senators | Ossie Bluege |

### National League[edit]

Team  | Manager  | Comments

|
|

Boston Braves | Billy Southworth |
Brooklyn Dodgers | Leo Durocher | Finished 2nd, lost to Cardinals in playoff, 2-0
Chicago Cubs | Charlie Grimm | Finished 3rd
Cincinnati Reds | Bill McKechnie and Hank Gowdy |
New York Giants | Mel Ott |
Philadelphia Phillies | Ben Chapman |
Pittsburgh Pirates | Frankie Frisch and Spud Davis |
St. Louis Cardinals | Eddie Dyer | Won World Series

## Home field attendance[edit]

Team name  | Wins  | %± | Home attendance  | %± | Per game

|
|
|
|
|

New York Yankees[1] | 87  | 7.4%  | 2,265,512  | 156.9%  | 29,422
Brooklyn Dodgers[2] | 96  | 10.3%  | 1,796,824  | 69.6%  | 22,745
Detroit Tigers[3] | 92  | 4.5%  | 1,722,590  | 34.5%  | 21,805
Boston Red Sox[4] | 104  | 46.5%  | 1,416,944  | 134.7%  | 18,166
Chicago Cubs[5] | 82  | -16.3%  | 1,342,970  | 29.6%  | 17,441
New York Giants[6] | 61  | -21.8%  | 1,219,873  | 20.0%  | 15,843
St. Louis Cardinals[7] | 98  | 3.2%  | 1,061,807  | 78.6%  | 13,613
Cleveland Indians[8] | 68  | -6.8%  | 1,057,289  | 89.4%  | 13,731
Philadelphia Phillies[9] | 69  | 50.0%  | 1,045,247  | 266.7%  | 13,401
Washington Senators[10] | 76  | -12.6%  | 1,027,216  | 57.4%  | 13,516
Chicago White Sox[11] | 74  | 4.2%  | 983,403  | 49.5%  | 12,448
Boston Braves[12] | 81  | 20.9%  | 969,673  | 159.1%  | 12,593
Pittsburgh Pirates[13] | 63  | -23.2%  | 749,962  | 24.0%  | 9,615
Cincinnati Reds[14] | 67  | 9.8%  | 715,751  | 146.8%  | 9,295
Philadelphia Athletics[15] | 49  | -5.8%  | 621,793  | 34.4%  | 7,972
St. Louis Browns[16] | 66  | -18.5%  | 526,435  | 9.0%  | 6,837

## Events[edit]

* May 18 – The Chicago Cubs become the first team in Major League history to score six runs in the first and ninth innings of a game, when defeating the New York Giants 19–3.[17]
* June 9 – Mel Ott of the New York Giants is the first manager to be ejected from both games of a doubleheader, when the Giants lose both games to the Pittsburgh Pirates.[18]

## See also[edit]

* 1946 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season
* 1946 Japanese Baseball League season

## References[edit]

1. ^ "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
2. ^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
3. ^ "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
4. ^ "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
5. ^ "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
6. ^ "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
7. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
8. ^ "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
9. ^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
10. ^ "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
11. ^ "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
12. ^ "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
13. ^ "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
14. ^ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
15. ^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
16. ^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
17. ^ "Elias Says..." ESPN.com. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
18. ^ Pellowski, Michael J (2007). The Little Giant Book of Baseball Facts. United States: Sterling Publishing Co. pp. 352. ISBN 9781402742736.

## Further reading[edit]

* Weintraub, Robert (2013) The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age. New York: Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 978-0-316-20591-7.

## External links[edit]

* 1946 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference

* v
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* e

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

* v
* t
* e

Major League Baseball seasons

Pre-modern era|

| Beginnings|

* 1876
* 1877
* 1878
* 1879
* 1880
* 1881

|

Competition|

* 1882
* 1883
* 1884
* 1885
* 1886
* 1887
* 1888
* 1889
* 1890
* 1891

NL monopoly|

* 1892
* 1893
* 1894
* 1895
* 1896
* 1897
* 1898
* 1899
* 1900

Modern era|

| Dead-ball era|

* 1901
* 1902
* 1903
* 1904
* 1905
* 1906
* 1907
* 1908
* 1909
* 1910
* 1911
* 1912
* 1913
* 1914
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917
* 1918
* 1919
* 1920

|

Live-ball era|

* 1921
* 1922
* 1923
* 1924
* 1925
* 1926
* 1927
* 1928
* 1929
* 1930
* 1931
* 1932
* 1933
* 1934
* 1935
* 1936
* 1937
* 1938
* 1939
* 1940
* 1941

World War II|

* 1942
* 1943
* 1944
* 1945

Post-war and integration|

* 1946
* 1947
* 1948
* 1949
* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1954
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957
* 1958
* 1959
* 1960

First expansion|

* 1961
* 1962
* 1963
* 1964
* 1965
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968

Birth of division play|

* 1969
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1974
* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979
* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993

Wild Card begins|

* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011

Wild Card expansion|

* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022

Pitch clock era|

* 2023
* 2024
* 2025

See also|

* Major League Baseball schedule
* Major League Baseball

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*[v]: View this template
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*[%±]: Percent change
*[Per game]: Average home attendance per game