1946 Cleveland Indians season

In 1946, Bill Veeck finally became the owner of a major league team, the Cleveland Indians. He immediately put the team's games on radio, and set about to put his own indelible stamp on the franchise. Actor Bob Hope also acquired a minority share of the Indians.[1]

1946 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
League Park (Since 1901) Cleveland Municipal Stadium (since 1932) Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Alva Bradley, Bill Veeck
General manager(s)	Roger Peckinpaugh, Bill Veeck
Manager(s)	Lou Boudreau
Local radio	WGAR (AM) · WHK · WJW · WTAM (Jack Graney, Bob Neal, Earl Harper, Don Campbell, Tom Manning)
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Offseason

• Prior to 1946 season: Al Aber was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.[2]

Regular season

During the season, Bob Feller became the last pitcher to win at least 25 games in one season for the Indians in the 20th century.[3]

Season standings

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

Record vs. opponents

1946 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	13–9	15–7	15–7–1	14–8	17–5	14–8–1	16–6
Chicago	9–13	—	13–9–1	10–12	8–14	12–10	12–10	10–12
Cleveland	7–15	9–13–1	—	5–17	10–12	15–7	15–7–1	7–15
Detroit	7–15–1	12–10	17–5	—	13–9	17–5	14–8	12–10
New York	8–14	14–8	12–10	9–13	—	16–6	14–8	14–8
Philadelphia	5–17	10–12	7–15	5–17	6–16	—	10–12	6–16–1
St. Louis	8–14–1	10–12	7–15–1	8–14	8–14	12–10	—	13–9
Washington	6–16	12–10	15–7	10–12	8–14	16–6–1	9–13	—

Notable transactions

• June 26, 1946: Mickey Rocco and cash were traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Heinz Becker.[4]
• July 4, 1946: The Indians traded a player to be named later to the Chicago White Sox for Tom Jordan. The Indians completed the deal by sending Frankie Hayes to the White Sox on July 15.[5]

Roster

1946 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 22 Joe Berry 35 Don Black 29 Pete Center 36 Red Embree 19 Bob Feller 26 Tom Ferrick 45 Ray Flanigan 31 Charlie Gassaway 25 Steve Gromek 18 Mel Harder 22 Vic Johnson 33 Ed Klieman 30 Joe Krakauskas 20 Bob Kuzava  6 Bob Lemon 33 Ralph McCabe 31 Johnny Podgajny 21 Allie Reynolds 33 Les Webber		Catchers 11 Frankie Hayes 14 Jim Hegan 26 Tom Jordan 12 Sherm Lollar 42 Ralph Weigel Infielders 15 Heinz Becker  5 Lou Boudreau 20 Charlie Brewster  4 Jack Conway  8 Les Fleming  9 Ken Keltner  3 Dutch Meyer 40 Howie Moss 12 Rusty Peters  9 Jackie Price 34 Eddie Robinson 10 Mickey Rocco  1 Don Ross 39 Ted Sepkowski 10 Jimmy Wasdell		Outfielders 15,7 George Case 32 Hank Edwards 17 Felix Mackiewicz 24 Buster Mills 46 Dale Mitchell 23 Pat Seerey 16 Gene Woodling Other batters  7 Blas Monaco		Manager  5 Lou Boudreau Coaches 27 Ski Melillo 24 Buster Mills 28 George Susce

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
C	Jim Hegan	88	271	64	.236	0	17
1B	Les Fleming	99	306	85	.278	8	42
2B	Dutch Meyer	72	207	48	.232	0	16
SS	Lou Boudreau	140	515	151	.293	6	62
3B	Ken Keltner	116	398	96	.241	13	45
OF	Pat Seerey	117	404	91	.225	26	62
OF	Hank Edwards	124	458	138	.301	10	54
OF	George Case	118	484	109	.225	1	22

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
Jack Conway	68	258	58	.225	0	18
Felix Mackiewicz	78	258	67	.260	0	16
Ray Mack	61	171	35	.205	1	9
Frankie Hayes	51	156	40	.256	3	18
Don Ross	55	153	41	.268	3	14
Heinz Becker	50	147	44	.299	0	17
Gene Woodling	61	133	25	.188	0	9
Mickey Rocco	34	98	24	.245	2	14
Bob Lemon	55	89	16	.180	1	4
Sherm Lollar	28	62	15	.242	1	9
Jimmy Wasdell	32	41	11	.268	0	4
Dale Mitchell	11	44	19	.432	0	5
Tom Jordan	14	35	7	.200	1	3
Howie Moss	8	32	2	.063	0	0
Eddie Robinson	8	30	12	.400	3	4
Buster Mills	9	22	6	.273	0	3
Rusty Peters	9	21	6	.286	0	2
Jackie Price	7	13	3	.231	0	0
Ralph Weigel	6	12	2	.167	0	0
Ted Sopkowski	2	8	4	.500	0	1
Blas Monaco	12	6	0	.000	0	0
Charlie Brewster	3	2	0	.000	0	0

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
Bob Feller	48	371.1	26	15	2.18	348
Red Embree	28	200.0	8	12	3.47	87
Allie Reynolds	31	183.1	11	15	3.88	107
Steve Gromek	29	153.2	5	15	4.33	75
Mel Harder	13	92.1	5	4	3.41	21

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
Charlie Gassaway	13	50.2	1	1	3.91	23
Don Black	18	43.2	1	2	4.53	15
Ed Klieman	9	15.0	0	0	6.60	2
Vic Johnson	9	13.2	0	1	9.22	3
Bob Kuzava	2	12.0	1	0	3.00	4
Ray Flanigan	3	9.0	0	1	11.00	2
Johnny Podgajny	6	9.00	0	0	5.00	4
Les Webber	4	5.1	1	1	23.63	5
Ralph McCabe	1	4.0	0	1	11.25	3

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
Bob Lemon	32	4	5	1	2.49	39
Joe Krakauskas	29	2	5	1	5.51	20
Joe Berry	21	3	6	1	3.38	16
Pete Center	21	0	2	1	4.97	6
Tom Ferrick	9	0	0	1	5.00	9

Awards and honors

• Bob Feller, Led American League with 36 complete games (it would also be the highest total in the decade)[6]

All-Star Game

Bob Feller, Pitcher (starter)

Frankie Hayes, Catcher (starter)

Ken Keltner, Third baseman (starter)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Baltimore Orioles	International League	Alphonse "Tommy" Thomas
AA	Oklahoma City Indians	Texas League	Roy Schalk
A	Wilkes-Barre Barons	Eastern League	Dick Porter
B	Harrisburg Senators	Interstate League	Les Bell
C	Bakersfield Indians	California League	Martin Metrovich and Tony Governor
C	Pittsfield Electrics	Canadian–American League	Tony Rensa
C	Clovis Pioneers	West Texas–New Mexico League	Harold Webb
D	Centreville Orioles	Eastern Shore League	Jim McLeod
D	Dayton Indians	Ohio State League	Frank Parenti and Ival Goodman
D	Batavia Clippers	PONY League	Jack Tighe
D	Appleton Papermakers	Wisconsin State League	Ray Powell

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg, Centreville, Batavia[7]

Notes

1. http://www.cleveland.com/homegrown/index.ssf?/homegrown/more/hope/allroads.html Archived June 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
2. Al Aber at Baseball Reference
3. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
4. Mickey Rocco at Baseball-Reference
5. Frankie Hayes at Baseball-Reference
6. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.105, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 1946 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Reference
• 1946 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Almanac