From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1946 Boston Braves season

Field	Value
name	Boston Braves
season	1946
league	National League
ballpark	Braves Field
city	Boston, Massachusetts
record	81–72 (.529)
league_place	4th
owners	Louis R. Perini
general_managers	John J. Quinn
managers	Billy Southworth
radio	WNAC
(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey)

(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey) |}} The 1946 Boston Braves season was the 76th in the history of the Major League Baseball franchise, and its 71st season as a charter member of the National League. In finishing 81–72 (.529) and in fourth place, the Braves enjoyed their most successful year since 1933, and signaled the post-World War II renaissance of the franchise under its new ownership group, headed by Louis R. Perini, and its Baseball Hall of Fame manager, Billy Southworth, in his first year at the Boston helm after departing the St. Louis Cardinals. The 1946 team set a new club record for attendance, with 969,373 paying fans passing through Braves Field's turnstiles; it would break that record in .

Regular season

The Braves' home schedule began on an inauspicious note April 16. Perini and his partners had invested $500,000 in refurbishing Braves Field, installing lights for night baseball and applying a fresh coat of green paint to the wooden grandstands. But colder than expected April weather foiled their plans. The club's home opener, against the Brooklyn Dodgers, attracted 19,482 fans, who witnessed a 5–3 Boston victory. However, some 13,000 of those fans were dismayed to discover that their clothing was smeared with green paint, still wet, from their grandstand seats. The seats eventually dried out, as the Braves went on an early-season road trip punctuated by a Sunday doubleheader played at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox of the American League.

On the other hand, the first-ever major-league night game to be played in the city of Boston, on May 11 against the New York Giants, was an off-field success. The contest, on a Saturday night, drew 37,407 fans to Braves Field—the team's largest crowd since 1933—with the home side sporting satin uniforms, specially designed to glow under the arc lights of night baseball. On the field, however, the Giants' Monte Kennedy outpitched Boston's Johnny Sain, 5–1. Later in 1946, during an extended road trip, Braves Field will see further changes when its playing surface is lowered to improve sight lines.

His May 11 setback notwithstanding, Sain was the Braves' leading pitcher, winning 20 games and posting a superb 2.21 earned run average, second-best in the National League. Although a poor May and June doomed their pennant chances, a strong 36–23 mark during August and September enabled the Braves to claim the final spot in the first division, only one game out of third place.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster

1946 Boston Braves
Roster
Pitchers

Player stats

Batting

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	Phil Masi	133	397	106	.267	3	62
1B	Ray Sanders	80	259	63	.243	6	35
2B	Connie Ryan	143	502	121	.241	1	48
SS	Dick Culler	134	482	123	.255	0	33
3B		115	372	95	.255	2	42
OF	Carden Gillenwater	99	224	51	.228	1	14
OF	Bama Rowell	95	293	82	.280	3	31
OF	Tommy Holmes	149	568	176	.310	6	79

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
Johnny Hopp	129	445	148	.333	3	48
Billy Herman	75	252	77	.306	3	22
Danny Litwhiler	79	247	72	.291	8	38
Skippy Roberge	48	169	39	.231	2	20
	59	164	43	.262	1	16
Don Padgett	44	98	25	.255	2	21
Whitey Wietelmann	44	78	16	.205	0	5
Stew Hofferth	20	58	12	.207	0	10
Chuck Workman	25	48	8	.167	2	7
Tommy Neill	13	45	12	.267	0	7
Johnny Barrett	24	43	10	.233	0	6
Ken O'Dea	12	32	7	.219	0	2
	15	13	3	.231	0	1
Johnny McCarthy	2	7	1	.143	0	1
Hugh Poland	4	6	1	.167	0	0
Bob Brady	3	5	1	.200	0	0
	2	2	1	.500	0	0
Ducky Detweiler	1	1	0	.000	0	0
Max West	1	1	0	.000	0	0
Sibby Sisti	1	0	0	----	0	0

Pitching

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
Johnny Sain	37	265.0	20	14	2.21	129
	28	199.0	13	11	3.12	83
	25	140.0	10	9	4.18	32
Warren Spahn	24	125.2	8	5	2.94	67
Johnny Niggeling	8	58.0	2	5	3.26	24
Johnny Hutchings	1	3.0	0	1	9.00	1

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 Wright	36	176.1	12	9	3.52	44
Si Johnson	28	127.0	6	5	2.76	41
Lefty Wallace	27	75.1	3	3	4.18	27
Al Javery	2	3.1	0	1	13.50	0

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
Bill Posedel	19	2	0	4	6.99	9
	23	2	4	1	5.09	12
Elmer Singleton	15	0	1	1	3.74	17
Steve Roser	14	1	1	1	3.60	18
Ernie White	12	0	1	0	4.18	8
Jim Konstanty	10	0	1	0	5.28	9
Dick Mulligan	4	1	0	0	2.35	4
Whitey Wietelmann	3	0	0	0	8.10	2
Earl Reid	2	1	0	0	3.00	2
Don Hendrickson	2	0	1	0	4.50	2
Ace Williams	1	0	0	0	----	0

Farm system

Notes

References

1946 Boston Braves at Baseball Reference

References

[https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-16-1946-the-wearing-of-the-green-at-braves-opening-day/ Brady, Bob, ''April 16, 1946: The 'wearing of the green' at Braves' Opening Day,''] [[Society for American Baseball Research]]
[https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-11-1946-braves-field-hosts-its-first-game-under-the-lights/ Wisnia, Saul, ''May 11, 1946: Braves Field hosts its first game under the lights,''] [[Society for American Baseball Research]]
[[Retrosheet]] [https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1946/B05110BSN1946.htm box score (11 May 1946): "New York Giants 5, Boston Braves 1"]
"1946 Boston Braves Batting and Pitching Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball''. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

boston-braves-seasons 1946-major-league-baseball-season 1946-in-sports-in-massachusetts 1940s-in-boston

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1946 Boston Braves season — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report