1945 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1945 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1945 in baseball.

The 1945 Major League Baseball season. There were only 16 teams, eight in both the American League and the National League respectively.

Awards and honors

The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award went to Detroit Tigers third baseman Eddie Mayo; however, following a post-season vote the official AL MVP Award was given to fellow Detroit Tiger Hal Newhouser, a pitcher.[1][2] Newhouser ended the season with an ERA of 1.81, a record of 25 wins and 9 losses, and 212 strikeouts.[2] Both of them helped lead the Detroit Tigers to a World Series win, and Newhouser remarked that Eddie Mayo was the driving force behind the 1945 pennant chase and that Mayo was a "take-charge kind of guy in our field."[1]

The NL Most Valuable Player Award went to Chicago Cubs first baseman and outfielder Phil Cavarretta.[3] He ended the season with an impressive batting average of .355 and an on-base-percentage of .455.[4] The second-place finisher was Boston Braves player Tommy Holmes who finished the season with a batting average of .352 and an impressive slugging percentage of .577.[3]

Hal Newhouser won the pitching Triple Crown in addition to the official AL MVP Award.[5] To win this award you have to lead the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA.

There was no hitter that was awarded the Triple Crown, which entails leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.[5]

There were nine players and one manager inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during the year 1945.[6] The players were: Jim O'Rourke, King Kelly, Hughie Jennings, Hugh Duffy, Ed Delahanty, Jimmy Collins, Fred Clarke, Dan Brouthers, and Roger Bresnahan.[6] Wilbert Robinson was the manager that was inducted in the Hall of Fame.[6]

Statistical leaders

  American League National League
Type Name Stat Name Stat
AVG S. Stirnweiss .309 P. Cavaretta .355
HR V. Stephens 24 T. Holmes 28
RBI N. Etten 111 D. Walker 124
Wins H. Newhouser 25 R. Barrett 23
ERA H. Newhouser 1.81 R. Prim 2.40
Ks H. Newhouser 212 P. Roe 148

Major league baseball final standings

American League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
1 Detroit Tigers 88 65 .575 –
2 Washington Senators 87 67 .565 1.5
3 St. Louis Browns 81 70 .536 6
4 New York Yankees 81 71 .533 6.5
5 Cleveland Indians 73 72 .503 11
6 Chicago White Sox 71 78 .477 15
7 Boston Red Sox 71 83 .461 17.5
8 Philadelphia Athletics 52 98 .347 34.5
National League
Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB
1 Chicago Cubs 98 56 .636
2 St. Louis Cardinals 95 59 .617 3
3 Brooklyn Dodgers 87 67 .565 11
4 Pittsburgh Pirates 82 72 .532 16
5 New York Giants 78 74 .513 19
6 Boston Braves 67 85 .441 30
7 Cincinnati Reds 61 93 .396 37
8 Philadelphia Phillies 46 108 .299 52

Events

World Series

The World Series was between the Detroit Tigers (88-65) and the Chicago Cubs (98-56), and the series went 4-3 in favor of the Detroit Tigers.[7] Hal Newhouser, the official AL MVP of this year, pitched three of the games. He was the losing pitcher Game 1 of the Series, but was the winning pitcher in Game 5 and the pivotal Game 7. In Game 7, the Detroit Tigers gave Newhouser an early lead to work with by scoring five runs in the first inning. The Chicago Cubs would use six pitchers throughout the game while Newhouser pitched a complete game only allowing three runs, which led to a 9-3 Detroit Tigers victory thus clinching the 1945 World Series title.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Eddie Mayo, Sporting News '45 AL MVP Dies". PRWeb. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  2. 1 2 "1945 Awards Voting | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  3. 1 2 "Tommy Holmes Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  4. ↑ "Phil Cavarretta Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  5. 1 2 "MLB Triple Crown Winners | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  6. 1 2 3 "MLB Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  7. 1 2 "1945 World Series - Detroit Tigers over Chicago Cubs (4-3) | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
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