1946 Washington Senators season

The 1946 Washington Senators of Major League Baseball won 76 games, lost 78, and finished in fourth place in the American League. The 46th edition of the franchise was managed by Ossie Bluege and played its home games at Griffith Stadium, where it drew 1,027,216 fans,^[1] fifth in the league and tenth-most among the 16 MLB clubs. It was the only time the franchise would exceed one million in home attendance in its 60 years in Washington. In addition, its fourth-place standing represented the highest, and last "first-division", finish for the team during its final 15 seasons in the U.S. capital.

1946 Washington Senators
League	American League
Ballpark	Griffith Stadium
City	Washington, D.C.
Owners	Clark Griffith and George H. Richardson
Managers	Ossie Bluege
Radio	WWDC (FM)/WPIX (Arch McDonald, Stan Stoller)
← 1945 Seasons 1947 →

Offseason

• Prior to 1946 season: Dick Weik was signed as an amateur free agent by the Senators.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e 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 record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	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

• April 12, 1946: Jug Thesenga was released by the Senators.^[3]
• June 15, 1946: Jeff Heath was traded by the Senators to the St. Louis Browns for Joe Grace and Al LaMacchia.^[4]

Roster

1946 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers 18 Milo Candini 36 Vern Curtis 10 Mickey Haefner 14,18 Sid Hudson 20,38 Bill Kennedy 38 Al LaMacchia 16 Dutch Leonard 23,35 Walt Masterson 00 Bobo Newsom 12 Johnny Niggeling 15 Marino Pieretti 21 Ray Scarborough 34,44 Jake Wade 19,20 Max Wilson 17 Roger Wolff 26 Early Wynn		Catchers  8 Jake Early 11 Al Evans  9 Mike Guerra Infielders 27,55 Billy Hitchcock 26 Joe Kuhel 24 George Myatt  6 Jerry Priddy  1 Sherry Robertson 27 Jack Sanford 25 Gil Torres  7 Cecil Travis  4 Mickey Vernon 28 Eddie Yost		Outfielders 23 George Binks 22 Gil Coan 39 Ray Goolsby 19 Joe Grace  3 Jeff Heath  2 Buddy Lewis  5 Stan Spence		Manager 30 Ossie Bluege Coaches 33 Nick Altrock 37 Rick Ferrell 29 Joe Fitzgerald 38 Joe Judge 31 Clyde Milan 34 Bert Shepard

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	Al Evans	88	272	69	.254	2	30
1B	Mickey Vernon	148	587	207	.353	8	85
2B	Jerry Priddy	138	511	130	.254	6	58
SS	Cecil Travis	137	465	117	.252	1	56
3B	Billy Hitchcock	98	354	75	.212	0	25
OF	Joe Grace	77	321	97	.302	2	31
OF	Stan Spence	152	578	169	.292	16	87
OF	Buddy Lewis	150	582	170	.292	7	45

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
Sherry Robertson	74	230	46	.200	6	19
Jake Early	64	189	38	.201	4	18
Gil Torres	63	185	47	.254	0	13
Jeff Heath	48	166	47	.283	4	27
Gil Coan	59	134	28	.209	3	9
George Binks	65	134	26	.194	0	12
Mike Guerra	41	83	21	.253	0	4
George Myatt	15	34	8	.235	0	4
Jack Sanford	10	28	6	.214	0	1
Eddie Yost	8	25	2	.080	0	1
Joe Kuhel	14	20	3	.150	0	2
Ray Goolsby	3	4	0	.000	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
Mickey Haefner	33	227.2	14	11	2.85	85
Bobo Newsom	24	178.0	11	8	2.78	82
Dutch Leonard	26	161.2	10	10	3.56	62
Roger Wolff	21	122.0	5	8	2.58	50
Early Wynn	17	107.0	8	5	3.11	36
Johnny Niggeling	8	38.0	3	2	4.03	10

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
Ray Scarborough	32	155.2	7	11	4.05	46
Sid Hudson	31	142.2	8	11	3.60	35
Walt Masterson	29	91.1	5	6	6.01	61

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 Kennedy	21	1	2	3	6.00	18
Marino Pieretti	30	2	2	0	5.95	20
Vern Curtis	11	0	0	0	7.16	7
Milo Candini	9	2	0	1	2.08	6
Max Wilson	9	0	1	0	7.11	8
Jake Wade	6	0	0	0	4.76	9
Gil Torres	3	0	0	1	7.71	2
Al LaMacchia	2	0	1	0	16.88	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Chattanooga Lookouts	Southern Association	Bert Niehoff
B	Pensacola Fliers	Southeastern League	Bill McGhee
B	Charlotte Hornets	Tri-State League	Spencer Abbott
D	Kingsport Cherokees	Appalachian League	Hobe Brummette and Red Mincy
D	Orlando Senators	Florida State League	Ed Madjeski

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Orlando^[5]

References

1. Baseball Reference: 1946 MLB Attendance & Team Age
2. Dick Weik at Baseball-Reference
3. Jug Thesenga at Baseball-Reference
4. Joe Grace at Baseball-Reference
5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links

• 1946 Washington Senators at Baseball-Reference
• 1946 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com