# 1948 Boston Red Sox season

The 1948 Boston Red Sox season was the 48th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. After 154 regular-season games, the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians finished atop the American League with identical records of 96 wins and 58 losses. The teams then played a tie-breaker game, which was won by Cleveland, 8–3. Thus, the Red Sox finished their season with a record of 96 wins and 59 losses, one game behind Cleveland.
This was the first Red Sox season to be broadcast on television, with broadcasts alternated between WBZ-TV and WNAC-TV, with the same broadcast team regardless of broadcasting station. The first Red Sox game to be broadcast on television was on July 2, 1948, a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics.

## Offseason

In December 1947, the Red Sox made a deal with the St. Louis Browns. The Sox acquired Vern Stephens, Billy Hitchcock, and pitchers Jack Kramer and Ellis Kinder. The deal cost $375,000 and 11 Red Sox players.

### Notable transactions

* Prior to 1948 season (exact date unknown)
** Milt Bolling was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.
** Bob Smith was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.

## Regular season

In 1948, Kramer led the American League in winning percentage. The manager of the team was former New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, who replaced the outgoing Joe Cronin. Cronin had led the Red Sox to an 83–71 record in 1947, finishing in third place.
Throughout 1948, the Sox, New York Yankees, and the Cleveland Indians slugged it out for the pennant. At the end of the regular season, Boston and Cleveland were tied for first place. Each team had a record of 96 wins and 58 losses, two games ahead of the Yankees.

### American League Playoff

At the end of the season, the Red Sox and the Indians were tied for first place. This led to the American League's first-ever one-game playoff. The game was played at Fenway Park on Monday, October 4, 1948. The start time was 1:15 pm EST.
McCarthy picked former St. Louis Browns pitcher Denny Galehouse, who had an 8–7 pitching record, to be his starter. According to Mel Parnell, McCarthy chose Galehouse on the basis that he pitched well in relief against the Indians in Cleveland, whilst Billy Hitchcock reasoned that McCarthy chose Galehouse on the grounds that Galehouse's slider would keep Cleveland's right-handed hitters away from Fenway's left-field wall.
The Indians won the game by the score of 8–3. Indians third baseman Ken Keltner contributed to the victory with his single, double, and 3-run homer over the Green Monster in the 4th inning. Later, McCarthy said he had no rested arms and that there was no else who could pitch. Mel Parnell and Ellis Kinder claimed that they were both ready to pitch.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cleveland Indians | 97 | 58 | .626 | — | 48‍–‍30 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Boston Red Sox | 96 | 59 | .619 | 1 | 55‍–‍23 | 41‍–‍36 |
| New York Yankees | 94 | 60 | .610 | 2½ | 50‍–‍27 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 84 | 70 | .545 | 12½ | 36‍–‍41 | 48‍–‍29 |
| Detroit Tigers | 78 | 76 | .506 | 18½ | 39‍–‍38 | 39‍–‍38 |
| St. Louis Browns | 59 | 94 | .386 | 37 | 34‍–‍42 | 25‍–‍52 |
| Washington Senators | 56 | 97 | .366 | 40 | 29‍–‍48 | 27‍–‍49 |
| Chicago White Sox | 51 | 101 | .336 | 44½ | 27‍–‍48 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1948 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 14–8 | 11–12 | 15–7 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 15–7 |
| Chicago | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 6–16 | 8–13–1 | 9–12–1 |
| Cleveland | 12–11 | 16–6 | — | 13–9 | 10–12 | 16–6 | 14–8–1 | 16–6 |
| Detroit | 7–15 | 14–8 | 9–13 | — | 9–13 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 16–6 |
| New York | 8–14 | 16–6 | 12–10 | 13–9 | — | 12–10 | 16–6 | 17–5 |
| Philadelphia | 10–12 | 16–6 | 6–16 | 10–12 | 10–12 | — | 18–4 | 14–8 |
| St. Louis | 7–15 | 13–8–1 | 8–14–1 | 11–11 | 6–16 | 4–18 | — | 10–12 |
| Washington | 7–15 | 12–9–1 | 6–16 | 6–16 | 5–17 | 8–14 | 12–10 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

| 7 | Dom DiMaggio | CF |
| 6 | Johnny Pesky | 3B |
| 9 | Ted Williams | LF |
| 2 | Stan Spence | 1B |
| 5 | Vern Stephens | SS |
| 1 | Bobby Doerr | 2B |
| 4 | Sam Mele | RF |
| 8 | Birdie Tebbetts | C |
| 15 | Joe Dobson | P |

### Roster
## 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 | Birdie Tebbetts | 128 | 446 | 125 | .280 | 5 | 68 |
| 1B | Billy Goodman | 127 | 445 | 138 | .310 | 1 | 66 |
| 2B | Bobby Doerr | 140 | 527 | 150 | .285 | 27 | 111 |
| SS | Vern Stephens | 155 | 635 | 171 | .285 | 29 | 137 |
| 3B | Johnny Pesky | 143 | 565 | 159 | .281 | 3 | 55 |
| OF | Ted Williams | 137 | 509 | 188 | .369 | 25 | 127 |
| OF | Stan Spence | 114 | 391 | 92 | .235 | 12 | 61 |
| OF | Dom DiMaggio | 155 | 648 | 185 | .285 | 9 | 87 |

#### 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 |
| Wally Moses | 78 | 189 | 49 | .259 | 2 | 29 |
| Sam Mele | 66 | 180 | 42 | .233 | 2 | 25 |
| Billy Hitchcock | 49 | 124 | 37 | .298 | 1 | 2 |
| Matt Batts | 46 | 118 | 37 | .314 | 1 | 24 |
| Jake Jones | 36 | 105 | 21 | .200 | 1 | 8 |
| Lou Stringer | 4 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 1 | 1 |
| Babe Martin | 4 | 4 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom Wright | 3 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
| Neill Sheridan | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnny Ostrowski | 1 | 1 | 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 |
| Joe Dobson | 38 | 245.1 | 16 | 10 | 3.56 | 116 |
| Mel Parnell | 35 | 212.0 | 15 | 8 | 3.14 | 77 |
| Jack Kramer | 29 | 205.0 | 18 | 5 | 4.35 | 72 |
| Ellis Kinder | 28 | 178.0 | 10 | 7 | 3.74 | 53 |
| Mickey Harris | 20 | 113.2 | 7 | 10 | 5.30 | 42 |
| Windy McCall | 1 | 1.1 | 0 | 1 | 20.25 | 0 |

#### 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 |
| Denny Galehouse | 27 | 137.1 | 8 | 8 | 4.00 | 38 |
| Dave Ferriss | 31 | 115.1 | 7 | 3 | 5.23 | 30 |

#### 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 |
| Earl Johnson | 35 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 4.53 | 45 |
| Tex Hughson | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5.12 | 6 |
| Harry Dorish | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.65 | 5 |
| Earl Caldwell | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13.00 | 5 |
| Mickey McDermott | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.17 | 17 |
| Chuck Stobbs | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.43 | 4 |
| Cot Deal | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Mike Palm | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Louisville Colonels | American Association | Nemo Leibold and Owen Scheetz |
| AA | Birmingham Barons | Southern Association | Fred Walters |
| A | Scranton Red Sox | Eastern League | Mike Ryba |
| B | Lynn Red Sox | New England League | Eddie Popowski |
| B | Roanoke Red Sox | Piedmont League | Pinky Higgins |
| C | El Paso Texans | Arizona–Texas League | Wally Millies |
| C | Auburn Cayugas | Border League | Phillip "Barnie" Hearn |
| C | San Jose Red Sox | California League | Marv Owen |
| C | Oneonta Red Sox | Canadian–American League | Red Marion |
| D | Milford Red Sox | Eastern Shore League | Clayton Sheedy |
| D | Oroville Red Sox | Far West League | Nino Bongiovanni |
| D | Valley Rebels | Georgia–Alabama League | Jesse Danna |
| D | Wellsville Red Sox | PONY League | Tom Carey |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Birmingham, Scranton, Oneonta, Milford
Source:$^{:426}$