# 1945 Boston Braves season

The 1945 Boston Braves season was the 75th season of the franchise.
Tommy Holmes had a career year, with 28 home runs, 117 RBI, and a .352 batting average. He led his team in every offensive category except walks. Holmes led the National League in hits (224), doubles (47), home runs (28), total bases (367), slugging percentage (.577) and on-base plus slugging (.997). He finished second in the NL in RBI and batting average. Holmes also put up a 37-game hitting streak this season, lasting from June 6 to July 8, recording a .423 batting average (66-for-156) with 9 home runs and 41 RBI. His hitting-streak record held for 33 years until 1978, when Pete Rose put together a 44-game hitting streak.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Chicago Cubs | 98 | 56 | .636 | — | 49‍–‍26 | 49‍–‍30 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 95 | 59 | .617 | 3 | 48‍–‍29 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 87 | 67 | .565 | 11 | 48‍–‍30 | 39‍–‍37 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 82 | 72 | .532 | 16 | 45‍–‍34 | 37‍–‍38 |
| New York Giants | 78 | 74 | .513 | 19 | 47‍–‍30 | 31‍–‍44 |
| Boston Braves | 67 | 85 | .441 | 30 | 36‍–‍38 | 31‍–‍47 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 61 | 93 | .396 | 37 | 36‍–‍41 | 25‍–‍52 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 46 | 108 | .299 | 52 | 22‍–‍55 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1945 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 9–13–1 | 7–15 | 10–12 | 10–10–2 | 14–8 | 7–15 | 10–12 |
| Brooklyn | 13–9–1 | — | 8–14–1 | 11–11 | 15–7 | 19–3 | 12–10 | 9–13 |
| Chicago | 15–7 | 14–8–1 | — | 21–1 | 11–11 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 6–16 |
| Cincinnati | 12–10 | 11–11 | 1–21 | — | 6–16 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 9–13 |
| New York | 10–10–2 | 7–15 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 17–5 | 11–11 | 6–16 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 3–19 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 5–17 | — | 6–16 | 9–13 |
| Pittsburgh | 15–7 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 10–12–1 |
| St. Louis | 12–10 | 13–9 | 16–6 | 13–9 | 16–6 | 13–9 | 12–10–1 | — |

### 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 | Phil Masi | 114 | 371 | 101 | .272 | 7 | 46 |
| 1B | Vince Shupe | 78 | 283 | 76 | .269 | 0 | 15 |
| 2B | Whitey Wietelmann | 123 | 428 | 116 | .271 | 4 | 33 |
| SS | Dick Culler | 136 | 527 | 138 | .262 | 2 | 30 |
| 3B | Chuck Workman | 139 | 514 | 141 | .274 | 25 | 87 |
| OF | Carden Gillenwater | 144 | 517 | 149 | .288 | 7 | 72 |
| OF | Tommy Holmes | 154 | 636 | 224 | .352 | 28 | 117 |
| OF | Butch Nieman | 97 | 247 | 61 | .247 | 14 | 56 |

#### 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 |
| Joe Mack | 66 | 260 | 60 | .231 | 3 | 44 |
| Joe Medwick | 66 | 218 | 62 | .284 | 0 | 26 |
| Stew Hofferth | 50 | 170 | 40 | .235 | 3 | 15 |
| Frank Drews | 49 | 147 | 30 | .204 | 0 | 19 |
| Eddie Joost | 35 | 141 | 35 | .248 | 0 | 9 |
| Bill Ramsey | 78 | 137 | 40 | .292 | 1 | 12 |
| Tommy Nelson | 40 | 121 | 20 | .165 | 0 | 6 |
| Morrie Aderholt | 31 | 102 | 34 | .333 | 2 | 11 |
| Clyde Kluttz | 25 | 81 | 24 | .296 | 0 | 10 |
| Steve Shemo | 17 | 46 | 11 | .239 | 0 | 7 |
| Stan Wentzel | 4 | 19 | 4 | .211 | 0 | 6 |
| Mike Ulicny | 11 | 18 | 7 | .389 | 1 | 4 |
| Norm Wallen | 4 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Jim Tobin | 27 | 196.2 | 9 | 14 | 3.84 | 38 |
| Bob Logan | 34 | 187.0 | 7 | 11 | 3.18 | 53 |
| Nate Andrews | 21 | 137.2 | 7 | 12 | 4.58 | 26 |
| Ed Wright | 15 | 111.1 | 8 | 3 | 2.51 | 24 |
| Bill Lee | 16 | 106.1 | 6 | 3 | 2.79 | 12 |
| Al Javery | 17 | 77.1 | 2 | 7 | 6.28 | 18 |
| Elmer Singleton | 7 | 37.1 | 1 | 4 | 4.82 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Hutchings | 57 | 185.0 | 7 | 6 | 3.75 | 99 |
| Mort Cooper | 20 | 78.0 | 7 | 4 | 3.35 | 45 |
| Tom Earley | 11 | 41.0 | 2 | 1 | 4.61 | 4 |
| Red Barrett | 9 | 38.0 | 2 | 3 | 4.74 | 13 |
| Lefty Wallace | 5 | 20.0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 4 |
| Bob Whitcher | 6 | 15.2 | 0 | 2 | 2.87 | 6 |
| Ewald Pyle | 4 | 13.2 | 0 | 1 | 7.24 | 10 |
| Lou Fette | 5 | 11.0 | 0 | 2 | 5.73 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Don Hendrickson | 37 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 4.91 | 14 |
| Ira Hutchinson | 11 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5.02 | 4 |
| Hal Schacker | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.28 | 6 |
| Charlie Cozart | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 4 |
| Joe Heving | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 1 |
| Ben Cardoni | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 5 |
| Whitey Wietelmann | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| A | Hartford Bees | Eastern League | Merle Settlemire |
| D | Mooresville Braves | North Carolina State League | Jack Quinlan |