# 1945 Washington Senators season

The 1945 Washington Senators won 87 games, lost 67, and finished in second place in the American League. They were managed by Ossie Bluege and played their home games at Griffith Stadium, where they drew 652,660 fans, fourth-most in the eight-team league. The 1945 Senators represented the 45th edition of the Major League Baseball franchise and were the last of the 20th-century Senators to place higher than fourth in the American League; the team moved to Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1961 to become the modern Minnesota Twins.
When the regular season ended on September 30, Washington trailed the pennant-winning Detroit Tigers (88–65) by 11⁄2 games. But because of World War II travel restrictions and the need to convert Griffith Stadium's playing field to host its autumn football tenants, the NFL Washington Redskins and Georgetown University, the Senators' 1945 schedule had actually ended seven days before, on Sunday, September 23. On that day, the "Griffs" stood one full game behind 86–64 Detroit. As the idle Senators waited, the Tigers had four games to play, two each against the fifth-place Cleveland Indians and third-place St. Louis Browns. After splitting against the Indians, Detroit was rained out for three days in St. Louis. When the Tigers defeated the Browns 6–3 in the first game of the doubleheader on September 30 (on a come-from-behind, grand slam home run by Hank Greenberg), the Senators were mathematically eliminated and Detroit clinched the pennant. The second game of the twin bill was rained out.
Outstanding pitching drove the 1945 Senators' success. Washington led the American League in team earned run average (2.92). Its starting rotation featured four knuckleball artists—Roger Wolff, Dutch Leonard, Johnny Niggeling and Mickey Haefner—who combined for 60 victories. Wolff and Leonard posted sterling 2.12 and 2.13 earned run averages, third and fourth in the league.

## Regular season

* August 4, 1945: Amputee and World War II veteran Bert Shepard pitches in an official American League game against the Boston Red Sox. Shepard, a United States Army Air Forces fighter pilot who lost his right leg 11 inches below the knee when his plane was shot down over Germany on May 21, 1944, was fitted with an artificial leg. In spring 1945, the Senators signed the former minor league hurler as a coach and batting practice pitcher and activated him in August. Called into a one-sided contest in the second game of a doubleheader at Griffith Stadium on August 4, Shepard gave up only one run in 5+1⁄3 innings while striking out two Red Sox batters.
* September 7, 1945: Washington first baseman Joe Kuhel homers off the Browns' Bob Muncrief to provide the winning margin in a 3–2 Senator victory at Griffith Stadium. It is the only four-bagger struck all season by the Senators in 78 home games in their spacious ballpark—and it was an inside-the-park job. Opposing teams hit only six home runs themselves in 1945 at Washington's home field.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Detroit Tigers | 88 | 65 | .575 | — | 50‍–‍26 | 38‍–‍39 |
| Washington Senators | 87 | 67 | .565 | 1½ | 46‍–‍31 | 41‍–‍36 |
| St. Louis Browns | 81 | 70 | .536 | 6 | 47‍–‍27 | 34‍–‍43 |
| New York Yankees | 81 | 71 | .533 | 6½ | 48‍–‍28 | 33‍–‍43 |
| Cleveland Indians | 73 | 72 | .503 | 11 | 44‍–‍33 | 29‍–‍39 |
| Chicago White Sox | 71 | 78 | .477 | 15 | 44‍–‍29 | 27‍–‍49 |
| Boston Red Sox | 71 | 83 | .461 | 17½ | 42‍–‍35 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 52 | 98 | .347 | 34½ | 39‍–‍35 | 13‍–‍63 |

### Record vs. opponents

1945 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 6–16 | 14–8 | 8–14–1 | 11–11–1 |
| Chicago | 13–9 | — | 11–8–1 | 10–12 | 9–12 | 12–10 | 8–13 | 8–14 |
| Cleveland | 11–11 | 8–11–1 | — | 11–11 | 12–9 | 12–6–1 | 11–10 | 8–14 |
| Detroit | 10–12–1 | 12–10 | 11–11 | — | 15–7 | 15–7–1 | 15–6 | 10–12 |
| New York | 16–6 | 12–9 | 9–12 | 7–15 | — | 16–6 | 7–15 | 14–8 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 10–12 | 6–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 6–16 | — | 10–12–1 | 5–17 |
| St. Louis | 14–8–1 | 13–8 | 10–11 | 6–15 | 15–7 | 12–10–1 | — | 11–11–1 |
| Washington | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 17–5 | 11–11–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* July 26, 1945: The Senators sell the contract of outfielder Jake Powell to the Philadelphia Phillies.
* August 8, 1945: The Senators purchase the contract of outfielder Mike Kreevich from the St. Louis Browns.
* August 30, 1945: The Senators sign veteran free-agent pitcher Pete Appleton.

### 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 | Rick Ferrell | 91 | 286 | 76 | .266 | 1 | 38 |
| 1B | Joe Kuhel | 142 | 533 | 152 | .285 | 2 | 75 |
| 2B | George Myatt | 133 | 490 | 145 | .296 | 1 | 39 |
| SS | Gil Torres | 147 | 562 | 133 | .237 | 0 | 48 |
| 3B | Harlond Clift | 119 | 375 | 79 | .211 | 8 | 53 |
| OF | Buddy Lewis | 69 | 258 | 86 | .333 | 2 | 37 |
| OF | George Binks | 145 | 550 | 153 | .278 | 6 | 81 |
| OF | George Case | 123 | 504 | 148 | .294 | 1 | 31 |

#### 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 |
| Fred Vaughn | 80 | 268 | 63 | .235 | 1 | 25 |
| Mike Kreevich | 45 | 158 | 44 | .278 | 1 | 23 |
| Al Evans | 51 | 150 | 39 | .260 | 2 | 19 |
| Hillis Layne | 60 | 147 | 44 | .299 | 1 | 14 |
| Mike Guerra | 56 | 138 | 29 | .210 | 1 | 15 |
| José Zardón | 54 | 131 | 38 | .290 | 0 | 13 |
| Jake Powell | 31 | 98 | 19 | .194 | 0 | 3 |
| Vince Ventura | 18 | 58 | 12 | .207 | 0 | 2 |
| Cecil Travis | 15 | 54 | 13 | .241 | 0 | 10 |
| Dick Kimble | 20 | 49 | 12 | .245 | 0 | 1 |
| Walt Chipple | 18 | 44 | 6 | .136 | 0 | 5 |
| Howie McFarland | 6 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 2 |

### 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 |
| Roger Wolff | 33 | 250.0 | 20 | 10 | 2.12 | 108 |
| Mickey Haefner | 37 | 238.1 | 16 | 14 | 3.47 | 83 |
| Dutch Leonard | 31 | 216.0 | 17 | 7 | 2.13 | 96 |
| Johnny Niggeling | 26 | 176.2 | 7 | 12 | 3.16 | 90 |

#### 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 |
| Marino Pieretti | 44 | 233.1 | 14 | 13 | 3.32 | 66 |
| Alex Carrasquel | 35 | 122.2 | 7 | 5 | 2.71 | 38 |
| Sandy Ullrich | 28 | 81.1 | 3 | 3 | 4.54 | 26 |
| Walt Masterson | 4 | 25.0 | 1 | 2 | 1.08 | 14 |
| Pete Appleton | 6 | 21.1 | 1 | 0 | 3.38 | 12 |

#### 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 |
| Wally Holborow | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.30 | 14 |
| Dick Stone | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Armando Roche | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 0 |
| Bert Shepard | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.69 | 2 |
| Joe Cleary | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 189.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| A1 | Chattanooga Lookouts | Southern Association | Bert Niehoff |
| A | Williamsport Grays | Eastern League | Ray Kolp |