# 1945 St. Louis Browns season

The 1945 St. Louis Browns season involved the Browns finishing 3rd in the American League with a record of 81 wins and 70 losses.

## Regular season

Coming off their first pennant in 1944, St. Louis didn't regress very far but still finished six games off the pace.

### 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

* August 8, 1945: George Caster was selected off waivers from the Browns by the Detroit Tigers.

### 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 | Frank Mancuso | 119 | 365 | 98 | .268 | 1 | 38 |
| 1B | George McQuinn | 139 | 483 | 134 | .277 | 7 | 61 |
| 2B | Don Gutteridge | 143 | 543 | 129 | .238 | 2 | 49 |
| SS | Vern Stephens | 149 | 571 | 165 | .289 | 24 | 89 |
| 3B | Mark Christman | 78 | 289 | 80 | .277 | 4 | 34 |
| OF | Mike Kreevich | 84 | 295 | 70 | .237 | 2 | 21 |
| OF | Milt Byrnes | 133 | 442 | 110 | .249 | 8 | 59 |
| OF | Gene Moore | 110 | 354 | 92 | .260 | 5 | 50 |

#### 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 |
| Len Schulte | 119 | 430 | 106 | .247 | 0 | 36 |
| Pete Gray | 77 | 234 | 51 | .218 | 0 | 13 |
| Lou Finney | 57 | 213 | 59 | .277 | 2 | 22 |
| Babe Martin | 54 | 185 | 37 | .200 | 2 | 16 |
| Red Hayworth | 56 | 160 | 31 | .194 | 0 | 17 |
| Chet Laabs | 35 | 109 | 26 | .239 | 1 | 8 |
| Joe Schultz | 41 | 44 | 13 | .295 | 0 | 8 |
| Ellis Clary | 26 | 38 | 8 | .211 | 1 | 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 |
| Nels Potter | 32 | 255.1 | 15 | 11 | 2.47 | 129 |
| Jack Kramer | 29 | 193.0 | 10 | 15 | 3.36 | 99 |
| Sig Jakucki | 30 | 192.1 | 12 | 10 | 3.51 | 55 |
| Tex Shirley | 32 | 183.2 | 8 | 12 | 3.63 | 77 |
| Al Hollingsworth | 26 | 173.1 | 12 | 9 | 2.70 | 64 |
| Ox Miller | 4 | 28.1 | 2 | 1 | 1.59 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Muncrief | 27 | 145.2 | 13 | 4 | 2.72 | 54 |
| Lefty West | 24 | 74.1 | 3 | 4 | 3.63 | 38 |

#### 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 |
| Sam Zoldak | 26 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3.36 | 19 |
| Earl Jones | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.54 | 13 |
| George Caster | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6.89 | 9 |
| Cliff Fannin | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.61 | 5 |
| Al LaMacchia | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 | 2 |
| Pete Appleton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 1 |
| Dee Sanders | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40.50 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Toledo Mud Hens | American Association | Ollie Marquardt |
| A | Elmira Pioneers | Eastern League | Jimmy Adair |
| D | Newark Moundsmen | Ohio State League | Mickey O'Neil |

## Awards and honors
### League top five finishers

Nels Potter
* #2 in AL in strikeouts (129)
Vern Stephens
* Led AL in home runs (24)
* #2 in AL in runs scored (90)
* #2 in AL in slugging percentage (.473)
* #3 in AL in RBI (89)