# 1946 New York Yankees season

The 1946 New York Yankees season was the team's 44th season. The team finished with a record of 87–67, finishing 17 games behind the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Joe McCarthy, Bill Dickey, and Johnny Neun. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

## Offseason

* Prior to 1946 season: Frank Verdi was signed as an amateur free agent by the Yankees.

## Regular season

On May 24, Joe McCarthy, who had managed the team since 1931 and led them to seven World Championships, resigned. Although he had been in ill health, there were also underlying issues with team executive Larry MacPhail and frustrations with the team's performance, especially that of pitcher Joe Page, with whom he had an argument the previous day on the team plane. Long-time Yankee catcher Bill Dickey took over the team. Dickey himself resigned on September 12, and coach Johnny Neun finished out the year at the helm.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Boston Red Sox | 104 | 50 | .675 | — | 61‍–‍16 | 43‍–‍34 |
| Detroit Tigers | 92 | 62 | .597 | 12 | 48‍–‍30 | 44‍–‍32 |
| New York Yankees | 87 | 67 | .565 | 17 | 47‍–‍30 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Washington Senators | 76 | 78 | .494 | 28 | 38‍–‍38 | 38‍–‍40 |
| Chicago White Sox | 74 | 80 | .481 | 30 | 40‍–‍38 | 34‍–‍42 |
| Cleveland Indians | 68 | 86 | .442 | 36 | 36‍–‍41 | 32‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 66 | 88 | .429 | 38 | 35‍–‍41 | 31‍–‍47 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 49 | 105 | .318 | 55 | 31‍–‍46 | 18‍–‍59 |

### Record vs. opponents

1946 American League recordvte Sources: :
| 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

* June 17, 1946: Frank Colman was purchased by the Yankees from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

### 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 | Aaron Robinson | 100 | 330 | 98 | .297 | 16 | 64 |
| 1B | Nick Etten | 108 | 323 | 75 | .232 | 9 | 49 |
| 2B | Joe Gordon | 112 | 376 | 79 | .210 | 11 | 47 |
| SS | Phil Rizzuto | 126 | 471 | 121 | .257 | 2 | 38 |
| 3B | Snuffy Stirnweiss | 129 | 487 | 122 | .251 | 0 | 37 |
| OF | Joe DiMaggio | 132 | 503 | 146 | .290 | 25 | 95 |
| OF | Charlie Keller | 150 | 538 | 148 | .275 | 30 | 101 |
| OF | Tommy Henrich | 150 | 565 | 142 | .251 | 19 | 83 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Lindell | 102 | 332 | 86 | .259 | 10 | 40 |
| Billy Johnson | 85 | 296 | 77 | .260 | 4 | 35 |
| Bill Dickey | 56 | 134 | 35 | .261 | 2 | 10 |
| Bud Souchock | 47 | 86 | 26 | .302 | 2 | 10 |
| Frankie Crosetti | 28 | 59 | 17 | .288 | 0 | 3 |
| Gus Niarhos | 37 | 40 | 9 | .225 | 0 | 2 |
| Oscar Grimes | 14 | 39 | 8 | .205 | 0 | 4 |
| Bobby Brown | 7 | 24 | 8 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Yogi Berra | 7 | 22 | 8 | .364 | 2 | 4 |
| Ken Silvestri | 13 | 21 | 6 | .286 | 0 | 1 |
| Frank Colman | 5 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 1 | 5 |
| Eddie Bockman | 4 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 0 |
| Hank Majeski | 8 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Drescher | 5 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Bud Metheny | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Roy Weatherly | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 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 |
| Spud Chandler | 34 | 257.1 | 20 | 8 | 2.10 | 138 |
| Bill Bevens | 31 | 249.2 | 16 | 13 | 2.23 | 120 |
| Tiny Bonham | 18 | 104.2 | 5 | 8 | 3.70 | 30 |
| Red Ruffing | 8 | 61.0 | 5 | 1 | 1.77 | 19 |
| Vic Raschi | 2 | 16.0 | 2 | 0 | 3.94 | 11 |

#### 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 |
| Joe Page | 31 | 136.0 | 9 | 8 | 3.57 | 77 |
| Randy Gumpert | 33 | 132.2 | 11 | 3 | 2.31 | 63 |
| Al Gettel | 26 | 103.0 | 6 | 7 | 2.97 | 54 |
| Cuddles Marshall | 23 | 81.0 | 3 | 4 | 5.33 | 32 |
| Bill Wight | 14 | 40.1 | 2 | 2 | 4.46 | 11 |
| Mel Queen | 14 | 30.1 | 1 | 1 | 6.53 | 26 |
| Marius Russo | 8 | 18.2 | 0 | 2 | 4.34 | 7 |
| Frank Hiller | 3 | 11.1 | 0 | 2 | 4.76 | 4 |
| Tommy Byrne | 4 | 9.1 | 0 | 1 | 5.79 | 5 |
| Al Lyons | 2 | 8.1 | 0 | 1 | 5.40 | 4 |
| Karl Drews | 3 | 6.1 | 0 | 1 | 8.53 | 4 |
| Steve Roser | 4 | 3.1 | 1 | 1 | 16.20 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Murphy | 27 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 3.40 | 19 |
| Jake Wade | 13 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2.29 | 22 |
| Bill Zuber | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12.71 | 3 |
| Charley Stanceu | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 3 |
| Herb Karpel | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Kansas City Blues | American Association | Billy Meyer and Burleigh Grimes |
| AAA | Newark Bears | International League | George Selkirk |
| AA | Beaumont Exporters | Texas League | Jim Turner |
| A | Binghamton Triplets | Eastern League | Garland Braxton and Lefty Gomez |
| A | Augusta Tigers | Sally League | Dib Williams |
| B | Quincy Gems | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Charles Marleau and Cedric Durst |
| B | Sunbury Yankees | Interstate League | Walt Van Grofski |
| B | Norfolk Tars | Piedmont League | Tom Kain |
| C | Amsterdam Rugmakers | Canadian–American League | Solly Mishkin |
| C | Butler Yankees | Middle Atlantic League | Milt Rosner |
| C | Twin Falls Cowboys | Pioneer League | Earl Bolyard |
| C | Joplin Miners | Western Association | Jim Acton |
| D | Easton Yankees | Eastern Shore League | Jack Farmer |
| D | Wellsville Yankees | PONY League | Joe Abreu |
| D | Fond du Lac Panthers | Wisconsin State League | James Adlam |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Augusta