# 1946 Boston Braves season

The 1946 Boston Braves season was the 76th in the history of the Major League Baseball franchise, and its 71st season as a charter member of the National League. In finishing 81–72 (.529) and in fourth place, the Braves enjoyed their most successful year since 1933, and signaled the post-World War II renaissance of the franchise under its new ownership group, headed by Louis R. Perini, and its Baseball Hall of Fame manager, Billy Southworth, in his first year at the Boston helm after departing the St. Louis Cardinals. The 1946 team set a new club record for attendance, with 969,373 paying fans passing through Braves Field's turnstiles; it would break that record in 1947.

## Regular season

The Braves' home schedule began on an inauspicious note April 16. Perini and his partners had invested $500,000 in refurbishing Braves Field, lowering the playing surface to improve sight lines, installing lights for night baseball, and applying a fresh coat of green paint to the wooden grandstands. But colder than expected April weather foiled their plans. The club's home opener, against the Brooklyn Dodgers, attracted 19,482 fans, who witnessed a 5–3 Boston victory. However, some 13,000 of those fans were dismayed to discover that their clothing was smeared with green paint, still wet, from their grandstand seats. The seats eventually dried out, as the Braves went on an early-season road trip punctuated by a Sunday doubleheader played at Fenway Park, home of the American League Red Sox.
On the other hand, the first-ever MLB night game to be played in the city of Boston, on May 11 against the New York Giants, was an off-field success. The contest, on a Saturday night, drew 37,407 fans to Braves Field—the team's largest crowd since 1933—with the home side sporting satin uniforms, specially designed to glow under the arc lights of night baseball. On the field, however, the Giants' Monte Kennedy outpitched Boston's Johnny Sain, 5–1.
Despite his May 11 setback, Sain was the Braves' leading pitcher, winning 20 games and posting a superb 2.21 earned run average, second-best in the National League. Although a poor May and June doomed their pennant chances, a strong 36–23 mark during August and September enabled the Braves to claim the final spot in the first division, only one game out of third place.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 98 | 58 | .628 | — | 49‍–‍29 | 49‍–‍29 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 96 | 60 | .615 | 2 | 56‍–‍22 | 40‍–‍38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 82 | 71 | .536 | 14½ | 44‍–‍33 | 38‍–‍38 |
| Boston Braves | 81 | 72 | .529 | 15½ | 45‍–‍31 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 69 | 85 | .448 | 28 | 41‍–‍36 | 28‍–‍49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 67 | 87 | .435 | 30 | 35‍–‍42 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 63 | 91 | .409 | 34 | 37‍–‍40 | 26‍–‍51 |
| New York Giants | 61 | 93 | .396 | 36 | 38‍–‍39 | 23‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1946 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 5–17 | 12–9–1 | 15–7 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 7–15 |
| Brooklyn | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 14–8 | 8–16 |
| Chicago | 9–12–1 | 11–11 | — | 13–9 | 17–5 | 12–10 | 12–10–1 | 8–14 |
| Cincinnati | 7–15 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | — | 14–8 | 8–14–1 | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| New York | 9–13 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 8–14 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 10–12 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 14–8–1 | 10–12 | — | 14–8 | 8–14 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–15 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 8–14 | — | 9–13 |
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 16–8 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 13–9 | — |

### 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 | 133 | 397 | 106 | .267 | 3 | 62 |
| 1B | Ray Sanders | 80 | 259 | 63 | .243 | 6 | 35 |
| 2B | Connie Ryan | 143 | 502 | 121 | .241 | 1 | 48 |
| SS | Dick Culler | 134 | 482 | 123 | .255 | 0 | 33 |
| 3B | Nanny Fernandez | 115 | 372 | 95 | .255 | 2 | 42 |
| OF | Carden Gillenwater | 99 | 224 | 51 | .228 | 1 | 14 |
| OF | Bama Rowell | 95 | 293 | 82 | .280 | 3 | 31 |
| OF | Tommy Holmes | 149 | 568 | 176 | .310 | 6 | 79 |

#### 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 Hopp | 129 | 445 | 148 | .333 | 3 | 48 |
| Billy Herman | 75 | 252 | 77 | .306 | 3 | 22 |
| Danny Litwhiler | 79 | 247 | 72 | .291 | 8 | 38 |
| Skippy Roberge | 48 | 169 | 39 | .231 | 2 | 20 |
| Mike McCormick | 59 | 164 | 43 | .262 | 1 | 16 |
| Don Padgett | 44 | 98 | 25 | .255 | 2 | 21 |
| Whitey Wietelmann | 44 | 78 | 16 | .205 | 0 | 5 |
| Stew Hofferth | 20 | 58 | 12 | .207 | 0 | 10 |
| Chuck Workman | 25 | 48 | 8 | .167 | 2 | 7 |
| Tommy Neill | 13 | 45 | 12 | .267 | 0 | 7 |
| Johnny Barrett | 24 | 43 | 10 | .233 | 0 | 6 |
| Ken O'Dea | 12 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 0 | 2 |
| Alvin Dark | 15 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 1 |
| Johnny McCarthy | 2 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Hugh Poland | 4 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Brady | 3 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Dee Phillips | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
| Ducky Detweiler | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Max West | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Sibby Sisti | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Johnny Sain | 37 | 265.0 | 20 | 14 | 2.21 | 129 |
| Mort Cooper | 28 | 199.0 | 13 | 11 | 3.12 | 83 |
| Bill Lee | 25 | 140.0 | 10 | 9 | 4.18 | 32 |
| Warren Spahn | 24 | 125.2 | 8 | 5 | 2.94 | 67 |
| Johnny Niggeling | 8 | 58.0 | 2 | 5 | 3.26 | 24 |
| Johnny Hutchings | 1 | 3.0 | 0 | 1 | 9.00 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Ed Wright | 36 | 176.1 | 12 | 9 | 3.52 | 44 |
| Si Johnson | 28 | 127.0 | 6 | 5 | 2.76 | 41 |
| Lefty Wallace | 27 | 75.1 | 3 | 3 | 4.18 | 27 |
| Al Javery | 2 | 3.1 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 0 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Posedel | 19 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6.99 | 9 |
| Frank Barrett | 23 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5.09 | 12 |
| Elmer Singleton | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.74 | 17 |
| Steve Roser | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.60 | 18 |
| Ernie White | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.18 | 8 |
| Jim Konstanty | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.28 | 9 |
| Dick Mulligan | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.35 | 4 |
| Whitey Wietelmann | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | 2 |
| Earl Reid | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 2 |
| Don Hendrickson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 2 |
| Ace Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Bill Burwell |
| AAA | Seattle Rainiers | Pacific Coast League | Bill Skiff and Jo-Jo White |
| A | Hartford Chiefs | Eastern League | Dutch Dorman |
| B | Evansville Braves | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Bob Coleman |
| B | Pawtucket Slaters | New England League | Hughie Wise |
| B | Jackson Senators | Southeastern League | Travis Jackson |
| B | Vancouver Capilanos | Western International League | Syl Johnson and Eddie Carnett |
| C | Raleigh Capitals | Carolina League | Charles Carroll and Ray Thomas |
| C | Miami Beach Flamingos | Florida International League | Max Rosenfeld |
| C | Leavenworth Braves | Western Association | Charles Carman |
| D | Bluefield Blue-Grays | Appalachian League | Walt DeFreitas and Bud Clancy |
| D | Owensboro Oilers | KITTY League | Earl Browne |
| D | Mahanoy City Bluebirds | North Atlantic League | Buck Boyle and Charles Dugan |
| D | Richmond Roses | Ohio State League | Merle Settlemire |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Evansville, Raleigh, Owensboro