1946 Brooklyn Dodgers season explained

Brooklyn Dodgers
Season:	1946
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Ebbets Field
City:	Brooklyn, New York
Owners:	James & Dearie Mulvey, Walter O'Malley, Branch Rickey, John L. Smith
President:	Branch Rickey
Managers:	Leo Durocher
Radio:	WHN Red Barber, Connie Desmond

The 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers finished the season tied for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals. The two teams played in the first ever regular season tie-breaker to decide the pennant, and the Cardinals took two straight to win the title.

With their star players back from the war, Brooklyn had jumped back into serious contention. They would be respectable until their move to Los Angeles 10 years later.

This season was the team's – and Major League Baseball's – last non-integrated one.

Offseason

On October 23, 1945, the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson as a free agent. Robinson was the first black player to be officially a part of a major league organization in over 60 years, since the barring of Fleet and Welday Walker in 1884. For the 1946 season, Robinson was assigned to the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' top farm team.

Later in the offseason, the Dodgers signed two more players from the Negro leagues, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe, who were assigned to the Nashua Dodgers.

Regular season

Opening Day lineup

Opening Day lineup

Name	Position
	Shortstop
	Second baseman
	Left fielder
	Right fielder
	First baseman
	Center fielder
	Third baseman
Ferrell Anderson	Catcher
	Starting pitcher

Notable transactions

• April 27, 1946: Jack Graham^[1] and Goody Rosen^[2] were purchased from the Dodgers by the New York Giants.
• June 12, 1946: Don Padgett was purchased from the Dodgers by the Boston Braves.^[3]
• June 15, 1946: Billy Herman was traded by the Dodgers to the Boston Braves for Stew Hofferth.^[4]

Roster

1946 Brooklyn Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

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		92	292	78	.267	1	25
1B		103	310	75	.242	10	60
2B		144	483	132	.273	0	36
3B		88	242	57	.236	3	27
SS		152	542	154	.284	5	60
OF		117	335	95	.284	3	35
OF		122	423	117	.277	11	73
OF		150	576	184	.319	9	116

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
	99	274	85	.310	3	38
	104	265	69	.260	2	31
	90	249	63	.253	3	27
	79	199	51	.256	2	14
	47	184	53	.288	0	28
	62	120	25	.208	0	7
	64	110	22	.200	0	8
	41	77	24	.312	2	18
	23	48	7	.146	0	5
	45	47	13	.277	0	2
	19	34	5	.147	0	0
	19	30	5	.167	1	9
	15	5	0	.000	0	0
	2	5	1	.200	0	0
	1	4	0	.000	0	0
	3	3	1	.333	0	0
	3	2	0	.000	0	0
	1	0	0	----	0	0
	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
	42	222.0	14	11	2.84	85
	42	210.2	17	8	3.03	134
	41	193.0	13	10	2.89	60
	26	117.1	6	4	2.99	54

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
	47	150.2	11	5	2.93	78
	24	99.2	6	3	1.99	44
	24	67.1	3	1	3.88	42
	13	56.0	3	2	3.21	17
	16	53.2	2	5	5.87	36
	11	43.0	3	3	2.30	16
	3	6.1	0	0	9.95	6

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
	46	11	5	5	1.99	31
	35	7	2	5	3.35	34
	4	0	0	1	3.86	6
	3	0	1	0	6.75	3
	1	0	0	0	13.50	0
	1	0	0	0	4.50	1
	1	0	0	0	inf	0

Awards and honors

• 1946 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Dixie Walker starter
  • Kirby Higbe reserve
  • Pee Wee Reese reserve
  • Pete Reiser reserve

League top five finishers

Kirby Higbe

• #2 in NL in strikeouts (134)
• #3 in NL in wins (17)

Pete Reiser

• MLB leader in stolen bases (34)

Eddie Stanky

• #3 in NL in runs scored (98)

Dixie Walker

• #2 in NL in RBI (116)
• #3 in NL in batting average (.319)

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montreal, Nashua, Newport News, Trois-Rivières, Zanesville

References

• Baseball-Reference season page
• Baseball Almanac season page

External links

• 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers uniform
• Brooklyn Dodgers reference site
• Acme Dodgers page
• Retrosheet

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/grahaja01.shtml Jack Graham page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rosengo01.shtml Goody Rosen page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/padgedo01.shtml Don Padgett page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hermabi01.shtml Billy Herman page at Baseball Reference