1946 Detroit Tigers season explained

Detroit Tigers
Season:	1946
League:	American League
Ballpark:	Briggs Stadium
City:	Detroit
Owners:	Walter Briggs, Sr.
General Managers:	George Trautman
Managers:	Steve O'Neill
Radio:	WXYZ (Harry Heilmann)

The 1946 Detroit Tigers finished the season with a record of 92–62, twelve games behind the Boston Red Sox. The season was their 46th since they entered the American League in 1901.

Offseason

March 26, 1946: Rip Radcliff was released by the Tigers.^[1]

Regular season

The 1946 Tigers were led by first baseman Hank Greenberg who led the AL with 127 RBIs and led the major leagues with 44 home runs, and by Hal Newhouser who led the major leagues with 26 wins, a 1.94 ERA, an Adjusted ERA+ of 188, and 8.46 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

Roster

1946 Detroit Tigers
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	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	87	280	68	.243	1	34
1B	142	523	145	.277	44	127
2B	76	249	61	.245	5	36
3B	105	434	142	.327	4	41
SS	155	587	149	.254	8	31
OF	111	396	106	.268	12	59
OF	113	328	110	.335	15	56
OF	81	304	81	.266	4	33

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
92	299	78	.261	2	31
93	276	68	.246	3	35
68	204	60	.294	1	26
51	202	51	.252	0	22
64	169	37	.219	0	17
57	139	28	.201	0	11
51	134	28	.209	1	8
42	107	25	.234	2	10
25	91	37	.198	1	11
18	60	13	.217	0	8
14	20	6	.300	0	1
4	9	0	.000	0	0
3	3	0	.000	0	0
1	1	0	.000	0	0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
37	292.2	26	9	1.94	275
38	276.1	17	13	2.34	151
32	236.2	14	9	3.23	161
28	207.0	14	11	3.09	138
1	9.0	1	0	3.00	4
1	8.0	0	1	9.00	2

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
28	140.2	11	7	3.65	60
24	97.1	5	7	4.62	34
3	11.2	0	2	8.49	5

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W= Wins; L= Losses; SV = Saves; GF = Games Finished; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	GF	ERA	SO
26	2	1	4	19	5.66	19
14	0	0	1	7	4.56	14
11	1	1	0	1	5.60	12
9	1	1	1	6	5.91	17
2	0	0	0	1	10.50	3
2	0	0	0	2	15.00	1

Awards and honors

League leaders

Hank Greenberg: MLB leader in home runs (44)
Hank Greenberg: AL leader in RBIs (127)
Hank Greenberg: MLB leader in at bats per home run (11.9)
Art Houtteman: Youngest player in MLB (18)
Eddie Lake: AL leader in games played (155)
Eddie Lake: MLB leader in plate appearances (703)
Eddie Lake: MLB leader in outs (464)
Eddie Lake: AL leader in power/speed number (10.4)^[2]
Hal Newhouser: MLB leader in ERA (1.94)
Hal Newhouser: MLB leader in wins (26)
Hal Newhouser: MLB leader in Adjusted ERA+ (188)
Hal Newhouser: MLB leader in walks plus hits per 9 innings pitched (1.069)
Hal Newhouser: MLB leader in hits allowed per 9 innings (6.61)
Hal Newhouser: MLB leader in strikeouts per 9 innings (8.46)
Virgil Trucks: MLB leader in home runs allowed (23)

Players ranking among top 100 of all time at position

The following members of the 1945 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

Birdie Tebbetts: 64th best catcher of all time (played 87 games at catcher for 1946 Tigers)
Hank Greenberg: 8th best first baseman of all time
George Kell: 30th best third baseman of all time
Hoot Evers: 100th best left fielder of all time (played 76 games in center field for 1946 Tigers)
Doc Cramer: 91st best center fielder of all time (played 50 games in center field in 1946 Tigers)
Barney McCosky: 70th best center fielder of all time (played 24 games in center field for 1946 Tigers)
Roy Cullenbine: 68th best right fielder of all time (played 69 games in right field for 1946 Tigers)
Hal Newhouser: 36th best pitcher of all time
Virgil Trucks: 61st best pitcher of all time
Tommy Bridges: 77th best pitcher of all time (pitched in 9 games for 1946 Tigers)