1946 San Francisco Seals season explained

San Francisco Seals
Season:	1946
Record:	115–68
League:	Pacific Coast League
Ballpark:	Seals Stadium
League Place:	1st
Managers:	Lefty O'Doul

The 1946 San Francisco Seals season was the 44th season in the history of the San Francisco Seals baseball team. The team compiled a 115–68 record and won the PCL pennant. Lefty O'Doul was in his 12th season as the team's manager. Playing its home games at Seals Stadium, the Seals led the PCL in attendance with paid admissions of 670,563, an increase of more than 240,000 over the prior year.^[1]

In the Governor's Cup semi-final playoffs, the Seals swept the Hollywood Stars, four games to zero.^[2] In the finals, they defeated the Oakland Oaks, four games to two. With the victory over the Oaks, the Seals won their fourth consecutive Governor's Cup.^[3]

Pitchers

Pitcher Larry Jansen, an Oregon native, led the PCL with 30 wins, a 1.57 earned run average (ERA), an .833 winning percentage, and 31 complete games. He also tallied 171 strikeouts. Jansen joined the New York Giants in 1947 and remained with that club for eight seasons.

Cliff Melton was San Francisco's No. 2 pitcher, compiling a 17–12 record and a 2.83 ERA.

Position players

First baseman Ferris Fain, who grew up across the Bay in Oakland, California, led the PCL with 112 RBIs, compiled a .301 batting average, and led the Seals with 11 home runs and 117 runs scored. After the season, Fain was drafted by the Philadelphia Athletics.^[4] Fain went on to play nine seasons in the majors from 1947 to 1955.

Second baseman Hugh Luby led the team in hits with 199. Luby was one of the most durable players in PCL history. He set a PCL record playing in 866 consecutive games with the Oakland Oaks between 1939 and 1943.^[5]

Vince DiMaggio, older brother of Joe DiMaggio who played 10 years in the majors from 1937 to 1946, appeared in 43 games for the Seals.

1946 PCL standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
San Francisco Seals	115	68	.628	--
	111	72	.607	4.0
	95	88	.519	20.0
	94	89	.514	21.0
	94	92	.505	22.5
	78	108	.419	38.5
	74	109	.404	41.0
	74	109	.404	41.0

Statistics

Batting

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
3B	Ted Jennings	136	495	150	.303	3	53
1B		180	615	185	.301	11	112
2B		176	678	199	.294	2	60
CF, LF		159	553	159	.288	4	90
CF		137	520	137	.263	1	24
RF		116	357	96	.269	5	55
SS	Roy Nicely	133	446	98	.220	1	46
RF	Sal Taormina	112	357	91	.255	4	69
C		114	312	76	.244	0	34
CF		43	129	34	.265	1	21

^[6]

Pitching

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

G	IP	W	L	PCT	ERA	SO
38	321.0	30	6	.833	1.57	171
33	248.0	17	12	.586	2.83	99
31	219.0	15	13	.536	3.12	72
34	167.0	13	6	.684	2.91	70
33	175.0	12	8	.600	2.26	72
38	141.0	11	9	.550	2.68	60