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1946 in baseball

Champions

Major League Baseball

Other champions

Winter Leagues

Club tournaments

Awards and honors

Statistical leaders

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

Negro league baseball final standings

All Negro leagues standings below are per Seamheads.

Negro American League final standings

Negro National League final standings

Negro World Series

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League final standings

Japanese Baseball League final standings

Events

January

February

March

  • March 7 – Negro leaguer Marvin Williams, playing for the Sabios de Vargas against the Navegantes del Magallanes, sets a still-standing Venezuelan League mark by driving in eight runs on two home runs and two singles, while leading Vargas to a 16–9 victory.
  • March 17 – Four thousand fans cram into City Island Park, Daytona Beach, to witness Jackie Robinson make baseball history by appearing in the lineup for his Montreal Royals against the parent Brooklyn Dodgers—the first time in the 20th century in which a black ballplayer will take the field with and against whites in an exhibition game for which admission is charged. He goes hitless but steals a base and scores a run.
  • March 18 – The Dodgers pare down their roster, releasing outfielder/third baseman Frenchy Bordagaray, 36, and selling the contract of shortstop Claude Corbitt, 30, to the Cincinnati Reds.
  • March 29
  • A rejuvenated Minor League Baseball begins its first post-World War II season with 43 active leagues ranging from Class D to Triple-A, the most since 1940. By contrast, only 12 leagues had competed in , the last wartime season.
  • The new Triple-A classification reflects a change in nomenclature, with the Double-A level of 1912–1945 given a new identity and its three circuits—the American Association, International League and Pacific Coast League—elevated to the new level. Similarly, the 1946-and-beyond Double-A classification is a renaming of the Class A1 level of 1936–1945.
  • Established leagues that were dormant during the war, such as the Texas League (now Double-A), Sally League (now Class A), and Three-I League (Class B), spring back into life. The postwar boom is especially strong year-over-year in Class B, which quadruples in membership from two leagues (1945) to eight (1946); Class C, which grows from one member league to 11; and Class D, which also quadruples, from four to 17 leagues.
  • March 30
  • The upstart Mexican League appears to score its biggest coup yet when the St. Louis Browns' holdout slugger/shortstop, Vern Stephens, signs with the Azules de Veracruz, owned by the league's president, Jorge Pasquel. Stephens, only 25, is already a two-time All-Star coming off leading the American League in home runs (), then runs batted in (). Stephens has been offered $13,000 by the cash-poor Brownies, well short of his salary demand of $17,500. Pasquel's counter-offer: $175,000.
  • The 16 big-league clubs continue to cut their rosters to prepare for the mid-April start of their season. Under special rules created for this first post-war campaign, teams can keep 36 men on their varsity squads until June 15, then 30 through August 31. The month of March sees 20 MLB and ex-MLB players handed their unconditional releases.
  • One of six players released today is the real-life Lawrence "Crash" Davis, 26, an infielder and Duke University alumnus who appeared in 148 games between and for the Philadelphia Athletics before spending 1943–1945 serving in the United States Navy. His MLB career over, Davis will find a job with the Lawrence Millionaires of the New England League in 1946—but "Crash Davis" will be immortalized when his name is borrowed by ex-ballplayer turned film director Ron Shelton and bestowed on leading man Kevin Costner in the hit, baseball-themed, romantic comedy Bull Durham ().
  • March 31 – Three American-born members of the New York Giants join the exodus to the Mexican League: pitcher Sal Maglie, 28, first baseman Roy Zimmerman, 32, and second baseman George Hausmann, 29. All "jump" their existing contracts in search of higher compensation; each sign for "a $5,000 bonus and twice as much pay."

April

May

  • May 1 – The St. Louis Cardinals obtain well-traveled catcher Clyde Kluttz from the Philadelphia Phillies for infielder Emil Verban. In a separate trade earlier today, Kluttz, 28, had been acquired by the Phils from the New York Giants for outfielder Vince DiMaggio.
  • May 5 – At Wrigley Field, eight hits, two errors, a walk and a hit batsman enable the Chicago Cubs to score 11 seventh-inning runs, and go on to a 13–1 thumping of the Philadelphia Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader.
  • May 10
  • The fast-starting Boston Red Sox win their 15th consecutive game, defeating the New York Yankees, 5–4, in The Bronx. Dominic DiMaggio drives in the winning run in the seventh inning in the come-from-behind victory. Boston is now 21–3, 5½ games ahead of New York in the early weeks of the American League season.
  • At Shibe Park, a 1 a.m. curfew lowers the curtain on a 15-inning, five-all deadlock between the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics. The contest goes into the books as a tie (one of nine stalemates to be recorded in MLB this season) and individual statistics will count; however, the game must be replayed in its entirety later in the season.
  • May 11 – Braves Field's eventful season continues when it hosts Boston's first-ever night baseball game. A crowd of 35,945 fans—the Braves' largest since —sees the home side drop a 5–1 decision to the New York Giants. Boston players, like their Brooklyn Dodger counterparts, will wear satin uniforms for night games, designed to shimmer under the lights.
  • May 14 – The Montréal Royals send pitcher Johnny Wright to Class C Trois-Rivières of the Canadian–American League, and sign former Philadelphia Stars hurler Roy Partlow, 34, as a free agent. Wright and Partlow are both African-Americans who are briefly teammates of Jackie Robinson's on the Triple-A Royals. Partlow, like Wright, will pitch infrequently for Montréal and spend most of 1946 with Trois–Rivières, where they go a combined 22–9 to help win the Can–Am League pennant and playoff title. Both will return to the Negro leagues in 1947.
  • May 18
  • The Philadelphia Athletics trade 23-year-old third baseman George Kell to the Detroit Tigers for outfielder Barney McCosky, 29. In Detroit, Kell will blossom into a star, making the AL All-Star team five consecutive years (–), winning a batting title (), and burnishing his credentials for the Hall of Fame (elected ); then, after his career, he'll become a beloved member of the Tigers' broadcasting team.
  • The Chicago Cubs become the first team in Major League history to score six runs in the first and ninth innings of a game, when defeating the New York Giants 19–3.
  • May 19
  • To make room for Kell, the Tigers sell the contract of veteran third baseman Pinky Higgins to the first-place Boston Red Sox. Higgins, 35, formerly played for Boston in –, batting over .300 each season and driving in 212 runs. Although 1946 will be his final MLB season, he'll help the Red Sox break their 28-year pennant drought, hitting .275 in 64 games, then become an influential friend of owner Tom Yawkey's, and eventually the Red Sox' manager (–, –) and general manager (1962–).
  • Mickey Vernon of the Washington Senators hits for the cycle in a 7–1 Washington victory at Comiskey Park over the Chicago White Sox. It's the first of two "cycles" in the majors in 1946; Ted Williams will author the second on July 21 at Fenway Park. Coincidentally, Vernon (.353) and Williams (.342) will finish 1–2 in the contest for the AL batting title.

June

July

  • July 7 – The All-Star break, which marks the midpoint of the 1946 season, sees the Brooklyn Dodgers (48–26) five games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals (43–31) in the National League, and the Boston Red Sox (54–23) 7½ lengths ahead of the New York Yankees (47–31) in the American League.
  • July 9
  • At Fenway Park, the American League crushes the National League, 12–0, in the All-Star Game. Red Sox superstar Ted Williams goes four-for-four, including two home runs, scores four times, and knocks in five. One of his blasts comes off Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates—the first and only time Sewell's famed "eephus pitch" is belted for a home run.
  • The first-place Red Sox bolster their bench strength by purchasing the contract of infielder Don Gutteridge from the St. Louis Browns. Gutteridge, 34, has spent the early weeks of the 1946 season as the player–manager of the Browns' Triple-A affiliate in Toledo.
  • July 12 – Johnny Sain of the Boston Braves one-hits the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. Grady Hatton's first-inning double is Cincinnati's only safety, and Sain sets down the Reds' final 25 hitters in order. Bama Rowell scores Boston's run on an RBI infield single by Johnny Hopp.
  • July 14 – Player-manager Lou Boudreau of the Cleveland Indians hits four doubles and one home run, but Ted Williams wallops three homers and drives in eight runs, as the Boston Red Sox top the Indians, 11–10. In the Sox second-game win, the famous Boudreau Shift is born. Boudreau shifts all his players, except the third baseman and left fielder, to the right side of the diamond in an effort to stop Williams. Ted grounds out and walks twice while ignoring the shift; Boston sweeps the twin bill, 6–4.
  • July 15 – The Indians send former "iron man" catcher Frankie Hayes to the Chicago White Sox as the "player to be named later" in an earlier transaction in which Cleveland obtained fellow catcher Tom Jordan from Chicago.
  • July 18 – The slumping Brooklyn Dodgers fall to the Cincinnati Reds for their eighth loss in nine tilts since the All-Star Game; now 49–34, they drop into second place, a half game behind the St. Louis Cardinals (50–34), who are 7–3 since the break, including a four-game sweep of Brooklyn at Sportsman's Park from July 14–16.
  • July 19 – Four players and one coach from the visiting Chicago White Sox are ejected by umpires Red Jones and Bill Summers for "bench jockeying" in the third inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox. When the heckling of the arbiters continues, the remaining White Sox players on the bench are ordered to the clubhouse—but are eligible to play in the contest if needed. The result leaves leaving only manager Ted Lyons, two coaches, and the nine players in the lineup in Chicago's dugout when the team is batting. The ChiSox bullpen also stays eligible for the game. The Red Sox win, 9–2.
  • July 23 – The Red Sox strengthen their outfield, purchasing the contract of 12-year veteran Wally Moses from the White Sox. Left-handed hitter Moses, 35, will start three games of the 1946 World Series in right field and go five-for-13 (.385) at the plate.
  • July 27 – At Briggs Stadium, the Detroit Tigers' future Hall-of-Fame southpaw Hal Newhouser wins his 20th game of 1946, handcuffing the Philadelphia Athletics, 4–2. He allows eight hits and fans eight in his 20th complete game of the year. Newhouser will lead American League hurlers in games won (26; his third straight campaign with 25 or more victories), earned run average (1.94) and strikeouts per nine innings pitched (8.457).

August

  • August 27
  • A six-member subcommittee, including both league presidents and two owners from each circuit, presents an explosive—and top secret—report to all 16 MLB magnates dealing with highly charged topics such as the shaky legality of the reserve clause, the Mexican League raids and recent unsuccessful player unionization effort by the American Baseball Guild, and the threatened racial integration of the major leagues.
  • The report, nicknamed after the subcommittee chair, Larry MacPhail of the New York Yankees, warns that the reserve clause must be amended to avoid being overturned in court. It advocates establishment of a pension plan to improve labor relations and fend off future union organizing among MLB players.
  • It also argues fiercely against breaking the baseball color line, offering five reasons why the major leagues must remain all-white—including the argument that black fans thronging to MLB games in venues like New York and Chicago will depress the market value of the clubs in those cities.
  • According to some statements from then-Commissioner Happy Chandler and then-Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey, owners will approve the MacPhail Report 15–1. The lone dissenter: Rickey, who signed Jackie Robinson to a Triple-A contract last October and other young black players this season.
  • On the field of play, at Sportsman's Park, Rickey's Dodgers rack up 16 hits and starting pitcher Kirby Higbe wins his 13th game, enabling Brooklyn to tie their arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals in the NL pennant race. Both clubs are 75–47, with 32 games to play. The Chicago Cubs are third, eight games out.
  • August 31 – Luke Sewell, who led the 1944 St. Louis Browns to the first American League pennant in their history, hands over the team's managerial reins to interim pilot James "Zack" Taylor. Sewell, 45, steps down with a winning record (432–410–8, .513) over all or part of six seasons; he's one of the few Browns' skippers who will finish above .500 for his tenure there.

September

  • September 12 – Managerial turmoil, unusual for the normally staid franchise, continues for the New York Yankees, as Bill Dickey informs co-owner and club president Larry MacPhail that he doesn't want to return for . New York is 79–61 and a distant third in American League; they're 57–48 under Dickey. His resignation also ends Dickey's Hall-of-Fame playing career; he has been a pinch hitter for most of his nearly four-month-long managerial stint. He had taken over from legendary skipper Joe McCarthy on May 24 and his departure means the Yanks will have three different managers over the course of 1946.
  • September 13
  • The Boston Red Sox clinch the AL pennant, edging the Cleveland Indians, 1–0, at Cleveland's League Park II on Ted Williams' inside-the-park home run, the only one of his career. Williams punches the ball over the shift when Cleveland left fielder Pat Seerey pulls in behind the shortstop position. It is Boston's seventh league title, and first since .
  • Ironically, the arch-rival New York Yankees help the Bosox' cause by eliminating their nearest competitor in the race, the second-place Detroit Tigers, 5–4, at Briggs Stadium in Johnny Neun's first game as the Bombers' interim manager.
  • September 14 – The new owners of the Pittsburgh Pirates hire H. Roy Hamey as their general manager, and shift former GM Ray Kennedy to farm system director. Hamey, 44, most recently was president of the Triple-A American Association, but is best known for his long service running the front office of the New York Yankees' Kansas City affiliate.
  • September 16 – MLB owners, meeting again in New York only three weeks after their August 27–28 confab, revoke a decision taken at the August sessions to increase the regular season schedule from 154 to 168 games.
  • September 21 – Muddy Ruel announces his resignation as assistant to Commissioner Happy Chandler to return to uniform as the field manager of the 1947 St. Louis Browns. Ruel, 50, spent 19 seasons as a catcher for six American League teams and holds a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
  • September 25
  • Rookie Ralph Kiner, 23, drills his 23rd homer of 1946 to help his Pittsburgh Pirates to an eventual, 16-inning victory at Wrigley Field. His 23 long balls are enough to lead the National League this season, starting a streak in which Kiner will lead or co-lead the NL in home runs for seven consecutive years. Kiner will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975.
  • The Hall-of-Fame managerial career of Bill McKechnie ends just prior to the conclusion of his 25th season, when he and the Cincinnati Reds end their nine-year relationship. Since , McKechnie, 60, has led the formerly hapless Reds to a 744–631–11 (.541) record, consecutive NL pennants (–), and the 1940 World Series title. Cincinnati is 64–86 today after Bucky Walters shuts out the St. Louis Cardinals 7–0 at Sportsman's Park. Coach Hank Gowdy, a longtime McKechnie aide, will finish 1946 as acting skipper; Johnny Neun, interim pilot of the New York Yankees, will be hired to take the Cincinnati helm for .
  • September 27 – The St. Louis Cardinals, sole owners of first place in the National League since August 28, fall into a dead heat with the idle Brooklyn Dodgers by dropping a 7–2 decision to the visiting Chicago Cubs. With two games left in the regular season, each team is 95–57. The Dodgers' record in September, so far, is 20–7; the Cardinals' is 17–9.
  • September 28 – The month sees another managerial casualty when Frankie Frisch quits the Pittsburgh Pirates with three games remaining in the Bucs' season. Coach Spud Davis is temporarily handed the team's reins. Frisch, 49, has directed the Pirates to a 539–528 record since Opening Day .
  • September 29
  • The end of the regulation National League season results in the first flat-footed tie in the circuit's 71-year history when both the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers lose their final games and "finish" the year at 96–58. The teams will meet in an unprecedented, best-of-three tiebreaker series to determine the pennant-winner.
  • When the Dodgers win a coin-toss to determine home-field advantage, their risk-taking manager, Leo Durocher, opts to start the series on the road, in St. Louis, with Game 2 and Game 3 (if needed) to be played at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. The Cardinals dominated the Dodgers 14–8 during the 154-game "regular" season (8–3 at Sportsman's Park), outscoring them 109–80.
  • Bouncing back from Buck O'Neil's game-trying home run, the Newark Eagles defeat O'Neil's Kansas City Monarchs, 3–2, to capture the 1946 Negro World Series in the seventh and deciding game, played in Newark. The Eagles triumph despite making only three hits, but one of them is Johnny Davis's two-RBI double.
  • September 30 – Veteran second baseman Billy Herman, pitcher Elmer Singleton, infielder Whitey Wietelmann and outfielder Stan Wentzel are traded by the Boston Braves to the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Hank Camelli and third baseman Bob Elliott. The Pirates' new owners immediately hire the savvy Herman, 37 and a future Hall of Famer, as their player–manager for , but they grossly overpay by giving up Elliott, who'll win the NL MVP Award and help lead Boston to the 1948 National League pennant.

October

  • October 1
  • The St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers meet in the first-ever National League tie-breaker series. The best-of-three showdown is not a "postseason" event: it's an extension of the 154-game NL schedule, with all statistics counting toward regular-season totals.
  • Today's "Game 1" (actually #155 for St. Louis and #156 for Brooklyn) at St. Louis' Sportsman's Park sees Redbird southpaw Howie Pollet notch his 21st triumph of 1946, throwing a complete-game, 4–2 victory; two third-inning runs give the Cardinals an insurmountable 3–1 advantage and they travel to Brooklyn needing only one victory to seal the pennant.
  • Meanwhile, the American League champions, the Boston Red Sox, concerned about the negative impacts of a three-day layoff during the NL tie-breaker, schedule a three-game, "friendly" exhibition series against a team of AL "All-Stars" at Fenway Park, to stay sharp. Their strategy backfires spectacularly today, when, in Game 1, superstar Ted Williams is nicked on the right elbow by a Mickey Haefner curveball; he's taken to a hospital for X-rays and held out of the rest of the series. His sore elbow will be blamed for Williams' poor showing (five for 25, all singles, one run batted in) in the seven games of the 1946 World Series.
  • October 3 – After a travel day, the 1946 NL tiebreaker resumes at Ebbets Field for "Game 2". The Cardinals' Murry Dickson spots the Dodgers a run in the bottom of the first, then shuts them out for the next seven innings, while the Redbirds score eight unanswered tallies before Brooklyn's bats awaken, too late, in the final frame. The Cardinals' 8–4 triumph delivers St. Louis's ninth National League flag in 21 years.
  • October 4 – At Delorimier Downs, Montréal, the Montreal Royals, champions of the International League, defeat the American Association champion Louisville Colonels, 2–0, to capture the 1946 Junior World Series, four games to two. The Royals are this century's first racially integrated team in "organized" Minor League Baseball and feature Jackie Robinson, who—under tremendous pressure—helped his team post a regular-season record of 100–54 and won the International League's batting title (.349); then he bats .400 in the Junior Series. Robinson is given a hero's send-off by Montréal fans, who lift him to their shoulders and sing "Il a gagné ses épaulettes" ("He earned his laurels") after the game.
  • October 11 – High-profile owners Bill Veeck and Larry MacPhail share today's spotlight with Game 5 of the 1946 World Series when Veeck's Cleveland Indians obtain six-time All-Star second baseman Joe Gordon from MacPhail's New York Yankees for starting pitcher Allie Reynolds. Gordon, 31, is a former () AL MVP; he's bound for the Hall of Fame. Reynolds, 29, is only 51–47 (3.31) in all or parts of five years in Cleveland; he'll become a cornerstone of six world-champion pitching staffs and a 5x All-Star during his eight seasons in pinstripes.

November

December

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January

  • January 13 – Kid Speer, 59, Canadian pitcher who played for the Detroit Tigers during the 1909 season.
  • January 18
  • Reeve McKay, 64, pitcher who played briefly for the 1915 St. Louis Browns of the American League.
  • Dave Wright, 70, pitcher who played with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1895 and the Chicago Colts in 1897.
  • January 23 – William Matthews, 68, pitcher for the 1909 Boston Red Sox.
  • January 28 – Pat Flaherty, 79, third baseman who played for the 1894 Louisville Colonels of the National League.
  • January 29 – Ed Merrill, 85, second baseman for the Louisville Eclipse, Worcester Ruby Legs and Indianapolis Hoosiers in span of two seasons from 1882 to 1884.

February

  • February 1 – Dad Hale, 65, pitched 11 games for the Boston Beaneaters and Baltimore Orioles in 1902.
  • February 6 – Charlie Knepper, 74, pitcher for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League.
  • February 13 – Marc Campbell, 61, shortstop in two games for the 1907 Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • February 14 – Woody Wagenhorst, 82, third baseman in two games for the 1888 Philadelphia Quakers of the National League who later became head coach of the University of Pennsylvania football team from 1888 to 1891.
  • February 15 – George Starnagle, 72, played one game at catcher for the Cleveland Bronchos in the 1902 season.
  • February 21 – Bill Cunningham, 59, second baseman for the Washington Senators from 1910–1912.

March

  • March 3 – Hick Cady, 60, backup catcher for the Boston Red Sox from 1912 to 1917 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1919.
  • March 6 – Claude Thomas, 55, pitched briefly for the Washington Senators in the 1916 season.
  • March 9 – Tom Nagle, 80, catcher for the Chicago Colts of the National League for parts of two seasons from 1890 to 1891.
  • March 11 – Ed McDonald, 59, third baseman for parts of three seasons with the Boston Rustlers/Braves and Chicago Cubs from 1911 to 1913.
  • March 16 – John Kerin, 71, American League umpire who officiated from 1908 to 1910.
  • March 21 – George Wheeler, 76, switch pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1896 to 1899.
  • March 25 – Hack Schumann, 61, pitched briefly for the 1906 Philadelphia Athletics.
  • March 28
  • Chick Fullis, 45, center fielder who played from 1928 to 1936 for the New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals, and a member of the 1934 World Champions Cardinals.
  • Cumberland Posey, 55, Hall of Fame outfielder, manager, executive, and the principal owner of the Homestead Grays, who built a strong barnstorming circuit that made the Grays a perennially powerful and profitable team, one of the best in Negro leagues history.

April

  • April 1 – George Strief, 89, utility man who played all infield and outfield positions for several clubs between 1879 and 1885.
  • April 4 – Harry Cross, 64, one of the most accomplished sports journalists in New York City for more than three decades.
  • April 5 – Wally Rehg, 57, right fielder for the Boston Red Sox, Boston Braves and Cincinnati Reds between 1912 and 1919, later a minor league player and manager from 1910 to 1930
  • April 13 – Billy Gumbert, 80, pitcher who played for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys/Pirates and Louisville Colonels in part of three seasons spanning 1890–1893.
  • April 15 – Pete Allen, 77, backup catcher for the Cleveland Spiders in the 1893 season.
  • April 17 – John Picus "Jack" Quinn, 62, Slovakia-born pitcher who won 247 games with eight different teams from 1909 to 1933, winning his last game when he was 50 years old; setting a record as the oldest Major League pitcher to win a game until Jamie Moyer broke it on April 17, 2012.
  • April 23
  • Joe Birmingham, 61, center fielder and manager for the Cleveland Naps in the early 1900s.
  • Jack Rothfuss, 74, first baseman for the 1897 Pittsburgh Pirates.

May

  • May 6 – Bill Deitrick, 44, outfielder and shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1927 and 1928.
  • May 7
  • Bill Fincher, 51, pitcher for the 1916 St. Louis Browns of the American League.
  • Bill Fox, 74, second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1897 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1901, who also spent 13 seasons in the minor leagues as a player/manager between 1894 and 1915.
  • May 10 – Harry Swan, 58, who made one pitching appearance for the Kansas City Packers of the "outlaw" Federal League in 1914.
  • May 15 – Ed Mayer, 80, third baseman in 188 games for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1890 to 1891.
  • May 17 – Billy Stage, 77, National League umpire in 1894–1895 who later became an attorney and politician in Cleveland, Ohio.
  • May 19
  • Jack Stafford, 66 or 67, Canadian umpire who worked one game in the National League (1906) and 131 contests in American League (1907).
  • John K. Tener, 82, Ireland-born pitcher and outfielder who played from 1888 through 1890 for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Stockings and Pittsburgh Burghers before becoming president of the National League from 1913 to 1918.
  • May 22 – Harry Betts, 64, who pitched one game in 1903 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and then came back to the majors ten years later in 1913 to pitch one more game for the Cincinnati Reds in 1913.
  • May 23 – Johnny Grabowski, 46, catcher who played for three teams in a span of seven seasons from 1924 to 1931, and a member of the Murderers' Row New York Yankees clubs that clinched the World Series in 1927 and 1928.
  • May 30 – Billy Earle, 78, catcher for five major league teams in five seasons from 1889 to 1894, who continued playing and managing in the minors until 1906, and also managed the Almendares BBC in 1901 to become the first American manager in Cuban Winter League history.

June

  • June 2 – Malcolm MacDonald, 74, outfielder for the New York Giants in 1902.
  • June 4 – Tom Barry, 67, pitcher for the 1904 Philadelphia Phillies.
  • June 17 – James Isaminger, 65, sportswriter for Philadelphia newspapers from 1905 to 1940, who played a major role in breaking the story of the Black Sox Scandal.
  • June 26 – Chris Hartje, 31, catcher who played with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1939 season; Hartje was one of nine members of the Spokane Indians of the Class B Western International League who died as the result of a June 24, 1946, bus crash on the Snoqualmie Pass Highway in the Cascade Mountains, the worst transit accident in baseball history.
  • June 30 – Sam Hope, 67, pitcher for the 1907 Philadelphia Athletics.

July

  • July 1 – Hub Knolls, 62, pitched two games for the 1906 Brooklyn Superbas.
  • July 17
  • John Fluhrer, 52, played briefly in left field for the Chicago Cubs during the 1915 season.
  • Tom Forster, 87, second baseman for the 1882 Detroit Wolverines and from 1884–1886 for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and New York Metropolitans of the American Association.
  • July 18 – James Lehan, 90, played briefly in the outfield for the 1884 Washington Nationals of the Union Association.
  • July 22 – Elmer Foster, 84, outfielder for all or parts of five seasons for the New York Metropolitans of the American Association, and the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs of the National League between 1886 and 1891, including the 1888 Giants National League Championship team.

August

  • August 1 – Bert Sincock, 58, pitched one game for the 1908 Cincinnati Reds.
  • August 2 – Carl Lind, 42, second baseman from 1927 to 1930 for the Cleveland Indians who led the American League in at-bats in 1928 (659).
  • August 6 – Tony Lazzeri, 42, Hall of Fame and All-Star second baseman for the New York Yankees, who won six American League pennants from 1926 through 1937, while batting .300 five times and collecting seven 100-RBI seasons, including two grand slams and 11 RBI in a 1936 game, and a .400 average in the 1937 World Series.
  • August 7 – Tad Quinn, 64, played parts of two seasons on the mound for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1902 to 1903.
  • August 16 – Billy Rhiel, 46, infielder for the Brooklyn Robins, Boston Braves, and Detroit Tigers from 1929 to 1933.
  • August 19 – Bob McKinney, 70, played briefly in the infield for the 1901 Philadelphia Athletics.

September

  • September 11 – Cy Morgan, 50, pitcher for parts of two seasons for the Boston Braves in 1921–1922.
  • September 13 – Ed Gagnier, 64, French shortstop who played in the Federal League for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops and Buffalo Blues from 1914 to 1915.
  • September 15 – Tex Wilson, 45, pitched two games for the 1924 Brooklyn Robins.
  • September 16 – Emil Bildilli, 34, southpaw pitcher for five seasons for the St. Louis Browns from 1937 to 1941.
  • September 17
  • Frank Burke, 66, played parts of two seasons at outfielder for the 1906 New York Giants and the 1907 Boston Doves of the National League.
  • Chief Chouneau, 57, Chippewa pitcher who played in one game for the Chicago White Sox in 1910.
  • September 20 – Wiley Piatt, 72, pitcher for six seasons from 1898 to 1903 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Beaneaters, who holds the dubious distinction of being the only pitcher in the 20th century to hurl two complete games in a single day and lose them both.
  • September 24 – Jeff Tesreau, 58, spitball ace for the New York Giants from 1912 to 1918 who won three pennants with them (1912, 1913, and 1917), and led the National League in ERA in 1912 and shutouts in 1914, ending his career with a 115–72 record, 2.43 ERA, and 880 strikeouts.
  • September 27
  • Benjamin Minor, 81, co-owner or owner of the Washington Senators from 1904 to 1919.
  • Eddie Tiemeyer, 61, infielder/pitcher during three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Highlanders spanning 1906 to 1909.

October

  • October 4 – John Woods, 48, pitched one game for the 1924 Boston Red Sox.
  • October 10
  • Walter Clarkson, 67, pitcher in five seasons with the New York Highlanders and Cleveland Naps from 1904 to 1908.
  • Bill Jones, 59, outfielder who played two seasons with the Boston Rustlers/Braves in 1911–1912.
  • October 18 – Jack McCallister, 67, minor league player who became a major league manager and coach; piloted 1927 Cleveland Indians to a 66–87 record, good for sixth in the American League.

November

  • November 3 – Ben Taylor, 57, pitcher for the 1912 Cincinnati Reds.
  • November 4 – John Barthold, 64, pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Athletics during the 1904 season.
  • November 5 – Alejandro Oms, 51, Cuban center fielder who played in the Negro leagues.
  • November 7 – Tom Daly, 54, Canadian catcher for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs during eight seasons spanning 1913–1921, who later managed the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League, and coached for the Boston Red Sox in 14 seasons (1933–1946), to set the longest consecutive-year coaching tenure in Bosox history.
  • November 11 – Art Reinhart, 47, pitcher who played for the St. Louis Cardinals in a span of five seasons from 1919 to 1928.
  • November 18 – Johnny Lush, 61, pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals from 1904 through 1910, who no-hit the Brooklyn Superbas in 1906, which was the last no-hitter by a Phillies pitcher in 57 years until Jim Bunning hurled a perfect game in 1964.
  • November 27 – Arlie Tarbert, 42, reserve outfielder for the 1927–1928 Boston Red Sox.
  • November 28 – Bill DeLancey, 35, catcher for the Gashouse Gang 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, whose promising career was cut short by tuberculosis.
  • November 30 – Pete McShannic, 82, third baseman for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the National League in the 1888 season.

December

  • December 10
  • Walter Johnson, 59, Hall of Fame pitcher who played from 1907 through 1927 for the Washington Senators, whose 417 career victories ranks second to the 511 achieved by Cy Young, while setting an all-time record with 110 shutouts, and collecting 3,509 strikeouts, twelve 20-win seasons, including two 30-win seasons, as well as 11 seasons with an earned run average below 2.00, 5,914 innings pitched, and 531 complete games in 666 starts; managed Washington (1929–1932) and the Cleveland Indians (1933–1935) to a 529–432 record.
  • Walter Moser, 65, pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns in a span of three seasons from 1906 to 1911.
  • Damon Runyon, 62, famed New York sportswriter and author.
  • December 14 – Tom Dowse, 80, Irish catcher/outfielder who played in the 1890s for the Cleveland Spiders/Solons, Louisville Colonels, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Senators.
  • December 16 – Walter Ball, 68, pitcher in Black baseball who appeared for the 1920–1921 Chicago Giants of the Negro National League; also played on integrated amateur teams in Minnesota and the Dakotas during the turn of the century.
  • December 21 – Bill Evans, 53, pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in three seasons from 1916 to 1919.
  • December 30 – Pat McGehee, 58, pitcher who played for the 1912 Detroit Tigers.

References

External links