1945 Boston Braves season

1945 Boston Braves
League	National League
Ballpark	Braves Field
City	Boston, Massachusetts
Record	67–85 (.441)
League place	6th
Owners	Louis R. Perini
Managers	Bob Coleman, Del Bissonette
Radio	WNAC (George Hatrick, Tom Hussey)
← 1944 1946 →

The 1945 Boston Braves season was the 75th season of the franchise.

Tommy Holmes had a career year, with 28 home runs, 117 RBI, and a .352 batting average. He led his team in every offensive category except walks.^[1] Holmes led the National League in hits (224), doubles (47), home runs (28), total bases (367), slugging percentage (.577) and on-base plus slugging (.997). He finished second in the NL in RBI and batting average.^[2] Holmes also put up a 37-game hitting streak this season, lasting from June 6 to July 8, recording a .423 batting average (66-for-156) with 9 home runs and 41 RBI.^[3] His hitting-streak record held for 33 years until 1978, when Pete Rose put together a 44-game hitting streak.

Regular season

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	98	56	0.636	—	49–26	49–30
St. Louis Cardinals	95	59	0.617	3	48–29	47–30
Brooklyn Dodgers	87	67	0.565	11	48–30	39–37
Pittsburgh Pirates	82	72	0.532	16	45–34	37–38
New York Giants	78	74	0.513	19	47–30	31–44
Boston Braves	67	85	0.441	30	36–38	31–47
Cincinnati Reds	61	93	0.396	37	36–41	25–52
Philadelphia Phillies	46	108	0.299	52	22–55	24–53

Record vs. opponents

1945 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	9–13–1	7–15	10–12	10–10–2	14–8	7–15	10–12
Brooklyn	13–9–1	—	8–14–1	11–11	15–7	19–3	12–10	9–13
Chicago	15–7	14–8–1	—	21–1	11–11	17–5	14–8	6–16
Cincinnati	12–10	11–11	1–21	—	6–16	12–10	10–12	9–13
New York	10–10–2	7–15	11–11	16–6	—	17–5	11–11	6–16
Philadelphia	8–14	3–19	5–17	10–12	5–17	—	6–16	9–13
Pittsburgh	15–7	10–12	8–14	12–10	11–11	16–6	—	10–12–1
St. Louis	12–10	13–9	16–6	13–9	16–6	13–9	12–10–1	—

Roster

1945 Boston Braves
Roster
Pitchers 25 Nate Andrews 19 Red Barrett 20,25 Ben Cardoni 13 Mort Cooper 21 Charlie Cozart 24 Tom Earley 23 Lou Fette 24 Don Hendrickson 12 Joe Heving 17 Johnny Hutchings 11,19 Ira Hutchinson 18 Al Javery 26 Bill Lee 20 Bob Logan 15 Ewald Pyle 26 Hal Schacker -- Elmer Singleton 22 Jim Tobin 9,15 Lefty Wallace 15 Bob Whitcher 14 Ed Wright		Catchers 9,21 Stew Hofferth 11 Clyde Kluttz 10 Phil Masi 29 Mike Ulicny Infielders  6 Dick Culler  2 Frank Drews 9,27 Eddie Joost  3 Joe Mack 5,11 Tommy Nelson 28 Steve Shemo  5 Vince Shupe 12 Norm Wallen  7 Whitey Wietelmann  6 Chuck Workman		Outfielders 28 Morrie Aderholt  4 Carden Gillenwater  1 Tommy Holmes 3,5 Joe Medwick 16 Butch Nieman 14,29 Bill Ramsey  4 Stan Wentzel		Manager 33 Del Bissonette 31 Bob Coleman Coaches 32 Benny Bengough 33 Del Bissonette

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	114	371	101	.272	7	46
1B	Vince Shupe	78	283	76	.269	0	15
2B	Whitey Wietelmann	123	428	116	.271	4	33
SS	Dick Culler	136	527	138	.262	2	30
3B	Chuck Workman	139	514	141	.274	25	87
OF	Carden Gillenwater	144	517	149	.288	7	72
OF	Tommy Holmes	154	636	224	.352	28	117
OF	Butch Nieman	97	247	61	.247	14	56

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
Joe Mack	66	260	60	.231	3	44
Joe Medwick	66	218	62	.284	0	26
Stew Hofferth	50	170	40	.235	3	15
Frank Drews	49	147	30	.204	0	19
Eddie Joost	35	141	35	.248	0	9
Bill Ramsey	78	137	40	.292	1	12
Tommy Nelson	40	121	20	.165	0	6
Morrie Aderholt	31	102	34	.333	2	11
Clyde Kluttz	25	81	24	.296	0	10
Steve Shemo	17	46	11	.239	0	7
Stan Wentzel	4	19	4	.211	0	6
Mike Ulicny	11	18	7	.389	1	4
Norm Wallen	4	15	2	.133	0	1

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
Jim Tobin	27	196.2	9	14	3.84	38
Bob Logan	34	187.0	7	11	3.18	53
Nate Andrews	21	137.2	7	12	4.58	26
Ed Wright	15	111.1	8	3	2.51	24
Bill Lee	16	106.1	6	3	2.79	12
Al Javery	17	77.1	2	7	6.28	18
Elmer Singleton	7	37.1	1	4	4.82	14

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
Johnny Hutchings	57	185.0	7	6	3.75	99
Mort Cooper	20	78.0	7	4	3.35	45
Tom Earley	11	41.0	2	1	4.61	4
Red Barrett	9	38.0	2	3	4.74	13
Lefty Wallace	5	20.0	1	0	4.50	4
Bob Whitcher	6	15.2	0	2	2.87	6
Ewald Pyle	4	13.2	0	1	7.24	10
Lou Fette	5	11.0	0	2	5.73	4

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
Don Hendrickson	37	4	8	5	4.91	14
Ira Hutchinson	11	2	3	1	5.02	4
Hal Schacker	6	0	1	0	5.28	6
Charlie Cozart	5	1	0	0	10.13	4
Joe Heving	3	1	0	0	3.38	1
Ben Cardoni	3	0	0	0	9.00	5
Whitey Wietelmann	1	0	0	0	54.00	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	Hartford Bees	Eastern League	Merle Settlemire
D	Mooresville Braves	North Carolina State League	Jack Quinlan

^[4]

Notes

References

• 1945 Boston Braves season at Baseball Reference