1945 Cleveland Indians season

The 1945 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American major league baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 73–72–2.

1945 Cleveland Indians
League	American League
Ballpark	League Park Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners	Alva Bradley
General managers	Roger Peckinpaugh
Managers	Lou Boudreau
Seasons

Regular season

Season standings

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Detroit Tigers	88	65	.575	—	50‍–‍26	38‍–‍39
Washington Senators	87	67	.565	1½	46‍–‍31	41‍–‍36
St. Louis Browns	81	70	.536	6	47‍–‍27	34‍–‍43
New York Yankees	81	71	.533	6½	48‍–‍28	33‍–‍43
Cleveland Indians	73	72	.503	11	44‍–‍33	29‍–‍39
Chicago White Sox	71	78	.477	15	44‍–‍29	27‍–‍49
Boston Red Sox	71	83	.461	17½	42‍–‍35	29‍–‍48
Philadelphia Athletics	52	98	.347	34½	39‍–‍35	13‍–‍63

Record vs. opponents

1945 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	9–13	11–11	12–10–1	6–16	14–8	8–14–1	11–11–1
Chicago	13–9	—	11–8–1	10–12	9–12	12–10	8–13	8–14
Cleveland	11–11	8–11–1	—	11–11	12–9	12–6–1	11–10	8–14
Detroit	10–12–1	12–10	11–11	—	15–7	15–7–1	15–6	10–12
New York	16–6	12–9	9–12	7–15	—	16–6	7–15	14–8
Philadelphia	8–14	10–12	6–12–1	7–15–1	6–16	—	10–12–1	5–17
St. Louis	14–8–1	13–8	10–11	6–15	15–7	12–10–1	—	11–11–1
Washington	11–11–1	14–8	14–8	12–10	8–14	17–5	11–11–1	—

Notable transactions

• May 29, 1945: Buddy Rosar was traded by the Indians to the Philadelphia Athletics for Frankie Hayes.

Roster

1945 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 22 Jim Bagby 33 Paul Calvert 40 Pete Center 30 Red Embree 19 Bob Feller 25 Steve Gromek 18 Mel Harder 34 Earl Henry 15,35 Hal Kleine 39 Ed Klieman 21 Allie Reynolds 35 Jack Salveson 32 Al Smith		Catchers 42 Gene Desautels 11 Frankie Hayes 14 Jim McDonnell 16 Hank Ruszkowski 12 Red Steiner Infielders  5 Lou Boudreau  2 Al Cihocki 24 Dutch Meyer 10 Mickey Rocco  1 Don Ross  3 Bob Rothel 34 Elmer Weingartner  7 Ed Wheeler  8 Fred Williams		Outfielders 33 Stan Benjamin 42 Eddie Carnett  1 Roy Cullenbine  8 Les Fleming 12,4 Jeff Heath 17 Myril Hoag 41 Felix Mackiewicz  6 Paul O'Dea 23 Pat Seerey		Manager  5 Lou Boudreau Coaches 27 Ski Melillo 26 Burt Shotton 28 George Susce

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	Frankie Hayes	119	385	91	.236	6	43
1B	Mickey Rocco	143	565	149	.264	10	56
2B	Dutch Meyer	130	524	153	.292	7	48
SS	Lou Boudreau	97	345	106	.307	3	48
3B	Don Ross	106	363	95	.262	2	43
OF	Pat Seerey	126	414	98	.237	14	56
OF	Jeff Heath	102	370	113	.305	15	61
OF	Felix Mackiewicz	120	359	98	.273	2	37

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
Al Cihocki	92	283	60	.212	0	24
Paul O'Dea	87	221	52	.235	1	21
Les Fleming	42	140	46	.329	3	22
Myril Hoag	40	128	27	.211	0	3
Eddie Carnett	30	73	16	.219	0	7
Ed Wheeler	46	72	14	.194	0	2
Jim McDonnell	28	51	10	.196	0	8
Hank Ruszkowski	14	49	10	.204	0	5
Elmer Weingartner	20	39	9	.231	0	1
Stan Benjamin	14	21	7	.333	0	3
Red Steiner	12	20	3	.150	0	2
Fred Williams	16	19	4	.211	0	0
Roy Cullenbine	8	13	1	.077	0	0
Bob Rothel	4	10	2	.200	0	0
Gene Desautels	10	9	1	.111	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
Steve Gromek	33	251.0	19	9	2.55	101
Allie Reynolds	44	247.1	18	12	3.20	112
Jim Bagby	25	159.1	8	11	3.73	38
Al Smith	21	133.2	5	12	3.84	34
Mel Harder	11	76.0	3	7	3.67	16

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
Bob Feller	9	72.0	5	3	2.50	59
Red Embree	8	70.0	4	4	1.93	42
Hal Kleine	3	7.0	0	0	3.86	5
Myril Hoag	2	3.0	0	0	0.00	0
Paul O'Dea	1	2.0	0	0	13.50	0
Eddie Carnett	2	2.0	0	0	0.00	1
Paul Calvert	1	1.1	0	0	13.50	1

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
Ed Klieman	38	5	8	4	3.85	33
Pete Center	31	6	3	1	3.99	34
Jack Salveson	19	0	0	0	3.68	11
Earl Henry	15	0	3	0	5.40	10

Awards and honors

All-Star Game (note: rosters were named by Associated Press writers, but game was not played due to travel restrictions during World War II)

Lou Boudreau, Shortstop

Steve Gromek, Pitcher

Frankie Hayes, Catcher

Jeff Heath, Outfielder

Allie Reynolds, Pitcher

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Baltimore Orioles	International League	Alphonse "Tommy" Thomas
A	Wilkes-Barre Barons	Eastern League	Dick Porter and Mike McNally
D	Batavia Clippers	PONY League	Jack Tighe

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Batavia

References

• 1945 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Reference
• 1945 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Almanac