1946 in Baseball - Events

Events

  • January 12 – Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams receives his discharge from the U.S. Marine Air Corps after a three-year stint serving in World War II. In spite of the long absence from competitive baseball, Williams will return to the major leagues by hitting .342 with 38 home runs and 123 RBI in 1946.
  • January 12 – The first official professional game is played in Venezuela, launching the newly constituted four-team Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Venezuela. The league is composed of four teams: Cervecería Caracas, Magallanes, Vargas and Venezuela. The inaugural game is won by Magallanes over Venezuela, 5–2, behind strong pitching from Alex Carrasquel, who gives up 11 hits in a complete game effort.
  • January 20 – In a classic pitching matchup played in Caracas, Venezuela, Alex Carrasquel of Magallanes beat Roy Welmaker and Vargas club, 3–2, in 17 innings. In the six-and-a-half-hour marathon, Carrasquel is good enough to silence the bats of Roy Campanella and Sam Jethroe. Both pitchers go the distance in one of the greatest matchups ever.
  • February 19 – New York Giants OF Danny Gardella becomes the first major leaguer to announce he is jumping to the "outlaw" Mexican League, the first shot in the series of events that will dominate baseball even more than the return of all the war veterans. His attempt to return to Major League Baseball a few years later will initiate a major court battle.
  • April 18 – Jackie Robinson, signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers organization by owner Branch Rickey, makes his first appearance with the Montreal Royals in the International League.
  • April 23 – Ed Head pitches a no-hitter as the Brooklyn Dodgers blank the Boston Braves, 5-0.
  • April 30 – Bob Feller tosses the second no-hitter of his career in a 1-0 Cleveland Indians win over the New York Yankees.
  • June 24 – A bus carrying the Spokane Indians minor league baseball team crashed on Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State in the worst accident in the history of all of U.S. professional sports (as of October 2007). Nine members of the 16-member team were killed and six were injured. Eight of those who died served in World War II. Citation (please see for a complete list of sources):Colford, Ann B. (2006). Bus carrying Spokane Indians baseball team crashes on Snoqualmie Pass on June 24, 1946. HistoryLink.org. http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7959.
  • July 9 – At Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, the American League crushes the National League, 12–0, in the All-Star Game.
  • 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.
  • July 19 - Fourteen Chicago White Sox players are ejected from the game against the Boston Red Sox, leaving only the manager and coaches and the nine players on the field in the dugout.
  • August 4 - St. Louis Browns relief pitcher Tom Ferrick earns the win in both games of a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Athletics.
  • August 9 – All games (four each for both the American and National Leagues) were played at night for the first time in Major League history.
  • September 13 – The Boston Red Sox clinch the American League 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 first pennant since 1918.
  • October 1 – October 3 – After finishing the regular season tied for first place, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers met in the first-ever National League playoff series. The Cardinals win the best-of-three series, two games to none, and advance to the World Series.
  • October 15 – The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3, in Game 7 of the World Series to win their sixth World Series, four games to three. The Red Sox would not appear in the World Series for another 21 years, which, coincidentally, would be a rematch with the Cardinals.

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