The loss of brilliant young stars to military service during World War II delayed the Red Sox quest for a pennant. In four-of-five seasons before the World War II, 1938-39, 1941-42 the Red Sox finished in second place and in 1942 registered their highest winning percentage since back in 1915. The 1942 Sox played 93-59 ball, a solid .612 pct.

But when, Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky returned from war duty, along with pitchers Tex Hughson and Joe Dobson, they were ready and willing to win the pennant.

Management also acquired power-hitting first baseman Rudy York during the off-season and aided by rookie Dave Ferriss, who the previous year (1945) went 21-10, and posted a 2.96 ERA.

And indeed, mission full-filled, they ran away with the pennant and finished in first place, 12 games ahead of Detroit with a 104-50 record for a stunning .675 winning percentage.

The Boston Red Sox 1946 produced some heavy stats and had the highest team batting average in majors (.271), the highest on-base-pct (.356) and the best slugging average (.402).

1946 Boston Red Sox Roster:

* Batting Statistics:

Ted Williams lf, .342 BA, 38Hr, 123 RBIs in 150 Games... Dom DiMaggio cf, .316, 7Hr, 73 RBIs in 142G... Wally Moses rf, .206, 2Hr, 17 RBIs in 48G... Leon Culberson of, .313, 3Hr, 18 RBIs in 59G... Tom McBride of, .301, 0Hr, 19 RBIs in 61G... Hal Wagner c, .230, 6Hr, 52 RBIs in 117G... Roy Partee c, .315, 0Hr, 9Rbis in 40G...

Rip Russell 3b, .208, 6Hr, 35 RBIs in 80G... Pinky Higgins 3b, .275, 2Hr, 28 RBIs in 64G... Johnny Pesky ss, .335, 2Hr, 55 RBIs in 153G... Bobby Doerr 2b, .271, 18Hr, 116 RBIs in 151G... Don Gutteridge if, .234, 1Hr, 6 RBIs in 22G... Rudy York 1b, .276, 17Hr, 119 RBIs in 154G... Eddie Pellagrini if, .211, 2Hr, 4 RBIs in 22G... Paul Campbell .115, 0 RBIs in 28G...

Ernie Anders .098, 0Hr, 1 RBI in 15G... Tom Carey .200, 0 RBIs in 3G... Andy Gilbert .000 in 2G... John Lazor .138, 1Hr, 4 RBIs in 23G... Catfish Metkovich .246, 4Hr, 25 RBIs in 86G... Eddie McGah .216, 0Hr, 1 RBI in 15G... Frankie Pytlak .143, 0Hr, 1 RBI in 4G... Ben Steiner .250, 0 RBIs in 3G...

* Pitching Summary:

Dave Ferriss 25-6, 3.25 ERA in 40 Games... Tex Hughson 20-11, 2.75 ERA in 39G... Mickey Harris 17-9, 3.64 ERA in 34G... Joe Dobson 13-7, 3.24 ERA in 32G... Jim Bagby 7-6, 3.71 ERA in 21 G... Earl Johnson 5-4, 3.71 ERA in 29G... Bob Klinger 3-2, 2.37 ERA in 28G... Mace Brown 3-1, 2.05 ERA in 18G...

Bill Zuber 5-1, 2.54 ERA in 15G... Charlie Wagner 1-0, 5.87 ERA in 8G... Bill Butland 1-0, 11.02 ERA in 5G... Mel Deutsch 0-0, 5.68 ERA in 3G... Clem Dreisewerd 4-1, 4.18 ERA in 20G... Randy Heflin 0-1, 2.45 ERA in 5G... Mike Ryba 0-1, 3.55 ERA in 9G... Jim Wilson 0-0, 27.00 ERA in 1G...

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And, he finished his rookie year with a 21-10, 2.96 ERA record, completing 26-of-31 starts, 5 shutouts.

In his second year, 1946, Dave Ferriss helped the Red Sox win the pennant and led all major league pitchers in winning percentage with .806, compiling a brilliant 25-6 record, including six shutouts and completed 26-of-35 starts. In the 1946 World Series he hurled a 4-0 shutout against the Cardinals in Game 3, started Game 7 but was not the pitcher of record. However, the next season he developed arm problems and his career fell off quickly from then on.

Dave Ferriss career stats: 65-30 W/L, 3.64 ERA, 144G, 103Gs, 67GC, 12 Shutouts, 914 hits in 880 innings, 294Ks, 314 Walks. baseballhistorian.com

After World War II ended, the Boston Braves were quickly becoming one of the top National League teams. In 1946 the team's management put together the nucleus for the 1948 NL pennant winning club.

Although, some of the club's top pitchers, like Warren Spahn, were discharged from the military after the season started, the Braves finished the '46 season with a solid 81-72 W/L record and its pitching staff compiled the fourth best ERA in the league - 3.35.

Ace right-hander Johnny Sain led the parade of returning stars and posted the second lowest ERA in the league in '46 with 2.21, and was one of only two NL pitchers to gather 20 victories, trailing only St Louis' Howie Pollet's 2.10 ERA, 21-10 W/L record.

Boston Braves 1946 - Pitching Stats:

Johnny Sain 20-14, 2.21 ERA in 37 Games... Ed Wright 12-9, 3.52 ERA in 36G... Warren Spahn 8-5, 2.94 ERA in 24G... Bill Lee 10-9, 4.18 ERA in 25G... Mort Cooper 13-11, 3.12 ERA in 28G... Lefty Wallace 3-3, 4.18 ERA in 27G... Steve Roser 1-1, 3.60 ERA in 14G...

Frank Barrett 2-4, 5.09 ERA in 23G... Si Johnson 6-5, 2.76 ERA in 28G... Bill Posedel 2-0, 6.99 ERA in 19G... Don Hendrickson 0-1, 4.50 ERA in 2G... Ernie White 0-1, 4.18 ERA in 12G... Jim Konstanty 0-1, 5.28 ERA in 10G... Ace Williams 0-0, 0.00 ERA in 1G...

Elmer Singleton 0-1, 3.74 ERA in 15G... Whitey Wietelmann 0-0, 8.10 ERA in 3G... John Hutchings 0-1, 4.50 ERA in 2G... Al Javery 0-1, 13.50 ERA in 2G... Dick Mulligan 1-0, 2.35 ERA in 4G... Earl Reid 1-0, 3.00 ERA in 2G... John Niggeling 2-5, 3.26 ERA in 8G...

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Pitchers' Bios - 1946 Boston Braves

Compiled by staff@baseballhistorian.com

* Johnny Sain, Starter & Reliever - one of baseball's top pitchers, he posted a 4-7 record with the Braves in his rookie year of 1942... and then, at 26-years old, went into the military... he won 20 games or more games for three successive seasons upon returning to the team in '46, including a resounding 24-15 record, with a 2.60 ERA for the pennant winning 1948 Boston Braves.

* Bill Posedel, Starter & Reliever - he broke into the majors with Brooklyn in 1938 and was 8-9 W/L in 140 innings... traded to the Braves in '39, Posedel posted a solid 15-13 mark, including 5 complete game shutouts, had a 3.92 ERA, completed 18-of-29 starts, struck out 73 batters in 220.7 innings... he fell to 12-17 in 1940, then 4-4 in '41 before spending the next three seasons in the US Military... he returned in 1946, his last big-league season, to relieve in 19 games.

* Al Javery, Starter & Reliever - in went 2-4 W/L in his rookie year of 1940 for the Boston Braves... then won 10 or more games in four straight years - 1941-1944. In 1942, Javery hurled 5 shutouts, complete 19-of-37 starts, yielded just 251 hits in 261 while posting a fine 3.03 ERA and had a 12-16 record. His best season was 1943, he won 17 games, lost 16, a 3.21 ERA and hurled five more shutouts. He pitched during the war years and retired after the '46 season.

#7 Dom DiMaggio, CF... #6 Johnny Pesky SS... #9 Ted Williams LF... #1 Bobby Doerr 2B... #3 Rudy York 1B... #2 George Metkovich RF... #35 Ernie Andes 3B... #8 Hal Wagner C... #21 Tex Hughson P