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1948 Boston Braves season

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1948 Boston Braves
National League Champions
LeagueNational League
BallparkBraves Field
CityBoston, Massachusetts
Record91–62 (.595)
League place1st
OwnersLouis R. Perini
General managersJohn J. Quinn
ManagersBilly Southworth
TelevisionWBZ-TV/WNAC-TV
RadioWHDH
(Jim Britt, Tom Hussey)
← 1947
1949 →

The 1948 Boston Braves season was the 78th consecutive season of the Major League Baseball franchise, its 73rd in the National League. It produced the team's second NL pennant of the 20th century, its first since 1914, and its tenth overall league title dating to 1876.

Led by starting pitchers Johnny Sain and Warren Spahn (who combined for 39 victories), and the hitting of Bob Elliott, Jeff Heath, Tommy Holmes and rookie Alvin Dark, the 1948 Braves captured 91 games to finish 61⁄2 paces ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. They also attracted 1,455,439 fans[1] to Braves Field, the third-largest gate in the National League and a high-water mark for the team's stay in Boston. The 1948 pennant was the fourth National League championship in seven years for Braves' manager Billy Southworth, who had won three NL titles (1942–44, inclusive) and two World Series championships (1942 and 1944) with the Cardinals. Southworth would be posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 2008.

However, the Braves fell in six games to the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 World Series, and would experience a swift decline in both on-field success and popularity over the next four seasons. Attendance woes—the Braves would draw only 281,278 home fans[1] in 1952—forced the team's relocation to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in March 1953. (It later moved to Atlanta in 1966.)

After playing .500 baseball in April and May 1948, the Braves vaulted into first place on the strength of a 39–21 record during June and July. Hampered by second baseman Eddie Stanky's broken ankle and center fielder Jim Russell's season-ending illness, the club slumped slightly in August, going only 14–17 and falling out of the lead August 29. But then it righted itself to win 21 of its final 28 games, regain the top spot September 2, and clinch the NL flag on the 26th. Meanwhile, the city's American League team, the Red Sox, ended their season in a first-place tie with the Indians and lost a playoff game to Cleveland at Fenway Park on October 4; this ruined the prospect of what would have been the only all-Boston World Series, now an impossibility since the Braves left Boston after the 1952 season. (The Tribe were doubtlessly very unpopular in Beantown after defeating both of their teams in the post-season.)

For both the Braves and Red Sox, the 1948 season was the first in which their games were broadcast on television, with telecasts alternating between WBZ-TV and WNAC-TV and the teams sharing the same announcers. The first-ever telecast of a major league game in New England occurred on Tuesday night, June 15, with the Braves defeating the visiting Chicago Cubs 6–3 behind Sain's complete game.[2][3]

Offseason

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Regular season

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Postcard showing the team.

Season standings

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Braves 91 62 .595 — 45‍–‍31 46‍–‍31
St. Louis Cardinals 85 69 .552 6½ 44‍–‍33 41‍–‍36
Brooklyn Dodgers 84 70 .545 7½ 36‍–‍41 48‍–‍29
Pittsburgh Pirates 83 71 .539 8½ 47‍–‍31 36‍–‍40
New York Giants 78 76 .506 13½ 37‍–‍40 41‍–‍36
Philadelphia Phillies 66 88 .429 25½ 32‍–‍44 34‍–‍44
Cincinnati Reds 64 89 .418 27 32‍–‍45 32‍–‍44
Chicago Cubs 64 90 .416 27½ 35‍–‍42 29‍–‍48

Record vs. opponents

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1948 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 14–8 16–6–1 13–8 11–11 14–8 12–10 11–11
Brooklyn 8–14 — 11–11 18–4 11–11–1 15–7 9–13 12–10
Chicago 6–16–1 11–11 — 10–12 11–11 7–15 8–14 11–11
Cincinnati 8–13 4–18 12–10 — 10–12 11–11 9–13 10–12
New York 11–11 11–11–1 11–11 12–10 — 14–8 12–10 7–15
Philadelphia 8–14 7–15 15–7 11–11 8–14 — 12–10–1 5–17
Pittsburgh 10–12 13–9 14–8 13–9 10–12 10–12–1 — 13–9–1
St. Louis 11–11 10–12 11–11 12–10 15–7 17–5 9–13–1 —


Roster

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1948 Boston Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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 113 376 95 .253 5 44
1B Earl Torgeson 134 438 111 .253 10 67
2B Eddie Stanky 67 247 79 .320 2 29
SS Al Dark 137 543 175 .322 3 48
3B Bob Elliott 151 540 153 .283 23 100
OF Tommy Holmes 139 585 190 .325 6 61
OF Jeff Heath 115 364 116 .319 20 76
OF Jim Russell 89 322 85 .264 9 54

Other batters

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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
Mike McCormick 115 343 104 .303 1 39
Clint Conatser 90 224 60 .277 3 23
Sibby Sisti 83 221 54 .244 0 21
Bill Salkeld 78 198 48 .242 8 28
Frank McCormick 75 180 45 .250 4 34
Connie Ryan 51 122 26 .213 0 10
Bobby Sturgeon 34 78 17 .218 0 4
Danny Litwhiler 13 33 9 .273 0 6
Marv Rickert 3 13 3 .231 0 2
Ray Sanders 5 4 1 .250 0 2
Paul Burris 2 4 2 .500 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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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 Sain 42 314.2 24 15 2.60 137
Warren Spahn 36 257.0 15 12 3.71 114
Bill Voiselle 37 215.2 13 13 3.63 89
Vern Bickford 33 146.0 11 5 3.27 60
Glenn Elliott 1 3.0 1 0 3.00 2

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Red Barrett 32 128.1 7 8 3.65 40
Nels Potter 18 85.0 5 2 2.33 47
Jim Prendergast 10 16.2 1 1 10.26 3
Johnny Beazley 3 16.0 0 1 4.50 4

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Clyde Shoun 36 5 1 4 4.01 25
Bobby Hogue 40 8 2 2 3.23 43
Ernie White 15 0 2 2 1.96 8
Al Lyons 7 1 0 0 7.82 5
Johnny Antonelli 4 0 0 0 2.25 0
Ed Wright 3 0 0 0 1.93 2
Ray Martin 2 0 0 0 0.00 0

1948 World Series

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Main article: 1948 World Series

Game 1

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October 6, 1948, at Braves Field in Boston, Massachusetts

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X 1 2 2
WP: Johnny Sain (1–0)   LP: Bob Feller (0–1)

Game 2

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October 7, 1948, at Braves Field in Boston, Massachusetts

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 4 8 1
Boston 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 3
WP: Bob Lemon (1–0)   LP: Warren Spahn (0–1)

Game 3

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October 8 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1
Cleveland 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 X 2 5 0
WP: Gene Bearden (1–0)   LP: Vern Bickford (0–1)

Game 4

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October 9, 1948, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 0
Cleveland 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 X 2 5 0
WP: Steve Gromek (1–0)   LP: Johnny Sain (1–1)
Home runs:
BOS: Marv Rickert (1)
CLE: Larry Doby (1)

Game 5

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October 10, 1948, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 3 0 1 0 0 1 6 0 0 11 12 0
Cleveland 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 2
WP: Warren Spahn (1–1)   LP: Bob Feller (0–2)
Home runs:
BOS: Bob Elliott 2 (2), Bill Salkeld (1)
CLE: Dale Mitchell (1), Jim Hegan (1)

Game 6

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October 11, 1948, at Braves Field in Boston, Massachusetts

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 4 10 0
Boston 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 9 0
WP: Bob Lemon (2–0)   LP: Bill Voiselle (0–1)
Home runs:
CLE: Joe Gordon (1)
BOS: None

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Milwaukee Brewers American Association Nick Cullop
A Hartford Chiefs Eastern League Earl Browne
B Evansville Braves Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Bob Coleman
B Pawtucket Slaters New England League Hughie Wise
B Jackson Senators Southeastern League Willis Hudlin
C Kingston Ponies Border League Ben Lady
C Eau Claire Bears Northern League Andy Cohen
C Leavenworth Braves Western Association Dutch Dorman
D Bluefield Blue-Grays Appalachian League George Lacy
D Marysville Braves Far West League Ed Wheeler, James Keller
and Spencer Harris
D Mount Vernon Braves Illinois State League Creepy Crespi
D Owensboro Oilers KITTY League Rex Carr
D High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms North Carolina State League Jim Gruzdis
D Richmond Braves Ohio–Indiana League Ollie Byers

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Evansville

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Baseball-Almanac.com
  2. ^ Halper, Donna L., June 15, 1948: Televised Baseball Debuts in Boston. Society for American Baseball Research
  3. ^ Retrosheet box score:1948-06-15
  4. ^ a b Hoyt Wilhelm at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Eddie Stanky at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Carl Sawatski at Baseball-Reference

References

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  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
  • 1948 Boston Braves season at Baseball Reference
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