1946 Cleveland Indians season

In 1946, Bill Veeck finally became the owner of a major league team, the Cleveland Indians. He immediately put the team's games on radio, and set about to put his own indelible stamp on the franchise. Actor Bob Hope also acquired a minority share of the Indians.

Offseason

Prior to 1946 season: Al Aber was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.

Regular season

During the season, Bob Feller became the last pitcher to win at least 25 games in one season for the Indians in the 20th century.

Notable transactions

June 26, 1946: Mickey Rocco and cash were traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Heinz Becker.
July 4, 1946: The Indians traded a player to be named later to the Chicago White Sox for Tom Jordan. The Indians completed the deal by sending Frankie Hayes to the White Sox on July 15.

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	Jim Hegan	88	271	64	.236	0	17
1B	Les Fleming	99	306	85	.278	8	42
2B	Dutch Meyer	72	207	48	.232	0	16
SS	Lou Boudreau	140	515	151	.293	6	62
3B	Ken Keltner	116	398	96	.241	13	45
OF	Pat Seerey	117	404	91	.225	26	62
OF	Hank Edwards	124	458	138	.301	10	54
OF	George Case	118	484	109	.225	1	22

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
Jack Conway	68	258	58	.225	0	18
Felix Mackiewicz	78	258	67	.260	0	16
Ray Mack	61	171	35	.205	1	9
Frankie Hayes	51	156	40	.256	3	18
Don Ross	55	153	41	.268	3	14
Heinz Becker	50	147	44	.299	0	17
Gene Woodling	61	133	25	.188	0	9
	34	98	24	.245	2	14
Bob Lemon	55	89	16	.180	1	4
Sherm Lollar	28	62	15	.242	1	9
Dale Mitchell	11	44	19	.432	0	5
Jimmy Wasdell	32	41	11	.268	0	4
Tom Jordan	14	35	7	.200	1	3
Howie Moss	8	32	2	.063	0	0
Eddie Robinson	8	30	12	.400	3	4
Buster Mills	9	22	6	.273	0	3
Rusty Peters	9	21	6	.286	0	2
Jackie Price	7	13	3	.231	0	0
Ralph Weigel	6	12	2	.167	0	0
Ted Sopkowski	2	8	4	.500	0	1
Blas Monaco	12	6	0	.000	0	0
Charlie Brewster	3	2	0	.000	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
	48	371.1	26	15	2.18	348
Red Embree	28	200.0	8	12	3.47	87
Allie Reynolds	31	183.1	11	15	3.88	107
Steve Gromek	29	153.2	5	15	4.33	75
Mel Harder	13	92.1	5	4	3.41	21

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
Charlie Gassaway	13	50.2	1	1	3.91	23
Don Black	18	43.2	1	2	4.53	15
Ed Klieman	9	15.0	0	0	6.60	2
Vic Johnson	9	13.2	0	1	9.22	3
Bob Kuzava	2	12.0	1	0	3.00	4
Ray Flanigan	3	9.0	0	1	11.00	2
Johnny Podgajny	6	9.0	0	0	5.00	4
Les Webber	4	5.1	1	1	23.63	5
Ralph McCabe	1	4.0	0	1	11.25	3

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
Bob Lemon	32	4	5	1	2.49	39
Joe Krakauskas	29	2	5	1	5.51	20
	21	3	6	1	3.38	16
Pete Center	21	0	2	1	4.97	6
Tom Ferrick	9	0	0	1	5.00	9

Awards and honors

Bob Feller, Led American League with 36 complete games

All-Star Game
Bob Feller, Pitcher
Frankie Hayes, Catcher
Ken Keltner, Third baseman

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg, Centreville, Batavia