[jksander]

1946 Season

July 31, 1946: News of baseball’s new “free agency” opportunities for players has been the dominant source of league-wide gossip, but once the season got underway it was all about the games themselves and the battle to become the first post-war World Champion. By the time we reached the trade deadline, the Yankees (68-33) held a 13 game lead over the Red Sox in the AL, with Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago in a four-way battle for a distant second place. Over in the NL, St. Louis (59-40) led the 53-47 Dodgers by six and a half, with Chicago and Boston trailing nine games back at 51-50 each.

A few big deals have come through as owners tentatively try to stave off players who are on the verge of free agency:

- On March 29th, Dixie Walker signed a three-year deal worth $1 65,000 to stay with the Dodgers. The 35-year-old is earning $18,000 this year, but will get a raise to $55,000 per year over the three-year deal, with a clause promising him the starting right fielder spot, along with $6,500 for an MVP win and $980 as an All Star bonus. Thus far in 1946 he has batted .307 with 22 doubles, nine triples, four homers and 40 runs batted in, giving him 3.1 wins above replacement ... and yes, he got that All-Star bonus!

- On April 30th, the Dodgers got busy again, offering an extension to Augie Galan that was even richer ... $300,000 spread over the next five seasons, including a vesting option in 1951, so Galan will go from $19,000 this year to $60,000 per year starting in 1947, and if he plays 130 games in 1950 he’ll keep earning that amount through his 39th birthday! He has the league’s first No Trade Clause, and earns $4,500 for an MVP win and $1,200 for any All Star appearances (he made one this year) ... he’s hit .301 this year with 25 doubles, 48 RBIs and seven stolen bases, netting him 3.4 wins above replacement as he and Walker try to get the Dodgers ahead of St. Louis in the NL pennant chase.

- The final big deal has gone to yet another Dodger ... this time Brooklyn signed veteran infielder Billy Herman to a two year deal worth $25,000 per year, a deal they made official on July 9th. Herman, 37, has played in 95 games and hit just .240, but his defense has been valuable to the team. But of the three, this is the deal that made the least waves.

September 30, 1946: The Dodgers were locked in battle with St. Louis all year, and it came down to the final day of the season, when the Dodgers beat the Boston Braves 11-6 and the Cardinals lost to the Chicago Cubs 10-2 ... both teams playing at home, giving the Dodgers, with their 90-64 record, a pennant win by one game over the 89-65 Cards who had literally led the entire season. That’s brutal! The Cubs, at 73-81 and in sixth place, were perfectly happy playing postseason spoiler, and they helped set up a Dodgers / Yankees subway series as a result. The Yankees (99-55) won their league in a ho-hum season, with the Chicago White Sox finishing a distant 16-games back at 83-71. Boston, an early favorite, was pretty much out of the race in May, but had shown signs of life until early August. They finished third, at 82-72, tied with Cleveland. The hapless St. Louis Browns (60-94) won the distinction of being the worst team in either league, which means they’ll get the top amateur pick in the draft this winter.

There have been no other extensions to contracts ahead of free agency since the trade deadline.

October 10, 1946: The Dodgers won the series’ first two games by 11-3 and 7-1 margins over the Yankees while playing on their home field. And on the 5th of October they stole game three in the House that Ruth Built, beating the Yanks 1-0 in a game that featured even hitting among the teams but better pitching by far via Brooklyn. The Yankees went on to win the next two games 5-2 and 10-3, sending the series back to Brooklyn for an improbable game six, but the Dodgers won it 6-4, breaking a 1-1 tie with three runs in the bottom of the fourth and never looking back. Augie Galan had five hits and three runs batted in, setting a new NL playoff record, and he was named World Series MVP, hitting 11-25 with three doubles and five RBIs, a .440 clip with a 1.041 OPS.

On October 6th, the Detroit Tigers came to an agreement with “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg that keeps the 35-year-old first baseman in Detroit for the next three seasons. Greenberg earned $15,000 this year, but will get $34,800 each year through 1949, along with $4,200 for an MVP and $840 for an All Star appearance. The $104,400 deal looks paltry compared to what Walker and Galan got with the Dodgers, but the Tigers were 78-76 and finished 21 games back in the AL race .. so keeping Greenberg’s 4.5 WAR (he hit .255 with 25 doubles and 38 homers with 114 RBIs) was important, but so was keeping the budget under control. Or that’s what the owner will tell you, though the Tigers are sitting on a mountain of cash right now.

Yesterday the New York baseball Giants signed 37-year-old right fielder Mel Ott to a two year extension: $40,000 next year and another $40K if he makes 520 plate appearances in ’47 ... an unlikely prospect, considering he only had 418 at-bats this year, hitting .263 with 16 doubles, 25 homers and 69 RBIs (though he put up a whopping 6.1 WAR, thanks to his excellent fielding (a +9.8 zone rating and just four errors all season).
 
Finally, today the Cubs made a deal with Stan Hack, keeping the 36-year-old third baseman playing at Wrigley for the next three seasons at $29,400 per year with a $340 All Star bonus (he hasn’t been one since 1945). Hack put up 2.8 WAR this year with a .283 average, hitting 19 doubles and batting in 52 runs with six stolen bases while providing a modicum of defensive prowess from the hot corner. Nothing particularly impressive, but clearly the Cubs wanted to keep “Smiling Stan” around a while longer for his veteran leadership.

The draft pool will be announced on October 16, 1946, with the draft taking place on November 15th.