1945 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

1945 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Teams
Date July 10, 1945 (Cancelled)
Venue Fenway Park (Cancelled)
City Boston, Massachusetts (Cancelled)
Managers

The 1945 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was cancelled on April 24 after the Major League Baseball (MLB) season began on April 17. The July 10 game was cancelled due to wartime travel restrictions due to United States involvement in World War II. The 1945 season is the only season since 1933 when the first official All-Star Game was played, that an All-Star Game was cancelled. MLB did not name All-Stars for the 1945 season.

This was to have been the 13th annual playing of the "Midsummer Classic" by MLB's American League (AL) and National League (NL) All-Star teams. The game was to be played at Fenway Park, home of the AL's Boston Red Sox. Fenway Park was chosen for the 1946 Major League Baseball All-Star Game (13th "Midsummer Classic") which was played on July 9 of that year.

On July 9 and 10, 1945, seven out of eight scheduled interleague night games were played in place of the All-Star Game during the three-day All-Star break to help support the American Red Cross and the National War Fund.[1][2][3] Four of the exhibition games were played on July 10 in Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Germany had surrendered in May 1945. Mike Todd, a Broadway producer, had passed on the idea of holding the All-Star Game in Nuremberg, Germany,[4] at a stadium renamed "Soldier Field" where U.S. Troops stationed in the European Theater played baseball. Although baseball's new commissioner, Happy Chandler was reportedly "intrigued" by the idea, it was ultimately dismissed as impractical by military advisors.[5]

MLB All-Stars (not officially named)

MLB did not officially name All-Stars for the 1945 season due to the cancellation of the All-Star Game. The All-Stars were to have been selected by the league's sixteen managers (from 1935 through 1946 the managers selected the All-Stars) including the two All-Star team managers for 1945.

The Sporting News All-Star Team

The Sporting News (TSN) named an annual major league All-Star Team from 1925 to 1961 (from 1961 to present an American and National League team is named) from a Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWA) members ballot.[6]

The Sporting News All-Star Team (11 members), 1945:

Associated Press and The Sporting News (Fred Lieb) All-Stars

A group of sportswriters of the Associated Press (AP) did name 40 of their own AL and NL All-Stars after taking nominations from 13 of the 16 MLB managers. The managers who did not participate were Joe McCarthy of the New York Yankees, Luke Sewell of the St. Louis Browns, and Billy Southworth of the St. Louis Cardinals. Sewell (AL) and Southworth (NL) were the 1944 pennant championship team's managers and were to have managed the All-Star Game in 1945.[7] Although Sewell didn't select anyone for the MLB and AP rosters, he listed his personal AL All-Stars as pitcher Dave Ferriss of the Red Sox and third baseman Tony Cuccinello of the White Sox.

Fred Lieb a sportswriter for the The Sporting News (TSN) also wrote an article in the July 12, 1945 issue selecting 40 All-stars for the two All-Star teams, even naming starting position players and three possible starting pitchers. Some of Lieb's selections are different than the AP selections. The annual TSN All-Stars list is released after the season. Tigers catcher, Paul Richards is the only annual TSN All-Star not in the AP and Lieb selections for 1945.

The AP sportswriters and Lieb's (TSN) All-Star rosters (6 of the players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame) are shown here:

American League

Pitchers
PositionPlayerTeamSelection
PHal NewhouserTigersAP, SN (starter)
PDave FerrissRed SoxAP, SN (starter)
PHank BorowyYankeesAP, SN (starter)
PRuss ChristopherAthleticsAP, SN
PSteve GromekIndiansAP, SN
PDutch LeonardSenatorsAP, SN
PAllie ReynoldsIndiansAP
PThornton LeeWhite SoxAP
PAl BentonTigersSN
PRoger WolffSenatorsSN
PJack KramerBrownsSN
Position Players
PositionPlayerTeamSelection
CMike TreshWhite SoxAP, SN (starter)
CRick FerrellSenatorsAP, SN
CFrankie HayesIndiansAP, SN
1BNick EttenYankeesAP, SN (starter)
1BGeorge McQuinnBrownsAP
1BDick SiebertAthleticsSN
2BSnuffy StirnweissYankeesAP, SN (starter)
2BEddie MayoTigersAP, SN
3BTony CuccinelloWhite SoxAP, SN (starter)
3BOscar GrimesYankeesAP
3BMark ChristmanBrownsSN
SSVern StephensBrownsAP, SN (starter)
SSLou BoudreauIndiansAP, SN
OFGeorge CaseSenatorsAP, SN (starter)
OFDoc CramerTigersAP, SN (starter)
OFBob JohnsonRed SoxAP, SN (starter)
OFHank GreenbergTigersAP
OFJeff HeathIndiansAP
OFWally MosesWhite SoxAP
OFRoy CullenbineTigersSN
OFBobby EstalellaAthleticsSN

National League

Pitchers
PositionPlayerTeamSelection
PHal GreggDodgersAP, SN (starter)
PMort CooperBravesAP, SN
PRed BarrettCardinalsAP, SN
PClaude PasseauCubsAP, SN
PPreacher RoePiratesAP, SN
PVan MungoGiantsAP
PRip SewellPiratesAP
PHank WyseCubsAP
PPaul DerringerCubsSN (starter)
PBlix DonnellyCardinalsSN (starter)
PBill VoiselleGiantsSN
Position Players
PositionPlayerTeamSelection
CPhil MasiBravesAP, SN (starter)
CErnie LombardiGiantsAP, SN
CKen O'DeaCardinalsAP, SN
1BPhil CavarrettaCubsAP, SN (starter)
1BFrank McCormickRedsAP, SN
2BDon JohnsonCubsAP, SN (starter)
2BEmil VerbanCardinalsAP, SN
3BWhitey KurowskiCardinalsAP, SN (starter)
3BBob ElliottPiratesAP, SN
3BStan HackCubsAP
SSMarty MarionCardinalsAP, SN (starter)
SSEddie BasinskiDodgersSN
OFTommy HolmesBravesAP, SN (starter)
OFMel OttGiantsAP, SN (starter)
OFBill NicholsonCubsAP, SN (starter)
OFGoody RosenDodgersAP, SN
OFAndy PafkoCubsAP
OFDixie WalkerDodgersAP
OFBuster AdamsCardinalsSN
OFVance DingesPhilliesSN

Note

Those selected for the Associated Press and or The Sporting News (Fred Lieb) All-Star rosters who had not been an official MLB All-Star before and after the 1945 season are:

External links

References

  1. Baseball Did You Know? – VII, 1945 All Star Game Replacements Retrieved July 23, 2015
  2. Baseball Almanac Retrieved July 23, 2015
  3. Baseball Almanac Retrieved July 23, 2015
  4. This Day In Baseball History Retrieved July 24, 2015
  5. Baseball Did You Know? – VII, 1945 All Star Game Replacements Retrieved July 23, 2015
  6. Baseball Chronology, 1945 Retrieved July 29, 2015
  7. Baseball Chronology Retrieved July 23, 2015
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