1946 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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The 1946 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

I have recently updated my Player won-lost records to incorporate Retrosheet's latest release of play-by-play data. This included the release of deduced games to complete two more seasons of data. So, I am now able to calculate complete play-by-play data for every season since 1946. This article looks at the earliest season, then, for which I currently have complete play-by-play data: 1946.

The 1946 season saw the return of a large number of great baseball players from World War II and an increase in MLB attendance of more than 70%. The two leagues' MVP awards were won by players who are arguably among the top 10 players in major-league history: Ted Williams and Stan Musial, and ended with a classic 7-game World Series played between Williams's and Musial's teams.

The Best of 1946

I calculate Player won-lost records two ways: pWins, which tie to team wins and eWins, which control for context and the ability of one's teammates. For players with more pWins than eWins, their Player wins contributed to more team wins than one might expect; for players with more eWins than pWins, just the opposite is true: their Player wins translated into fewer team wins than expected. Or more briefly: a player with more pWins than eWins was better in context, a player with more eWins than pWins was worse in context.

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Ted Williams	28.4	15.5	5.5	7.2	1	Ted Williams	28.4	15.5	5.5	7.2
2	Hal Newhouser	22.4	14.4	4.6	6.4	2	Bob Feller	27.3	20.0	4.3	6.6
3	Bobby Doerr	26.2	17.4	4.6	6.4	3	Bobby Doerr	26.2	17.4	4.6	6.4
4	Bob Feller	27.3	20.0	4.3	6.6	4	Hal Newhouser	22.4	14.4	4.6	6.4
5	Pee Wee Reese	23.1	16.5	3.6	5.2	5	Pee Wee Reese	23.1	16.5	3.6	5.2
6	Tex Hughson	19.0	13.6	3.2	4.7	6	Johnny Pesky	23.7	18.0	3.1	4.8
7	Johnny Pesky	23.7	18.0	3.1	4.8	7	Tex Hughson	19.0	13.6	3.2	4.7
8	Dom DiMaggio	21.9	15.4	2.9	4.4	8	Enos Slaughter	25.6	18.3	2.8	4.5
9	Enos Slaughter	25.6	18.3	2.8	4.5	9	Dom DiMaggio	21.9	15.4	2.9	4.4
10	Johnny Sain	18.8	14.5	2.7	4.3	10	Howie Pollet	19.0	14.5	2.7	4.4

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Ted Williams	27.9	16.0	5.0	6.7	1	Ted Williams	27.9	16.0	5.0	6.7
2	Hal Newhouser	21.0	15.9	3.1	4.9	2	Bob Feller	26.1	21.2	3.1	5.4
3	Bob Feller	26.1	21.2	3.1	5.4	3	Hal Newhouser	21.0	15.9	3.1	4.9
4	Charlie Keller	24.0	17.0	2.6	4.2	4	Charlie Keller	24.0	17.0	2.6	4.2
5	Johnny Sain	18.5	14.8	2.4	4.0	5	Johnny Sain	18.5	14.8	2.4	4.0
6	Hank Greenberg	20.8	13.7	2.4	3.8	6	Hank Greenberg	20.8	13.7	2.4	3.8
7	Tex Hughson	18.1	14.5	2.3	3.8	7	Tex Hughson	18.1	14.5	2.3	3.8
8	Johnny Pesky	22.7	19.0	2.1	3.8	8	Johnny Pesky	22.7	19.0	2.1	3.8
9	Stan Musial	22.6	16.3	2.0	3.6	9	Bobby Doerr	23.5	20.1	1.9	3.6
10	Eddie Stanky	19.5	15.7	2.0	3.4	10	Stan Musial	22.6	16.3	2.0	3.6

The top three players in pWins over both positional average and replacement level in 1946 are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I take a closer look at these three players next.

Ted Williams

The best player in major-league baseball in 1946, as measured by either pWins or eWins over either positional average or replacement level was Boston Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams. Williams even led the major leagues in raw pWins and eWins.

As measured by Player won-lost records, 1946 was the best season in Ted Williams's career, although I am missing play-by-play data for 0 games of Ted Williams's career prior to World War II. Controlling for context, Ted Williams's 1946 season - .342/.497/.667, 38 HR, 142 R, 123 RBI, 156 W - was the second-best season for which I have calculated Player won-lost records, behind Babe Ruth's legendary 1927 season.

The top 10 single seasons in pWins and eWins over positional average and replacement level are shown next.

			pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players							pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Babe Ruth	1927	30.6	15.1	6.9	8.8	1	Babe Ruth	1927	30.6	15.1	6.9	8.8
2	Babe Ruth	1923	28.0	12.9	6.8	8.4	2	Babe Ruth	1923	28.0	12.9	6.8	8.4
3	Lefty Grove	1931	23.4	11.4	6.5	7.9	3	Lefty Grove	1931	23.4	11.4	6.5	7.9
4	Babe Ruth	1921	28.8	14.5	6.2	7.8	4	Babe Ruth	1921	28.8	14.5	6.2	7.8
5	Sandy Koufax	1965	25.0	14.5	5.9	7.6	5	Sandy Koufax	1965	25.0	14.5	5.9	7.6
6	Dwight Gooden	1985	21.3	11.0	5.9	7.3	6	Steve Carlton	1972	25.1	14.9	5.8	7.6
7	Steve Carlton	1972	25.1	14.9	5.8	7.6	7	Dwight Gooden	1985	21.3	11.0	5.9	7.3
8	Lefty Grove	1930	22.2	11.5	5.8	7.3	8	Lefty Grove	1930	22.2	11.5	5.8	7.3
9	Dolf Luque	1923	22.6	12.3	5.6	7.1	9	Ted Williams	1946	28.4	15.5	5.5	7.2
10	Ted Williams	1946	28.4	15.5	5.5	7.2	10	Barry Bonds	2001	28.0	15.5	5.3	7.2

			eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players							eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	Season	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	Season	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Babe Ruth	1927	29.7	16.0	6.0	7.9	1	Babe Ruth	1927	29.7	16.0	6.0	7.9
2	Babe Ruth	1923	27.2	13.6	6.0	7.7	2	Babe Ruth	1923	27.2	13.6	6.0	7.7
3	Barry Bonds	2001	28.3	15.1	5.7	7.6	3	Barry Bonds	2001	28.3	15.1	5.7	7.6
4	Barry Bonds	2002	25.4	13.2	5.3	6.9	4	Barry Bonds	2002	25.4	13.2	5.3	6.9
5	Babe Ruth	1924	26.3	14.8	5.1	6.8	5	Babe Ruth	1924	26.3	14.8	5.1	6.8
6	Roger Clemens	1997	19.1	9.2	5.0	6.6	6	Ted Williams	1946	27.9	16.0	5.0	6.7
7	Ted Williams	1946	27.9	16.0	5.0	6.7	7	Roger Clemens	1997	19.1	9.2	5.0	6.6
8	Barry Bonds	2004	23.0	11.7	4.9	6.3	8	Babe Ruth	1921	27.5	15.8	4.9	6.5
9	Babe Ruth	1921	27.5	15.8	4.9	6.5	9	Barry Bonds	2004	23.0	11.7	4.9	6.3
10	Pedro J. Martinez	2000	16.6	6.9	4.8	6.1	10	Barry Bonds	1993	26.6	15.9	4.6	6.3

Ted Williams's career record, as measured by Player won-lost record (for the games for which I have play-by-play data), is shown in the next table.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ted Williams Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1939	BOS	20	149	24.8	17.3	0.590	3.0	4.7	23.9	18.2	0.568	2.0	3.8
1940	BOS	21	144	22.9	17.3	0.570	2.0	3.6	23.1	17.1	0.575	2.2	3.8
1941	BOS	22	143	24.4	16.4	0.597	3.3	5.1	25.4	15.4	0.623	4.3	6.1
1942	BOS	23	150	28.3	16.5	0.632	4.8	6.6	27.9	17.0	0.621	4.3	6.1
1946	BOS	27	150	28.4	15.5	0.646	5.5	7.2	27.9	16.0	0.635	5.0	6.7
1947	BOS	28	156	27.0	18.0	0.600	3.4	5.2	27.6	17.5	0.612	4.0	5.8
1948	BOS	29	137	25.6	15.6	0.621	4.1	5.7	24.8	16.4	0.601	3.3	4.9
1949	BOS	30	155	26.7	17.3	0.608	3.6	5.3	26.5	17.5	0.602	3.3	5.0
1950	BOS	31	89	14.1	11.1	0.560	1.1	2.1	14.6	10.5	0.582	1.6	2.6
1951	BOS	32	148	24.1	19.0	0.559	1.6	3.3	24.5	18.6	0.568	2.0	3.7
1952	BOS	33	6	0.9	0.2	0.788	0.3	0.4	0.8	0.3	0.734	0.3	0.3
1953	BOS	34	37	5.8	3.0	0.663	1.3	1.7	5.6	3.2	0.641	1.1	1.5
1954	BOS	35	117	18.8	13.0	0.591	2.4	3.7	19.4	12.4	0.610	3.0	4.3
1955	BOS	36	98	16.2	10.4	0.610	2.5	3.6	16.1	10.5	0.605	2.4	3.5
1956	BOS	37	136	17.9	12.8	0.583	1.9	3.2	18.1	12.6	0.589	2.1	3.4
1957	BOS	38	132	20.9	13.9	0.601	2.4	3.9	21.5	13.3	0.618	3.0	4.5
1958	BOS	39	129	17.8	15.0	0.543	0.5	1.8	18.5	14.4	0.562	1.1	2.4
1959	BOS	40	103	10.3	9.4	0.522	0.2	1.0	10.0	9.7	0.508	-0.1	0.7
1960	BOS	41	112	14.0	11.5	0.550	0.7	1.7	14.6	10.9	0.573	1.3	2.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,291	368.9	253.1	0.593	44.4	69.7	370.7	251.4	0.596	46.1	71.4
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			7	0.7	0.8	0.467		-0.0	0.8	0.8	0.481		-0.0
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			2,298	369.7	254.0	0.593		69.6	371.4	252.2	0.596		71.4

Hal Newhouser

The 1946 season capped off a three-year run by Hal Newhouser in which he amassed a traditional won-lost record of 80-27 with a 1.99 ERA over 918.1 IP. That works out to an average record of 27-9 and 306 innings pitched per season. Of course, the 1944 and 1945 seasons come with a fairly large caveat: because of World War II, many of the best players of the era were not playing major-league baseball (including, for example, the other two players profiled here, Ted Williams and Bob Feller). Newhouser's 1946 season - 26-9, 1.94 ERA, 275 K, in 292.2 IP - would seem to suggest, though, that at his best, Newhouser could pitch against anybody. Unfortunately, in a story far too familiar to baseball fans, 918 IP from age 23 - 25 caught up with Newhouser and, while he was quite good for four more seasons, he never came close to approaching his 1946 level and was never able to start even 20 games in a season after the age of 29.

But Hal Newhouser always had that 1946 season. The next table shows the top 20 seasons by a pitcher in pWORL for all seasons for which I have calculated Player won-lost records (note: I am missing 0 of the 87 games in which Hal Newhouser pitched in 1944-45; I do not know, therefore, where those seasons might rank on this list once those seasons are completed).

	Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
			pWins over Replacement Level Top 20 Single Seasons by a Pitcher (as measured by pWORL)
1	Lefty Grove	1931	23.4	11.4	6.5	7.9
2	Sandy Koufax	1965	25.0	14.5	5.9	7.6
3	Steve Carlton	1972	25.1	14.9	5.8	7.6
4	Dwight Gooden	1985	21.3	11.0	5.9	7.3
5	Lefty Grove	1930	22.2	11.5	5.8	7.3
6	Dolf Luque	1923	22.6	12.3	5.6	7.1
7	Sandy Koufax	1963	22.6	13.2	5.2	6.9
8	Bob Feller	1940	25.0	16.6	4.9	6.7
9	Juan Marichal	1966	22.8	14.1	5.1	6.6
10	Bob Feller	1946	27.3	20.0	4.3	6.6
11	Dazzy Vance	1924	20.7	11.2	5.1	6.5
12	Hal Newhouser	1946	22.4	14.4	4.6	6.4
13	Bob Gibson	1970	21.7	13.6	4.9	6.3
14	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	2002	19.1	10.4	4.8	6.3
15	Bucky Walters	1939	22.5	14.8	4.5	6.2
16	Dean Chance	1964	19.8	11.7	4.6	6.2
17	Greg Maddux	1995	16.5	7.5	5.0	6.2
18	Whit Wyatt	1941	20.5	12.3	4.8	6.1
19	Roger Clemens	1997	18.6	9.8	4.4	6.1
20	Pedro J. Martinez	1999	16.3	6.5	4.9	6.1

Hal Newhouser's career record, as measured by Player won-lost record (for the games for which I have play-by-play data), is shown in the next table.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Hal Newhouser Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1939	DET	18	1	0.5	0.6	0.463	-0.0	0.0	0.5	0.6	0.461	-0.0	0.0
1940	DET	19	28	8.1	9.6	0.457	-0.6	0.2	8.2	9.5	0.465	-0.4	0.4
1941	DET	20	33	10.4	12.1	0.461	-0.6	0.4	10.5	11.9	0.469	-0.4	0.6
1942	DET	21	39	11.2	11.6	0.490	0.0	1.0	11.5	11.3	0.503	0.3	1.3
1943	DET	22	37	12.0	12.9	0.483	-0.1	1.0	12.5	12.4	0.503	0.4	1.5
1944	DET	23	47	21.4	13.9	0.607	4.4	5.9	20.0	15.3	0.565	2.9	4.4
1945	DET	24	40	22.1	14.5	0.604	4.4	6.1	21.1	15.4	0.578	3.4	5.1
1946	DET	25	37	22.4	14.4	0.609	4.6	6.4	21.0	15.9	0.568	3.1	4.9
1947	DET	26	40	19.1	16.9	0.530	1.7	3.1	19.3	16.7	0.535	1.8	3.3
1948	DET	27	39	19.8	14.9	0.570	2.9	4.4	19.3	15.4	0.555	2.4	3.9
1949	DET	28	38	17.9	14.9	0.546	2.0	3.3	17.9	14.9	0.546	2.0	3.3
1950	DET	29	35	14.7	14.8	0.497	0.4	1.7	14.3	15.2	0.484	-0.0	1.3
1951	DET	30	17	6.3	5.9	0.518	0.4	0.9	6.6	5.6	0.542	0.7	1.2
1952	DET	31	26	8.7	9.0	0.494	0.2	1.0	9.0	8.7	0.507	0.4	1.2
1953	DET	32	7	1.2	2.1	0.373	-0.4	-0.2	1.3	2.0	0.392	-0.3	-0.1
1954	CLE	33	26	3.3	2.6	0.557	0.4	0.8	3.3	2.7	0.552	0.4	0.7
1955	CLE	34	2	0.1	0.1	0.509	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.366	-0.0	-0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			492	199.3	170.8	0.538	19.7	36.1	196.3	173.8	0.530	16.7	33.1
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			4	1.6	1.6	0.494		0.2	1.6	1.5	0.516		0.2
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			496	200.8	172.4	0.538		36.3	197.9	175.3	0.530		33.4

Bob Feller

As indicated in an earlier table in this article, Bob Feller's 1946 season was one of the best seasons by a pitcher for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records. Like Hal Newhouser, Feller's 1946 season, great as it was, was largely in line with earlier seasons in his career. In the case of Feller, however, the comparable seasons were 1939 and 1940 - Feller having missed all of the 1942-44 seasons and all but 9 games of the 1945 season due to World War II.

In 1946, Bob Feller set a modern major-league record for strikeouts in a season - sort of. Entering the 1946 season, the "accepted modern record" for strikeouts in a season was set by Rube Waddell in 1904 when he allegedly struck out 343 batters. If, however, you look up Rube Waddell's career record, you find that he is credited with 349 strikeouts in 1904 - a number which is exactly one more than Bob Feller's 1946 total of 348.

I helped to deduce several games for the 1946 season, including a number of Feller's appearances. Waddell's record total of 343 strikeouts was widely reported and Feller's pursuit of the record was mentioned frequently - even surprisingly early in the 1946 season (Feller had double-digit strikeout totals in 6 of his first 8 games in 1946 and he notched his 100th K of the season on May 30th). But then, on September 29th (in a game which I deduced), when Feller struck out 5 to allegedly break a tie with Waddell and end his season with 348 K's, the Detroit Free Press reported that "Bob Feller's strikeout record of 348 for one season was disputed by Joe Reichler, Associated Press writer, who said that after a game-by-game checkup of Rube Waddell's record of 1904 that the Rube had struck out 349."

The Free Press continued.

"Reichler said he found seven discrepancies in George L. Mooreland's book, 'Balldom,' from where Waddell's strikeout total was taken.

Will Harridge, president of the American League, however, wired all newspapermen that Waddell's official mark stood at 343. His decision means that the mark now officially belongs to Feller."

I find it fascinating that people were doing game-by-game analysis of major-league statistics in 1946.

Incidentally, Feller's "record" 344th strikeout victim was Hal Newhouser, as Feller's Indians beat Newhouser's Tigers, 4-1, in the 1946 season finale for both teams.

Bob Feller's career record, as measured by Player won-lost record (for the games for which I have play-by-play data), is shown in the next table.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Bob Feller Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1936	CLE	17	13	4.4	2.9	0.603	0.8	1.2	3.8	3.6	0.513	0.2	0.5
1937	CLE	18	26	10.0	9.9	0.504	0.3	1.2	10.0	9.9	0.502	0.3	1.2
1938	CLE	19	39	19.7	16.6	0.543	2.0	3.5	18.1	18.2	0.500	0.4	1.9
1939	CLE	20	39	20.4	15.2	0.573	3.1	4.8	20.1	15.5	0.565	2.8	4.5
1940	CLE	21	43	25.0	16.6	0.602	4.9	6.7	23.9	17.7	0.574	3.7	5.5
1941	CLE	22	44	23.9	17.4	0.579	3.9	5.7	21.9	19.3	0.532	1.9	3.7
1945	CLE	26	9	4.7	4.5	0.511	0.2	0.7	4.9	4.3	0.532	0.4	0.9
1946	CLE	27	48	27.3	20.0	0.577	4.3	6.6	26.1	21.2	0.551	3.1	5.4
1947	CLE	28	42	20.6	17.1	0.547	2.3	3.9	19.9	17.8	0.528	1.6	3.2
1948	CLE	29	44	18.9	18.3	0.509	0.7	2.4	18.7	18.5	0.503	0.5	2.1
1949	CLE	30	36	12.5	14.2	0.468	-0.5	0.6	13.6	13.1	0.509	0.6	1.7
1950	CLE	31	35	16.2	14.0	0.537	1.5	2.9	15.5	14.7	0.513	0.8	2.2
1951	CLE	32	33	17.3	13.2	0.567	2.4	3.7	15.0	15.4	0.494	0.2	1.5
1952	CLE	33	30	10.5	12.9	0.449	-0.9	0.2	11.1	12.3	0.474	-0.3	0.7
1953	CLE	34	25	10.4	9.6	0.520	0.7	1.5	9.8	10.3	0.488	0.0	0.9
1954	CLE	35	19	10.1	7.5	0.573	1.6	2.4	9.0	8.6	0.512	0.5	1.3
1955	CLE	36	25	3.5	4.6	0.432	-0.5	-0.1	4.0	4.1	0.493	0.0	0.4
1956	CLE	37	19	1.5	3.2	0.323	-0.8	-0.5	2.2	2.5	0.462	-0.1	0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			569	257.0	217.6	0.542	26.1	47.2	247.6	227.0	0.522	16.6	37.7
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			2	0.6	1.4	0.313		-0.3	1.0	1.1	0.468		0.0
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			571	257.7	219.0	0.542		46.9	248.5	228.1	0.522		37.7

1946 World Series

The 1946 World Series was a classic 7-game series, between a team making its fourth World Series appearance in five years and a team making its first World Series appearance in 28 years, climaxed by a thrilling 4-3 Game 7. The top performances of the 1946 World Series, as measured by Player won-lost records, are presented in the next table.

	1946 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Harry Brecheen	SLN	2.2	0.8	0.9
Rudy York	BOS	1.5	0.7	0.4
Enos Slaughter	SLN	1.3	0.7	0.4

As measured by Player won-lost records, the star of the 1946 World Series was Cardinals pitcher Harry "the Cat" Brecheen, who won 3 games: a 4-hit complete-game shutout in Game 2, a 7-hit, 1-run complete game in Game 6 and two innings of relief in Game 7.

Best of 1946 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) eWins over Positional Average in various aspects of the game. The numbers in this section have all been normalized to extrapolate player games for which I am missing play-by-play data. As above, this adjustment is based on individual player games for which I have play-by-play data.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 1946 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ted Williams	18.5	9.3	4.3

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Pete Reiser	1.8	0.9	0.4

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Bob Feller	19.9	15.6	4.3
Hal Newhouser	15.2	11.2	4.0
Tex Hughson	14.2	10.7	3.5

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Johnny Sain	0.8	0.4	0.4

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Buddy Rosar	1.9	1.2	0.7

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Chuck Stevens	2.2	1.8	0.3
Johnny Mize	2.0	1.7	0.3
Frank McCormick	2.3	2.0	0.3
Joe Kuhel	1.2	1.0	0.3

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Bobby Doerr	6.2	5.8	0.4
Buddy Blattner	4.6	4.2	0.4
Don Kolloway	3.9	3.6	0.4

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Bill Rigney	2.7	2.0	0.7

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Marty Marion	7.7	6.6	1.1
Pee Wee Reese	7.7	6.7	1.1

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Erv Dusak	3.3	2.3	1.1
Ted Williams	7.0	6.0	1.1

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Dom DiMaggio	5.7	5.0	0.7
Harry Walker	3.6	2.9	0.7
Andy Pafko	3.2	2.6	0.7

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Enos Slaughter	7.5	6.5	1.0

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1946 Major-League leaders in eWOPA by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position, and include no contextual adjustments (expected or actual).

	Catcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Aaron Robinson	10.6	8.5	1.2

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Hank Greenberg	18.4	12.4	2.0

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Stanky	19.9	16.3	1.9

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Whitey Kurowski	18.5	15.5	1.5

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Johnny Pesky	22.5	19.4	1.9

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ted Williams	26.8	16.2	4.4

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Joe DiMaggio	18.7	15.0	1.6

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Enos Slaughter	24.3	19.2	1.7

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Hal Newhouser	15.5	11.1	2.2
Bob Feller	19.8	15.7	2.1
Tex Hughson	14.6	10.7	2.0

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Earl Caldwell	4.7	3.3	0.7

For relief pitchers, context-neutral records may not be the best measure of how good they are, as context can matter a great deal, depending on how a pitcher is used. Here are the top relief pitchers of 1946 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1946, based on pWORL
Earl Caldwell	6.1	3.0	0.669	1.7	2.3
Hank Behrman	8.0	6.4	0.555	0.9	1.8
Hugh Casey	6.1	4.9	0.554	0.7	1.5
Ted Wilks	4.2	3.9	0.518	0.2	0.8
Bob Klinger	3.2	2.7	0.543	0.3	0.7

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitting, and pinch running.

	Pitcher Offense
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Fred C. Hutchinson	1.7	1.8	0.4
Fritz Ostermueller	1.4	1.4	0.4
Johnny Sain	1.8	2.1	0.4

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ernie Lombardi	0.9	0.4	0.3
Erv Dusak	0.7	0.1	0.3

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Miksis	0.1	0.0	0.1

Notable Debuts

The 1946 season saw the major-league debut of two players who would eventually go on to be elected to the Hall of Fame: New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra and Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Ralph Kiner.

The final table of this article compares the career records of Yogi Berra and Ralph Kiner, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Yogi Berra						Ralph Kiner
1946	7	0.7	0.5	0.618	0.2	0.2	144	19.1	18.4	0.509	-0.1	1.4
1947	83	9.1	7.3	0.555	0.9	1.6	152	24.0	20.0	0.546	0.9	2.7
1948	125	14.0	11.7	0.543	1.1	2.1	156	27.2	20.1	0.574	2.5	4.4
1949	116	12.2	8.8	0.581	1.8	2.6	152	25.7	19.8	0.565	1.8	3.6
1950	151	18.0	11.7	0.606	3.2	4.4	150	20.9	20.4	0.507	-0.4	1.2
1951	141	16.4	13.1	0.557	1.8	2.9	151	20.6	16.4	0.557	1.4	2.8
1952	142	18.1	11.8	0.605	3.2	4.4	149	19.6	21.4	0.478	-1.9	-0.2
1953	137	17.2	11.2	0.606	3.3	4.5	158	20.8	21.0	0.497	-0.9	0.8
1954	151	19.0	12.3	0.607	3.4	4.7	147	17.7	18.8	0.486	-1.1	0.4
1955	147	18.2	12.8	0.588	3.0	4.3	113	12.1	10.1	0.544	0.7	1.7
1956	140	18.0	12.1	0.598	3.0	4.2
1957	134	15.3	12.6	0.549	1.6	2.8
1958	122	13.3	11.3	0.539	0.9	1.9
1959	131	15.6	12.0	0.566	2.1	3.2
1960	120	11.8	9.3	0.559	1.2	2.1
1961	119	14.4	12.0	0.545	0.9	2.1
1962	85	8.4	7.3	0.533	0.4	1.0
1963	64	5.4	4.1	0.566	0.7	1.1
1964
1965	4	0.1	0.4	0.269	-0.1	-0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,119	245.3	182.3	0.574	32.6	50.1	1,472	207.7	186.3	0.527	2.9	18.7

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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