1945 in baseball

Champions

Major League Baseball

• World Series: Detroit Tigers over Chicago Cubs (4-3)
• All-Star Game cancelled due to flight restrictions. However, inter-league games were played during the All-Star break.

Other champions

• Negro League World Series: Cleveland Buckeyes over Homestead Grays (4-0)
• Negro League Baseball All-Star Game: West, 9-6
• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: Rockford Peaches

Awards and honors

• Most Valuable Player
  • Hal Newhouser (AL) - P, Detroit Tigers
  • Phil Cavarretta (NL) - 1B, Chicago Cubs
• The Sporting News Player of the Year Award
  • Hal Newhouser - P, Detroit Tigers
• The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award
  • Eddie Mayo (AL) - 2B, Detroit Tigers
  • Tommy Holmes (NL) - OF, Boston Braves
• The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
  • Hal Newhouser (AL) - Detroit Tigers
  • Hank Borowy (NL) - Chicago Cubs
• The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award
  • Ossie Bluege - Washington Senators

Major League Baseball final standings

American League final standings

American League Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB 1st Detroit Tigers 88   65 .575    -- 2nd Washington Senators 87   67 .565   1.5 3rd St. Louis Browns 81   70 .536   6.0 3rd New York Yankees 81   71 .533   6.5 5th Cleveland Indians 73   82 .503 11.0 6th Chicago White Sox 71   78 .477 15.0 7th Boston Red Sox 71 83 .461 17.5 8th Philadelphia Athletics 52 98 .347 34.5

National League final standings

National League Rank Club Wins Losses Win %   GB 1st Chicago Cubs 98   56 .636    -- 2nd St. Louis Cardinals 95   59 .617   3 3rd Brooklyn Dodgers 87   67 .565   11 3rd Pittsburgh Pirates 82   72 .532   16 5th New York Giants 78   74 .513 19 6th Boston Braves 67   85 .441 30 7th Cincinnati Reds 61 93 .396 37 8th Philadelphia Phillies 46 108 .299 52

Events

October-December

• October 23 - Jackie Robinson is signed by the Dodgers; he is later assigned to the Montreal Royals for the 1946 season.

Births

• January 3 - Larry Barnett
• January 7 - Tony Conigliaro
• January 25 - Wally Bunker
• April 2 - Reggie Smith
• April 2 - Don Sutton
• May 3 - Davey Lopes
• July 10 - Hal McRae
• August 6 - Andy Messersmith
• October 1 - Rod Carew
• October 15 - Jim Palmer
• November 3 - Ken Holtzman
• November 19 - Bobby Tolan
• November 20 - Rick Monday
• December 6 - Larry Bowa

Deaths

• June 18 - Sid Mercer, 64, sportswriter for New York newspapers since 1905, previously in St. Louis; also an official with the St. Louis Browns from 1903-05
• August 7 - Bobby Veach, 57, left fielder for the Tigers who batted .310 lifetime, led AL in RBI three times and doubles twice
• September 29 - George Van Haltren, 79, center fielder, primarily with the New York Giants, who batted .316 lifetime and ranked sixth all-time in both hits (2500+) and runs upon retirement; led NL in triples and steals once each, also won 40 games as pitcher, including a 6-inning no-hitter
• December 27 - Hugh Fullerton, 72, Chicago sportswriter who helped break the story of the Black Sox scandal; an early advocate of the value of statistics, he first gained wide attention for correctly predicting the White Sox' upset of the Cubs in the 1906 World Series, even getting right the winner of each game and the day of a rainout