1945 Yankees

The New York Yankees had hit bottom -- or as close to bottom as this franchise gets. The 1944 club finished third. The 1945 version dropped to fourth. For an organization that had won seven pennants in eight years from 1936 through 1943, a fourth-place finish felt like falling off a cliff. But the real story of 1945 wasn't what happened on the field. It was the sale that changed everything off it.

New Owners, Same Old Roster

The closed their $2.8 million purchase in January, and Larry MacPhail wasted no time making himself heard. Lights went up at the Stadium for the first time -- a long-overdue modernization that most of the league had adopted years earlier. MacPhail had introduced night baseball to the majors back in Cincinnati in 1935. He wasn't about to run the Yankees like a museum.

The roster, though, remained a wartime relic. Joe DiMaggio was still in the Army Air Forces. Phil Rizzuto was in the Navy. Tommy Henrich was Coast Guard. Red Ruffing -- 40 years old and missing toes from a mining accident -- was serving overseas. The read like an All-Star ballot.

Stirnweiss and Etten Carry the Load

Joe McCarthy looked at his lineup card and saw two legitimate hitters. Snuffy Stirnweiss, the reigning AL batting champion, and Nick Etten, who'd led the league in home runs the previous year. Everyone else was filler.

The delivered again. Stirnweiss hit .309 and played all 152 games at second base. Etten drove in 111 runs with 18 homers from first base -- the lineup's only power source. Those two accounted for the bulk of a Yankees offense that somehow led the entire American League in runs scored with 676.

A Team That Couldn't Leave Home

Here's the number that explains the entire season: 48-28 at Yankee Stadium, 33-43 on the road. That 15-game gap between home and away records told you everything about a club built on thin depth. At the Stadium, with the short porch and home-crowd energy, they could win. Everywhere else, the cracks showed. A team that leads the league in runs scored and finishes six and a half games out of first has a pitching problem, a road problem, or both. The 1945 Yankees had both.

The Borowy Blunder

MacPhail's most controversial early move came on July 27, when he sold Hank Borowy to the Chicago Cubs on waivers. Borowy had been the staff's best arm -- solid ERA, reliable innings. The Cubs got him, he pitched well down the stretch, and he started Game 1 of the 1945 World Series for Chicago. The Yankees' pitching, already thin, got thinner. Bill Bevens stepped into the ace role and won 13 games, but the staff never recovered from losing Borowy.

(MacPhail selling your best pitcher mid-season during a pennant race was a preview of the kind of bold-slash-reckless decision-making that would define his tenure.)

McCarthy's Long Goodbye

This was Joe McCarthy's 15th season managing the Yankees and his last full one. The who'd guided eight pennants couldn't push buttons that weren't connected to anything. His lineup didn't have DiMaggio's bat, Rizzuto's glove, or Chandler's arm. It had Stirnweiss, Etten, and a prayer.

The frustration was wearing him down. McCarthy had always been a drinker, and three years of managing a roster he couldn't win with didn't help. He'd resign the following May, leaving a legacy of 1,460 wins and a .627 winning percentage that still ranks among the best in franchise history.

The War Ends

The larger context made everything feel temporary. Germany surrendered in May. Japan surrendered in August. By the time the season ended on October 2, with the Yankees at 81-71 and the Tigers headed to the World Series, everyone knew 1946 would be different. DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Henrich, Ruffing -- they were all coming home.

The 1944 and 1945 seasons sit together as the franchise's wartime bottom. Two years of playing with spare parts while the real roster served overseas. But the Topping-Webb-MacPhail purchase guaranteed that when the stars returned, they'd come back to an organization with money, ambition, and lights at the Stadium.

By 1947, the Yankees were back in the World Series. The wartime bottom had lasted exactly long enough for a new ownership group to buy the franchise at a discount and position it for the greatest dynasty run in baseball history. Sometimes hitting bottom is just good timing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did the 1945 Yankees finish in the American League?

The 1945 Yankees went 81-71 and finished fourth in the American League, 6.5 games behind the pennant-winning Detroit Tigers. It was the club's worst finish since the early 1930s. The roster remained decimated by World War II military service, with DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Henrich, and Ruffing all absent for the third consecutive season.

When did Topping, Webb, and MacPhail buy the Yankees?

Dan Topping, Del Webb, and Larry MacPhail purchased the Yankees for $2.8 million in January 1945. The deal ended the Ruppert estate's ownership of the franchise. MacPhail immediately modernized operations, installing lights at Yankee Stadium and running the club with an aggressive, forward-looking approach that positioned the franchise for the post-war era.

Who were the best players on the 1945 Yankees?

Snuffy Stirnweiss and Nick Etten carried the offense. Stirnweiss hit .309 and played all 152 games at second base. Etten led the team with 18 home runs and 111 RBI from first base. Bill Bevens led the pitching staff with 13 wins after Hank Borowy was sold to the Cubs mid-season. The rest of the roster consisted of wartime replacements.

Why did the 1945 Yankees lead the AL in runs but finish fourth?

The Yankees scored 676 runs -- most in the American League -- but went just 33-43 on the road. The pitching staff allowed 606 runs, and the team's +70 run differential should have produced more than 81 wins. The Borowy trade in July weakened the rotation, and the club lacked the pitching depth to convert its offensive production into a pennant push.