1946 Boston Braves season
The 1946 Boston Braves season was the team’s 76th in Major League Baseball and 71st as a National League member. They finished 81–72, in fourth place, their best showing since 1933. The year began a postwar comeback for the franchise under new ownership led by Louis R. Perini and Hall of Fame manager Billy Southworth, in his first Boston season after leaving the St. Louis Cardinals.
Braves Field set a club attendance record with 969,373 fans, a mark that would be broken the following year. Perini and partners spent about $500,000 to refurbish the park, installing lights for night games and repainting the wooden grandstands green. The home opener on April 16 against the Brooklyn Dodgers drew 19,482 fans, though many left with wet green paint on their clothes from the seats.
An early road trip included a Sunday doubleheader at Fenway Park. The first major-league night game in Boston history came on May 11, when the Braves hosted the New York Giants before 37,407 fans; the night game featured uniforms that glowed under the lights. Despite the festive atmosphere, the Giants won 5–1 as Monte Kennedy outpitched Johnny Sain.
Sain led Boston pitchers with 20 wins and posted a 2.21 ERA, one of the best in the league. A slow May and June hurt the pennant chances, but the Braves bounced back with a strong August–September run (36–23) to clinch the final first-division spot, finishing just one game behind third place. Later in the year, Braves Field lowered its playing surface to improve sight lines.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:56 (CET).