The 1945 Chicago Cubs season was the 74th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 70th in the National League and the 30th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs won the National League pennant with a record of 98–56, 3 games ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. The team went on to the World Series, which they lost to the Detroit Tigers in seven games. This was the Cubs last postseason appearance until 1984. It would take 71 years before the Cubs made it to another World Series.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster 1945 Chicago Cubs Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C 71 224 57 .254 2 23 1B 132 498 177 .355 6 97 2B 138 557 168 .302 2 58 SS 121 394 94 .239 2 37 3B 150 597 193 .323 2 43 OF 143 523 148 .283 7 89 OF 144 534 159 .298 12 110 OF 151 559 136 .243 13 88

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI 69 222 58 .261 0 8 75 163 47 .288 3 25 67 133 38 .286 2 27 59 100 28 .280 2 5 32 99 23 .232 0 7 49 93 24 .258 2 11 35 57 9 .158 0 6 45 47 9 .191 0 2 14 23 9 .391 0 5 7 10 3 .300 0 1 2 7 1 .143 0 1 7 6 1 .167 0 2 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 38 278.1 22 10 2.68 77 34 227.0 17 9 2.46 98 35 213.2 16 11 3.45 86 34 165.1 13 8 2.40 88 15 122.1 11 2 2.13 47

Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 30 95.1 7 3 3.49 35 25 72.0 4 5 3.50 29 9 14.0 0 1 3.86 6 9 13.1 0 0 7.43 5 7 12.0 0 2 4.50 6 2 4.2 0 0 5.79 2

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 28 7 4 3 3.32 53 16 0 1 0 4.76 9 6 0 0 1 3.38 0 2 0 0 0 7.36 2

1945 World Series

The Curse of Billy "The Goat" Sianis

The Curse of the Billy Goat was a curse on the Chicago Cubs that was started in 1945 and ended in 2016. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, a Greek immigrant (from Paleopyrgos, Greece*"The Curse of The Billy Goat". February 27, 2004. Retrieved on October 18, 2006.), who owned a nearby tavern (the now-famous Billy Goat Tavern), had two $7.20 box seat tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, and decided to bring along his pet goat, Murphy (or Sinovia according to some references), which Sianis had restored to health when the goat had fallen off a truck and subsequently limped into his tavern. The goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it which read "We got Detroit's goat".*"Da Curse of the Billy Goat...The Chicago Cubs, Pennant Races and Curses" – Chapter 1 – Enter the Goat. Retrieved October 18, 2006 Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded about on the playing field before the game before ushers intervened and led them off the field. After a heated argument, both Sianis and the goat were permitted to stay in the stadium occupying the box seat for which he had tickets. At this point, Andy Frain (head of Wrigley Field's hired security company at the time), waved the goat's box-seat ticket in the air and proclaimed, "If he eats the ticket that would solve everything." However, the goat did not. Before the game was over, it started to rain and Sianis and the goat were ejected from the stadium at the command of Cubs owner Philip Knight Wrigley due to the objectionable odor of wet goat. Sianis was outraged at the ejection and allegedly placed a curse upon the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field again because the Cubs organization had insulted his goat, and subsequently left the U.S. to vacation in his home in Greece. The Cubs lost Game 4 and eventually the 1945 World Series, prompting Sianis to write to Wrigley from Greece, saying, "Who stinks now?" The Cubs would eventually break the curse and what would turn out to be a 108-year drought by winning the World Series in 2016 over the Cleveland Indians in seven games.

Game 1 October 3, 1945, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit

Game 2 October 4, 1945, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit

Game 3 October 5, 1945, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit

Game 4 October 6, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Game 5 October 7, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Game 6 October 8, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Game 7 October 10, 1945, at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Farm system

References

External links 1945 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference