1948 Boston Red Sox season

1948 Boston Red Sox
1948 Boston Red Sox
League	American League
Ballpark	Fenway Park
City	Boston, Massachusetts
Record	96–59 (.619)
League place	2nd
Owners	Tom Yawkey
President	Tom Yawkey
General managers	Joe Cronin
Managers	Joe McCarthy
Television	WBZ-TV/WNAC-TV ; (Jim Britt, Tom Hussey, Bump Hadley)
Radio	WHDH ; (Jim Britt, Tom Hussey)
Stats	ESPN.com ; Baseball Reference

Last updated October 29, 2025

The 1948 Boston Red Sox season was the 48th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. After 154 regular-season games, the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians finished atop the American League with identical records of 96 wins and 58 losses. The teams then played a tie-breaker game, which was won by Cleveland, 8–3.^[1] Thus, the Red Sox finished their season with a record of 96 wins and 59 losses, one game behind Cleveland.

This was the first Red Sox season to be broadcast on television, with broadcasts alternated between WBZ-TV and WNAC-TV, with the same broadcast team regardless of broadcasting station. The first Red Sox game to be broadcast on television was on July 2, 1948, a 4–2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics.^[2]^[3]

Offseason

In December 1947, the Red Sox made a deal with the St. Louis Browns. The Sox acquired Vern Stephens, Billy Hitchcock, and pitchers Jack Kramer and Ellis Kinder. The deal cost $375,000 and 11 Red Sox players.^[4]

Notable transactions

Prior to 1948 season (exact date unknown)
- Milt Bolling was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.^[5]
- Bob Smith ^[6] was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.

Regular season

In 1948, Kramer led the American League in winning percentage.^[4] The manager of the team was former New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, who replaced the outgoing Joe Cronin. Cronin had led the Red Sox to an 83–71 record in 1947, finishing in third place.^[7]

Throughout 1948, the Sox, New York Yankees, and the Cleveland Indians slugged it out for the pennant. At the end of the regular season, Boston and Cleveland were tied for first place. Each team had a record of 96 wins and 58 losses, two games ahead of the Yankees.

American League Playoff

At the end of the season, the Red Sox and the Indians were tied for first place. This led to the American League's first-ever one-game playoff. The game was played at Fenway Park on Monday, October 4, 1948. The start time was 1:15 pm EST.

McCarthy picked former St. Louis Browns pitcher Denny Galehouse, who had an 8–7 pitching record, to be his starter. According to Mel Parnell, McCarthy chose Galehouse on the basis that he pitched well in relief against the Indians in Cleveland, whilst Billy Hitchcock reasoned that McCarthy chose Galehouse on the grounds that Galehouse's slider would keep Cleveland's right-handed hitters away from Fenway's left-field wall.^[8]

The Indians won the game by the score of 8–3. Indians third baseman Ken Keltner contributed to the victory with his single, double, and 3-run homer over the Green Monster in the 4th inning. Later, McCarthy said he had no rested arms and that there was no else who could pitch.^[4] Mel Parnell and Ellis Kinder claimed that they were both ready to pitch.^[4]

Season standings

v
t
e
American League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	97	58	.626	—	48‍–‍30	49‍–‍28
Boston Red Sox	96	59	.619	1	55‍–‍23	41‍–‍36
New York Yankees	94	60	.610	2½	50‍–‍27	44‍–‍33
Philadelphia Athletics	84	70	.545	12½	36‍–‍41	48‍–‍29
Detroit Tigers	78	76	.506	18½	39‍–‍38	39‍–‍38
St. Louis Browns	59	94	.386	37	34‍–‍42	25‍–‍52
Washington Senators	56	97	.366	40	29‍–‍48	27‍–‍49
Chicago White Sox	51	101	.336	44½	27‍–‍48	24‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1948 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	14–8	11–12	15–7	14–8	12–10	15–7	15–7
Chicago	8–14	—	6–16	8–14	6–16	6–16	8–13–1	9–12–1
Cleveland	12–11	16–6	—	13–9	10–12	16–6	14–8–1	16–6
Detroit	7–15	14–8	9–13	—	9–13	12–10	11–11	16–6
New York	8–14	16–6	12–10	13–9	—	12–10	16–6	17–5
Philadelphia	10–12	16–6	6–16	10–12	10–12	—	18–4	14–8
St. Louis	7–15	13–8–1	8–14–1	11–11	6–16	4–18	—	10–12
Washington	7–15	12–9–1	6–16	6–16	5–17	8–14	12–10	—

Opening Day lineup

7	Dom DiMaggio	CF
6	Johnny Pesky	3B
9	Ted Williams	LF
2	Stan Spence	1B
5	Vern Stephens	SS
1	Bobby Doerr	2B
4	Sam Mele	RF
8	Birdie Tebbetts	C
15	Joe Dobson	P

Roster

1948 Boston Red Sox

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

-- Joe McCarthy

Coaches

30 Del Baker (Third base)
32 Earle Combs (First base)
31 Paul Schreiber (Hitting)
29 Larry Woodall (Bullpen)

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	Birdie Tebbetts	128	446	125	.280	5	68
1B	Billy Goodman	127	445	138	.310	1	66
2B	Bobby Doerr	140	527	150	.285	27	111
SS	Vern Stephens	155	635	171	.285	29	137
3B	Johnny Pesky	143	565	159	.281	3	55
OF	Ted Williams	137	509	188	.369	25	127
OF	Stan Spence	114	391	92	.235	12	61
OF	Dom DiMaggio	155	648	185	.285	9	87

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
Wally Moses	78	189	49	.259	2	29
Sam Mele	66	180	42	.233	2	25
Billy Hitchcock	49	124	37	.298	1	2
Matt Batts	46	118	37	.314	1	24
Jake Jones	36	105	21	.200	1	8
Lou Stringer	4	11	1	.091	1	1
Babe Martin	4	4	2	.500	0	0
Tom Wright	3	2	1	.500	0	0
Neill Sheridan	2	1	0	.000	0	0
Johnny Ostrowski	1	1	0	.000	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
Joe Dobson	38	245.1	16	10	3.56	116
Mel Parnell	35	212.0	15	8	3.14	77
Jack Kramer	29	205.0	18	5	4.35	72
Ellis Kinder	28	178.0	10	7	3.74	53
Mickey Harris	20	113.2	7	10	5.30	42
Windy McCall	1	1.1	0	1	20.25	0

Other pitchers