The 1945 World Series was the last during wartime and though the level of play was still not up to pre-war...

... it brought a lot of excitement. The 1945 World Series pitted two old interleague rivals, the Tigers and Cubs who'd met in the 1907,'08 and '35 classics with the Tigers prevailing once, in 1935.

World Series Preview:
Even though the war was over and some of the big guys like Hank Greenberg and Virgil Trucks were back, this World Series still seems to get very little respect... now as well as when it actually took place. Some pundits wondered if "either team can win," or likened it to an office picnic game between the "fat guys" and the "tall men!" Nevertheless, it was entertaining and resulted in a 2nd World Championship for the Arsenal of Democracy!

Game 1 at Detroit- Chicago 9 Detroit 0- Hal Newhouser wins 25 games in the regular season but gets jumped on for 4 in the first inning. Chicago leads 1945 World Series 1-0.

Game 2 at Detroit- Detroit 4 Chicago 1- Just out of the Navy, Virgil Trucks wins his only game of the year and fellow returning serviceman Hank Greenberg hits a 3 run shot. Series tied 1-1.

Game 3 at Detroit- Chicago 3 Detroit 0- Rudy York gets Detroit's only hit- a single in the 2nd inning. Chicago leads 1945 World Series 2-1.

Hal Newhouser
Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY

Game 4 at Chicago- Chicago 3 Detroit 0- Dizzy Trout fires a 5 hitter. 1945 World Series tied 2-2.

Game 5 at Chicago- Detroit 8 Chicago 4- Newhouser redeems his first game mishap... Greenberg crushes 3 doubles. Detroit leads 1945 World Series 3-2.

Game 6 at Chicago- Chicago 8 Detroit 7- Tigers come back from a 4 run deficit to tie it in the 8th on another Greenberg homer, but fall victim to a bad-bounce hit in the 12th inning. 1945 World Series tied 3-3.

Game 7 at Chicago- Detroit 9 Chicago 3- Newhouser wins for the second time as Tigers put it away early with 5 runs in the first inning. DETROIT TIGERS WIN SERIES 4-3!.

World Series Wrapup:
Despite Newhouser's game 1 disaster, he straightened himself out and pitched very well in the rest of the series, winning 2 big games- he needed to... the Tiger attack was pretty tame aside from Greenberg with 2 gi-normous homers and a .309 average and Doc Cramer who batted .379.

Good thing the Tigers beat the Cubs... otherwise their crybaby fans couldn't moan so much about their long drought... gimme a break!

Although the Tigers would contend for the next 5 years, it'd take a long time to get back to baseball's big stage... 1968 would be the next Fall Classic for Detroit.

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