Donie Bush would leave the managing department mid-season, but only to take over the Indianapolis Indians at it's highest level... buying the team with a partner and taking Indianapolis  into and through the post-war years. Steve Wentzel (35 2B, 11 3B, 14 HR, 103 RBI, 30 SB, .321) led Indianapolis to a 2nd place 90 win finish in 1945, as Donie Bush worked in the front office on getting the Indians a new PDC to replace the Cincinnati Reds who had left several years
  earlier. Donie was successful in landing at least one Major League franchise… the Boston Braves, to help the Indians get back to the next level of play if only for one seaon. Joseph Bestudik was the team's best with 25 2B, 15 HR, 109 RBI's and a .279 as he led the Indians back to 2nd place with 88 wins and a post-season berth. The Indians were still looking for their 1st A.A. Championship at Bush Stadium and in 1946… they weren't going to find it. The new Boston Braves' franchise would come to lose yet again in the finals… to someone who they would find waiting for them again and again... the Louisville Colonels. The Braves were gone after the one season, but Bush had been working on getting a full time franchise to call the Indians their Triple-A home, and he finally found that team in the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates signed on for the 1947 season becoming the team's 3rd affiliate in their history. While the 74-79 team (which featured future MLB manager Gene Mauch who batted .300) wasn't going to set the world on fire, the seeds had been planted for what would be, an incredible future for the Indians within the Pittsburgh organization. Bush and the Pirates brought in future Hall of Famer, Al Lopez to manage the 1948 franchise and Lopez would lead perhaps the best team to ever call Indianapolis home, to the post-season.