The Spokane Club won the Northwest League pennant in its first season, overcoming teams from Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma, among others.

The Indians lasted only two seasons at that higher level before dropping to the Class B Northwestern League, which folded during World War I.

While crossing the Cascade Mountains on a rain-slickened Snoqualmie Pass Highway (then U.S. Route 10), the bus driver swerved to avoid an oncoming car.

Injured survivors also included pitchers Pete Barisoff, Gus Hallbourg and Dick Powers, catcher Irv Konopka, outfielder Levi McCormack, and bus driver Glen Berg.

[13] One player from the 1946 team, future major league infielder Jack "Lucky" Lohrke, missed the tragedy because his contract was sold to the PCL San Diego Padres on June 24 and he departed the ill-fated bus during a late lunch stop in Ellensburg, not long before the accident, thus helping to earn his nickname.

Two Indians' pitchers, Milt Cadinha and Joe Faria, were making the trip to Bremerton by automobile and were not aboard the team bus when it crashed.

[13] The Indians, relying on players loaned from other teams, managed to finish the season and placed seventh in the league.

A special charity, the Spokane Baseball Benefit Association, donated $114,800 to the injured survivors and dependents of the nine players who died.

[13] Beth Bollinger of Spokane wrote a novel titled Until the End of the Ninth, which is based on the true story of the 1946 bus crash and its aftermath.

[24] The Indians' second stint in Triple-A lasted ten seasons and included affiliations with the Rangers, which changed to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976, Seattle Mariners in 1979, and California Angels in 1982.

Taking their first division crown since 1974,[25] the Indians defeated Tacoma in the first round,[26] but fell to Albuquerque in the championship series in six games.

They became only the second team in league history (after the 1982 Salem Angels) to win the championship with a losing regular season record.

Spokane won the east division,[35][36] then beat league-leading Vancouver on the road in games four and five of the championship series to win the title.