| 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates | |
|---|---|
| Major League affiliations | |
|
|
| Location | |
|
|
|
|
| Other information | |
| Owner(s) | John W. Galbreath |
| Manager(s) | Danny Murtaugh |
| Local television | KDKA-TV Bob Prince, Jim Woods |
| Local radio | KDKA Bob Prince, Paul Long, Jim Woods |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates season saw the team finish in fourth place in the National League at 78–76, nine games behind the NL and World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Contents
Offseason[edit]
- January 30, 1959: Whammy Douglas, Jim Pendleton, Frank Thomas, and John Powers were traded by the Pirates to the Cincinnati Reds for Smoky Burgess, Harvey Haddix and Don Hoak.[2]
- Prior to 1959 season: Dick Rand was traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tom Burgess.[3]
Regular season[edit]
- May 26, 1959: Harvey Haddix took a perfect game into the 13th inning of a game against the Milwaukee Braves. Haddix retired 36 consecutive batters in 12 innings, but lost the game 1–0.[4] Braves pitcher Lew Burdette also pitched a shutout for 13 full innings, giving up 12 hits. NOTE: On September 4, 1991, MLB redefined no-hitters to no longer include games in which the first hit was surrendered in extra innings. Until then, Haddix had been credited with a perfect game.
Season standings[edit]
| National League | W | L | GB | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 88 | 68 | -- | .564 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 86 | 70 | 2 | .551 |
| San Francisco Giants | 83 | 71 | 4 | .539 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 78 | 76 | 9 | .506 |
| Chicago Cubs | 74 | 80 | 13 | .481 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 74 | 80 | 13 | .481 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 71 | 83 | 16 | .461 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 64 | 90 | 23 | .416 |
Record vs. opponents[edit]
|
1959 National League Records
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] |
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | CHC | CIN | LAD | MIL | PHI | PIT | SF | STL | |||||
| Chicago | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 10–12–1 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 10–12 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 13–9 | — | 13–9 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 11–11 | |||||
| Los Angeles | 11–11 | 9–13 | — | 14–10 | 17–5 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 12–10 | |||||
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 11–11 | 10–14 | — | 13–9 | 15–7–1 | 12–10 | 13–9 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 9–13 | 9–13 | 7–15 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 7–15–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 | |||||
| San Francisco | 10–12 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | |||||
| St. Louis | 12–10 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 6–16 | — | |||||
Opening Day lineup[edit]
Notable transactions[edit]
- May 29, 1959: Gene Baker was released by the Pirates.[5]
- June 13, 1959: Bob Smith was selected off waivers from the Pirates by the Detroit Tigers.[6]
Roster[edit]
| 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
|
Manager
Coaches
|
||||||
Player stats[edit]
Batting[edit]
Starters by position[edit]
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 | Burgess, SmokySmoky Burgess | 114 | 377 | 112 | .297 | 11 | 59 |
| 2B | Mazeroski, BillBill Mazeroski | 135 | 493 | 119 | .241 | 7 | 59 |
| 3B | Hoak, DonDon Hoak | 155 | 564 | 166 | .294 | 8 | 65 |
| RF | Clemente, RobertoRoberto Clemente | 105 | 432 | 128 | .296 | 4 | 50 |
Other batters[edit]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mejías, RománRomán Mejías | 96 | 276 | 65 | .236 | 7 | 28 |
| Schofield, DickDick Schofield | 81 | 145 | 31 | .234 | 1 | 9 |
| Hamlin, KenKen Hamlin | 3 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 2 |
| Peterson, HardyHardy Peterson | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching[edit]
Starting pitchers[edit]
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friend, BobBob Friend | 35 | 234.2 | 8 | 19 | 4.03 | 104 |
| Haddix, HarveyHarvey Haddix | 31 | 224.1 | 12 | 12 | 3.13 | 149 |
Other pitchers[edit]
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniels, BennieBennie Daniels | 34 | 100.2 | 7 | 9 | 5.45 | 67 |
| Hall, DickDick Hall | 2 | 8.2 | 0 | 0 | 3.12 | 3 |
Relief pitchers[edit]
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Face, RoyRoy Face | 57 | 18 | 1 | 10 | 2.70 | 69 |
| Blackburn, RonRon Blackburn | 26 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.65 | 19 |
| Gross, DonDon Gross | 21 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3.55 | 15 |
| Smith, BobBob Smith | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.49 | 12 |
| Green, FredFred Green | 17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3.13 | 20 |
| Williams, DonDon Williams | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Giel, PaulPaul Giel | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.09 | 3 |
Awards and honors[edit]
Records[edit]
- Roy Face, major league record, most wins in one season by a relief pitcher (18)[7]
- Harvey Haddix, major league record, Most consecutive batters retired in one game (36) [8]
Farm system[edit]
See also: Minor league baseball
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Salt Lake City, Gastonia
Columbus (GA) franchise transferred to Gastonia, May 26, 1959; San Angelo franchise transferred to Roswell, June 9, 1959
References[edit]
- ^ From 1882-1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
- ^ Smoky Burgess page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Dick Rand page at Baseball Reference
- ^ http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1959/B05260MLN1959.htm
- ^ Gene Baker page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Bob Smith page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 290, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
- ^ Baseball’s Top 100: The Game’s Greatest Records, p. 29, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
External links[edit]
- 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
- 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates Page at Baseball Almanac
- Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||