1959 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1959 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major league affiliations
National League (Since 1887)
Location
Forbes Field (Since 1909) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Since 1887)
1959 Information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath
General manager(s)	Joe L. Brown
Manager(s)	Danny Murtaugh
Local television	KDKA-TV Bob Prince, Jim Woods
Local radio	KDKA Bob Prince, Paul Long, Jim Woods
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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.

Offseason

• 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.
• Prior to 1959 season: Dick Rand was traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tom Burgess.

Regular season

• 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. Braves pitcher Lew Burdette also pitched a shutout for thirteen full innings, giving up 12 hits. NOTE: On September 4, 1991, MLB redefined no-hitters to no longer include games where the first hit was surrendered in extra innings. Until then, Haddix had been credited with a perfect game.

Season standings

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

Notable transactions

• May 29, 1959: Gene Baker was released by the Pirates.
• June 13, 1959: Bob Smith was selected off waivers from the Pirates by the Detroit Tigers.

Roster

1959 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers 36 Ron Blackburn 39 Bennie Daniels 26 Roy Face 19 Bob Friend 34 Paul Giel 35 Fred Green 37 Don Gross 31 Harvey Haddix 38 Dick Hall 38 Al Jackson 22 Ron Kline 32 Vern Law 16 Bob Porterfield 37 Bob Smith 34 Jim Umbricht 35 Don Williams 30 George Witt		Catchers  6 Smoky Burgess 20 Hank Foiles 10 Danny Kravitz 20 Hardy Peterson Infielders 24 Dick Groat 48 Ken Hamlin 12 Don Hoak  3 Ted Kluszewski  9 Bill Mazeroski 14 Rocky Nelson 11 Dick Schofield 28 R. C. Stevens  7 Dick Stuart		Outfielders  8 Harry Bright 23 Joe Christopher 21 Roberto Clemente 15 Román Mejías  2 Harry Simpson  4 Bob Skinner 18 Bill Virdon		Manager 40 Danny Murtaugh Coaches 41 Bill Burwell 42 George Detore 42 Jimmy Dykes 45 Lenny Levy 43 Sam Narron 44 Frank Oceak

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	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

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

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
Friend, BobBob Friend	35	234.2	8	19	4.03	104
Haddix, HarveyHarvey Haddix	31	224.1	12	12	3.13	149

Other 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
Daniels, BennieBennie Daniels	34	100.2	7	9	5.45	67
Hall, DickDick Hall	2	8.2	0	0	3.12	3

Relief pitchers

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

Records

• Roy Face, major league record, most wins in one season by a relief pitcher (18)
• Harvey Haddix, major league record, Most consecutive batters retired in one game (36)

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Columbus Jets	International League	Cal Ermer
AAA	Salt Lake City Bees	Pacific Coast League	Larry Shepard
A	Columbus/Gastonia Pirates	Sally League	Ray Hathaway
B	Wilson Tobs	Carolina League	Harding "Pete" Peterson and Don Osborn
C	Grand Forks Chiefs	Northern League	James Adlam
C	Idaho Falls Russets	Pioneer League	Bob Clear
D	Salem Rebels	Appalachian League	Larry Dorton
D	Dubuque Packers	Midwest League	Wally Millies, John Armstrong, Syd Thrift and Al Kubski
D	San Angelo/Roswell Pirates	Sophomore League	Al Kubski, Joe Bauman and Wally Millies

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

• 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.