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1959 Chicago Cubs season

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1959 Chicago Cubs
BallparkWrigley Field
CityChicago
OwnersPhilip K. Wrigley
ManagersBob Scheffing
TelevisionWGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
RadioWGN
(Jack Quinlan, Lou Boudreau)
← 1958 Seasons 1960 →

The 1959 Chicago Cubs season was the 88th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 84th in the National League and the 44th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs tied the Cincinnati Reds for fifth in the National League with a record of 74–80, thirteen games behind the NL and World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Offseason

Regular season

Ernie Banks became the first shortstop in the history of the NL to win the MVP award in back to back seasons.[4]

One of baseball history's weirdest plays took place on June 30, 1959, when the St. Louis Cardinals played the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Stan Musial was at the plate facing Bob Anderson with a count of 3–1. Anderson's next pitch was errant, the ball evaded catcher Sammy Taylor and rolled all the way to the backstop. Umpire Vic Delmore called "ball four", but Anderson and Taylor contended that Musial foul tipped the ball. Because the ball was still in play and Delmore was embroiled in an argument with Anderson and Taylor, Musial tried to run for second base. Seeing that Musial was running to second, third baseman Alvin Dark ran to the backstop to retrieve the ball. The ball wound up in the hands of field announcer Pat Pieper, but Dark ended up getting it back anyway. Absentmindedly, however, Delmore pulled out a new baseball and gave it to Taylor. When Anderson noticed that Musial was trying for second, he took the new ball from Sammy Taylor and threw it towards Tony Taylor covering second base, and the ball went over Taylor's head into the outfield. At the same time that Anderson threw the new ball towards second baseman Taylor, Dark threw the original ball to shortstop Ernie Banks. Musial did not see the throw and he was declared out when the tag was made.[5]

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 88 68 .564 46‍–‍32 42‍–‍36
Milwaukee Braves 86 70 .551 2 49‍–‍29 37‍–‍41
San Francisco Giants 83 71 .539 4 42‍–‍35 41‍–‍36
Pittsburgh Pirates 78 76 .506 9 47‍–‍30 31‍–‍46
Chicago Cubs 74 80 .481 13 38‍–‍39 36‍–‍41
Cincinnati Reds 74 80 .481 13 43‍–‍34 31‍–‍46
St. Louis Cardinals 71 83 .461 16 42‍–‍35 29‍–‍48
Philadelphia Phillies 64 90 .416 23 37‍–‍40 27‍–‍50

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team CHC CIN LA 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


Notable transactions

Roster

1959 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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 Sammy Taylor 110 353 95 .269 13 43
2B Tony Taylor 150 624 175 .280 8 38
3B Alvin Dark 136 477 126 .264 6 45
SS Ernie Banks 155 589 179 .304 45 143
RF Lee Walls 120 354 91 .257 8 33

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
Bobby Thomson 122 374 97 .259 11 52
Jim Marshall 108 294 74 .252 11 40
Earl Averill 74 186 44 .237 10 34
Randy Jackson 41 74 18 .243 1 10
Billy Williams 18 33 5 .152 0 2
Lou Jackson 6 4 1 .250 0 1
Don Eaddy 15 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
Bob Anderson 37 235.1 12 13 4.13 113
Moe Drabowsky 31 141.2 5 10 4.13 70
Art Ceccarelli 18 102 5 5 4.76 56
Dick Drott 8 27.1 1 2 5.93 15

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
John Buzhardt 31 101.1 4 5 4.97 33
Ben Johnson 4 16.2 0 0 2.16 6

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
Don Elston 65 10 8 13 3.32 82
Bill Henry 65 9 8 12 2.68 115
Ed Donnelly 9 1 1 0 3.14 6
Morrie Martin 3 0 0 0 19.29 1
Bob Smith 1 0 0 0 81.00 0

Awards and records

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Fort Worth Cats American Association Lou Klein
AA San Antonio Missions Texas League Grady Hatton
A Lancaster Red Roses Eastern League Nick Cullop
B Burlington Bees Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Ray Mueller
D Morristown Cubs Appalachian League Red Hayworth
D Paris Lakers Midwest League Verlon Walker
D Carlsbad Potashers Sophomore League Walt Dixon

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Morristown

Notes

  1. ^ Jim Bolger page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Chuck Tanner Trades and Transactions at Baseball Almanac
  3. ^ Dick Burwell page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  5. ^ Musial Is First in History Put Out By 2 Baseballs!
  6. ^ Bob Smith page at Baseball Reference

References