1955 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1955 Pittsburgh Pirates
1955 Pittsburgh Pirates
Ballpark	Forbes Field
City	Pittsburgh
Owners	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson, Branch Rickey (minority shareholders)
Managers	Fred Haney
Television	none
Radio	WWSW; Bob Prince, Dick Bingham

The 1955 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 74th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 69th in the National League. The Pirates finished eighth and last in the league standings with a record of 60–94.

Offseason

Prior to 1955 season: Ellis Burton was signed as an amateur free agent by the Pirates.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Dodgers	98	55	0.641	—	56–21	42–34
Milwaukee Braves	85	69	0.552	13½	46–31	39–38
New York Giants	80	74	0.519	18½	44–35	36–39
Philadelphia Phillies	77	77	0.500	21½	46–31	31–46
Cincinnati Redlegs	75	79	0.487	23½	46–31	29–48
Chicago Cubs	72	81	0.471	26	43–33	29–48
St. Louis Cardinals	68	86	0.442	30½	41–36	27–50
Pittsburgh Pirates	60	94	0.390	38½	36–39	24–55

Record vs. opponents

1955 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BR	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	14–7–1	12–10	15–7	13–9	16–6	14–8	14–8
Chicago	7–14–1	—	11–11	7–15	12–10	10–12	11–11	14–8
Cincinnati	10–12	11–11	—	9–13	9–13	11–11	14–8	11–11
Milwaukee	7–15	15–7	13–9	—	14–8	14–8	11–11	11–11
New York	9–13	10–12	13–9	8–14	—	10–12	17–5	13–9
Philadelphia	6–16	12–10	11–11	8–14	12–10	—	15–7	13–9
Pittsburgh	8–14	11–11	8–14	11–11	5–17	7–15	—	10–12
St. Louis	8–14	8–14	11–11	11–11	9–13	9–13	12–10	—

Game log

1955 Game Log: 60–94 (Home: 36–39; Away: 24–55)

April: 3–11 (Home: 2–6; Away: 1–5)

May: 11–20 (Home: 7–9; Away: 4–11)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
15	May 1	Cardinals	3–4	Tiefenauer	Bowman (0–2)	Moford		3–12
16	May 1	Cardinals	7–0	Kline (1–2)	Jones	—	13,213	4–12
17	May 2	Cardinals	5–1	Purkey (2–1)	Haddix	—	2,181	5–12
18	May 3	Braves	4–0	Littlefield (1–2)	Spahn	—	10,784	6–12
19	May 4	Braves	5–4	Surkont (2–3)	Jolly	Friend (1)	13,374	7–12
20	May 5	Braves	9–4	King (1–1)	Buhl	Law (1)	4,329	8–12
21	May 6	@ Giants	3–2	Kline (2–2)	Antonelli	Wade (1)	10,330	9–12
22	May 7	@ Giants	3–11	Hearn	Purkey (2–2)	—	8,926	9–13
23	May 8	@ Giants	7–5	Littlefield (2–2)	Gomez	Face (1)		10–13
24	May 8	@ Giants	3–6	Maglie	Law (0–1)	—	14,180	10–14
25	May 10	@ Braves	9–6	Surkont (3–3)	Johnson	—	20,562	11–14
26	May 11	@ Braves	3–8	Nichols	Kline (2–3)	—	12,444	11–15
27	May 12	@ Cubs	0–4	Jones	King (1–2)	—	2,918	11–16
28	May 14	@ Cardinals	0–6	Lawrence	Littlefield (2–3)	—	9,479	11–17
29	May 15	@ Cardinals	1–5	Jones	Surkont (3–4)	Schultz	10,996	11–18
30	May 16	@ Cardinals	0–6	Arroyo	Kline (2–4)	—	5,184	11–19
31	May 17	@ Redlegs	2–9	Nuxhall	Purkey (2–3)	—	4,881	11–20
32	May 18	@ Redlegs	1–5	Minarcin	Littlefield (2–4)	—	2,079	11–21
33	May 20	Giants	3–6	Wilhelm	Surkont (3–5)	Grissom	15,722	11–22
34	May 21	Giants	2–3	Maglie	Kline (2–5)	Grissom	5,731	11–23
35	May 22	Giants	2–5	Gomez	Bowman (0–3)	—		11–24
36	May 22	Giants	3–5 (8)	Wilhelm	Wade (0–1)	Grissom	16,691	11–25
37	May 24	Dodgers	15–1	Friend (2–0)	Podres	—	9,251	12–25
38	May 26	Dodgers	2–6	Newcombe	Kline (2–6)	—	2,680	12–26
39	May 27	Phillies	2–5 (10)	Wehmeier	Friend (2–1)	—	6,956	12–27
40	May 28	Phillies	4–8 (11)	Miller	Face (0–1)	Meyer	3,082	12–28
41	May 29	Phillies	2–5	Roberts	Pepper (0–1)	—		12–29
42	May 29	Phillies	11–5	Surkont (4–5)	Cole	—	5,918	13–29
43	May 30	@ Dodgers	4–8	Meyer	Purkey (2–4)	Roebuck		13–30
44	May 30	@ Dodgers	3–8	Newcombe	Kline (2–7)	—	26,711	13–31
45	May 31	@ Dodgers	6–3	Friend (3–1)	Roebuck	—	6,008	14–31

June: 10–18 (Home: 5–7; Away: 5–11)

July: 14–19 (Home: 10–12; Away: 4–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
74	July 1	@ Dodgers	3–2	Law (4–3)	Podres	—	10,325	25–49
75	July 2	@ Dodgers	7–6 (10)	Kline (5–10)	Labine	—	6,158	26–49
76	July 3	@ Dodgers	7–5	Kline (6–10)	Roebuck	—		27–49
77	July 3	@ Dodgers	1–3	Loes	Surkont (7–8)	Labine	15,000	27–50
78	July 4	Giants	4–3	Donoso (1–2)	McCall	—		28–50
79	July 4	Giants	3–5 (11)	Grissom	Donoso (1–3)	—	16,902	28–51
80	July 5	Giants	1–11	Antonelli	Martin (0–1)	—	7,245	28–52
81	July 6	Dodgers	5–10	Erskine	Face (0–2)	Roebuck		28–53
82	July 6	Dodgers	4–1	Law (5–3)	Roebuck	—	20,674	29–53
83	July 7	Dodgers	3–4	Loes	Kline (6–11)	—	4,533	29–54
84	July 8	Phillies	1–5	Wehmeier	Surkont (7–9)	—	7,304	29–55
85	July 9	Phillies	1–7	Roberts	Littlefield (2–7)	—	2,637	29–56
86	July 10	Phillies	1–4	Simmons	Friend (5–5)	—		29–57
87	July 10	Phillies	3–1	Law (6–3)	Negray	—	6,454	30–57
88	July 14	Redlegs	1–19	Collum	Surkont (7–10)	—	6,947	30–58
89	July 15	Redlegs	1–9	Nuxhall	Law (6–4)	Freeman	1,563	30–59
90	July 16	Cardinals	5–1	Donoso (2–3)	Arroyo	—	2,579	31–59
91	July 17	Cardinals	8–9 (12)	Arroyo	Donoso (2–4)	Lawrence		31–60
92	July 17	Cardinals	0–1	Haddix	Face (0–3)	—	8,490	31–61
93	July 19	Braves	4–3 (19)	Friend (6–5)	Conley	—	7,953	32–61
94	July 20	Braves	4–3	Littlefield (3–7)	Crone	—	5,568	33–61
95	July 21	Braves	3–5	Spahn	Donoso (2–5)	—	2,568	33–62
96	July 22	Cubs	3–1	Face (1–3)	Minner	—	7,388	34–62
97	July 23	Cubs	10–2	Friend (7–5)	Hacker	—	2,955	35–62
98	July 24	Cubs	12–5	Hall (1–0)	Rush	—		36–62
99	July 24	Cubs	3–2 (10)	Law (7–4)	Jones	—	14,466	37–62
100	July 26	@ Cardinals	3–1	Littlefield (4–7)	Arroyo	—	10,261	38–62
101	July 27	@ Cardinals	1–6	Haddix	Face (1–4)	—	6,424	38–63
102	July 28	@ Cardinals	1–4	Schmidt	Hall (1–1)	—	6,039	38–64
103	July 29	@ Redlegs	5–16	Nuxhall	Law (7–5)	—	5,690	38–65
104	July 30	@ Redlegs	2–5	Collum	Friend (7–6)	—	3,030	38–66
105	July 31	@ Redlegs	4–7	Black	Littlefield (4–8)	Freeman		38–67
106	July 31	@ Redlegs	5–6	Freeman	Donoso (2–6)	—	9,704	38–68

August: 14–12 (Home: 9–4; Away: 5–8)

September: 8–14 (Home: 3–1; Away: 5–13)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Pirates team member

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

August 27, 1955: Red Swanson was signed as an amateur free agent (bonus baby) by the Pirates.^[3]

Roster

1955 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

2 Fred Haney

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	Jack Shepard	94	264	63	.239	2	23
LF	Frank Thomas	142	510	125	.245	25	72
CF	Eddie O'Brien	75	236	55	.233	0	8

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
Dick Cole	77	239	54	.226	0	21
Hardy Peterson	32	81	20	.247	1	10
Earl Smith	5	16	1	.063	0	0
Dick Smith	4	0	0	----	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

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
Bob Friend	44	200.1	14	9	2.83	98
Roy Face	42	125.2	5	7	3.58	84
Lino Donoso	25	95	4	6	5.31	38
Roger Bowman	7	16.2	0	3	8.64	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	ERA	SO
Al Grunwald	3	4.70	2
Red Swanson	1	18.00	0
Bill Bell	1	0.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Frank Thomas, reserve^[4]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
Open	Hollywood Stars	Pacific Coast League	Bobby Bragan
AA	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Andy Cohen
A	Williamsport Grays	Eastern League	Larry Shepard
A	Lincoln Chiefs	Western League	Bill Burwell
B	Waco Pirates	Big State League	Stan Wentzel
B	Burlington-Graham Pirates	Carolina League	Larry Dorton
C	Phoenix Stars	Arizona–Mexico League	Jerry Gardner
C	Salinas Packers	California League	Buck Elliott and Jack Paepke
C	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Jack Paepke and Buck Elliott
C	St. Jean Canadiens	Provincial League	Steve Mizerak and Fred Luciano
D	Dublin Irish	Georgia State League	George Kinnamon
D	Brunswick Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Frank Oceak
D	Clinton Pirates	Mississippi–Ohio Valley League	Robert Clark

LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Brunswick

Notes

^ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
^ Ellis Burton at Baseball-Reference
^ Red Swanson at Baseball-Reference
^ http://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1955as.shtml

References

1955 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
1955 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Ellis Burton at Baseball-Reference

[3] Red Swanson at Baseball-Reference

[4] ttp://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1955as.shtml

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e 1955 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City New York Washington
National League	Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati Milwaukee New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1955 All-Star Game 1955 World Series