1959 Boston Red Sox season

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1959 Boston Red Sox
Pumpsie Green becomes the Red Sox first black player
Earl Wilson becomes the Red Sox first black pitcher
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Tom Yawkey
General manager(s) Bucky Harris
Manager(s) Pinky Higgins, Rudy York, and Billy Jurges
Local television WHDH-TV
Local radio WHDH-AM 850
(Curt Gowdy, Bob Murphy, Bill Crowley)
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The 1959 Boston Red Sox season involved the Red Sox finishing 5th in the American League with a record of 75 wins and 79 losses, nineteen games behind the AL Champion Chicago White Sox.

Offseason

1958 turned out to be Jimmy Piersall's final season with the Red Sox. On December 2, 1958, Piersall was traded to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Gary Geiger and Vic Wertz.[1]

Notable transactions

Regular season

  • The 1959 season was the year that the color barrier was broken for the Red Sox. Elijah "Pumpsie" Green became the first black player to play for the Red Sox.[4] Later in the season, Earl Wilson became the first black pitcher to play for the Boston Red Sox.[1]
  • Ted Williams would have an off year as he batted below .300.[5]

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB
Chicago White Sox 94 60 .610 --
Cleveland Indians 89 65 .578 5
New York Yankees 79 75 .513 15
Detroit Tigers 76 78 .494 18
Boston Red Sox 75 79 .487 19
Baltimore Orioles 74 80 .481 20
Kansas City Athletics 66 88 .429 28
Washington Senators 63 91 .409 31

Record vs. opponents

1959 American League Records

Sources:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC NYY WSH
Baltimore 8–14 11–11–1 10–12 13–9 8–14 12–10 12–10
Boston 14–8 8–14 8–14 11–11 11–11 13–9 10–12
Chicago 11–11–1 14–8 15–7 13–9 12–10 13–9–1 16–6
Cleveland 12–10 14–8 7–15 14–8 15–7 11–11 16–6
Detroit 9–13 11–11 9–13 8–14 15–7 14–8 10–12
Kansas City 14–8 11–11 10–12 7–15 7–15 5–17 12–10
New York 10–12 9–13 9–13–1 11–11 8–14 17–5 15–7
Washington 10–12 12–10 6–16 6–16 12–10 10–12 7–15


Notable transactions

Opening day lineup

24 Don Buddin SS
  3 Pete Runnels 2B
10 Gene Stephens    CF
  6 Vic Wertz 1B
  4 Jackie Jensen RF
11 Frank Malzone 3B
37 Gary Geiger RF
22 Sammy White C
23 Tom Brewer P

Roster

1959 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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
LF Ted Williams 103 272 69 .254 10 43

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
Gary Geiger 120 335 82 .245 11 48
Vic Wertz 94 247 68 .275 7 49
Pumpsie Green 50 172 40 .233 1 10

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
Tom Brewer 36 215.1 10 12 3.76 121
Jerry Casale 31 179.2 13 8 4.31 93

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
Frank Baumann 26 95.2 6 4 4.05 48
Earl Wilson 9 23.2 1 1 6.08 17
Ted Bowsfield 5 9 0 1 15.00 4

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

See also

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Minneapolis Millers American Association Gene Mauch
A Allentown Red Sox Eastern League Sheriff Robinson
B Raleigh Capitals Carolina League Ken Deal
D Waterloo Hawks Midwest League Elmer Yoter
D Corning Cor-Sox New York–Penn League Len Okrie
D Alpine Cowboys Sophomore League Eddie Popowski

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Minneapolis, Waterloo, Alpine[7]

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Boston Red Sox, Milton Cole and Jim Kaplan, p. 32, World Publications Group, North Dighton, Massachusetts, ISBN 1-57215-412-8
  2. Mike Page at Baseball-Reference
  3. 3.0 3.1 Chuck Tanner Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac
  4. The Boston Red Sox, Milton Cole and Jim Kaplan, p. 33
  5. The Boston Red Sox, Milton Cole and Jim Kaplan, p. 31
  6. Billy Muffett at Baseball-Reference
  7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References