1951 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1951 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1887);
Location
	Forbes Field (since 1909); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1] (since 1907);
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson, Branch Rickey (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)	Branch Rickey
Manager(s)	Billy Meyer
Local television	none
Local radio	WWSW; Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince
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The 1951 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 70th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 65th in the National League . The Pirates finished seventh in the league standings with a record of 64–90.

Offseason

November 16, 1950: Catfish Metkovich was drafted by the Pirates from the Oakland Oaks in the 1950 rule 5 draft.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	98	59	0.624	—	50–28	48–31
Brooklyn Dodgers	97	60	0.618	1	49–29	48–31
St. Louis Cardinals	81	73	0.526	15½	44–34	37–39
Boston Braves	76	78	0.494	20½	42–35	34–43
Philadelphia Phillies	73	81	0.474	23½	38–39	35–42
Cincinnati Reds	68	86	0.442	28½	35–42	33–44
Pittsburgh Pirates	64	90	0.416	32½	32–45	32–45
Chicago Cubs	62	92	0.403	34½	32–45	30–47

Record vs. opponents

1951 National League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–12–1	10–12	10–12	8–14	12–10	13–9	13–9
Brooklyn	12–10–1	—	14–8	14–8	14–11	15–7	10–12	18–4
Chicago	12–10	8–14	—	10–12	7–15	7–15	9–13	9–13–1
Cincinnati	12–10	8–14	12–10	—	5–17	11–11	12–10–1	8–14
New York	14–8	11–14	15–7	17–5	—	16–6	14–8	11–11
Philadelphia	10–12	7–15	15–7	11–11	6–16	—	15–7	9–13
Pittsburgh	9–13	12–10	13–9	10–12–1	8–14	7–15	—	5–17
St. Louis	9–13	4–18	13–9–1	14–8	11–11	13–9	17–5	—

Game log

1951 Game Log: 64–90 (Home: 32–45; Away: 32–45)

April: 5–5 (Home: 2–2; Away: 3–3)

May: 10–18 (Home: 3–10; Away: 7–8)

June: 10–18 (Home: 4–9; Away: 6–9)

July: 14–16 (Home: 10–7; Away: 4–9)

August: 16–17 (Home: 6–6; Away: 10–11)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
98	August 1	Dodgers	12–9	Werle (6–3)	King	Wilks (7)	19,502	40–57
99	August 2	Dodgers	5–10	Erskine	Friend (4–7)	—	10,986	40–58
100	August 3	Phillies	4–5	Roberts	Law (3–7)	—	13,607	40–59
101	August 4	Phillies	7–3	Dickson (14–10)	Johnson	—	7,206	41–59
102	August 5	Phillies	1–5	Church	Friend (4–8)	—		41–60
103	August 5	Phillies	7–12	Heintzelman	Wilks (2–4)	Konstanty	20,049	41–61
104	August 7	@ Cardinals	7–16	Boyer	LaPalme (1–5)	Brazle	7,465	41–62
105	August 8	@ Cardinals	10–7	Dickson (15–10)	Poholsky	Wilks (8)	7,482	42–62
106	August 9	@ Cardinals	0–4	Chambers	Pollet (4–5)	—	6,855	42–63
107	August 10	@ Cubs	3–0	Queen (4–7)	McLish	—	7,703	43–63
108	August 11	@ Cubs	3–4	Kelly	Law (3–8)	—		43–64
109	August 11	@ Cubs	2–1	Friend (5–8)	Rush	—	20,522	44–64
110	August 12	@ Cubs	1–0	Dickson (16–10)	Hatten	—		45–64
111	August 12	@ Cubs	0–6	Minner	Werle (6–4)	—	25,891	45–65
112	August 13	@ Reds	0–2	Fox	Pollet (4–6)	—		45–66
113	August 13	@ Reds	1–7	Blackwell	Walsh (1–3)	—	9,992	45–67
114	August 15	Cardinals	7–0	Friend (6–8)	Staley	—	17,853	46–67
115	August 16	Cardinals	6–9	Staley	Dickson (16–11)	—	6,619	46–68
116	August 17	Cubs	8–3	Queen (5–7)	Minner	—	10,007	47–68
117	August 18	Cubs	5–11	Kelly	Pollet (4–7)	Leonard	6,212	47–69
118	August 19	Cubs	4–2	Carlsen (1–0)	Hatten	—		48–69
119	August 19	Cubs	5–4	Law (4–8)	Leonard	—	16,434	49–69
120	August 21	@ Braves	1–3	Wilson	Friend (6–9)	—	3,289	49–70
121	August 22	@ Braves	4–5 (10)	Chipman	Werle (6–5)	—	4,585	49–71
122	August 24	@ Phillies	5–1	Dickson (17–11)	Thompson	—	8,847	50–71
123	August 25	@ Phillies	3–2 (12)	Carlsen (2–0)	Konstanty	—	5,276	51–71
124	August 26	@ Dodgers	12–11	Law (5–8)	King	Dickson (2)		52–71
125	August 26	@ Dodgers	3–4 (10)	Roe	Wilks (2–5)	—	30,189	52–72
126	August 27	@ Dodgers	0–5	Branca	Queen (5–8)	—		52–73
127	August 27	@ Dodgers	5–2	Werle (7–5)	Palica	Law (2)	32,561	53–73
128	August 28	@ Giants	2–0	Pollet (5–7)	Jones	—	8,803	54–73
129	August 29	@ Giants	1–3	Hearn	Dickson (17–12)	—	7,678	54–74
130	August 30	@ Giants	10–9	Dickson (18–12)	Jansen	—	8,230	55–74

September: 9–16 (Home: 7–11; Away: 2–5)

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Notable transactions

June 15, 1951: Cliff Chambers and Wally Westlake were traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Garagiola, Dick Cole, Bill Howerton, Howie Pollet, and Ted Wilks.^[3]

Roster

1951 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

24 Don Carlsen

23 Cliff Chambers

30 Con Dempsey

21,22 Murry Dickson

25 Bob Friend

26 Bill Koski

24 Paul LaPalme

20 Vern Law

31 Joe Muir

23 Paul Pettit

30 Howie Pollet

36 Mel Queen

29 Junior Walsh

19 Bill Werle

28 Ted Wilks

23 Len Yochim

Catchers

9 Ed Fitz Gerald

2 Joe Garagiola

3,8 Clyde McCullough

Infielders

10,12 Monty Basgall

16 Pete Castiglione

12 Dick Cole

3 Bob Dillinger

2 Dale Long

12 Jack Maguire

10 Jack Merson

7 Danny Murtaugh

6 Rocky Nelson

5 Jack Phillips

6 Stan Rojek

10 Hank Schenz

6 Dick Smith

14 George Strickland

15 Wally Westlake

Outfielders

13 Ted Beard

18 Gus Bell

15 Erv Dusak

8 Bill Howerton

4 Ralph Kiner

11 Catfish Metkovich

27 Pete Reiser

21 Dino Restelli

17 Tom Saffell

27 Frank Thomas

Other batters

35,39 Harry Fisher

Manager

1 Billy Meyer

Coaches

41 Babe Herman

43 Sam Narron

42 Bill Posedel

40 Milt Stock

33 Honus Wagner

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
OF	Catfish Metkovich	120	423	124	.293	3	40
OF	Bill Howerton	80	219	60	.274	11	37

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
Joe Garagiola	72	212	54	.255	9	35
Wally Westlake	51	181	51	.282	16	45
Frank Thomas	39	148	39	.264	2	16
Dick Cole	42	106	25	.236	1	11
Dick Smith	12	46	8	.174	0	4

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
Murry Dickson	45	288.2	20	16	4.02	112
Howie Pollet	21	128.2	6	10	5.04	47
Cliff Chambers	10	59.2	3	6	5.58	19
Don Carlsen	7	43	2	3	4.19	20

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
Mel Queen	39	168.1	7	9	4.44	123
Bob Friend	34	149.2	6	10	4.27	41
Con Dempsey	3	7	0	2	9.00	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
Ted Wilks	48	3	5	12	2.83	43
Bill Koski	13	0	1	0	6.67	6
Joe Muir	9	0	2	0	2.76	5

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Indianapolis Indians	American Association	Don Gutteridge
AAA	Hollywood Stars	Pacific Coast League	Fred Haney
AA	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Rip Sewell
A	Charleston Rebels	Sally League	Frank Oceak
B	Waco Pirates	Big State League	Walt Tauscher
B	Burlington Bees	Carolina League	Frank Barrett and Mike Kash
C	Modesto Reds	California League	Tony Freitas
C	Butler Tigers	Middle Atlantic League	Norm Gerdeman, William Allen and Frank Barrett
C	Hutchinson Elks	Western Association	Wes Griffin
D	Eugene Larks	Far West League	Duster Mails, George Matile and Cliff Dapper
D	Brunswick Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Mickey O'Neil
D	Bartlesville Pirates	Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League	Tedd Gullic
D	Mayfield Clothiers	KITTY League	Jerry Gardner
D	Salisbury Pirates	North Carolina State League	George Detore

References

↑ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
↑ Catfish Metkovich page at Baseball-Reference
↑ Joe Garagiola page at Baseball-Reference

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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

[2] Catfish Metkovich page at Baseball-Reference

[3] Joe Garagiola page at Baseball-Reference

1951 MLB season by team
American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1951 All-Star Game 1951 National League tie-breaker series 1951 World Series

1951 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Location
Forbes Field (since 1909) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania^[1] (since 1907)
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson, Branch Rickey (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)	Branch Rickey
Manager(s)	Billy Meyer
Local television	none
Local radio	WWSW Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince
< Previous season Next season >