1956 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1956 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)	Joe L. Brown
Manager(s)	Bobby Bragan
Local television	none
Local radio	KDKA; Bob Prince, Dick Bingham
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The 1956 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 75th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise, the 70th in the National League. The Pirates finished seventh in the league standings with a record of 66–88.

Regular season

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Dodgers	93	61	0.604	—	52–25	41–36
Milwaukee Braves	92	62	0.597	1	47–29	45–33
Cincinnati Redlegs	91	63	0.591	2	51–26	40–37
St. Louis Cardinals	76	78	0.494	17	43–34	33–44
Philadelphia Phillies	71	83	0.461	22	40–37	31–46
New York Giants	67	87	0.435	26	37–40	30–47
Pittsburgh Pirates	66	88	0.429	27	35–43	31–45
Chicago Cubs	60	94	0.390	33	39–38	21–56

Record vs. opponents

1956 National League Records Sources:
Team	BR	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	16–6	11–11	10–12	14–8	13–9	13–9	16–6
Chicago	6–16	—	6–16–1	9–13	7–15	13–9	10–12–1	9–13–1
Cincinnati	11–11	16–6–1	—	9–13	14–8	11–11	17–5	13–9
Milwaukee	12–10	13–9	13–9	—	17–5	10–12	14–8–1	13–9
New York	8–14	15–7	8–14	5–17	—	11–11	13–9	7–15
Philadelphia	9–13	9–13	11–11	12–10	11–11	—	7–15	12–10
Pittsburgh	9–13	12–10–1	5–17	8–14–1	9–13	15–7	—	8–14–1
St. Louis	6–16	13–9–1	9–13	9–13	15–7	10–12	14–8–1	—

Game log

1956 Game Log: 66–88 (Home: 35–43; Away: 31–45)

April: 5–6 (Home: 1–2; Away: 4–4)

May: 16–10 (Home: 11–6; Away: 5–4)

June: 11–17 (Home: 4–12; Away: 7–5)

July: 11–20 (Home: 5–9; Away: 6–11)

August: 12–20 (Home: 6–7; Away: 6–13)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
99	August 1	Cardinals	1–4	Schmidt	Kline (9–11)	—	8,592	43–54
100	August 2	Cardinals	5–7	Wehmeier	Friend (12–10)	Jackson	5,745	43–55
101	August 3	Braves	4–3	Law (4–12)	Spahn	—	17,479	44–55
102	August 4	Braves	3–7	Trowbridge	Pollet (0–3)	—	7,494	44–56
103	August 5	Braves	1–5	Conley	Kline (9–12)	Johnson		44–57
104	August 5	Braves	0–5 (5)	Burdette	Friend (12–11)	—	18,004	44–58
105	August 7	@ Dodgers	0–3	Newcombe	Law (4–13)	—	17,504	44–59
106	August 8	Dodgers	8–5	Munger (3–2)	Craig	Kline (2)	18,612	45–59
107	August 9	Dodgers	3–7	Roebuck	Hall (0–5)	—	7,486	45–60
108	August 10	Giants	3–2	Friend (13–11)	Littlefield	—	8,234	46–60
109	August 11	Giants	2–4	Antonelli	Kline (9–13)	Hearn	5,655	46–61
110	August 12	Giants	3–2	Law (5–13)	Gomez	—		47–61
111	August 12	Giants	11–3	Waters (2–1)	McCall	—	9,552	48–61
112	August 14	@ Phillies	0–3	Haddix	Friend (13–12)	—		48–62
113	August 14	@ Phillies	2–11	Simmons	Munger (3–3)	—	32,873	48–63
114	August 15	@ Phillies	5–1	Kline (10–13)	Meyer	—	12,337	49–63
115	August 16	@ Phillies	4–1	Law (6–13)	Roberts	—	7,070	50–63
116	August 17	@ Giants	3–5	Margoneri	Munger (3–4)	McCall	5,998	50–64
117	August 18	@ Giants	9–1	Friend (14–12)	Gomez	—	4,955	51–64
118	August 19	@ Giants	6–7	Wilhelm	Hall (0–6)	—		51–65
119	August 19	@ Giants	2–3	Antonelli	Kline (10–14)	McCall	8,587	51–66
120	August 21	@ Redlegs	4–7	Freeman	Pollet (0–4)	—	8,267	51–67
121	August 22	@ Redlegs	3–6	Nuxhall	Friend (14–13)	Jeffcoat	8,076	51–68
122	August 23	@ Cardinals	0–3	Mizell	Kline (10–15)	—		51–69
123	August 23	@ Cardinals	2–3	Collum	Face (8–8)	—	11,935	51–70
124	August 24	@ Cardinals	2–6	Dickson	Waters (2–2)	—	9,317	51–71
125	August 25	@ Cardinals	5–8	Blaylock	Law (6–14)	Jackson	8,976	51–72
126	August 26	@ Cubs	2–0	Friend (15–13)	Rush	—	10,631	52–72
127	August 26	@ Cubs	2–1	Kline (11–15)	Jones	Friend (1)	10,631	53–72
128	August 28	@ Braves	5–4	Face (9–8)	Trowbridge	—	25,778	54–72
129	August 29	@ Braves	1–4	Burdette	Face (9–9)	—	24,861	54–73
130	August 30	@ Braves	1–1 (9)			—	17,783	54–73
131	August 31	Phillies	6–3	Kline (12–15)	Hamner	Pollet (2)	11,147	55–73

September: 11–15 (Home: 8–7; Away: 3–8)

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

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

May 17, 1956: Dick Littlefield and Bobby Del Greco were traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bill Virdon.[2]
May 28, 1956: Toby Atwell was traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for cash and a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Dick Rand to the Pirates on October 14.[3]

Roster

1956 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

36 Luis Arroyo

45 Lino Donoso

26 Roy Face

19 Bob Friend

25,37 Bob Garber

30 Dick Hall

29 Nellie King

22 Ron Kline

32 Vern Law

27 Dick Littlefield

25 Jack McMahan

20 Red Munger

27 Cholly Naranjo

23 Laurin Pepper

11 Howie Pollet

34 Bob Purkey

35 Max Surkont

17 Red Swanson

35,36 Fred Waters

Catchers

11 Toby Atwell

38 Hank Foiles

31 Bill Hall

17 Danny Kravitz

10 Jack Shepard

Infielders

12 Dick Cole

8 Gene Freese

24 Dick Groat

9 Spook Jacobs

3 Dale Long

9 Bill Mazeroski

7 Eddie O'Brien

6 Johnny O'Brien

9 Curt Roberts

15 Frank Thomas

5 Preston Ward

Outfielders

21 Roberto Clemente

18 Bobby Del Greco

14 Jerry Lynch

14 Johnny Powers

4 Bob Skinner

18 Bill Virdon

16 Lee Walls

Manager

2 Bobby Bragan

Coaches

40 Danny Murtaugh

43 Sam Narron

41 Clyde Sukeforth

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
3B	Frank Thomas	157	588	166	.282	25	80
CF	Bill Virdon	133	509	170	.334	8	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
Bobby Del Greco	14	20	4	.200	2	3
Toby Atwell	12	18	2	.111	0	3

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
Dick Littlefield	6	12.2	0	0	4.26	10

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
Roy Face	68	12	13	6	3.52	96
Luis Arroyo	18	3	3	0	4.71	17
Red Swanson	9	0	0	0	10.03	5
Lino Donoso	3	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
Open	Hollywood Stars	Pacific Coast League	Clay Hopper
AA	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Andy Cohen
A	Williamsport Grays	Eastern League	John Fitzpatrick
A	Lincoln Chiefs	Western League	Larry Shepard
B	Waco Pirates	Big State League	Monty Basgall
B	Kinston Eagles	Carolina League	Jack Paepke and Tex Taylor
C	Douglas Copper Kings	Arizona–Mexico League	Jerry Gardner
C	Grand Forks Chiefs	Northern League	Al Kubski
C	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Buck Elliott
D	Dublin Irish	Georgia State League	Robert Clark, Wilbur Caldwell and Wayne Wallace
D	Brunswick Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Frank Oceak
D	Clinton Pirates	Midwest League	Stan Wentzel

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lincoln

Notes

From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
Bill Virdon at Baseball Reference
Dick Rand at Baseball Reference

References

1956 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
1956 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.

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

[2] Bill Virdon at Baseball Reference

[3] Dick Rand at Baseball Reference

1956 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
1956 All-Star Game 1956 World Series