1959 Chicago Cubs season

1959 Chicago Cubs
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1876);
Location
	Wrigley Field (since 1916); Chicago (since 1870);
Other information
Owner(s)	Philip K. Wrigley
General manager(s)	John Holland
Manager(s)	Bob Scheffing
Local television	WGN-TV; (Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
Local radio	WGN; (Jack Quinlan, Lou Boudreau)
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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

January 23, 1959: Jim Bolger and John Briggs were traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Earl Averill and Morrie Martin.[1]
March 9, 1959: Chuck Tanner was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Smith.[2]
Prior to 1959 season: Dick Burwell was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.[3]

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	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	88	68	0.564	—	46–32	42–36
Milwaukee Braves	86	70	0.551	2	49–29	37–41
San Francisco Giants	83	71	0.539	4	42–35	41–36
Pittsburgh Pirates	78	76	0.506	9	47–30	31–46
Chicago Cubs	74	80	0.481	13	38–39	36–41
Cincinnati Reds	74	80	0.481	13	43–34	31–46
St. Louis Cardinals	71	83	0.461	16	42–35	29–48
Philadelphia Phillies	64	90	0.416	23	37–40	27–50

Record vs. opponents

1959 National League Records Sources:
Team	CHC	CIN	LAD	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

May 4, 1959: Bob Smith was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Randy Jackson.[6]

Roster

1959 Chicago Cubs

Roster

Pitchers

32 Bob Anderson

38 John Buzhardt

41 Art Ceccarelli

22 Ed Donnelly

39 Moe Drabowsky

30 Dick Drott

36 Don Elston

37 Bill Henry

31 Dave Hillman

40 Glen Hobbie

45 Ben Johnson

45 Morrie Martin

41 Seth Morehead

41 Taylor Phillips

43 Bob Porterfield

46 Joe Schaffernoth

42 Elmer Singleton

43 Bob Smith

Catchers

6 Earl Averill

11 Cal Neeman

15 Sammy Taylor

Infielders

16 Bobby Adams

14 Ernie Banks

17 Alvin Dark

18 Don Eaddy

4 Johnny Goryl

16 Randy Jackson

8 Dale Long

12 Jim Marshall

43 Art Schult

5 Tony Taylor

Outfielders

21 George Altman

20 Chick King

7 Walt Moryn

20 Irv Noren

9 Bobby Thomson

2 Lee Walls

4 Billy Williams

Other batters

22,42 Lou Jackson

Manager

25 Bob Scheffing

Coaches

33 Fred Fitzsimmons

35 Rogers Hornsby

34 George Myatt

10 El Tappe

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

Ernie Banks, National League MVP

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

Jim Bolger page at Baseball Reference
Chuck Tanner Trades and Transactions at Baseball Almanac
Dick Burwell page at Baseball Reference
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
Musial Is First in History Put Out By 2 Baseballs!
Bob Smith page at Baseball Reference

References

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.
1959 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference

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[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

1959 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City New York Washington
National League	Chicago Cincinnati Los Angeles Milwaukee Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis San Francisco
1959 All-Star Game (1st, 2nd) 1959 National League tie-breaker series 1959 World Series