1959 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1959 Cincinnati Reds season consisted of the Reds finishing in a fifth-place tie with the Chicago Cubs in the National League standings, with a record of 74–80, 13 games behind the NL and World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

1959 Cincinnati Reds
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1890)
Location
Crosley Field (since 1934) Cincinnati (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s)	Powel Crosley, Jr.
General manager(s)	Gabe Paul
Manager(s)	Mayo Smith, Fred Hutchinson
Local television	WLW (George Bryson, Frank McCormick)
Local radio	WKRC (Waite Hoyt, Jack Moran)
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Prior to the season the club, after calling themselves the Cincinnati Redlegs for the past six seasons, changed its nickname back to the Reds. The Reds played their home games at Crosley Field, where they attracted 801,298 fans, eighth and last in the Senior Circuit.[1]

Offseason

• January 30, 1959: Smoky Burgess, Harvey Haddix and Don Hoak were traded by the Reds to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Whammy Douglas, Jim Pendleton, Frank Thomas, and John Powers.[2]
• March 20, 1959: Eddie Miksis was released by the Reds.[3]

Regular season

For the second consecutive season, the Reds played under two managers. Mayo Smith, hired during the previous off-season, managed the Reds to a 35–45 start, seventh in the eight-team league. He was replaced during the first All-Star break by Fred Hutchinson, manager of their Triple-A Seattle Rainiers affiliate, on July 9. Hutchinson then led Cincinnati to a 39–35 record the rest of the way.

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 1, 1959: Del Ennis was traded by the Reds to the Chicago White Sox for Lou Skizas and Don Rudolph.[4]
• June 8, 1959: Hal Jeffcoat was traded by the Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jim Brosnan.[5]
• June 23, 1959: Walt Dropo was traded by the Reds to the Baltimore Orioles for Whitey Lockman.[6]

Roster

1959 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers 40 Tom Acker 47 Luis Arroyo 41 Jim Bailey 42 Jim Brosnan 32 Mike Cuellar 47 Jay Hook 42 Hal Jeffcoat 46 Brooks Lawrence 35 Bob Mabe 36 Don Newcombe 39 Joe Nuxhall 31 Jim O'Toole 32 Claude Osteen 43 Orlando Peña 37 Bob Purkey 47 Don Rudolph 44 Willard Schmidt		Catchers  6 Ed Bailey  9 Dutch Dotterer Infielders 18 Cliff Cook 18 Walt Dropo 17 Bobby Henrich 14,23 Willie Jones 10 Eddie Kasko 19 Whitey Lockman 11 Roy McMillan 20 Frank Robinson 16 Johnny Temple 15 Frank Thomas		Outfielders 25 Gus Bell 23 Del Ennis 22 Buddy Gilbert 24 Jerry Lynch 12 Jim Pendleton 28 Vada Pinson 27 John Powers 29 Pete Whisenant Other batters  8 Don Pavletich 22 Bob Thurman		Manager  1 Fred Hutchinson  1 Mayo Smith Coaches  2 Cot Deal  2 Clyde King  3 Wally Moses  4 Reggie Otero

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

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
Frank Thomas	108	374	84	.225	12	47
Jim Pendleton	65	113	29	.257	3	9
John Powers	43	43	11	.256	2	4
Del Ennis	5	12	4	.333	0	1

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
Jim Bailey	3	11.2	0	1	6.17	7

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
Tom Acker	37	1	2	2	4.12	45
Luis Arroyo	10	1	0	0	3.95	8
Don Rudolph	5	0	0	0	4.91	8

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Havana Sugar Kings	International League	Preston Gómez
AAA	Seattle Rainiers	Pacific Coast League	Fred Hutchinson and Alan Strange
AA	Nashville Vols	Southern Association	Dick Sisler
A	Savannah Reds	Sally League	Bob Wellman and Jack Cassini
B	Topeka Hawks	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Johnny Vander Meer
C	Visalia Redlegs	California League	Dave Bristol
D	Palatka Redlegs	Florida State League	Clem Koshorek and Tony Pacheco
D	Geneva Redlegs	New York–Penn League	Reno DeBenedetti

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Havana[7]

References

1. Baseball Reference: 1959 MLB Attendance and Team Age
2. Smoky Burgess page at Baseball Reference
3. Eddie Miksis page at Baseball Reference
4. Lou Skizas page at Baseball Reference
5. Hal Jeffcoat page at Baseball Reference
6. Walt Dropo page at Baseball Reference
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 1959 Cincinnati Redlegs season at Baseball Reference