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
  • American League (since 1901)
Location
Results
Record75–79 (.487)
League place5th (19 GB)
Other information
Owner(s)Tom Yawkey
General manager(s)Bucky Harris
Manager(s)Pinky Higgins, Rudy York, and Billy Jurges
Local televisionWHDH-TV
Local radioWHDH-AM 850
(Curt Gowdy, Bob Murphy, Bill Crowley)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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The 1959 Boston Red Sox season was the 59th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished fifth in the American League (AL) with a record of 75 wins and 79 losses, 19 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[]

  • Prior to 1959 season: Mike Page was signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox.[2]
  • March 9, 1959: Bob Smith was traded by the Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs for Chuck Tanner.[3]

Regular season[]

  • The 1959 season was the year that the color barrier was broken for the Red Sox. On July 21, Elijah "Pumpsie" Green became the first black player to play for the Red Sox.[4] A week later, Earl Wilson became the first black pitcher to play for the team.[1]
  • Ted Williams would have an off year as he batted below .300.[5]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 94 60 0.610 — 47–30 47–30
Cleveland Indians 89 65 0.578 5 43–34 46–31
New York Yankees 79 75 0.513 15 40–37 39–38
Detroit Tigers 76 78 0.494 18 41–36 35–42
Boston Red Sox 75 79 0.487 19 43–34 32–45
Baltimore Orioles 74 80 0.481 20 38–39 36–41
Kansas City Athletics 66 88 0.429 28 37–40 29–48
Washington Senators 63 91 0.409 31 34–43 29–48


Record vs. opponents[]

1959 American League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BAL BOS CHW CLE DET KC NY 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[]

  • July 26, 1959: Bud Byerly was traded by the Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants for Billy Muffett and cash.[6]
  • September 9, 1959: Chuck Tanner was sold by Red Sox to Cleveland Indians.[3]

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
  •  8 Pete Daley
  • 35 Don Gile
  • 16 Haywood Sullivan
  • 22 Sammy White

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
C Sammy White 119 377 107 .284 1 42
1B Dick Gernert 117 298 78 .262 11 42
2B Pete Runnels 147 560 176 .314 6 57
SS Don Buddin 151 485 117 .241 10 53
3B Frank Malzone 154 604 169 .280 19 92
LF Ted Williams 103 272 69 .254 10 43
CF Marty Keough 96 251 61 .243 7 27
RF Jackie Jensen 148 535 148 .277 28 112

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
Gene Stephens 92 270 75 .278 3 39
Vic Wertz 94 247 68 .275 7 49
Pumpsie Green 50 172 40 .233 1 10
Pete Daley 65 169 38 .225 1 11
Jim Busby 61 102 23 .225 1 5
Bobby Ávila 22 45 11 .244 3 6
Jim Mahoney 31 23 3 .130 1 4
Bill Renna 14 22 2 .091 0 2
Jerry Mallett 4 15 4 .267 0 1
Billy Consolo 10 14 3 .214 0 0
Herb Plews 13 12 1 .083 0 0
Don Gile 3 10 2 .200 0 1
Ted Lepcio 3 3 1 .333 0 1
Haywood Sullivan 4 2 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
Tom Brewer 36 215.1 10 12 3.76 121
Jerry Casale 31 179.2 13 8 4.31 93
Frank Sullivan 30 177.2 9 11 3.95 107
Ted Wills 9 56.1 2 6 5.27 24

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
Bill Monbouquette 34 151.2 7 7 4.15 87
Ike Delock 28 134.1 11 6 2.95 55
Frank Baumann 26 95.2 6 4 4.05 48
Al Schroll 14 46 1 4 4.70 26
Jack Harshman 8 24.2 2 3 6.57 14
Earl Wilson 9 23.2 1 1 6.08 17
Billy Hoeft 5 17.2 0 3 5.60 8
Ted Bowsfield 5 9 0 1 15.00 4
Herb Moford 4 8.2 0 2 11.42 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
Mike Fornieles 46 5 3 11 3.07 54
Leo Kiely 41 3 3 7 4.20 30
Murray Wall 26 2 5 3 5.51 14
Nelson Chittum 21 3 0 0 1.19 12
Dave Sisler 3 0 0 0 6.75 3

Awards and honors[]

  • Jackie Jensen, Gold Glove Award (OF)
  • Frank Malzone, Gold Glove Award (3B)

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
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
Source:[7][8]

See also[]

  • List of first black Major League Baseball players by team and date

References[]

  1. ^ a b Cole, Milton; Kaplan, Jim (2009). The Boston Red Sox: An Illustrated History. North Dighton, Massachusetts: World Publications Group. p. 32. ISBN 1-57215-412-8.
  2. ^ Mike Page at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ a b Chuck Tanner Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac
  4. ^ Cole, Milton; Kaplan, Jim (2009). The Boston Red Sox: An Illustrated History. North Dighton, Massachusetts: World Publications Group. p. 33. ISBN 1-57215-412-8.
  5. ^ Cole, Milton; Kaplan, Jim (2009). The Boston Red Sox: An Illustrated History. North Dighton, Massachusetts: World Publications Group. p. 31. ISBN 1-57215-412-8.
  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
  8. ^ Boston Red Sox Official Profile, Photo and Data Book. 1959. p. 30. Retrieved March 13, 2021 – via Wayback Machine.

External links[]

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