1959 San Francisco Giants season
1959 San Francisco Giants | |
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Willie McCovey's Rookie Year | |
Major League affiliations | |
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Other information | |
Owner(s) | Horace Stoneham |
General manager(s) | Chub Feeney |
Manager(s) | Bill Rigney |
Local television | KTVU (Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons) |
Local radio | KSFO (Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Bill King) |
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The 1959 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 77th year in Major League Baseball and their 2nd season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season. The team finished in third place in the National League with an 83-71 record, 4 games behind the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the team's second and final season at Seals Stadium before moving their games to Candlestick Park the following season.
Offseason[]
- October 8, 1958: Marv Grissom and Ernie Broglio were traded by the Giants to the St. Louis Cardinals for Hobie Landrith, Billy Muffett and Benny Valenzuela.[1]
- December 3, 1958: Rubén Gómez and Valmy Thomas were traded by the Giants to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jack Sanford.[2]
- December 5, 1958: Joey Amalfitano was released by the Giants.[3]
- March 25, 1959: Ray Jablonski and Bill White were traded by the Giants to the St. Louis Cardinals for Sam Jones and Don Choate.[4]
Regular season[]
In his major league debut on July 30, Willie McCovey went four-for-four against future Hall-of-Famer Robin Roberts en route to a .354 batting average. McCovey went on to win National League Rookie of the Year honors while playing in just 52 games.
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[]
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
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Team | CHC | CIN | LA | 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 | — |
Opening Day starters[]
- Johnny Antonelli
- Jackie Brandt
- Orlando Cepeda
- Jim Davenport
- Willie Kirkland
- Willie Mays
- Andre Rodgers
- Bob Schmidt
- Daryl Spencer[5]
Notable transactions[]
- July 26, 1959: Billy Muffett and cash were traded by the Giants to the Boston Red Sox for Bud Byerly.[6]
- August 25, 1959: Hank Sauer was released by the Giants.[7]
Roster[]
1959 San Francisco Giants | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters
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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 | Hobie Landrith | 109 | 283 | 71 | .251 | 3 | 29 |
1B | Orlando Cepeda | 151 | 605 | 192 | .317 | 27 | 105 |
2B | Daryl Spencer | 152 | 555 | 147 | .265 | 12 | 62 |
SS | Eddie Bressoud | 104 | 315 | 79 | .251 | 9 | 26 |
3B | Jim Davenport | 123 | 469 | 121 | .258 | 6 | 38 |
LF | Jackie Brandt | 137 | 429 | 116 | .270 | 12 | 57 |
CF | Willie Mays | 151 | 575 | 180 | .313 | 34 | 104 |
RF | Willie Kirkland | 126 | 463 | 126 | .272 | 22 | 68 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Felipe Alou | 95 | 247 | 68 | .275 | 10 | 33 |
Andre Rodgers | 71 | 228 | 57 | .250 | 6 | 24 |
Willie McCovey | 52 | 192 | 68 | .354 | 13 | 38 |
Bob Schmidt | 71 | 181 | 44 | .243 | 5 | 20 |
Leon Wagner | 87 | 129 | 29 | .225 | 5 | 22 |
Danny O'Connell | 34 | 58 | 11 | .190 | 0 | 0 |
Dusty Rhodes | 54 | 48 | 9 | .188 | 0 | 7 |
José Pagán | 31 | 46 | 8 | .174 | 0 | 1 |
Jim Hegan | 21 | 30 | 4 | .133 | 0 | 0 |
Hank Sauer | 13 | 15 | 1 | .067 | 1 | 1 |
Bob Speake | 15 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 1 |
Roger McCardell | 4 | 4 | 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 |
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Johnny Antonelli | 40 | 282 | 19 | 10 | 3.10 | 165 |
Sam Jones | 50 | 270.2 | 21 | 15 | 2.83 | 209 |
Jack Sanford | 36 | 222.1 | 15 | 12 | 3.16 | 132 |
Marshall Renfroe | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 3 |
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 |
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Mike McCormick | 47 | 225.2 | 12 | 16 | 3.99 | 151 |
Stu Miller | 59 | 167.2 | 8 | 7 | 2.84 | 95 |
Eddie Fisher | 17 | 40 | 2 | 6 | 7.88 | 15 |
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 |
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Al Worthington | 42 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3.68 | 45 |
Gordon Jones | 31 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4.33 | 29 |
Bud Byerly | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.38 | 4 |
Joe Shipley | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 11 |
Dom Zanni | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.55 | 11 |
Billy Muffett | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 3 |
Curt Barclay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54.00 | 0 |
Awards and honors[]
- Willie McCovey – National League Rookie of the Year
All-Star Game (first game) All-Star Game (second game)
Farm system[]
Level | Team | League | Manager |
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AAA | Phoenix Giants | Pacific Coast League | Red Davis |
AA | Corpus Christi Giants | Texas League | Ray Murray |
A | Springfield Giants | Eastern League | Andy Gilbert |
B | Eugene Emeralds | Northwest League | Roy Partee |
C | Fresno Giants | California League | Mike McCormick |
C | St. Cloud Rox | Northern League | |
D | Michigan City White Caps | Midwest League | Buddy Kerr |
D | Hastings Giants | Nebraska State League | Leo Schrall |
D | Artesia Giants | Sophomore League |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Springfield[8]
Notes[]
- ^ Hobie Landrith page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Rubén Gómez page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Joey Amalfitano page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Ray Jablonski page at Baseball Reference
- ^ "1959 San Francisco Giants Roster by Baseball Almanac".
- ^ Billy Muffett page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Hank Sauer page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
References[]
- San Francisco Giants seasons
- 1959 Major League Baseball season
- 1959 in sports in California