1959 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
BallparkCrosley Field
CityCincinnati
OwnersPowel Crosley, Jr.
General managersGabe Paul
ManagersMayo Smith, Fred Hutchinson
TelevisionWLW
(George Bryson, Frank McCormick)
RadioWKRC
(Waite Hoyt, Jack Moran)
← 1958 Seasons 1960 →

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.

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

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 record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
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 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1959 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

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 Ed Bailey 121 379 100 .264 12 40
1B Frank Robinson 146 540 168 .311 36 125
2B Johnny Temple 149 598 186 .311 8 67
SS Eddie Kasko 118 329 93 .283 2 31
3B Willie Jones 72 233 58 .249 7 31
LF Jerry Lynch 117 379 102 .269 17 58
CF Vada Pinson 154 648 205 .316 20 84
RF Gus Bell 148 580 170 .293 19 115

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
Roy McMillan 79 246 65 .264 9 24
Dutch Dotterer 52 161 43 .267 2 17
Jim Pendleton 65 113 29 .257 3 9
Whitey Lockman 52 84 22 .262 0 7
Pete Whisenant 36 71 17 .239 5 11
John Powers 43 43 11 .256 2 4
Walt Dropo 26 39 4 .103 1 2
Cliff Cook 9 21 8 .381 0 5
Buddy Gilbert 7 20 3 .150 2 2
Del Ennis 5 12 4 .333 0 1
Bob Thurman 4 4 1 .250 0 2
Bobby Henrich 14 3 0 .000 0 0
Don Pavletich 1 0 0 ---- 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
Don Newcombe 30 222.0 13 8 3.16 100
Bob Purkey 38 218.0 13 18 4.25 78
Joe Nuxhall 28 131.2 9 9 4.24 75
Jim O'Toole 28 129.1 5 8 5.15 68
Jay Hook 17 79.0 5 5 5.13 37

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
Orlando Peña 46 136.0 5 9 4.76 76
Brooks Lawrence 43 128.1 7 12 4.77 64
Jim Brosnan 26 83.1 8 3 3.35 56
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
Willard Schmidt 36 3 2 0 3.95 40
Bob Mabe 18 4 2 3 5.46 8
Hal Jeffcoat 17 0 1 1 3.32 12
Luis Arroyo 10 1 0 0 3.95 8
Don Rudolph 5 0 0 0 4.91 8
Claude Osteen 2 0 0 0 7.04 3
Mike Cuellar 2 0 0 0 15.75 5

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 MLB season by team
Cincinnati Reds
Categories