1959 Los Angeles Dodgers
World Series Champions
National League Champions
LeagueNational League
BallparkLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
CityLos Angeles
OwnersWalter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey
PresidentWalter O'Malley
General managersBuzzie Bavasi
ManagersWalter Alston
TelevisionKTTV (11)
RadioKMPC
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett
KWKW
René Cárdenas, Jaime Jarrín, Miguel Alonzo
← 1958 Seasons 1960 →

The 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers finished in a first-place tie with the Milwaukee Braves, with each club going 86–68. The Dodgers won the pennant as they swept the Braves in a best-of-three tie-breaker series. They went on to defeat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series in just their second season since leaving Brooklyn. The Dodgers led all 16 Major League Baseball clubs in home attendance, drawing 2,071,045 fans to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.[1]

Offseason

While training in Vero Beach, the Dodgers played their home spring training games at Payne Park in Sarasota, Florida in 1959.[4]

Regular season

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 —


Opening Day lineup

Opening Day starters
Name Position
Ron Fairly Right fielder
Wally Moon Left fielder
John Roseboro Catcher
Duke Snider Center fielder
Charlie Neal Second baseman
Gil Hodges First baseman
Don Zimmer Shortstop
Jim Baxes Third baseman
Don Drysdale Starting pitcher

Notable transactions

Roster

1959 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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 John Roseboro 118 397 92 .232 10 38
1B Gil Hodges 124 413 114 .276 25 80
2B Charlie Neal 151 616 177 .287 19 83
SS Don Zimmer 97 249 41 .165 4 28
3B Jim Gilliam 145 553 156 .282 3 34
LF Wally Moon 145 543 164 .302 19 74
CF Don Demeter 139 371 95 .256 18 70
RF Duke Snider 126 370 114 .308 23 88

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
Norm Larker 108 311 90 .289 8 49
Ron Fairly 118 244 58 .238 4 23
Maury Wills 83 242 63 .260 0 7
Joe Pignatano 52 139 33 .237 1 11
Rip Repulski 53 94 24 .255 2 14
Carl Furillo 50 93 27 .290 0 13
Dick Gray 21 52 8 .154 2 4
Bob Lillis 30 48 11 .229 0 2
Chuck Essegian 24 46 14 .304 1 5
Jim Baxes 11 33 10 .303 2 5
Frank Howard 9 21 3 .143 1 6
Solly Drake 9 8 2 .250 0 0
Sandy Amoros 5 5 1 .200 0 1
Norm Sherry 2 3 1 .333 0 2
Tommy Davis 1 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
Don Drysdale 44 270.2 17 13 3.46 242
Johnny Podres 34 195.0 14 9 4.11 145
Sandy Koufax 35 153.1 8 6 4.05 173
Roger Craig 29 152.2 11 5 2.06 76

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
Danny McDevitt 39 145.0 10 8 3.97 106
Stan Williams 35 124.2 5 5 3.97 89
Larry Sherry 23 94.1 7 2 2.19 72
Gene Snyder 11 26.1 1 1 5.47 20
Carl Erskine 10 23.1 0 3 7.71 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
Clem Labine 56 5 10 8 3.93 37
Art Fowler 36 3 4 2 5.31 47
Johnny Klippstein 28 4 0 2 5.91 30
Chuck Churn 14 3 2 1 4.99 24
Fred Kipp 2 0 0 0 0.00 1
Bill Harris 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

1959 World Series

Main article: 1959 World Series

Game 1

October 1, 1959, at Comiskey Park I in Chicago

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3
Chicago (A) 2 0 7 2 0 0 0 0 x 11 11 0
W: Early Wynn (1–0)   L: Roger Craig (0–1)   S: Gerry Staley (1)
HR: CWS – Ted Kluszewski (1, 2)

Game 2

October 2, 1959, at Comiskey Park I in Chicago

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles (N) 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 4 9 1
Chicago (A) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 8 0
W: Johnny Podres (1–0)   L: Bob Shaw (0–1)   S: Larry Sherry (1)
HR: LAD – Charlie Neal (1, 2), Chuck Essegian (1)

Game 3

October 4, 1959, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 12 0
Los Angeles (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 x 3 5 0
W: Don Drysdale (1–0)  L: Dick Donovan (0–1)   S: Larry Sherry (1)

Game 4

October 5, 1959, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 10 3
Los Angeles (N) 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 x 5 9 0
W: Larry Sherry (1–0)  L: Gerry Staley (0–1)
HR: CWS – Sherm Lollar (1)    LAD – Gil Hodges (1)

Game 5

October 6, 1959, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0
Los Angeles (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
W: Bob Shaw (1–1)  L: Sandy Koufax (0–1)   S: Dick Donovan (1)

Game 6

October 8, 1959, at Comiskey Park I in Chicago

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles (N) 0 0 2 6 0 0 0 0 1 9 13 0
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1
W: Larry Sherry (2–0)   L: Early Wynn (1–1)
HR: LAD – Duke Snider (1), Wally Moon (1), Chuck Essegian (2) CWS – Ted Kluszewski (3)

Awards and honors

All-Stars

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Montreal Royals International League Clay Bryant
AAA Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League Bobby Bragan
AAA St. Paul Saints American Association Max Macon
AA Victoria Rosebuds Texas League Pete Reiser
A Macon Dodgers South Atlantic League Danny Ozark
B Green Bay Bluejays Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Stan Wasiak
C Great Falls Electrics Pioneer League Brandy Davis
C Reno Silver Sox California League Ray Perry
D Kokomo Dodgers Midwest League Edward Serrano
D Odessa Dodgers Sophomore League Roy Hartsfield
D Orlando Dodgers Florida State League Martin Devlin
D Panama City Fliers Alabama–Florida League Al Ronning

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Green Bay

Notes

  1. ^ 1959 National League attendance at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Gino Cimoli at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Sparky Anderson at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Windhorn, Stan (March 1, 1959). "Assembly Line Fashion Production". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sarasota, Florida. p. 15.
  5. ^ Dick Gray at Baseball-Reference

References

External links

World Series champions
National League champions
1959 MLB season by team
Los Angeles Dodgers 1959 World Series champions
Los Angeles Dodgers
Categories