1959 Chicago Cubs season

March 2026 November 2013 Chicago Cubs 1959 National League Wrigley Field Chicago 74 80 y 5th Philip K. Wrigley John Holland Bob Scheffing WGN-TV(Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd) WGN(Jack Quinlan, Lou Boudreau) The 1959 Chicago Cubs season was the 88th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 84th in the National League and the 44th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs tied the Cincinnati Reds for fifth in the National League with a record of 74–80, thirteen games behind the NL and World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Offseason January 23, 1959: Jim Bolger and John Briggs were traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Earl Averill and Morrie Martin.Jim Bolger page at Baseball Reference March 9, 1959: Chuck Tanner was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Smith.Chuck Tanner Trades and Transactions at Baseball Almanac Prior to 1959 season: Dick Burwell was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.Dick Burwell page at Baseball Reference Regular season Ernie Banks became the first shortstop in the history of the NL to win the MVP award in back to back seasons.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, 978-0-451-22363-0 One of baseball history's weirdest plays took place on June 30, 1959, when the St. Louis Cardinals played the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Stan Musial was at the plate facing Bob Anderson with a count of 3–1. Anderson's next pitch was errant, the ball evaded catcher Sammy Taylor and rolled all the way to the backstop. Umpire Vic Delmore called "ball four", but Anderson and Taylor contended that Musial foul tipped the ball. Because the ball was still in play and Delmore was embroiled in an argument with Anderson and Taylor, Musial tried to run for second base. Seeing that Musial was running to second, third baseman Alvin Dark ran to the backstop to retrieve the ball. The ball wound up in the hands of field announcer Pat Pieper, but Dark ended up getting it back anyway. Absentmindedly, however, Delmore pulled out a new baseball and gave it to Taylor. When Anderson noticed that Musial was trying for second, he took the new ball from Sammy Taylor and threw it towards Tony Taylor covering second base, and the ball went over Taylor's head into the outfield. At the same time that Anderson threw the new ball towards second baseman Taylor, Dark threw the original ball to shortstop Ernie Banks. Musial did not see the throw and he was declared out when the tag was made.Musial Is First in History Put Out By 2 Baseballs! Season standings Chicago Cubs Record vs. opponents CHC Notable transactions May 4, 1959: Bob Smith was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Randy Jackson.Bob Smith page at Baseball Reference Roster 1959 Chicago Cubs Roster Pitchers 32 Bob Anderson 38 John Buzhardt 41 Art Ceccarelli 22 Ed Donnelly 39 Moe Drabowsky 30 Dick Drott 36 Don Elston 37 Bill Henry 31 Dave Hillman 40 Glen Hobbie 45 Ben Johnson 45 Morrie Martin 41 Seth Morehead 41 Taylor Phillips 43 Bob Porterfield 46 Joe Schaffernoth 42 Elmer Singleton 43 Bob Smith Catchers  6 Earl Averill 11 Cal Neeman 15 Sammy Taylor Infielders 16 Bobby Adams 14 Ernie Banks 17 Alvin Dark 18 Don Eaddy  4 Johnny Goryl 16 Randy Jackson  8 Dale Long 12 Jim Marshall 43 Art Schult  5 Tony Taylor Outfielders 21 George Altman 20 Chick King  7 Walt Moryn 20 Irv Noren  9 Bobby Thomson  2 Lee Walls  4 Billy Williams Other batters 22,42 Lou Jackson Manager 25 Bob Scheffing Coaches 33 Fred Fitzsimmons 35 Rogers Hornsby 34 George Myatt 10 El Tappe 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 Taylor Sammy Taylor (baseball) 110 353 95 .269 13 43 1B Dale Long 110 296 70 .236 14 37 2B Tony Taylor Tony Taylor (baseball) 150 624 175 .280 8 38 3B Alvin Dark 136 477 126 .264 6 45 SS Ernie Banks 155 589 179 .304 45 143 LF Walt Moryn 117 381 89 .234 14 48 CF George Altman 135 420 103 .245 12 47 RF Lee Walls 120 354 91 .257 8 33 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 Bobby Thomson 122 374 97 .259 11 52 Jim Marshall Jim Marshall (baseball) 108 294 74 .252 11 40 Earl Averill Earl Averill, Jr. 74 186 44 .237 10 34 Irv Noren 65 156 50 .321 4 19 Art Schult 42 118 32 .271 2 14 Cal Neeman 44 105 17 .162 3 9 Randy Jackson Randy Jackson (baseball) 41 74 18 .243 1 10 Johnny Goryl 25 48 9 .188 1 6 Billy Williams Billy Williams (left fielder) 18 33 5 .152 0 2 Lou Jackson 6 4 1 .250 0 1 Chick King 7 3 0 .000 0 0 Bobby Adams 3 2 0 .000 0 0 Don Eaddy 15 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 Bob Anderson Bob Anderson (baseball) 37 235.1 12 13 4.13 113 Glen Hobbie 46 234.0 16 13 3.69 138 Moe Drabowsky 31 141.2 5 10 4.13 70 Art Ceccarelli 18 102.0 5 5 4.76 56 Dick Drott 8 27.1 1 2 5.93 15 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 Dave Hillman 39 191.0 8 11 3.53 88 John Buzhardt 31 101.1 4 5 4.97 33 Seth Morehead 11 18.2 0 1 4.82 9 Ben Johnson Ben Johnson (pitcher) 4 16.2 0 0 2.16 6 Taylor Phillips 7 16.2 0 2 7.56 5 Joe Schaffernoth 5 7.2 1 0 8.22 3 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 Don Elston 65 10 8 13 3.32 82 Bill Henry Bill Henry (baseball, born 1927) 65 9 8 12 2.68 115 Elmer Singleton 21 2 1 0 2.72 25 Ed Donnelly Ed Donnelly (1950s pitcher) 9 1 1 0 3.14 6 Bob Porterfield 4 0 0 0 11.37 0 Morrie Martin 3 0 0 0 19.29 1 Bob Smith Bob Smith (pitcher born 1927) 1 0 0 0 81.00 0 Awards and records Ernie Banks, National League MVP Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Fort Worth Cats American Association Lou Klein AA San Antonio Missions Texas League Grady Hatton A Lancaster Red Roses Eastern League Nick Cullop B Burlington Bees Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Ray Mueller D Morristown Cubs Appalachian League Red Hayworth D Paris Lakers Midwest League Verlon Walker D Carlsbad Potashers Sophomore League Walt Dixon LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Morristown Notes References Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 1959 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference Category:Chicago Cubs seasons Chicago Cubs season Category:1959 in sports in Illinois Category:1959 in Chicago