The 1955 Boston Red Sox season was the 55th season of franchise of Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished fourth in the American League (AL) with a record of 84 wins and 70 losses, 12 games behind the New York Yankees.
1955 Boston Red Sox | ||
---|---|---|
League | American League | |
Ballpark | Fenway Park | |
City | Boston, Massachusetts | |
Record | 84–70 (.545) | |
League place | 4th (12 GB) | |
Owners | Tom Yawkey | |
President | Tom Yawkey | |
General managers | Joe Cronin | |
Managers | Pinky Higgins | |
Television | WBZ-TV, Ch. 4 and WNAC-TV, Ch. 7 | |
Radio | WHDH-AM 850 (Curt Gowdy, Bob Murphy, Tom Hussey) | |
Stats | ESPN.com BB-reference | |
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Offseason
edit- October 14, 1954: Owen Friend was purchased by the Red Sox from the Cleveland Indians.[1]
Regular season
editAfter finishing fourth — but 42 games behind the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians — in 1954, the 1955 Red Sox improved substantially, gaining 15 games in the win column (although again finishing fourth). The Red Sox played especially well throughout the early and middle parts of the season, seemingly in pennant contention for the first time since 1950. Much of the improvement was ascribed to rookie manager Pinky Higgins, promoted to Boston after eight years as a skipper in the team's farm system.
But the Red Sox' improvement on the field was overshadowed by the sudden illness and death, on June 27, of the team's sophomore first baseman, Harry Agganis. Perhaps the most celebrated Boston-area athlete of the 20th century, the Lynn, Massachusetts, native had starred in football as the quarterback of the Boston University Terriers before signing a professional baseball contract with the Red Sox. He was batting .313 in 83 at bats on June 2 when he was initially taken ill with pneumonia. He died less than four weeks later, at 26, of a massive pulmonary embolism.[2]
Season standings
editTeam | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 96 | 58 | .623 | — | 52–25 | 44–33 |
Cleveland Indians | 93 | 61 | .604 | 3 | 49–28 | 44–33 |
Chicago White Sox | 91 | 63 | .591 | 5 | 49–28 | 42–35 |
Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | .545 | 12 | 47–31 | 37–39 |
Detroit Tigers | 79 | 75 | .513 | 17 | 46–31 | 33–44 |
Kansas City Athletics | 63 | 91 | .409 | 33 | 33–43 | 30–48 |
Baltimore Orioles | 57 | 97 | .370 | 39 | 30–47 | 27–50 |
Washington Senators | 53 | 101 | .344 | 43 | 28–49 | 25–52 |
Record vs. opponents
editSources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH | |||||
Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 9–13 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 14–8 | |||||
Boston | 14–8 | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 15–7 | |||||
Chicago | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 17–5 | |||||
Cleveland | 19–3 | 11–11 | 12–10 | — | 12–10 | 17–5 | 13–9 | 9–13 | |||||
Detroit | 13–9 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 17–5 | |||||
Kansas City | 12–10–1 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 | |||||
New York | 19–3 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 15–7 | — | 16–6 | |||||
Washington | 8–14 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — |
Opening Day lineup
edit10 | Billy Goodman | 2B |
20 | Eddie Joost | SS |
26 | Faye Throneberry | LF |
4 | Jackie Jensen | RF |
8 | Sammy White | C |
3 | Norm Zauchin | 1B |
12 | Ted Lepcio | 3B |
37 | Jimmy Piersall | CF |
18 | Frank Sullivan | P |
Notable transactions
edit- June 12, 1955: Owen Friend was purchased from the Red Sox by the Chicago Cubs.[1]
Roster
edit1955 Boston Red Sox | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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Player stats
editBatting
editStarters by position
editNote: 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 | 143 | 544 | 142 | .261 | 11 | 64 |
1B | Norm Zauchin | 130 | 477 | 114 | .239 | 27 | 93 |
2B | Billy Goodman | 149 | 599 | 176 | .294 | 0 | 52 |
SS | Billy Klaus | 135 | 541 | 153 | .283 | 7 | 60 |
3B | Grady Hatton | 126 | 380 | 93 | .245 | 4 | 49 |
LF | Ted Williams | 98 | 320 | 114 | .356 | 28 | 83 |
CF | Jim Piersall | 149 | 515 | 146 | .283 | 13 | 62 |
RF | Jackie Jensen | 152 | 574 | 158 | .275 | 26 | 116 |
Other batters
editNote: 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gene Stephens | 109 | 157 | 46 | .293 | 3 | 18 |
Faye Throneberry | 60 | 144 | 37 | .257 | 6 | 27 |
Ted Lepcio | 51 | 134 | 31 | .231 | 6 | 15 |
Eddie Joost | 55 | 119 | 23 | .193 | 5 | 17 |
Harry Agganis | 25 | 83 | 26 | .313 | 0 | 10 |
Pete Daley | 17 | 50 | 11 | .220 | 0 | 5 |
Karl Olson | 26 | 48 | 12 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
Owen Friend | 14 | 42 | 11 | .262 | 0 | 2 |
Sam Mele | 14 | 31 | 4 | .129 | 0 | 1 |
Frank Malzone | 6 | 20 | 7 | .350 | 0 | 1 |
Dick Gernert | 7 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
Billy Consolo | 8 | 18 | 4 | .222 | 0 | 0 |
Haywood Sullivan | 2 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Milt Bolling | 6 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
Jim Pagliaroni | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 1 |
Pitching
editStarting pitchers
editNote: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frank Sullivan | 35 | 260.0 | 18 | 13 | 2.91 | 129 |
Willard Nixon | 31 | 208.0 | 12 | 10 | 4.07 | 95 |
Tom Brewer | 31 | 192.2 | 11 | 10 | 4.20 | 91 |
Other pitchers
editNote: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
George Susce | 29 | 144.1 | 9 | 7 | 3.06 | 60 |
Ike Delock | 29 | 143.2 | 9 | 7 | 3.76 | 88 |
Bill Henry | 17 | 59.2 | 2 | 4 | 3.32 | 23 |
Mel Parnell | 13 | 46.0 | 2 | 3 | 7.83 | 18 |
Frank Baumann | 7 | 34.0 | 2 | 1 | 5.82 | 27 |
Russ Kemmerer | 7 | 17.1 | 1 | 1 | 7.27 | 13 |
Relief pitchers
editNote: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ellis Kinder | 43 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 2.84 | 31 |
Tom Hurd | 43 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3.01 | 48 |
Leo Kiely | 33 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2.80 | 36 |
Dick Brodowski | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.63 | 10 |
Hal Brown | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 2 |
Joe Trimble | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
Hersh Freeman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
Bob Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
Farm system
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Owen Friend page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Golenbock, Peter (2015). Red Sox Nation: The Rich and Colorful History of the Boston Red Sox (4th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Triumph Books. pp. 205–209. ISBN 978-1-62937-050-7.
- ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007