1956 New York Yankees season
Season for the Major League Baseball team the New York Yankees
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The 1956 New York Yankees season was the 54th season for the team. The team finished with a record of 97–57, winning their 22nd pennant, finishing nine games ahead of the Cleveland Indians. New York was managed by Casey Stengel. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. The Series featured the first no-hitter in Series play and only World Series perfect game, delivered by the Yankees' Don Larsen in Game 5.
| 1956 New York Yankees | |
|---|---|
| World Series champions American League champions | |
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Yankee Stadium |
| City | New York City |
| Record | 97–57 (.630) |
| League place | 1st |
| Owners | Dan Topping and Del Webb |
| General managers | George Weiss |
| Managers | Casey Stengel |
| Television | WPIX |
| Radio | WINS (AM) (Mel Allen, Jim Woods, Red Barber) |
Offseason
- February 8, 1956: Lou Berberet, Bob Wiesler, Herb Plews, Dick Tettelbach, and a player to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Washington Senators for Mickey McDermott and Bobby Kline. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Whitey Herzog to the Senators on April 2.[1]
Regular season
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- April 17, 1956: Opening Day at Washington D.C. With president Dwight D. Eisenhower in attendance, Mickey Mantle began his triple crown year with two mammoth home runs in a 10–4 Yankees win over The Senators.
- April 18, 1956: Umpire Eddie Rommel was the first umpire to wear glasses in a major league game. The game was played between the Yankees and the Washington Senators.[2]
- September 18, 1956: In a historic day for the Yankees. Mickey Mantle hit a game-winning home run in the 11th inning to give the Yankees a 3–2 win over The Chicago White Sox in Chicago. It was Mickey's 50th homer this season becoming the first Yankee since Babe Ruth in 1928 to hit 50 home runs in a season. This win also clinched the Yankees as American League champions.
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 49–28 | 48–29 |
| Cleveland Indians | 88 | 66 | .571 | 9 | 46–31 | 42–35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 85 | 69 | .552 | 12 | 46–31 | 39–38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | .545 | 13 | 43–34 | 41–36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 82 | 72 | .532 | 15 | 37–40 | 45–32 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 69 | 85 | .448 | 28 | 41–36 | 28–49 |
| Washington Senators | 59 | 95 | .383 | 38 | 32–45 | 27–50 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 52 | 102 | .338 | 45 | 22–55 | 30–47 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH | |||||
| Baltimore | — | 6–16 | 9–13 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 9–13 | 12–10 | |||||
| Boston | 16–6 | — | 14–8 | 13–9–1 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 9–13 | |||||
| Chicago | 13–9 | 8–14 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 13–9 | |||||
| Cleveland | 17–5 | 9–13–1 | 7–15 | — | 11–11 | 17–5 | 10–12 | 17–5 | |||||
| Detroit | 9–13 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 11–11 | — | 16–6 | 12–10 | 15–7–1 | |||||
| Kansas City | 7–15 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 6–16 | — | 4–18 | 12–10 | |||||
| New York | 13–9 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 18–4 | — | 17–5 | |||||
| Washington | 10–12 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 5–17 | 7–15–1 | 10–12 | 5–17 | — | |||||
Notable transactions
- May 28, 1956: Gerry Staley was selected off waivers from the Yankees by the Chicago White Sox.[3]
- June 14, 1956: Lou Skizas and Eddie Robinson were traded by the Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics for Moe Burtschy, Bill Renna and cash.[4]
- July 11, 1956: Wally Burnette was traded by the Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics for Tommy Lasorda.[5]
- August 25, 1956: Enos Slaughter was selected off waivers by the Yankees from the Kansas City Athletics.[6]
Roster
| 1956 New York Yankees | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters
|
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
Player stats
| = Indicates team leader |
| = Indicates league 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 | Yogi Berra | 140 | 521 | 155 | .298 | 30 | 105 |
| 1B | Bill Skowron | 134 | 464 | 143 | .308 | 23 | 90 |
| 2B | Billy Martin | 121 | 458 | 121 | .264 | 9 | 49 |
| 3B | Andy Carey | 132 | 422 | 100 | .238 | 7 | 50 |
| SS | Gil McDougald | 120 | 438 | 136 | .311 | 13 | 56 |
| LF | Elston Howard | 98 | 290 | 76 | .262 | 5 | 34 |
| CF | Mickey Mantle | 150 | 533 | 188 | .353 | 52 | 130 |
| RF | Hank Bauer | 147 | 539 | 130 | .241 | 26 | 84 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Collins | 100 | 262 | 59 | .225 | 7 | 43 |
| Jerry Coleman | 80 | 183 | 47 | .257 | 0 | 18 |
| Norm Siebern | 54 | 162 | 33 | .204 | 4 | 21 |
| Bob Cerv | 54 | 115 | 35 | .304 | 3 | 25 |
| Enos Slaughter | 24 | 83 | 24 | .289 | 0 | 4 |
| Billy Hunter | 39 | 75 | 21 | .280 | 0 | 11 |
| Jerry Lumpe | 20 | 62 | 16 | .258 | 0 | 4 |
| Eddie Robinson | 26 | 54 | 12 | .222 | 5 | 11 |
| Phil Rizzuto | 31 | 52 | 12 | .231 | 0 | 6 |
| Irv Noren | 29 | 37 | 8 | .216 | 0 | 6 |
| Tom Carroll | 36 | 17 | 6 | .353 | 0 | 0 |
| George Wilson | 11 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Silvera | 7 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 2 |
| Bobby Richardson | 5 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Skizas | 6 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitey Ford | 31 | 225.2 | 19 | 6 | 2.47 | 141 |
| Johnny Kucks | 34 | 224.1 | 18 | 9 | 3.85 | 67 |
| Bob Turley | 27 | 132.0 | 8 | 4 | 5.05 | 91 |
| Ralph Terry | 3 | 13.1 | 1 | 2 | 9.45 | 8 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Larsen | 38 | 179.2 | 11 | 5 | 3.26 | 107 |
| Tom Sturdivant | 32 | 158.1 | 16 | 8 | 3.30 | 110 |
| Rip Coleman | 29 | 88.1 | 3 | 5 | 3.67 | 42 |
| Mickey McDermott | 23 | 87.0 | 2 | 6 | 4.24 | 38 |
| Bob Grim | 26 | 74.2 | 6 | 1 | 2.77 | 48 |
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 Morgan | 41 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 4.16 | 20 |
| Tommy Byrne | 37 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 3.36 | 52 |
| Jim Konstanty | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.91 | 6 |
| Sonny Dixon | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2.08 | 1 |
| Jim Coates | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |
| Gerry Staley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 108.00 | 1 |
1956 World Series
AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Brooklyn Dodgers (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yankees – 3, Dodgers – 6 | October 3 | Ebbets Field | 34,479 |
| 2 | Yankees – 8, Dodgers – 13 | October 5 | Ebbets Field | 36,217 |
| 3 | Dodgers – 3, Yankees – 5 | October 6 | Yankee Stadium | 73,977 |
| 4 | Dodgers – 2, Yankees – 6 | October 7 | Yankee Stadium | 69,705 |
| 5 Archived January 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine | Dodgers – 0, Yankees – 2 | October 8 | Yankee Stadium | 64,519 |
| 6 | Yankees – 0, Dodgers – 1 (10 innings) | October 9 | Ebbets Field | 33,224 |
| 7 | Yankees – 9, Dodgers – 0 | October 10 | Ebbets Field | 33,782 |
Awards and honors
- Don Larsen, Babe Ruth Award
- Mickey Mantle, American League MVP
- Mickey Mantle, Associated Press Athlete of the Year
Farm system
Bradford club folded, May 18, 1956[7]