1959 Los Angeles Dodgers season
Major League Baseball season
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The 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 70th season for the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise in Major League Baseball (MLB), their 2nd season in Los Angeles, California, and their 2nd season playing their home games at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles California. The Dodgers finished in a first-place tie with the Milwaukee Braves, with each team 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]
| 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers | |
|---|---|
| World Series champions National League champions | |
| League | National League |
| Ballpark | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum |
| City | Los Angeles |
| Record | 86–68 (.558) |
| Divisional place | 1st |
| Owners | Walter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey |
| President | Walter O'Malley |
| General managers | Buzzie Bavasi |
| Managers | Walter Alston |
| Television | KTTV (11) |
| Radio | KMPC Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett KWKW René Cárdenas, Jaime Jarrín, Miguel Alonzo |
Offseason
- December 4, 1958: Gino Cimoli was traded by the Dodgers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Wally Moon and Phil Paine.[2]
- December 23, 1958: Sparky Anderson was traded by the Dodgers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rip Repulski, Jim Golden and Gene Snyder.[3]
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
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 88 | 68 | .564 | — | 46–32 | 42–36 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 86 | 70 | .551 | 2 | 49–29 | 37–41 |
| San Francisco Giants | 83 | 71 | .539 | 4 | 42–35 | 41–36 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 78 | 76 | .506 | 9 | 47–30 | 31–46 |
| Chicago Cubs | 74 | 80 | .481 | 13 | 38–39 | 36–41 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 74 | 80 | .481 | 13 | 43–34 | 31–46 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 71 | 83 | .461 | 16 | 42–35 | 29–48 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 64 | 90 | .416 | 23 | 37–40 | 27–50 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | CHC | CIN | LAD | 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
Notable transactions
- June 15, 1959: Dick Gray was traded by the Dodgers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Chuck Essegian and Lloyd Merritt.[5]
Roster
| 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
|
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 | 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
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
- World Series Most Valuable Player
- Gold Glove Award
- TSN Manager of the Year
- TSN Executive of the Year Award
- NL Player of the Month
- Don Drysdale (July 1959)
All-Stars
- 1959 Major League Baseball All-Star Game – Game 1
- Don Drysdale starter
- Wally Moon starter
- 1959 Major League Baseball All-Star Game – Game 2
- Don Drysdale starter
- Wally Moon starter
- Jim Gilliam reserve
- Charlie Neal reserve
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Green Bay