1954 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1954 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1887);
Location
	Forbes Field (since 1909); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1] (since 1907);
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson, Branch Rickey (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)	Branch Rickey
Manager(s)	Fred Haney
Local television	none
Local radio	WWSW; Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince
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The 1954 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 73rd season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 68th in the National League. The Pirates finished eighth and last in the league standings with a record of 53–101.

Offseason

December 1, 1953: Sonny Senerchia was drafted from the Pirates by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1953 minor league draft.[2]

Regular season

During the season, Curt Roberts became the first black player in the history of the Pirates.[3]

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	97	57	0.630	—	53–23	44–34
Brooklyn Dodgers	92	62	0.597	5	45–32	47–30
Milwaukee Braves	89	65	0.578	8	43–34	46–31
Philadelphia Phillies	75	79	0.487	22	39–39	36–40
Cincinnati Redlegs	74	80	0.481	23	41–36	33–44
St. Louis Cardinals	72	82	0.468	25	33–44	39–38
Chicago Cubs	64	90	0.416	33	40–37	24–53
Pittsburgh Pirates	53	101	0.344	44	31–46	22–55

Record vs. opponents

1954 National League Records Sources:
Team	BR	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	15–7	16–6	10–12	9–13	13–9	15–7	14–8
Chicago	7–15	—	8–14	6–16	7–15	7–15	15–7	14–8
Cincinnati	6–16	14–8	—	10–12	7–15	14–8	15–7	8–14
Milwaukee	12–10	16–6	12–10	—	10–12	13–9	14–8	12–10
New York	13–9	15–7	15–7	12–10	—	16–6	14–8	12–10
Philadelphia	9–13	15–7	8–14	9–13	6–16	—	16–6	12–10
Pittsburgh	7–15	7–15	7–15	8–14	8–14	6–16	—	10–12
St. Louis	8–14	8–14	14–8	10–12	10–12	10–12	12–10	—

Game log

1954 Game Log: 53–101 (Home: 31–46; Away: 22–55)

April: 6–10 (Home: 4–4; Away: 2–6)

May: 8–23 (Home: 6–12; Away: 2–11)

June: 9–15 (Home: 5–8; Away: 4–7)

July: 10–21 (Home: 4–8; Away: 6–13)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
72	July 2	Giants	5–9	Wilhelm	Friend (3–6)	Maglie	9,603	23–49
73	July 3	Giants	6–4	Littlefield (3–3)	Hearn	O'Donnell (1)	3,488	24–49
74	July 4	Giants	2–9	Liddle	Surkont (6–10)	McCall	3,488	24–50
75	July 4	Giants	7–6	LaPalme (1–5)	Grissom	Hetki (6)	12,818	25–50
76	July 5	Dodgers	6–8	Wade	Law (6–10)	Hughes	9,603	25–51
77	July 5	Dodgers	2–7	Loes	Thies (1–3)	—	16,905	25–52
78	July 6	@ Phillies	0–3	Simmons	Friend (3–7)	—	3,967	25–53
79	July 9	@ Giants	3–6	Antonelli	LaPalme (1–6)	—	12,423	25–54
80	July 10	@ Giants	10–7	O'Donnell (3–7)	Wilhelm	—	9,744	26–54
81	July 11	@ Giants	7–13	Maglie	Law (6–11)	Grissom	9,744	26–55
82	July 11	@ Giants	5–1	Littlefield (4–3)	Hearn	—	21,504	27–55
83	July 15	@ Cubs	2–9	Minner	Surkont (6–11)	—	5,900	27–56
84	July 15	@ Cubs	0–3	Hacker	O'Donnell (3–8)	Tremel	10,855	27–57
85	July 16	@ Cubs	2–3	Rush	Hetki (2–1)	—	4,586	27–58
86	July 17	@ Cubs	3–11	Davis	Law (6–12)	Tremel	4,586	27–59
87	July 17	@ Cubs	6–2	Purkey (2–6)	Klippstein	O'Donnell (2)	10,842	28–59
88	July 18	@ Braves	1–4	Spahn	Littlefield (4–4)	Johnson	25,074	28–60
89	July 18	@ Braves	7–5	Friend (4–7)	Nichols	—	29,371	29–60
90	July 19	@ Braves	1–4	Wilson	Surkont (6–12)	—	23,281	29–61
91	July 21	@ Cardinals	12–13	Lawrence	O'Donnell (3–9)	Haddix	6,623	29–62
92	July 22	@ Cardinals	2–3 (14)	Staley	Friend (4–8)	—	7,059	29–63
93	July 23	@ Redlegs	7–4	Littlefield (5–4)	Nuxhall	—	7,682	30–63
94	July 24	@ Redlegs	3–5	Fowler	Surkont (6–13)	Smith	3,383	30–64
95	July 25	@ Redlegs	4–2	LaPalme (2–6)	Perkowski	—		31–64
96	July 25	@ Redlegs	2–3	Judson	Friend (4–9)	Smith	13,514	31–65
97	July 26	Braves	1–3	Conley	Purkey (2–7)	—	6,850	31–66
98	July 28	Braves	4–6	Burdette	Littlefield (5–5)	Jolly	6,728	31–67
99	July 29	Braves	3–5 (10)	Nichols	Hetki (2–2)	—	2,259	31–68
100	July 30	Cubs	8–6	Purkey (3–7)	Minner	Hetki (7)	6,728	32–68
101	July 30	Cubs	5–8	Pollet	Surkont (6–14)	Jeffcoat	7,754	32–69
102	July 31	Cubs	5–3	LaPalme (3–6)	Hacker	Friend (1)	2,688	33–69

August: 13–17 (Home: 7–6; Away: 6–11)

September: 7–15 (Home: 5–8; Away: 2–7)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Pirates team member

Notable transactions

June 14, 1954: Hal Rice was traded by the Pirates to the Chicago Cubs for Luis Márquez.[4]

Roster

1954 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

19 Bob Friend

29 Johnny Hetki

25 Cal Hogue

30 Nellie King

24 Paul LaPalme

32 Vern Law

27 Dick Littlefield

23 George O'Donnell

00 Joe Page

18 Laurin Pepper

34 Bob Purkey

35 Max Surkont

39 Jake Thies

38 Len Yochim

Catchers

11 Toby Atwell

23,28 Walker Cooper

46 Bill Hall

9 Nick Koback

20 Jim Mangan

10 Jack Shepard

Infielders

8 Gair Allie

12 Dick Cole

31 Vic Janowicz

13 Eddie Pellagrini

7 Curt Roberts

3 Bob Skinner

6 Dick Smith

5 Preston Ward

Outfielders

18 Cal Abrams

4 Sid Gordon

17 Dick Hall

26 Gail Henley

20 Sam Jethroe

14 Jerry Lynch

44 Luis Márquez

44 Hal Rice

15 Frank Thomas

Manager

2 Fred Haney

Coaches

40 John Fitzpatrick

43 Sam Narron

41 Clyde Sukeforth

Player stats

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
2B	Curt Roberts	134	496	115	.232	1	36
3B	Dick Cole	138	486	131	.270	1	40
CF	Frank Thomas	153	577	172	.298	23	94

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
Jack Shepard	82	227	69	.304	3	22
Hal Rice	28	81	14	.173	1	9
Dick Smith	12	31	3	.097	0	0
Luis Márquez	14	9	1	.111	0	0
Bill Hall	5	7	0	.000	0	0

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

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
Bob Friend	35	170.1	7	12	5.07	73
Laurin Pepper	14	50.2	1	5	7.99	17
Cal Hogue	3	11	0	1	4.91	7

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
Johnny Hetki	58	4	4	9	4.99	27

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
Open	Hollywood Stars	Pacific Coast League	Bobby Bragan
AA	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Danny Murtaugh
A	Williamsport Grays	Eastern League	Larry Shepard
A	Denver Bears	Western League	Andy Cohen
B	Waco Pirates	Big State League	Jack Paepke
B	Burlington-Graham Pirates	Carolina League	Stan Wentzel
C	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Cliff Dapper
C	St. Jean Canadiens	Provincial League	George Detore and Steve Mizerak
C	Hutchinson Elks	Western Association	George Genovese and Larry Dorton
D	Dublin Irish	Georgia State League	George Kinnamon
D	Brunswick Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Frank Oceak
D	Clinton Pirates	Mississippi–Ohio Valley League	Robert Clark

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Waco

Notes

From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
Sonny Senerchia at Baseball Reference
Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
Hal Rice at Baseball Reference

References

1954 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
1954 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Sonny Senerchia at Baseball Reference

[3] Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

[4] Hal Rice at Baseball Reference

1954 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia Washington
National League	Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati Milwaukee New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1954 All-Star Game 1954 World Series