1955 Boston Red Sox season

The 1955 Boston Red Sox season was the 55th season in the franchise's 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
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record84–70 (.545)
League place4th (12 GB)
Other information
Owner(s)Tom Yawkey
General manager(s)Joe Cronin
Manager(s)Pinky Higgins
Local televisionWBZ-TV, Ch. 4 and WNAC-TV, Ch. 7
Local radioWHDH-AM 850
(Curt Gowdy, Bob Murphy, Tom Hussey)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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Offseason

Regular season

After 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.

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 9658 0.623 — 52–25 44–33
Cleveland Indians 9361 0.604 3 49–28 44–33
Chicago White Sox 9163 0.591 5 49–28 42–35
Boston Red Sox 8470 0.545 12 47–31 37–39
Detroit Tigers 7975 0.513 17 46–31 33–44
Kansas City Athletics 6391 0.409 33 33–43 30–48
Baltimore Orioles 5797 0.370 39 30–47 27–50
Washington Senators 53101 0.344 43 28–49 25–52

Record vs. opponents
1955 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC NYY WSH
Baltimore —8–1410–12–13–199–1310–12–13–1914–8
Boston 14–8—9–1311–1113–914–88–1415–7
Chicago 12–10–113–9—10–1214–814–811–1117–5
Cleveland 19–311–1112–10—12–1017–513–99–13
Detroit 13–99–138–1410–12—12–1010–1217–5
Kansas City 12–10–18–148–145–1710–12—7–1513–9
New York 19–314–811–119–1312–1015–7—16–6
Washington 8–147–155–1713–95–179–136–16—

Opening Day lineup
10Billy Goodman2B
20Eddie JoostSS
26Faye Throneberry    LF
  4Jackie JensenRF
  8Sammy WhiteC
  3Norm Zauchin1B
12Ted Lepcio3B
37Jimmy PiersallCF
18Frank SullivanP

Notable transactions

Roster
1955 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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
CSammy White143544142.2611164
1BNorm Zauchin130477114.2392793
2BBilly Goodman149599176.294052
SSBilly Klaus135541153.283760
3BGrady Hatton12638093.245449
LFTed Williams98320114.3562883
CFJim Piersall149515146.2831362
RFJackie Jensen152574158.27526116

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
Gene Stephens10915746.293318
Faye Throneberry6014437.257627
Ted Lepcio5113431.231615
Eddie Joost5511923.193517
Harry Agganis258326.313010
Pete Daley175011.22005
Karl Olson264812.25001
Owen Friend144211.26202
Sam Mele14314.12901
Frank Malzone6207.35001
Dick Gernert7204.20001
Billy Consolo8184.22200
Haywood Sullivan260.00000
Milt Bolling651.20000
Jim Pagliaroni100---01

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
Frank Sullivan3526018132.91129
Willard Nixon3120812104.0795
Tom Brewer31192.211104.2091

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
George Susce29144.1973.0660
Ike Delock29143.2973.7688
Bill Henry1759.2243.3223
Mel Parnell1346237.8318
Frank Baumann734215.8227
Russ Kemmerer717.1117.2713

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
Ellis Kinder4355182.8431
Tom Hurd438653.0148
Leo Kiely333362.8036
Dick Brodowski161005.6310
Hal Brown21002.252
Joe Trimble20000.001
Hersh Freeman20000.001
Bob Smith10000.001

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Louisville Colonels American Association Red Marion
A Montgomery Rebels Sally League Eddie Popowski and Fred Maguire
B Greensboro Patriots Carolina League Elmer Yoter
C San Jose Red Sox California League Sheriff Robinson
D Bluefield Blue-Grays Appalachian League Len Okrie
D Corning Red Sox PONY League Glenn Wright

[2]

Notes
  1. Owen Friend page at Baseball Reference
  2. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References
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