1959 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 1959 Major League Baseball season saw the Pittsburgh Pirates finish in fourth place in the National League at 78–76, nine games behind the NL and World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Pirates set the record for most extra innings victories in a season, winning 19 of their 21 extra inning games.[2][3]

1959 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)Joe L. Brown
Manager(s)Danny Murtaugh
Local televisionKDKA-TV
Bob Prince, Jim Woods
Local radioKDKA
Bob Prince, Paul Long, Jim Woods
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Offseason

Regular season
  • May 26, 1959: Harvey Haddix took a perfect game into the 13th inning of a game against the Milwaukee Braves. Haddix retired 36 consecutive batters in 12 innings, but lost the game 1–0.[6] Braves pitcher Lew Burdette also pitched a shutout for 13 full innings, giving up 12 hits. NOTE: On September 4, 1991, MLB redefined no-hitters to no longer include games in which the first hit was surrendered in extra innings. Until then, Haddix had been credited with a perfect game.

Season standings
National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 8868 0.564 — 46–32 42–36
Milwaukee Braves 8670 0.551 2 49–29 37–41
San Francisco Giants 8371 0.539 4 42–35 41–36
Pittsburgh Pirates 7876 0.506 9 47–30 31–46
Chicago Cubs 7480 0.481 13 38–39 36–41
Cincinnati Reds 7480 0.481 13 43–34 31–46
St. Louis Cardinals 7183 0.461 16 42–35 29–48
Philadelphia Phillies 6490 0.416 23 37–40 27–50

Record vs. opponents
1959 National League Records

Sources:
Team CHC CIN LAD MIL PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago —9–1311–1110–1210–12–112–1012–1010–12
Cincinnati 13–9—13–911–119–139–138–1411–11
Los Angeles 11–119–13—14–1017–511–1114–812–10
Milwaukee 12–1011–1110–14—13–915–7–112–1013–9
Philadelphia 12–10–113–95–179–13—9–139–137–15
Pittsburgh 10–1213–911–117–15–113–9—10–1214–8
San Francisco 10–1214–88–1410–1213–912–10—16–6
St. Louis 12–1011–1110–129–1315–78–146–16—

Game log
1959 Game Log: 78–76 (Home: 47–30; Away: 31–46)
April: 6–8 (Home: 2–4; Away: 4–4)
May: 19–14 (Home: 10–6; Away: 9–8)
June: 15–15 (Home: 8–7; Away: 7–8)
July: 10–17 (Home: 9–8; Away: 1–9)
August: 20–8 (Home: 15–3; Away: 5–5)
September: 8–14 (Home: 3–2; Away: 5–12)
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Notable transactions

Roster
1959 Pittsburgh Pirates
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
CSmoky Burgess114377112.2971159
1BDick Stuart118397118.2972778
2BBill Mazeroski135493119.241759
SSDick Groat147593163.275551
3BDon Hoak155564166.294865
LFBob Skinner143547153.2801361
CFBill Virdon144519132.254841
RFRoberto Clemente105432128.296450

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
Román Mejías9627665.236728
Rocky Nelson9817551.291632
Danny Kravitz5216241.253321
Dick Schofield8114531.23419
Ted Kluszewski6012232.262217
Hank Foiles538018.22534
Harry Bright404812.25038
Harry Simpson9154.26702
Joe Christopher15120.00000
Ken Hamlin381.12502
R.C. Stevens372.28611
Hardy Peterson210.00000

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
Vern Law342661892.98110
Bob Friend35234.28194.03104
Harvey Haddix31224.112123.13149
Ron Kline3318611134.2691
George Witt1550.2076.9330
Jim Umbricht17006.433

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
Bennie Daniels34100.2795.4567
Al Jackson180006.5013
Dick Hall28.2003.123

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
Roy Face57181102.7069
Bob Porterfield361214.3519
Ron Blackburn261113.6519
Don Gross211123.5515
Bob Smith200003.4912
Fred Green171213.1320
Don Williams60006.753
Paul Giel400014.093

Awards and honors

Records
  • Roy Face, major league record, most wins in one season by a relief pitcher (18)[9]
  • Harvey Haddix, major league record, Most consecutive batters retired in one game (36) [10]

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Columbus Jets International League Cal Ermer
AAA Salt Lake City Bees Pacific Coast League Larry Shepard
A Columbus/Gastonia Pirates Sally League Ray Hathaway
B Wilson Tobs Carolina League Harding "Pete" Peterson and Don Osborn
C Grand Forks Chiefs Northern League James Adlam
C Idaho Falls Russets Pioneer League Bob Clear
D Salem Rebels Appalachian League Larry Dorton
D Dubuque Packers Midwest League Wally Millies, John Armstrong,
Syd Thrift and Al Kubski
D San Angelo/Roswell Pirates Sophomore League Al Kubski, Joe Bauman and Wally Millies

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Salt Lake City, Gastonia, Wilson

Columbus (GA) franchise transferred to Gastonia, May 26, 1959; San Angelo franchise transferred to Roswell, June 9, 1959

References
  1. From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
  2. "Team Batting Game Finder: In years 1904 to 2019, Only extra-inning games, Team Won, sorted by greatest number of games in a single season matching the selected criteria". Stathead. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  3. "1959 Pittsburgh Pirates Schedule". Baseball Reference. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  4. Smoky Burgess at Baseball Reference
  5. Dick Rand at Baseball Reference
  6. "Retrosheet Boxscore: Milwaukee Braves 1, Pittsburgh Pirates 0". Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  7. Gene Baker at Baseball Reference
  8. Bob Smith at Baseball Reference
  9. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 290, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  10. Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 29, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  • 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
  • 1959 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.
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