# 1952 Boston Red Sox season

The 1952 Boston Red Sox season was the 52nd season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished sixth in the American League (AL) with a record of 76 wins and 78 losses, 19 games behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1952 World Series.

## Spring Training

| Boston Win | Boston Loss | Tie Game |
1952 Boston Red Sox Spring Training Log :
March: 9─10
#DateOpponentScoreRecordSource
1March 8Vs. Reds0─51─0
2March 9Vs. Phillies13─41─1
3March 10@ Yankees4─71─2
4March 11Vs. Yankees7─61─3
5March 12Vs. Cardinals7─61─4
6March 13Vs. Senators4─11─5
7March 14Vs. Tigers7─51─6
8March 15Vs. Braves12─21─7
9March 16@ Reds10─62─7
10March 17@ Braves1─22─8
11March 19@ Cardinals3─23─8
12March 20@ Senators14─84─8
12March 21@ Athletics5─35─8
13March 22@ Dodgers5─26─8
14March 23@ Dodgers2─146─9
15March 27Vs. Reds9─16─10
16March 28@ Phillies9─77─10
17March 29@ Yankees8─58─10
18March 30@ Barons5─29─10 :
April: 6─2─1
#DateOpponentScoreRecordSource
19April 1@ Sports4─210─10
20April 2@ Buffaloes13─211─10
21April 3@ Eagles1─111─10─1
22April 4@ Cats9─312─10─1
23April 5@ Oilers5─313─10─1
24April 6@ Indians8─414─10─1
25April 7@ Athletics6─1214─11─1
26April 8Vs. Athletics4─314─12─1
27April 9@ Cubs6─115─12─1 :
The Red Sox also faced the Braves as a Boston-based team for the final time. At Braves Field on April 10 the Braves beat the Red Sox by a score of 5─4. At Fenway Park on April 12 the Red Sox beat the Braves by a score of 12─7.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 95 | 59 | .617 | — | 49‍–‍28 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Cleveland Indians | 93 | 61 | .604 | 2 | 49‍–‍28 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Chicago White Sox | 81 | 73 | .526 | 14 | 44‍–‍33 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 79 | 75 | .513 | 16 | 45‍–‍32 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Washington Senators | 78 | 76 | .506 | 17 | 42‍–‍35 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 78 | .494 | 19 | 50‍–‍27 | 26‍–‍51 |
| St. Louis Browns | 64 | 90 | .416 | 31 | 42‍–‍35 | 22‍–‍55 |
| Detroit Tigers | 50 | 104 | .325 | 45 | 32‍–‍45 | 18‍–‍59 |

### Record vs. opponents

1952 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 12–10 | 9–13 | 16–6 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 8–14 |
| Chicago | 10–12 | — | 8–14–1 | 17–5 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 13–9–1 |
| Cleveland | 13–9 | 14–8–1 | — | 16–6 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 12–10 |
| Detroit | 6–16 | 5–17 | 6–16 | — | 9–13 | 5–17–1 | 8–14 | 11–11–1 |
| New York | 14–8 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 13–9 | — | 13–9 | 14–8 | 15–7 |
| Philadelphia | 10–12 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 17–5–1 | 9–13 | — | 14–8 | 9–13 |
| St. Louis | 11–11 | 8–14 | 7–15 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 8–14 | — | 8–14–1 |
| Washington | 14–8 | 9–13–1 | 10–12 | 11–11–1 | 7–15 | 13–9 | 14–8–1 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

| 7 | Dom DiMaggio | CF |
| 6 | Johnny Pesky | 3B |
| 9 | Ted Williams | LF |
| 3 | Walt Dropo | 1B |
| 37 | Faye Throneberry | RF |
| 2 | Jimmy Piersall | SS |
| 17 | Mel Parnell | P |
| 12 | Ted Lepcio | 2B |
| 11 | Gus Niarhos | C |

### Notable transactions

* June 3, 1952: Walt Dropo, Fred Hatfield, Don Lenhardt, Johnny Pesky, and Bill Wight were traded by the Red Sox to the Detroit Tigers for Dizzy Trout, George Kell, Johnny Lipon, and Hoot Evers.

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 | Sammy White | 115 | 381 | 107 | .281 | 10 | 49 |
| 1B | Dick Gernert | 102 | 367 | 89 | .243 | 19 | 67 |
| 2B | Billy Goodman | 138 | 513 | 157 | .306 | 4 | 56 |
| SS | Johnny Lipon | 79 | 234 | 48 | .205 | 0 | 18 |
| 3B | George Kell | 75 | 276 | 88 | .319 | 6 | 40 |
| OF | Faye Throneberry | 98 | 310 | 80 | .258 | 5 | 23 |
| OF | Hoot Evers | 106 | 401 | 105 | .262 | 14 | 59 |
| OF | Dom DiMaggio | 128 | 486 | 143 | .294 | 6 | 33 |

#### 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 |
| Vern Stephens | 92 | 295 | 75 | .254 | 7 | 44 |
| Ted Lepcio | 84 | 274 | 72 | .263 | 5 | 26 |
| Clyde Vollmer | 90 | 250 | 66 | .264 | 11 | 50 |
| Jim Piersall | 56 | 161 | 43 | .267 | 1 | 16 |
| Del Wilber | 47 | 135 | 36 | .267 | 3 | 23 |
| Walt Dropo | 37 | 132 | 35 | .265 | 6 | 27 |
| Don Lenhardt | 30 | 105 | 31 | .295 | 7 | 24 |
| Johnny Pesky | 25 | 67 | 10 | .149 | 0 | 2 |
| George Schmees | 42 | 64 | 13 | .203 | 0 | 3 |
| Al Zarilla | 21 | 60 | 11 | .183 | 2 | 8 |
| Gus Niarhos | 29 | 58 | 6 | .103 | 0 | 4 |
| Gene Stephens | 21 | 53 | 12 | .226 | 0 | 5 |
| Archie Wilson | 18 | 38 | 10 | .263 | 0 | 2 |
| Milt Bolling | 11 | 36 | 8 | .222 | 1 | 3 |
| Fred Hatfield | 19 | 25 | 8 | .320 | 1 | 3 |
| Ken Wood | 15 | 20 | 2 | .100 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Maxwell | 8 | 15 | 1 | .067 | 0 | 0 |
| Ted Williams | 6 | 10 | 4 | .400 | 1 | 3 |
| Paul Lehner | 3 | 3 | 2 | .667 | 0 | 2 |
| Lou Boudreau | 4 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 2 |
| Hal Bevan | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Len Okrie | 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 |
| Mel Parnell | 33 | 214.0 | 12 | 12 | 3.62 | 107 |
| Mickey McDermott | 30 | 162.0 | 10 | 9 | 3.72 | 117 |
| Sid Hudson | 21 | 134.1 | 7 | 9 | 3.62 | 50 |

#### 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 |
| Dizzy Trout | 26 | 133.2 | 9 | 8 | 3.64 | 57 |
| Dick Brodowski | 20 | 114.2 | 5 | 5 | 4.40 | 42 |
| Willard Nixon | 23 | 103.2 | 5 | 4 | 4.86 | 50 |
| Ellis Kinder | 23 | 97.2 | 5 | 6 | 2.58 | 50 |
| Ike Delock | 39 | 95.0 | 4 | 9 | 4.26 | 46 |
| Ray Scarborough | 28 | 76.2 | 1 | 5 | 4.81 | 29 |
| Bill Henry | 13 | 76.2 | 5 | 4 | 3.87 | 23 |
| Bill Wight | 10 | 24.1 | 2 | 1 | 2.96 | 5 |
| Hersh Freeman | 4 | 13.2 | 1 | 0 | 3.29 | 5 |
| James Atkins | 3 | 10.1 | 0 | 1 | 3.48 | 2 |
| Harry Taylor | 2 | 10.0 | 1 | 0 | 1.80 | 1 |
| Walt Masterson | 5 | 9.1 | 1 | 1 | 11.57 | 3 |
| George Schmees | 2 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 2 |

#### 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 |
| Al Benton | 24 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2.39 | 20 |
| Ralph Brickner | 14 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2.18 | 9 |
| Randy Gumpert | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.12 | 6 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Louisville Colonels | American Association | Pinky Higgins |
| AA | Birmingham Barons | Southern Association | Al Vincent and Red Mathis |
| A | Albany Senators | Eastern League | Jack Burns |
| B | Roanoke Ro-Sox | Piedmont League | Owen Scheetz |
| C | San Jose Red Sox | California League | Red Marion |
| D | High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms | North Carolina State League | Jim Gruzdis |