# 1953 Boston Red Sox season

The 1953 Boston Red Sox season was the 53rd 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 69 losses, 16 games behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1953 World Series.

## Offseason

* November 28, 1952: Harry Agganis signs with the Red Sox.
* December 1, 1952: The Red Sox draft Jack Merson from the Hollywood Stars for $15,000.
* January 7, 1953: Pitcher Al Benton is assigned by the Red Sox to the San Diego Padres.
* February 9, 1953: Vern Stephens was traded by the Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox for Marv Grissom, Hal Brown and Bill Kennedy.

## Regular season

* May 12, 1953: Outfielder Dom DiMaggio retires from professional baseball after manager Lou Boudreau decided to promote Tom Umphlett to be the regular Red Sox centerfielder; weeks earlier, according to DiMaggio, he had informed General Manager Joe Cronin that he should be traded or made regular centerfielder otherwise he would retire, after Cronin refused to do either, DiMaggio decided to retire.
* June 18, 1953: Sammy White scored three runs in one inning for the Red Sox. The Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers, 23–3 at Fenway Park.

### Transactions

* April 23, 1953: The Washington Senators purchase outfielder Clyde Vollmer from the Red Sox.
* May 13, 1953: The Red Sox purchase infielder Floyd Baker from the Washington Senators.
* July 1, 1953: Marv Grissom was selected off waivers from the Red Sox by the New York Giants.
* September 8, 1953: Shortstop Johnny Lipon is sold by the Red Sox to the St. Louis Browns on a waiver deal.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 52 | .656 | — | 50‍–‍27 | 49‍–‍25 |
| Cleveland Indians | 92 | 62 | .597 | 8½ | 53‍–‍24 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 89 | 65 | .578 | 11½ | 41‍–‍36 | 48‍–‍29 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 69 | .549 | 16 | 38‍–‍38 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Washington Senators | 76 | 76 | .500 | 23½ | 39‍–‍36 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 94 | .390 | 40½ | 30‍–‍47 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 59 | 95 | .383 | 41½ | 27‍–‍50 | 32‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 54 | 100 | .351 | 46½ | 23‍–‍54 | 31‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1953 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 10–11 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 16–6 | — | 11–11–1 | 14–8–1 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 17–5 | 12–10 |
| Cleveland | 9–13 | 11–11–1 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 19–3 | 17–5 | 11–11 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 11–11–3 | 7–15 | 11–11 |
| New York | 11–10 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 17–5 | 17–5 | 14–6 |
| Philadelphia | 7–15 | 12–10 | 3–19 | 11–11–3 | 5–17 | — | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 5–17 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 6–14 | 14–8 | 12–10 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

| 10 | Billy Goodman | 2B |
| 37 | Jimmy Piersall | RF |
| 36 | Gene Stephens | LF |
| 3 | Dick Gernert | 1B |
| 1 | George Kell | 3B |
| 22 | Sammy White | C |
| 38 | Tom Umphlett | CF |
| 2 | Milt Bolling | SS |
| 17 | Mel Parnell | P |

### 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 | 136 | 476 | 130 | .273 | 13 | 64 |
| 1B | Dick Gernert | 139 | 494 | 125 | .253 | 21 | 71 |
| 2B | Billy Goodman | 128 | 514 | 161 | .313 | 2 | 41 |
| SS | Milt Bolling | 109 | 323 | 85 | .263 | 5 | 28 |
| 3B | George Kell | 134 | 460 | 141 | .307 | 12 | 73 |
| OF | Hoot Evers | 99 | 300 | 72 | .240 | 11 | 31 |
| OF | Jim Piersall | 151 | 585 | 159 | .272 | 3 | 52 |
| OF | Tom Umphlett | 137 | 495 | 140 | .283 | 3 | 59 |

#### 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 Stephens | 78 | 221 | 45 | .204 | 3 | 18 |
| Floyd Baker | 81 | 172 | 47 | .273 | 0 | 24 |
| Ted Lepcio | 66 | 161 | 38 | .236 | 4 | 11 |
| Johnny Lipon | 60 | 145 | 31 | .214 | 0 | 13 |
| Del Wilber | 58 | 112 | 27 | .241 | 7 | 29 |
| Ted Williams | 37 | 91 | 37 | .407 | 13 | 34 |
| Al Zarilla | 57 | 67 | 13 | .194 | 0 | 4 |
| Billy Consolo | 47 | 65 | 14 | .215 | 1 | 6 |
| Karl Olson | 25 | 57 | 7 | .123 | 1 | 6 |
| Gus Niarhos | 16 | 35 | 7 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Jack Merson | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dom DiMaggio | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Clyde Vollmer | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
| Al Richter | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 | 38 | 241.0 | 21 | 8 | 3.06 | 136 |
| Mickey McDermott | 32 | 206.1 | 18 | 10 | 3.01 | 92 |
| Hal Brown | 30 | 166.1 | 11 | 6 | 4.65 | 62 |
| Willard Nixon | 23 | 116.2 | 4 | 8 | 3.93 | 57 |
| Marv Grissom | 13 | 59.1 | 2 | 6 | 4.70 | 31 |

#### 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 |
| Sid Hudson | 30 | 156.0 | 6 | 9 | 3.52 | 60 |
| Bill Henry | 21 | 85.2 | 5 | 5 | 3.26 | 56 |
| Ben Flowers | 32 | 79.1 | 1 | 4 | 3.86 | 36 |

#### 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 Kinder | 69 | 10 | 6 | 27 | 1.85 | 39 |
| Ike Delock | 23 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4.44 | 22 |
| Hersh Freeman | 18 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5.54 | 15 |
| Bill Kennedy | 16 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3.70 | 14 |
| Frank Sullivan | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.61 | 17 |
| Bill Werle | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.54 | 4 |
| Ken Holcombe | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Louisville Colonels | American Association | Pinky Higgins |
| A | Albany Senators | Eastern League | Jack Burns and Elmer Yoter |
| B | Greensboro Patriots | Carolina League | Eddie Popowski |
| B | Roanoke Ro-Sox | Piedmont League | Elmer Yoter |
| C | San Jose Red Sox | California League | Red Marion and Joe Stephenson |
| D | Salisbury Rocots | Tar Heel League | Sheriff Robinson |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose
Roanoke club folded, July 24, 1953