# 1956 Boston Red Sox season

The 1956 Boston Red Sox season was the 56th 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, 13 games behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1956 World Series.

## Offseason

* November 8, 1955: Karl Olson, Dick Brodowski, Tex Clevenger, Neil Chrisley, and Al Curtis (minors) were traded by the Red Sox to the Washington Senators for Mickey Vernon, Bob Porterfield, Johnny Schmitz, and Tom Umphlett.
* November 27, 1955: Ed Mayer was drafted from the Red Sox by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1955 minor league draft.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 49‍–‍28 | 48‍–‍29 |
| Cleveland Indians | 88 | 66 | .571 | 9 | 46‍–‍31 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 85 | 69 | .552 | 12 | 46‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | .545 | 13 | 43‍–‍34 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 82 | 72 | .532 | 15 | 37‍–‍40 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 69 | 85 | .448 | 28 | 41‍–‍36 | 28‍–‍49 |
| Washington Senators | 59 | 95 | .383 | 38 | 32‍–‍45 | 27‍–‍50 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 52 | 102 | .338 | 45 | 22‍–‍55 | 30‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1956 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 6–16 | 9–13 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 9–13 | 12–10 |
| Boston | 16–6 | — | 14–8 | 13–9–1 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 9–13 |
| Chicago | 13–9 | 8–14 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 13–9 |
| Cleveland | 17–5 | 9–13–1 | 7–15 | — | 11–11 | 17–5 | 10–12 | 17–5 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 11–11 | — | 16–6 | 12–10 | 15–7–1 |
| Kansas City | 7–15 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 6–16 | — | 4–18 | 12–10 |
| New York | 13–9 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 18–4 | — | 17–5 |
| Washington | 10–12 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 5–17 | 7–15–1 | 10–12 | 5–17 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

| 10 | Billy Goodman | 2B |
| 11 | Frank Malzone | 3B |
| 9 | Ted Williams | LF |
| 4 | Jackie Jensen | RF |
| 6 | Mickey Vernon | 1B |
| 37 | Jimmy Piersall | CF |
| 24 | Don Buddin | SS |
| 22 | Sammy White | C |
| 18 | Frank Sullivan | 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 | 114 | 392 | 96 | .245 | 5 | 44 |
| 1B | Mickey Vernon | 119 | 403 | 125 | .310 | 15 | 84 |
| 2B | Billy Goodman | 105 | 399 | 117 | .293 | 2 | 38 |
| SS | Don Buddin | 114 | 377 | 90 | .239 | 5 | 37 |
| 3B | Billy Klaus | 135 | 520 | 141 | .271 | 7 | 59 |
| LF | Ted Williams | 136 | 400 | 138 | .345 | 24 | 82 |
| CF | Jim Piersall | 155 | 601 | 176 | .293 | 14 | 87 |
| RF | Jackie Jensen | 151 | 578 | 182 | .315 | 20 | 97 |

#### 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 |
| Dick Gernert | 106 | 306 | 89 | .291 | 16 | 68 |
| Ted Lepcio | 83 | 284 | 74 | .261 | 15 | 51 |
| Pete Daley | 59 | 187 | 50 | .267 | 5 | 29 |
| Milt Bolling | 45 | 118 | 25 | .212 | 3 | 8 |
| Frank Malzone | 27 | 103 | 17 | .165 | 2 | 11 |
| Norm Zauchin | 44 | 84 | 18 | .214 | 2 | 11 |
| Gene Stephens | 104 | 63 | 17 | .270 | 1 | 7 |
| Faye Throneberry | 24 | 50 | 11 | .220 | 1 | 3 |
| Gene Mauch | 7 | 25 | 8 | .320 | 0 | 1 |
| Billy Consolo | 48 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 1 |
| Grady Hatton | 5 | 5 | 2 | .400 | 0 | 2 |
| Marty Keough | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Tom Brewer | 32 | 244.1 | 19 | 9 | 3.50 | 127 |
| Frank Sullivan | 34 | 242.0 | 14 | 7 | 3.42 | 116 |
| Willard Nixon | 23 | 145.1 | 9 | 8 | 4.21 | 74 |
| Mel Parnell | 21 | 131.1 | 7 | 6 | 3.77 | 41 |
| Bob Porterfield | 25 | 126.0 | 3 | 12 | 5.14 | 53 |

#### 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 |
| Dave Sisler | 39 | 142.1 | 9 | 8 | 4.62 | 93 |
| Ike Delock | 48 | 128.1 | 13 | 7 | 4.21 | 105 |
| George Susce | 21 | 69.2 | 2 | 4 | 6.20 | 26 |
| Frank Baumann | 7 | 24.2 | 2 | 1 | 3.28 | 18 |
| Rudy Minarcin | 3 | 9.2 | 1 | 0 | 2.79 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Tom Hurd | 40 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5.33 | 34 |
| Leo Kiely | 23 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5.17 | 9 |
| Fritz Dorish | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.57 | 11 |
| Johnny Schmitz | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | San Francisco Seals | Pacific Coast League | Eddie Joost and Joe Gordon |
| AA | Oklahoma City Indians | Texas League | Rudy Laskowski, Ray Cash and Jodie Beeler |
| A | Albany Senators | Eastern League | Sheriff Robinson |
| B | Greensboro Patriots | Carolina League | Eddie Popowski |
| C | San Jose JoSox | California League | Dick Whitman |
| D | Lafayette Red Sox | Midwest League | Len Okrie |
| D | Lexington Red Sox | Nebraska State League | Danny Doyle |
| D | Corning Red Sox | PONY League | Elmer Yoter |
Source: