# 1955 Boston Red Sox season

The 1955 Boston Red Sox season was the 55th season of franchise of 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.

## Offseason

* October 14, 1954: Owen Friend was purchased by the Red Sox from the Cleveland Indians.

## 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

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 96 | 58 | .623 | — | 52‍–‍25 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Cleveland Indians | 93 | 61 | .604 | 3 | 49‍–‍28 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Chicago White Sox | 91 | 63 | .591 | 5 | 49‍–‍28 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | .545 | 12 | 47‍–‍31 | 37‍–‍39 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 75 | .513 | 17 | 46‍–‍31 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 63 | 91 | .409 | 33 | 33‍–‍43 | 30‍–‍48 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 57 | 97 | .370 | 39 | 30‍–‍47 | 27‍–‍50 |
| Washington Senators | 53 | 101 | .344 | 43 | 28‍–‍49 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1955 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 9–13 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 14–8 |
| Boston | 14–8 | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 15–7 |
| Chicago | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 17–5 |
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 11–11 | 12–10 | — | 12–10 | 17–5 | 13–9 | 9–13 |
| Detroit | 13–9 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 17–5 |
| Kansas City | 12–10–1 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 |
| New York | 19–3 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 15–7 | — | 16–6 |
| Washington | 8–14 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

| 10 | Billy Goodman | 2B |
| 20 | Eddie Joost | SS |
| 26 | Faye Throneberry | LF |
| 4 | Jackie Jensen | RF |
| 8 | Sammy White | C |
| 3 | Norm Zauchin | 1B |
| 12 | Ted Lepcio | 3B |
| 37 | Jimmy Piersall | CF |
| 18 | Frank Sullivan | P |

### Notable transactions

* June 12, 1955: Owen Friend was purchased from the Red Sox by the Chicago Cubs.

### 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 | 143 | 544 | 142 | .261 | 11 | 64 |
| 1B | Norm Zauchin | 130 | 477 | 114 | .239 | 27 | 93 |
| 2B | Billy Goodman | 149 | 599 | 176 | .294 | 0 | 52 |
| SS | Billy Klaus | 135 | 541 | 153 | .283 | 7 | 60 |
| 3B | Grady Hatton | 126 | 380 | 93 | .245 | 4 | 49 |
| LF | Ted Williams | 98 | 320 | 114 | .356 | 28 | 83 |
| CF | Jim Piersall | 149 | 515 | 146 | .283 | 13 | 62 |
| RF | Jackie Jensen | 152 | 574 | 158 | .275 | 26 | 116 |

#### 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 | 109 | 157 | 46 | .293 | 3 | 18 |
| Faye Throneberry | 60 | 144 | 37 | .257 | 6 | 27 |
| Ted Lepcio | 51 | 134 | 31 | .231 | 6 | 15 |
| Eddie Joost | 55 | 119 | 23 | .193 | 5 | 17 |
| Harry Agganis | 25 | 83 | 26 | .313 | 0 | 10 |
| Pete Daley | 17 | 50 | 11 | .220 | 0 | 5 |
| Karl Olson | 26 | 48 | 12 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Owen Friend | 14 | 42 | 11 | .262 | 0 | 2 |
| Sam Mele | 14 | 31 | 4 | .129 | 0 | 1 |
| Frank Malzone | 6 | 20 | 7 | .350 | 0 | 1 |
| Dick Gernert | 7 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Billy Consolo | 8 | 18 | 4 | .222 | 0 | 0 |
| Haywood Sullivan | 2 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Milt Bolling | 6 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Pagliaroni | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Frank Sullivan | 35 | 260.0 | 18 | 13 | 2.91 | 129 |
| Willard Nixon | 31 | 208.0 | 12 | 10 | 4.07 | 95 |
| Tom Brewer | 31 | 192.2 | 11 | 10 | 4.20 | 91 |

#### 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 Susce | 29 | 144.1 | 9 | 7 | 3.06 | 60 |
| Ike Delock | 29 | 143.2 | 9 | 7 | 3.76 | 88 |
| Bill Henry | 17 | 59.2 | 2 | 4 | 3.32 | 23 |
| Mel Parnell | 13 | 46.0 | 2 | 3 | 7.83 | 18 |
| Frank Baumann | 7 | 34.0 | 2 | 1 | 5.82 | 27 |
| Russ Kemmerer | 7 | 17.1 | 1 | 1 | 7.27 | 13 |

#### 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 | 43 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 2.84 | 31 |
| Tom Hurd | 43 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3.01 | 48 |
| Leo Kiely | 33 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2.80 | 36 |
| Dick Brodowski | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.63 | 10 |
| Hal Brown | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 2 |
| Joe Trimble | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Hersh Freeman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Bob Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| 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 |