# 1956 Baltimore Orioles season

The 1956 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing 6th in the American League with a record of 69 wins and 85 losses.

## Offseason

* October 10, 1955: Ed Lopat was released by the Orioles.

## Regular season

* September 20, 1956: Catcher Tom Gastall was killed in a plane crash.
* September 30, 1956: Joe Frazier hit a home run in the last at bat of his career.

### 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 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 14, 1956: Billy Loes was purchased by the Orioles from the Brooklyn Dodgers for $20,000.
* May 21, 1956: Dave Philley and Jim Wilson were traded by the Orioles to the Chicago White Sox for Mike Fornieles, Connie Johnson, George Kell and Bob Nieman.
* July 13, 1956: Morrie Martin was selected off waivers by the Orioles from the Chicago White Sox.
* August 17, 1956: Hal Smith was traded by the Orioles to the Kansas City Athletics for Joe Ginsberg.

### 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 | Gus Triandos | 131 | 452 | 126 | .279 | 21 | 88 |
| 1B | Bob Boyd | 70 | 225 | 70 | .311 | 2 | 11 |
| 2B | Billy Gardner | 144 | 515 | 119 | .231 | 11 | 50 |
| SS | Willy Miranda | 148 | 461 | 100 | .217 | 2 | 34 |
| 3B | George Kell | 102 | 345 | 90 | .261 | 8 | 37 |
| LF | Bob Nieman | 114 | 388 | 125 | .322 | 12 | 64 |
| CF | Dick Williams | 87 | 353 | 101 | .286 | 11 | 37 |
| RF | Tito Francona | 139 | 445 | 115 | .258 | 9 | 57 |

#### 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 |
| Hal Smith | 77 | 229 | 60 | .262 | 3 | 18 |
| Bob Hale | 85 | 207 | 49 | .237 | 1 | 24 |
| Jim Pyburn | 84 | 156 | 27 | .173 | 2 | 11 |
| Dave Philley | 32 | 117 | 24 | .205 | 1 | 17 |
| Hoot Evers | 48 | 112 | 27 | .241 | 1 | 4 |
| Bobby Adams | 41 | 111 | 25 | .225 | 0 | 7 |
| Chuck Diering | 50 | 97 | 18 | .186 | 1 | 4 |
| Wayne Causey | 53 | 88 | 15 | .170 | 1 | 4 |
| Joe Frazier | 45 | 74 | 19 | .257 | 1 | 12 |
| Tex Nelson | 39 | 68 | 14 | .206 | 0 | 5 |
| Grady Hatton | 27 | 61 | 9 | .148 | 1 | 3 |
| Tom Gastall | 32 | 56 | 11 | .196 | 0 | 4 |
| Brooks Robinson | 15 | 44 | 10 | .227 | 1 | 1 |
| Joe Ginsberg | 15 | 28 | 2 | .071 | 0 | 2 |
| Fred Marsh | 20 | 24 | 3 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Dyck | 11 | 23 | 5 | .217 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Pope | 12 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 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 |
| Ray Moore | 32 | 185.0 | 12 | 7 | 4.18 | 105 |
| Connie Johnson | 26 | 183.2 | 9 | 10 | 3.43 | 130 |
| Bill Wight | 35 | 174.2 | 9 | 12 | 4.02 | 84 |
| Jim Wilson | 7 | 48.1 | 4 | 2 | 5.03 | 31 |
| Bob Harrison | 1 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 16.20 | 0 |

#### 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 |
| Hal Brown | 35 | 151.2 | 9 | 7 | 4.04 | 57 |
| Erv Palica | 29 | 116.1 | 4 | 11 | 4.49 | 62 |
| Mike Fornieles | 30 | 111.0 | 4 | 7 | 3.97 | 53 |
| Don Ferrarese | 36 | 102.0 | 4 | 10 | 5.03 | 81 |
| Billy Loes | 21 | 56.2 | 2 | 7 | 4.76 | 22 |
| Fred Besana | 7 | 17.2 | 1 | 0 | 5.60 | 7 |
| Charlie Beamon | 2 | 13.0 | 2 | 0 | 1.38 | 14 |
| Ron Moeller | 4 | 8.2 | 0 | 1 | 4.15 | 2 |
| Sandy Consuegra | 4 | 8.2 | 1 | 1 | 4.15 | 1 |
| Billy O'Dell | 4 | 8.0 | 0 | 0 | 1.13 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| George Zuverink | 62 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 4.16 | 33 |
| Johnny Schmitz | 18 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.99 | 15 |
| Fritz Dorish | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.12 | 4 |
| Morrie Martin | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10.80 | 3 |
| Mel Held | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.14 | 4 |
| Babe Birrer | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 1 |
| George Werley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |
| Gordie Sundin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | inf | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | Vancouver Mounties | Pacific Coast League | Lefty O'Doul |
| AA | San Antonio Missions | Texas League | Joe Schultz |
| A | Columbus Foxes | Sally League | Skeeter Newsome |
| B | Lubbock Hubbers/Texas City Texans | Big State League | Bill Krueger and Jay Haney |
| C | Phoenix Stars | Arizona–Mexico League | Billy Capps |
| C | Aberdeen Pheasants | Northern League | George Staller |
| D | Thomson Orioles | Georgia State League | Barney Lutz and Enid Drake |
| D | Paris Orioles | Sooner State League | Jimmy Adair and Barney Lutz |
Lubbock franchise transferred to Texas City and renamed, July 8, 1956