# 1957 Chicago Cubs season

The 1957 Chicago Cubs season was the 86th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 82nd in the National League, and the 42nd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for seventh in the National League with a record of 62–92–2 (.403 winning percentage).

## Offseason

* November 13, 1956: Don Hoak, Warren Hacker, and Pete Whisenant were traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Redlegs for Ray Jablonski and Elmer Singleton.
* December 11, 1956: Eddie Miksis, Jim Davis, Sam Jones, and Hobie Landrith were traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tom Poholsky, Jackie Collum, Ray Katt, and Wally Lammers (minors).
* December 11, 1956: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the New York Yankees for Charlie Silvera and cash. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Harry Chiti to the Yankees on December 14.
* Prior to 1957 season: Lou Jackson was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Milwaukee Braves | 95 | 59 | .617 | — | 45‍–‍32 | 50‍–‍27 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 87 | 67 | .565 | 8 | 42‍–‍35 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 84 | 70 | .545 | 11 | 43‍–‍34 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 80 | 74 | .519 | 15 | 45‍–‍32 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 77 | 77 | .500 | 18 | 38‍–‍39 | 39‍–‍38 |
| New York Giants | 69 | 85 | .448 | 26 | 37‍–‍40 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 62 | 92 | .403 | 33 | 36‍–‍41 | 26‍–‍51 |
| Chicago Cubs | 62 | 92 | .403 | 33 | 31‍–‍46 | 31‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1957 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BRO | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Brooklyn | — | 17–5 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 12–10 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 12–10 |
| Chicago | 5–17 | — | 7–15 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 8–14–1 | 12–10–1 | 12–10 |
| Cincinnati | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 4–18 | 12–10 | 16–6 | 14–8 | 9–13 |
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 13–9 | 18–4 | — | 13–9 | 12–10–1 | 16–6 | 11–11 |
| New York | 10–12 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 | 9–13 | 8–14 |
| Philadelphia | 13–9 | 14–8–1 | 6–16 | 10–12–1 | 12–10 | — | 13–9 | 9–13 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 13–9 | 9–13 | — | 6–16 |
| St. Louis | 10–12 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 16–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 16, 1957: Ray Katt and Ray Jablonski were traded by the Cubs to the New York Giants for Dick Littlefield and Bob Lennon.
* April 20, 1957: Jim King was traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bobby Del Greco and Ed Mayer.
* May 1, 1957: Dee Fondy and Gene Baker were traded by the Cubs to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Dale Long and Lee Walls.
* May 23, 1957: Jackie Collum and Vito Valentinetti were traded by the Cubs to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Don Elston.
* June 8, 1957: Chuck Tanner was claimed on waivers by the Cubs from the Milwaukee Braves.
* September 10, 1957: Bobby Del Greco was purchased from the Cubs by the New York Yankees.

### 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 | Cal Neeman | 122 | 415 | 107 | .258 | 10 | 39 |
| 1B | Dale Long | 123 | 397 | 121 | .305 | 21 | 62 |
| 2B | Bobby Morgan | 125 | 425 | 88 | .207 | 5 | 27 |
| SS | Ernie Banks | 156 | 594 | 169 | .285 | 43 | 102 |
| 3B | Bobby Adams | 60 | 187 | 47 | .251 | 1 | 10 |
| LF | Lee Walls | 117 | 366 | 88 | .240 | 6 | 33 |
| CF | Bob Speake | 129 | 418 | 97 | .232 | 16 | 50 |
| RF | Walt Moryn | 149 | 568 | 164 | .289 | 19 | 88 |

#### 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 |
| Chuck Tanner | 95 | 318 | 91 | .286 | 7 | 42 |
| Jim Bolger | 112 | 273 | 75 | .275 | 5 | 29 |
| Jerry Kindall | 72 | 181 | 29 | .160 | 6 | 12 |
| Jack Littrell | 61 | 153 | 29 | .190 | 1 | 13 |
| Bob Will | 70 | 112 | 25 | .223 | 1 | 10 |
| Casey Wise | 43 | 106 | 19 | .179 | 0 | 7 |
| Jim Fanning | 47 | 89 | 16 | .180 | 0 | 4 |
| Charlie Silvera | 26 | 53 | 11 | .208 | 0 | 2 |
| Dee Fondy | 11 | 51 | 16 | .314 | 0 | 2 |
| Ed Winceniak | 17 | 50 | 12 | .240 | 1 | 8 |
| Gene Baker | 12 | 44 | 11 | .250 | 1 | 10 |
| Bobby Del Greco | 20 | 40 | 8 | .200 | 0 | 3 |
| Johnny Goryl | 9 | 38 | 8 | .211 | 0 | 1 |
| Frank Ernaga | 20 | 35 | 11 | .314 | 2 | 7 |
| Eddie Haas | 14 | 24 | 5 | .208 | 0 | 4 |
| Bob Lennon | 9 | 21 | 3 | .143 | 1 | 3 |
| Gordon Massa | 6 | 15 | 7 | .467 | 0 | 3 |
| Ed Mickelson | 6 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Jim Woods | 2 | 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 |
| Moe Drabowski | 36 | 239.2 | 13 | 15 | 3.53 | 170 |
| Dick Drott | 38 | 229.0 | 15 | 11 | 3.58 | 170 |
| Bob Rush | 31 | 205.1 | 6 | 16 | 4.38 | 103 |

#### 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 |
| Don Elston | 39 | 144.0 | 6 | 7 | 3.56 | 102 |
| Dave Hillman | 32 | 103.1 | 6 | 11 | 4.35 | 53 |
| Tom Poholsky | 28 | 84.0 | 1 | 7 | 4.93 | 28 |
| Don Kaiser | 20 | 72.0 | 2 | 6 | 5.00 | 23 |
| Elmer Singleton | 5 | 13.1 | 0 | 1 | 6.75 | 6 |
| Ed Mayer | 3 | 7.2 | 0 | 0 | 5.87 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Turk Lown | 67 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 3.77 | 51 |
| Dick Littlefield | 48 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5.35 | 51 |
| Jim Brosnan | 41 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3.38 | 73 |
| Vito Valentinetti | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 8 |
| Jackie Collum | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.75 | 7 |
| Bob Anderson | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.71 | 7 |
| John Briggs | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12.46 | 1 |
| Glen Hobbie | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.38 | 3 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | Portland Beavers | Pacific Coast League | Bill Sweeney, Frank Carswell and Bill Posedel |
| AA | Memphis Chicks | Southern Association | Lou Klein |
| AA | Fort Worth Cats | Texas League | Lee Handley |
| A | Des Moines Bruins | Western League | Lou Stringer and Hersh Martin |
| B | Burlington Bees | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Ken Raffensberger |
| C | Bakersfield Bears | California League | Dick Wilson and Babe Herman |
| C | Lafayette Bulls | Evangeline League | Walt Dixon |
| C | Magic Valley Cowboys | Pioneer League | Burdette Thurlby and Walt Dixon |
| D | Pulaski Cubs | Appalachian League | Vedie Himsl, Jim Bottomley, Halley Wilson and Burdette Thurlby |
| D | Paris Lakers | Midwest League | Verlon Walker |
| D | Ponca City Cubs | Sooner State League | Don Biebel |
Lafayette franchise folded, June 20, 1957