# 1956 Chicago Cubs season

The 1956 Chicago Cubs season was the 85th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 81st in the National League and the 41st at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished eighth and last in the National League with a record of 60–94.

## Offseason

* November 27, 1955: 1955 rule 5 draft
** Billy Muffett was drafted from the Cubs by the St. Louis Cardinals.
** Vito Valentinetti was drafted by the Cubs from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
* November 28, 1955: Hal Jeffcoat was traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Redlegs for Hobie Landrith.
* December 9, 1955: Frank Baumholtz was purchased from the Cubs by the Philadelphia Phillies.
* December 9, 1955: Randy Jackson and Don Elston were traded by the Cubs to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Don Hoak, Russ Meyer, and Walt Moryn.
* March 30, 1956: Hank Sauer was traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Pete Whisenant.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 93 | 61 | .604 | — | 52‍–‍25 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 92 | 62 | .597 | 1 | 47‍–‍29 | 45‍–‍33 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 91 | 63 | .591 | 2 | 51‍–‍26 | 40‍–‍37 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 76 | 78 | .494 | 17 | 43‍–‍34 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 71 | 83 | .461 | 22 | 40‍–‍37 | 31‍–‍46 |
| New York Giants | 67 | 87 | .435 | 26 | 37‍–‍40 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 66 | 88 | .429 | 27 | 35‍–‍43 | 31‍–‍45 |
| Chicago Cubs | 60 | 94 | .390 | 33 | 39‍–‍38 | 21‍–‍56 |

### Record vs. opponents

1956 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BR | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Brooklyn | — | 16–6 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 16–6 |
| Chicago | 6–16 | — | 6–16–1 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 13–9 | 10–12–1 | 9–13–1 |
| Cincinnati | 11–11 | 16–6–1 | — | 9–13 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 17–5 | 13–9 |
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 13–9 | 13–9 | — | 17–5 | 10–12 | 14–8–1 | 13–9 |
| New York | 8–14 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 5–17 | — | 11–11 | 13–9 | 7–15 |
| Philadelphia | 9–13 | 9–13 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 11–11 | — | 7–15 | 12–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 9–13 | 12–10–1 | 5–17 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | 15–7 | — | 8–14–1 |
| St. Louis | 6–16 | 13–9–1 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 10–12 | 14–8–1 | — |

### 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 | Hobie Landrith | 111 | 312 | 69 | .221 | 4 | 32 |
| 1B | Dee Fondy | 137 | 543 | 146 | .269 | 9 | 46 |
| 2B | Gene Baker | 140 | 546 | 141 | .258 | 12 | 57 |
| SS | Ernie Banks | 139 | 538 | 160 | .297 | 28 | 85 |
| 3B | Don Hoak | 121 | 424 | 91 | .215 | 5 | 37 |
| LF | Monte Irvin | 111 | 339 | 92 | .271 | 15 | 50 |
| CF | Pete Whisenant | 103 | 314 | 75 | .239 | 11 | 46 |
| RF | Walt Moryn | 147 | 529 | 151 | .285 | 23 | 67 |

#### 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 |
| Eddie Miksis | 114 | 356 | 85 | .239 | 9 | 27 |
| Jim King | 118 | 317 | 79 | .249 | 15 | 54 |
| Solly Drake | 65 | 215 | 55 | .256 | 2 | 15 |
| Harry Chiti | 72 | 203 | 43 | .212 | 4 | 18 |
| Frank Kellert | 71 | 129 | 24 | .186 | 4 | 17 |
| Jerry Kindall | 32 | 55 | 9 | .164 | 0 | 0 |
| Clyde McCullough | 14 | 19 | 4 | .211 | 0 | 1 |
| Ed Winceniak | 15 | 17 | 2 | .118 | 0 | 0 |
| Gale Wade | 10 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Fanning | 1 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Owen Friend | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Richie Myers | 4 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| El Tappe | 3 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Bob Rush | 32 | 239.2 | 13 | 10 | 3.19 | 104 |
| Sam Jones | 33 | 188.2 | 9 | 14 | 3.91 | 176 |
| Warren Hacker | 34 | 168.0 | 3 | 13 | 4.66 | 65 |
| Don Kaiser | 27 | 150.1 | 4 | 9 | 3.59 | 74 |
| Moe Drabowsky | 9 | 51.0 | 2 | 4 | 2.47 | 36 |
| Paul Minner | 10 | 47.0 | 2 | 5 | 6.89 | 14 |
| Dave Hillman | 2 | 12.1 | 0 | 2 | 2.19 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Davis | 46 | 120.1 | 5 | 7 | 3.66 | 66 |
| Jim Brosnan | 30 | 95.0 | 5 | 9 | 3.79 | 51 |
| Russ Meyer | 20 | 57.0 | 1 | 6 | 6.32 | 28 |

#### 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 | 61 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 3.58 | 74 |
| Vito Valentinetti | 42 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3.78 | 26 |
| Jim Hughes | 25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5.16 | 20 |
| John Briggs | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.69 | 1 |
| George Piktuzis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.20 | 3 |
| Bill Tremel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | Los Angeles Angels | Pacific Coast League | Bob Scheffing |
| AA | Tulsa Oilers | Texas League | Al Widmar |
| A | Des Moines Bruins | Western League | Lou Klein |
| B | Burlington Bees | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Ed McDade |
| C | Lafayette Oilers | Evangeline League | Ken Raffensberger |
| C | Magic Valley Cowboys | Pioneer League | Al Zarilla and Billy Raimondi |
| D | Crestview Braves | Alabama–Florida League | Walt Dixon |
| D | Paris Lakers | Midwest League | Marty Purtell |
| D | Ponca City Cubs | Sooner State League | Don Biebel |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Los Angeles, Paris; LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Lafayette