# 1952 Chicago Cubs season

The 1952 Chicago Cubs season was the 81st season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 77th in the National League and the 37th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished fifth in the National League with a record of 77–77. Starting from this season, WGN was the exclusive television broadcast partner of the Cubs franchise with the transfer of WBKB ownership to CBS.

## Offseason

* October 4, 1951: Smoky Burgess and Bob Borkowski were traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds for Johnny Pramesa and Bob Usher.
* October 19, 1951: Grant Dunlap was purchased by the Cubs from the Shreveport Sports.
* Prior to 1952 season: Footer Johnson was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 96 | 57 | .627 | — | 45‍–‍33 | 51‍–‍24 |
| New York Giants | 92 | 62 | .597 | 4½ | 50‍–‍27 | 42‍–‍35 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 88 | 66 | .571 | 8½ | 48‍–‍29 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 87 | 67 | .565 | 9½ | 47‍–‍29 | 40‍–‍38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 77 | 77 | .500 | 19½ | 42‍–‍35 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 69 | 85 | .448 | 27½ | 38‍–‍39 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Boston Braves | 64 | 89 | .418 | 32 | 31‍–‍45 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 42 | 112 | .273 | 54½ | 23‍–‍54 | 19‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1952 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 3–18–1 | 12–10 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 15–7–1 | 7–15 |
| Brooklyn | 18–3–1 | — | 13–9–1 | 17–5 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 19–3 | 11–11 |
| Chicago | 10–12 | 9–13–1 | — | 13–9 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 14–8 | 11–11 |
| Cincinnati | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 6–16 | 10–12 | 16–6 | 10–12 |
| New York | 13–9 | 14–8 | 12–10 | 16–6 | — | 10–12 | 15–7 | 12–10 |
| Philadelphia | 13–9 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | 10–12 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–15–1 | 3–19 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 7–15 | 6–16 | — | 5–17 |
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 12–10 | 17–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 8, 1952: Grant Dunlap was returned by the Cubs to the Shreveport Sports.

### 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 | Toby Atwell | 107 | 362 | 105 | .290 | 2 | 31 |
| 1B | Dee Fondy | 145 | 554 | 166 | .300 | 10 | 67 |
| 2B | Eddie Miksis | 93 | 383 | 89 | .232 | 2 | 19 |
| SS | Roy Smalley Jr. | 87 | 261 | 58 | .222 | 5 | 30 |
| 3B | Randy Jackson | 116 | 379 | 88 | .232 | 9 | 34 |
| OF | Hal Jeffcoat | 102 | 297 | 65 | .219 | 4 | 30 |
| OF | Frank Baumholtz | 103 | 409 | 133 | .325 | 4 | 35 |
| OF | Hank Sauer | 151 | 567 | 153 | .270 | 37 | 121 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Serena | 122 | 390 | 107 | .274 | 15 | 61 |
| Bob Addis | 93 | 292 | 86 | .295 | 1 | 20 |
| Gene Hermanski | 99 | 275 | 70 | .255 | 4 | 34 |
| Tommy Brown | 61 | 200 | 64 | .320 | 3 | 24 |
| Bob Ramazzotti | 50 | 183 | 52 | .284 | 1 | 12 |
| Harry Chiti | 32 | 113 | 31 | .274 | 5 | 13 |
| Bruce Edwards | 50 | 94 | 23 | .245 | 1 | 12 |
| Phil Cavarretta | 41 | 63 | 15 | .238 | 1 | 8 |
| Johnny Pramesa | 22 | 46 | 13 | .283 | 1 | 5 |
| Leon Brinkopf | 9 | 22 | 4 | .182 | 0 | 2 |
| Bud Hardin | 3 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Ron Northey | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Usher | 1 | 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 |
| Bob Rush | 34 | 250.1 | 17 | 13 | 2.70 | 157 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 41 | 202.2 | 9 | 14 | 4.44 | 110 |
| Warren Hacker | 33 | 185.0 | 15 | 9 | 2.58 | 84 |
| Paul Minner | 28 | 180.2 | 14 | 9 | 3.74 | 61 |

#### 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 |
| Turk Lown | 33 | 156.2 | 4 | 11 | 4.37 | 73 |
| Bob Kelly | 31 | 125.1 | 4 | 9 | 3.59 | 50 |
| Willie Ramsdell | 19 | 67.0 | 2 | 3 | 2.42 | 30 |
| Joe Hatten | 13 | 50.1 | 4 | 4 | 6.08 | 15 |

#### 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 |
| Dutch Leonard | 45 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 2.16 | 37 |
| Bob Schultz | 29 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 4.01 | 31 |
| Dick Manville | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.94 | 6 |
| Vern Fear | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.88 | 4 |
| Cal Howe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Monk Dubiel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | Los Angeles Angels | Pacific Coast League | Stan Hack |
| AAA | Springfield Cubs | International League | Bill Kelly |
| A | Macon Peaches | Sally League | Ed Hartness |
| A | Des Moines Bruins | Western League | Harry Strohm |
| B | Greensboro Patriots | Carolina League | Kemp Wicker |
| C | Visalia Cubs | California League | Larry Barton, Sr. |
| C | Sioux Falls Canaries | Northern League | Al Kubski |
| C | Topeka Owls | Western Association | Adolph Matulis and Jack Dean |
| D | Blackwell Broncos | Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League | Al Reitz |
| D | Hickory Rebels | Western Carolina League | Norm Small, Ed Yount and Charlie Bowles |
| D | Janesville Cubs | Wisconsin State League | Harry Bright |

## Awards and honors

* Hank Sauer, National League Most Valuable Player
* Hank Sauer, National League Home Run Champion (with Ralph Kiner)
* Hank Sauer, National League RBI Champion