# 1953 Chicago Cubs season

The 1953 Chicago Cubs season was the 82nd season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 78th in the National League and the 38th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished seventh in the National League with a record of 65–89.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 105 | 49 | .682 | — | 60‍–‍17 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 92 | 62 | .597 | 13 | 45‍–‍31 | 47‍–‍31 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 83 | 71 | .539 | 22 | 48‍–‍29 | 35‍–‍42 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 83 | 71 | .539 | 22 | 48‍–‍30 | 35‍–‍41 |
| New York Giants | 70 | 84 | .455 | 35 | 38‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 68 | 86 | .442 | 37 | 38‍–‍39 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Chicago Cubs | 65 | 89 | .422 | 40 | 43‍–‍34 | 22‍–‍55 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 50 | 104 | .325 | 55 | 26‍–‍51 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1953 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BR | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Brooklyn | — | 13–9–1 | 15–7 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 14–8 | 20–2 | 15–7 |
| Chicago | 9–13–1 | — | 12–10 | 8–14 | 9–13 | 5–17 | 11–11 | 11–11 |
| Cincinnati | 7–15 | 10–12 | — | 8–14 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 7–15–1 |
| Milwaukee | 9–13 | 14–8 | 14–8 | — | 14–8–1 | 13–9–1 | 15–7 | 13–9–1 |
| New York | 7–15 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 8–14–1 | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 9–13 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 17–5 | 10–12 | 9–13–1 | 13–9 | — | 15–7 | 11–11–1 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–20 | 11–11 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 11–11 | 7–15 | — | 5–17 |
| St. Louis | 7–15 | 11–11 | 15–7–1 | 9–13–1 | 13–9 | 11–11–1 | 17–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 4, 1953: Toby Atwell, Bob Schultz, Preston Ward, George Freese, Bob Addis, Gene Hermanski, and $150,000 were traded by the Cubs to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ralph Kiner, Joe Garagiola, Catfish Metkovich, and Howie Pollet.
* September 8, 1953: Ernie Banks was signed as an amateur free agent by the 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 | Clyde McCullough | 77 | 229 | 59 | .258 | 6 | 23 |
| 1B | Dee Fondy | 150 | 594 | 184 | .309 | 18 | 78 |
| 2B | Eddie Miksis | 142 | 577 | 145 | .251 | 8 | 39 |
| SS | Roy Smalley Jr. | 82 | 253 | 63 | .249 | 6 | 25 |
| 3B | Randy Jackson | 139 | 498 | 142 | .285 | 19 | 66 |
| OF | Ralph Kiner | 117 | 414 | 117 | .283 | 28 | 87 |
| OF | Frank Baumholtz | 133 | 520 | 159 | .306 | 3 | 25 |
| OF | Hank Sauer | 108 | 395 | 104 | .263 | 19 | 60 |

#### 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 | 93 | 275 | 69 | .251 | 10 | 52 |
| Joe Garagiola | 74 | 228 | 62 | .272 | 1 | 21 |
| Hal Jeffcoat | 106 | 183 | 43 | .235 | 4 | 22 |
| Tommy Brown | 65 | 138 | 27 | .196 | 2 | 13 |
| George Metkovich | 61 | 124 | 29 | .234 | 2 | 12 |
| Preston Ward | 33 | 100 | 23 | .230 | 4 | 12 |
| Toby Atwell | 24 | 74 | 17 | .230 | 1 | 8 |
| Carl Sawatski | 43 | 59 | 13 | .220 | 1 | 5 |
| Gene Hermanski | 18 | 40 | 6 | .150 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Ramazzotti | 26 | 39 | 6 | .154 | 0 | 4 |
| Ernie Banks | 10 | 35 | 11 | .314 | 2 | 6 |
| Bob Talbot | 8 | 30 | 10 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Gene Baker | 7 | 22 | 5 | .227 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Cavarretta | 27 | 21 | 6 | .286 | 0 | 3 |
| Bob Addis | 10 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Paul Schramka | 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 |
| Warren Hacker | 39 | 221.2 | 12 | 19 | 4.38 | 106 |
| Paul Minner | 31 | 201.0 | 12 | 15 | 4.21 | 64 |
| Bob Rush | 29 | 166.2 | 9 | 14 | 4.54 | 84 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 48 | 167.2 | 10 | 11 | 4.83 | 113 |
| Turk Lown | 49 | 148.1 | 8 | 7 | 5.16 | 76 |
| Howie Pollet | 25 | 111.1 | 5 | 6 | 4.12 | 45 |
| Bubba Church | 27 | 104.1 | 4 | 5 | 5.00 | 47 |
| Jim Willis | 13 | 43.1 | 2 | 1 | 3.12 | 15 |
| Bob Schultz | 7 | 11.2 | 0 | 2 | 5.40 | 4 |
| Don Elston | 2 | 5.0 | 0 | 1 | 14.40 | 2 |

#### 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 | 3 | 9 | 4.60 | 27 |
| Duke Simpson | 30 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8.00 | 21 |
| Sheldon Jones | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5.40 | 9 |
| Bob Kelly | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.53 | 6 |
| Fred Baczewski | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.30 | 3 |
| Bill Moisan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | Los Angeles Angels | Pacific Coast League | Stan Hack |
| AAA | Springfield Cubs | International League | Bruce Edwards and Jack Sheehan |
| A | Macon Peaches | Sally League | Frank Kerr |
| A | Des Moines Bruins | Western League | Kemp Wicker and Bruce Edwards |
| B | Cedar Rapids Indians | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Al Kubski and Bill Prince |
| C | Stockton Ports | California League | Bill Salkeld |
| C | Sioux Falls Canaries | Northern League | Dale Lynch |
| D | Gainesville Owls | Sooner State League | Jimmy Grigg, Ernie Shadid and Jesse Landrum |
| D | Hickory Rebels | Tar Heel League | Bill Parker |
| D | Janesville Cubs | Wisconsin State League | Bob Dant |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Des Moines