# 1958 Chicago Cubs season

The 1958 Chicago Cubs season was the 87th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 83rd in the National League and the 43rd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished fifth in the National League with a record of 72–82.

## Offseason

* October 8, 1957: Steve Bilko was purchased from the Cubs by the Cincinnati Redlegs.
* November 16, 1957: Casey Wise was traded by the Cubs to the Milwaukee Braves for Chick King, Ben Johnson, Leonard Williams (minors) and cash.
* December 2, 1957: Tony Taylor was drafted by the Cubs from the San Francisco Giants in the 1957 rule 5 draft.
* December 10, 1957: Tom Poholsky was traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Freddy Rodríguez.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Milwaukee Braves | 92 | 62 | .597 | — | 48‍–‍29 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 84 | 70 | .545 | 8 | 49‍–‍28 | 35‍–‍42 |
| San Francisco Giants | 80 | 74 | .519 | 12 | 44‍–‍33 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 76 | 78 | .494 | 16 | 40‍–‍37 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Chicago Cubs | 72 | 82 | .468 | 20 | 35‍–‍42 | 37‍–‍40 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 72 | 82 | .468 | 20 | 39‍–‍38 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 71 | 83 | .461 | 21 | 39‍–‍38 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 69 | 85 | .448 | 23 | 35‍–‍42 | 34‍–‍43 |

### Record vs. opponents

1958 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | CHC | CIN | LAD | MIL | PHI | PIT | SFG | STL |
| Chicago | — | 10–12 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 7–15 |
| Cincinnati | 12–10 | — | 11–11 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 12–10 |
| Los Angeles | 11–11 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 11–11 |
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 17–5 | 8–14 | — | 13–9 | 11–11 | 16–6 | 15–7 |
| Philadelphia | 9–13 | 7–15 | 12–10 | 9–13 | — | 12–10 | 8–14 | 12–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 13–9 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 12–10 |
| San Francisco | 10–12 | 11–11 | 16–6 | 6–16 | 14–8 | 10–12 | — | 13–9 |
| St. Louis | 15–7 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 7–15 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 9–13 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 3, 1958: Bob Speake and cash were traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Thomson.
* May 20, 1958: Jim Brosnan was traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Alvin Dark.

### 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 | Sammy Taylor | 96 | 301 | 78 | .259 | 6 | 36 |
| 1B | Dale Long | 142 | 480 | 130 | .271 | 20 | 75 |
| 2B | Tony Taylor | 140 | 497 | 117 | .235 | 6 | 27 |
| SS | Ernie Banks | 154 | 617 | 193 | .313 | 47 | 129 |
| 3B | Alvin Dark | 114 | 464 | 137 | .295 | 3 | 43 |
| LF | Walt Moryn | 143 | 512 | 135 | .264 | 26 | 77 |
| CF | Bobby Thomson | 152 | 547 | 155 | .283 | 21 | 82 |
| RF | Lee Walls | 136 | 513 | 156 | .304 | 24 | 72 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Goryl | 83 | 219 | 53 | .242 | 4 | 14 |
| Cal Neeman | 76 | 201 | 52 | .259 | 12 | 29 |
| Jim Bolger | 84 | 120 | 27 | .225 | 1 | 11 |
| Chuck Tanner | 73 | 103 | 27 | .262 | 4 | 17 |
| Bobby Adams | 62 | 96 | 27 | .281 | 0 | 4 |
| Jim Marshall | 26 | 81 | 22 | .272 | 5 | 11 |
| Lou Jackson | 24 | 35 | 6 | .171 | 1 | 6 |
| El Tappe | 17 | 28 | 6 | .214 | 0 | 4 |
| Moe Thacker | 11 | 24 | 6 | .250 | 2 | 3 |
| Paul Smith | 18 | 20 | 3 | .150 | 0 | 1 |
| Frank Ernaga | 9 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Chick King | 8 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Jerry Kindall | 3 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Footer Johnson | 8 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Will | 6 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Gabe Gabler | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Gordon Massa | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Morgan | 1 | 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 |
| Dick Drott | 39 | 167.1 | 7 | 11 | 5.43 | 127 |
| Moe Drabowski | 22 | 125.2 | 9 | 11 | 4.51 | 77 |
| John Briggs | 20 | 95.2 | 5 | 5 | 4.52 | 46 |
| Jim Brosnan | 8 | 51.2 | 3 | 4 | 3.14 | 24 |
| Dick Ellsworth | 1 | 2.1 | 0 | 1 | 15.43 | 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 |
| Taylor Phillips | 39 | 170.1 | 7 | 10 | 4.76 | 102 |
| Glen Hobbie | 55 | 168.1 | 10 | 6 | 3.74 | 91 |
| Dave Hillman | 31 | 125.2 | 4 | 8 | 3.15 | 65 |
| Bob Anderson | 17 | 65.2 | 3 | 3 | 3.97 | 51 |
| Marcelino Solis | 15 | 52.0 | 3 | 3 | 6.06 | 15 |
| Gene Fodge | 16 | 39.2 | 1 | 1 | 4.76 | 15 |
| John Buzhardt | 6 | 24.1 | 3 | 0 | 1.85 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Don Elston | 69 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 2.88 | 84 |
| Bill Henry | 44 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 2.88 | 58 |
| Dolan Nichols | 24 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5.01 | 9 |
| Ed Mayer | 19 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.80 | 14 |
| Hersh Freeman | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.31 | 7 |
| Freddy Rodríguez | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7.36 | 5 |
| Turk Lown | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 4 |
| Elmer Singleton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Portland Beavers | Pacific Coast League | Tommy Heath and Larry Jansen |
| AA | Fort Worth Cats | Texas League | Lou Klein |
| A | Pueblo Bruins | Western League | Ray Mueller |
| B | Burlington Bees | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Walt Dixon |
| C | Magic Valley Cowboys | Pioneer League | Dick Wilson |
| D | Pulaski Cubs | Appalachian League | Hersh Martin |
| D | Paris Lakers | Midwest League | Verlon Walker |
| D | Carlsbad Potashers | Sophomore League | Tony York |