# 1959 Chicago Cubs season

The 1959 Chicago Cubs season was the 88th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 84th in the National League and the 44th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs tied the Cincinnati Reds for fifth in the National League with a record of 74–80, thirteen games behind the NL and World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

## Offseason

* January 23, 1959: Jim Bolger and John Briggs were traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Earl Averill and Morrie Martin.
* March 9, 1959: Chuck Tanner was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Smith.
* Prior to 1959 season: Dick Burwell was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.

## Regular season

Ernie Banks became the first shortstop in the history of the NL to win the MVP award in back to back seasons.
One of baseball history's weirdest plays took place on June 30, 1959, when the St. Louis Cardinals played the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Stan Musial was at the plate facing Bob Anderson with a count of 3–1. Anderson's next pitch was errant, the ball evaded catcher Sammy Taylor and rolled all the way to the backstop. Umpire Vic Delmore called "ball four", but Anderson and Taylor contended that Musial foul tipped the ball. Because the ball was still in play and Delmore was embroiled in an argument with Anderson and Taylor, Musial tried to run for second base. Seeing that Musial was running to second, third baseman Alvin Dark ran to the backstop to retrieve the ball. The ball wound up in the hands of field announcer Pat Pieper, but Dark ended up getting it back anyway. Absentmindedly, however, Delmore pulled out a new baseball and gave it to Taylor. When Anderson noticed that Musial was trying for second, he took the new ball from Sammy Taylor and threw it towards Tony Taylor covering second base, and the ball went over Taylor's head into the outfield. At the same time that Anderson threw the new ball towards second baseman Taylor, Dark threw the original ball to shortstop Ernie Banks. Musial did not see the throw and he was declared out when the tag was made.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 88 | 68 | .564 | — | 46‍–‍32 | 42‍–‍36 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 86 | 70 | .551 | 2 | 49‍–‍29 | 37‍–‍41 |
| San Francisco Giants | 83 | 71 | .539 | 4 | 42‍–‍35 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 78 | 76 | .506 | 9 | 47‍–‍30 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Chicago Cubs | 74 | 80 | .481 | 13 | 38‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 74 | 80 | .481 | 13 | 43‍–‍34 | 31‍–‍46 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 71 | 83 | .461 | 16 | 42‍–‍35 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 64 | 90 | .416 | 23 | 37‍–‍40 | 27‍–‍50 |

### Record vs. opponents

1959 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | CHC | CIN | LA | MIL | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Chicago | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 10–12–1 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 10–12 |
| Cincinnati | 13–9 | — | 13–9 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 11–11 |
| Los Angeles | 11–11 | 9–13 | — | 14–10 | 17–5 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 12–10 |
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 11–11 | 10–14 | — | 13–9 | 15–7–1 | 12–10 | 13–9 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 9–13 | 9–13 | 7–15 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–12 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 7–15–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 |
| San Francisco | 10–12 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 |
| St. Louis | 12–10 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 6–16 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 4, 1959: Bob Smith was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Randy Jackson.

### 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 | 110 | 353 | 95 | .269 | 13 | 43 |
| 1B | Dale Long | 110 | 296 | 70 | .236 | 14 | 37 |
| 2B | Tony Taylor | 150 | 624 | 175 | .280 | 8 | 38 |
| 3B | Alvin Dark | 136 | 477 | 126 | .264 | 6 | 45 |
| SS | Ernie Banks | 155 | 589 | 179 | .304 | 45 | 143 |
| LF | Walt Moryn | 117 | 381 | 89 | .234 | 14 | 48 |
| CF | George Altman | 135 | 420 | 103 | .245 | 12 | 47 |
| RF | Lee Walls | 120 | 354 | 91 | .257 | 8 | 33 |

#### 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 |
| Bobby Thomson | 122 | 374 | 97 | .259 | 11 | 52 |
| Jim Marshall | 108 | 294 | 74 | .252 | 11 | 40 |
| Earl Averill | 74 | 186 | 44 | .237 | 10 | 34 |
| Irv Noren | 65 | 156 | 50 | .321 | 4 | 19 |
| Art Schult | 42 | 118 | 32 | .271 | 2 | 14 |
| Cal Neeman | 44 | 105 | 17 | .162 | 3 | 9 |
| Randy Jackson | 41 | 74 | 18 | .243 | 1 | 10 |
| Johnny Goryl | 25 | 48 | 9 | .188 | 1 | 6 |
| Billy Williams | 18 | 33 | 5 | .152 | 0 | 2 |
| Lou Jackson | 6 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Chick King | 7 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Adams | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Eaddy | 15 | 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 Anderson | 37 | 235.1 | 12 | 13 | 4.13 | 113 |
| Glen Hobbie | 46 | 234.0 | 16 | 13 | 3.69 | 138 |
| Moe Drabowsky | 31 | 141.2 | 5 | 10 | 4.13 | 70 |
| Art Ceccarelli | 18 | 102.0 | 5 | 5 | 4.76 | 56 |
| Dick Drott | 8 | 27.1 | 1 | 2 | 5.93 | 15 |

#### 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 |
| Dave Hillman | 39 | 191.0 | 8 | 11 | 3.53 | 88 |
| John Buzhardt | 31 | 101.1 | 4 | 5 | 4.97 | 33 |
| Seth Morehead | 11 | 18.2 | 0 | 1 | 4.82 | 9 |
| Ben Johnson | 4 | 16.2 | 0 | 0 | 2.16 | 6 |
| Taylor Phillips | 7 | 16.2 | 0 | 2 | 7.56 | 5 |
| Joe Schaffernoth | 5 | 7.2 | 1 | 0 | 8.22 | 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 |
| Don Elston | 65 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 3.32 | 82 |
| Bill Henry | 65 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 2.68 | 115 |
| Elmer Singleton | 21 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.72 | 25 |
| Ed Donnelly | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.14 | 6 |
| Bob Porterfield | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.37 | 0 |
| Morrie Martin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19.29 | 1 |
| Bob Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 81.00 | 0 |

## Awards and records

* Ernie Banks, National League MVP

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Fort Worth Cats | American Association | Lou Klein |
| AA | San Antonio Missions | Texas League | Grady Hatton |
| A | Lancaster Red Roses | Eastern League | Nick Cullop |
| B | Burlington Bees | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Ray Mueller |
| D | Morristown Cubs | Appalachian League | Red Hayworth |
| D | Paris Lakers | Midwest League | Verlon Walker |
| D | Carlsbad Potashers | Sophomore League | Walt Dixon |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Morristown