# 1954 Chicago Cubs season

The 1954 Chicago Cubs season was the 83rd season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 79th in the National League and the 39th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished seventh in the National League with a record of 64–90.

## Offseason

* November 30, 1953: Carl Sawatski was selected off waivers from the Cubs by the Chicago White Sox.
* December 7, 1953: Catfish Metkovich was purchased from the Cubs by the Milwaukee Braves.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 53‍–‍23 | 44‍–‍34 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 92 | 62 | .597 | 5 | 45‍–‍32 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 89 | 65 | .578 | 8 | 43‍–‍34 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 75 | 79 | .487 | 22 | 39‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Cincinnati Redlegs | 74 | 80 | .481 | 23 | 41‍–‍36 | 33‍–‍44 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 72 | 82 | .468 | 25 | 33‍–‍44 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 64 | 90 | .416 | 33 | 40‍–‍37 | 24‍–‍53 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 53 | 101 | .344 | 44 | 31‍–‍46 | 22‍–‍55 |

### Record vs. opponents

1954 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BKN | CHC | CIN | MIL | NYG | PHP | PIT | STL |
| Brooklyn | — | 15–7 | 16–6 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 14–8 |
| Chicago | 7–15 | — | 8–14 | 6–16 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 15–7 | 14–8 |
| Cincinnati | 6–16 | 14–8 | — | 10–12 | 7–15 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 8–14 |
| Milwaukee | 12–10 | 16–6 | 12–10 | — | 10–12 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 12–10 |
| New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 15–7 | 12–10 | — | 16–6 | 14–8 | 12–10 |
| Philadelphia | 9–13 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | 16–6 | 12–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 7–15 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 6–16 | — | 10–12 |
| St. Louis | 8–14 | 8–14 | 14–8 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 12–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 30, 1954: Steve Bilko was purchased by the Cubs from the St. Louis Cardinals for $12,500.
* June 8, 1954: Billy Muffett was purchased by the Cubs from the Shreveport Sports.
* June 14, 1954: Luis Márquez was traded by the Cubs to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Hal Rice.
* September 8, 1954: Joe Garagiola was selected off waivers from the Cubs by the New York Giants.

### 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 | Joe Garagiola | 63 | 153 | 43 | .281 | 5 | 21 |
| 1B | Dee Fondy | 141 | 568 | 162 | .285 | 9 | 49 |
| 2B | Gene Baker | 135 | 541 | 149 | .275 | 13 | 61 |
| SS | Ernie Banks | 154 | 593 | 163 | .275 | 19 | 79 |
| 3B | Randy Jackson | 126 | 484 | 132 | .273 | 19 | 67 |
| LF | Ralph Kiner | 147 | 557 | 159 | .285 | 22 | 73 |
| CF | Bob Talbot | 114 | 403 | 97 | .241 | 1 | 19 |
| RF | Hank Sauer | 142 | 520 | 150 | .288 | 41 | 103 |

#### 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 |
| Frank Baumholtz | 90 | 303 | 90 | .297 | 4 | 28 |
| Walker Cooper | 57 | 158 | 49 | .310 | 7 | 32 |
| El Tappe | 46 | 119 | 22 | .185 | 0 | 4 |
| Eddie Miksis | 38 | 99 | 20 | .202 | 2 | 3 |
| Steve Bilko | 47 | 92 | 22 | .239 | 4 | 12 |
| Clyde McCullough | 31 | 81 | 21 | .259 | 3 | 17 |
| Hal Rice | 51 | 72 | 11 | .153 | 0 | 5 |
| Vern Morgan | 24 | 64 | 15 | .234 | 0 | 2 |
| Bill Serena | 41 | 63 | 10 | .159 | 4 | 13 |
| Jim Fanning | 11 | 38 | 7 | .184 | 0 | 1 |
| Luis Márquez | 17 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Robertson | 14 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bruce Edwards | 4 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Kitsos | 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 | 33 | 236.1 | 13 | 15 | 3.77 | 124 |
| Paul Minner | 32 | 218.0 | 11 | 11 | 3.96 | 79 |
| Howie Pollet | 20 | 128.1 | 8 | 10 | 3.58 | 58 |
| Dave Cole | 18 | 84.0 | 3 | 8 | 5.36 | 37 |
| Al Lary | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Warren Hacker | 39 | 158.2 | 6 | 13 | 4.25 | 80 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 36 | 148.0 | 4 | 11 | 5.29 | 69 |
| Jim Davis | 46 | 127.2 | 11 | 7 | 3.52 | 58 |
| Bubba Church | 7 | 14.2 | 1 | 3 | 9.82 | 8 |

#### 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 |
| Hal Jeffcoat | 43 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5.19 | 35 |
| Bill Tremel | 33 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4.21 | 21 |
| Jim Brosnan | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.45 | 17 |
| Turk Lown | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.14 | 16 |
| Jim Willis | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.91 | 5 |
| Bob Zick | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.27 | 9 |
| John Pyecha | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10.13 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | Los Angeles Angels | Pacific Coast League | Bill Sweeney |
| AA | Beaumont Exporters | Texas League | Les Fleming and Mickey Livingston |
| A | Macon Peaches | Sally League | Nick Cullop |
| A | Des Moines Bruins | Western League | Les Peden |
| B | Cedar Rapids Indians | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Bill Prince |
| C | Stockton Ports | California League | Gene Handley |
| C | Magic Valley Cowboys | Pioneer League | Everett Robinson |
| C | Blackwell Broncos | Western Association | Joe Consoli and Al Kubski |
| D | Gainesville Owls | Sooner State League | Dick Rigazio |
| D | Hickory Rebels | Tar Heel League | Charlie Teague |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Des Moines, Blackwell Tar Heel League disbanded, June 21, 1954