# 1954 Cincinnati Redlegs season

The 1954 Cincinnati Redlegs season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the National League with a record of 74–80, 23 games behind the New York Giants.

## Offseason

* October 6, 1953: Art Fowler was acquired by the Redlegs from the Milwaukee Braves as part of a conditional deal.
* December 1, 1953: Brooks Lawrence was drafted from the Redlegs by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1953 minor league draft.

## Regular season

* April 17, 1954: In the seventh inning of the Redlegs' third game of 1954, against the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium, Nino Escalera became the first black player in the history of the Cincinnati franchise. Escalera, an Afro-Latin American from Puerto Rico, pinch hits for Andy Seminick and singles off Lew Burdette. The next batter for the Redlegs is another pinch hitter, Chuck Harmon, who bats for Corky Valentine; Harmon becomes the team's first-ever African-American player.

### 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

* July 1954: Ernie Broglio was acquired by the Redlegs from the Oakland Oaks.
* August 7, 1954: Jim Pearce was purchased by the Redlegs from the Washington Senators.

### 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 | Andy Seminick | 86 | 247 | 58 | .235 | 7 | 30 |
| 1B | Ted Kluszewski | 149 | 573 | 187 | .326 | 49 | 141 |
| 2B | Johnny Temple | 146 | 505 | 155 | .307 | 0 | 44 |
| SS | Roy McMillan | 154 | 588 | 147 | .250 | 4 | 42 |
| 3B | Bobby Adams | 110 | 390 | 105 | .269 | 3 | 23 |
| LF | Jim Greengrass | 139 | 542 | 152 | .280 | 27 | 92 |
| CF | Gus Bell | 153 | 619 | 185 | .299 | 17 | 101 |
| RF | Wally Post | 130 | 451 | 115 | .255 | 18 | 83 |

#### 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 |
| Chuck Harmon | 94 | 286 | 68 | .238 | 2 | 25 |
| Ed Bailey | 73 | 183 | 36 | .197 | 9 | 20 |
| Bob Borkowski | 73 | 162 | 43 | .265 | 1 | 19 |
| Lloyd Merriman | 73 | 112 | 30 | .268 | 0 | 16 |
| Hobie Landrith | 48 | 81 | 16 | .198 | 5 | 14 |
| Nino Escalera | 73 | 69 | 11 | .159 | 0 | 3 |
| Rocky Bridges | 53 | 52 | 12 | .231 | 0 | 2 |
| Jim Bolger | 5 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Grady Hatton | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnny Lipon | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dick Murphy | 6 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Connie Ryan | 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 |
| Art Fowler | 40 | 227.2 | 12 | 10 | 3.83 | 93 |
| Corky Valentine | 36 | 194.1 | 12 | 11 | 4.45 | 73 |
| Bud Podbielan | 27 | 131.0 | 7 | 10 | 5.36 | 42 |
| Fred Baczewski | 29 | 130.0 | 6 | 6 | 5.26 | 43 |

#### 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 |
| Joe Nuxhall | 35 | 166.2 | 12 | 5 | 3.89 | 85 |
| Harry Perkowski | 28 | 95.2 | 2 | 8 | 6.11 | 32 |
| Howie Judson | 37 | 93.1 | 5 | 7 | 3.95 | 27 |
| Karl Drews | 22 | 60.0 | 4 | 4 | 6.00 | 29 |
| Herm Wehmeier | 12 | 33.2 | 0 | 3 | 6.68 | 13 |
| Jim Pearce | 2 | 11.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Ken Raffensberger | 6 | 10.1 | 0 | 2 | 7.84 | 5 |
| Mario Picone | 4 | 10.1 | 0 | 1 | 6.10 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Frank Smith | 50 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 2.67 | 51 |
| Jackie Collum | 36 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3.76 | 28 |
| Moe Savransky | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.88 | 7 |
| Cliff Ross | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Jerry Lane | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.69 | 2 |
| George Zuverink | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Tulsa Oilers | Texas League | Joe Schultz |
| A | Columbia Reds | Sally League | Ernie White |
| B | High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms | Carolina League | Tommy Reis, Don Padgett and Fred Lanifero |
| B | Colonial Heights-Petersburg Colts | Piedmont League | Johnny Vander Meer |
| C | Maryville-Alcoa Twins/Morristown Reds | Mountain States League | Tuck McWilliams |
| C | Duluth Dukes | Northern League | Oscar Khedarian, Rip Wade and Danny Litwhiler |
| C | Ogden Reds | Pioneer League | Earle Brucker Sr. |
| D | Fort Walton Beach Jets | Alabama–Florida League | John Streza |
| D | Douglas Trojans | Georgia State League | Charles Bledsoe |
| D | Fitzgerald Redlegs | Georgia–Florida League | Red Treadway |
Maryville-Alcoa franchise transferred to Morristown, June 19, 1954; Morristown club folded, July 7