# 1959 New York Yankees season

The 1959 New York Yankees season was the 57th season for the team. The team finished in third place in the American League with a record of 79–75, 15 games behind the Chicago White Sox. New York was managed by Casey Stengel. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

## Offseason

* Prior to 1959 season: Elvio Jiménez was signed as an amateur free agent by the Yankees.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | — | 47‍–‍30 | 47‍–‍30 |
| Cleveland Indians | 89 | 65 | .578 | 5 | 43‍–‍34 | 46‍–‍31 |
| New York Yankees | 79 | 75 | .513 | 15 | 40‍–‍37 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Detroit Tigers | 76 | 78 | .494 | 18 | 41‍–‍36 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 75 | 79 | .487 | 19 | 43‍–‍34 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 74 | 80 | .481 | 20 | 38‍–‍39 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 66 | 88 | .429 | 28 | 37‍–‍40 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Washington Senators | 63 | 91 | .409 | 31 | 34‍–‍43 | 29‍–‍48 |

### Record vs. opponents

1959 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 11–11–1 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 12–10 |
| Boston | 14–8 | — | 8–14 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 13–9–1 | 16–6 |
| Cleveland | 12–10 | 14–8 | 7–15 | — | 14–8 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 8–14 | — | 15–7 | 14–8 | 10–12 |
| Kansas City | 14–8 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 7–15 | 7–15 | — | 5–17 | 12–10 |
| New York | 10–12 | 9–13 | 9–13–1 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 17–5 | — | 15–7 |
| Washington | 10–12 | 12–10 | 6–16 | 6–16 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 7–15 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 13, 1959: Bobby Del Greco was purchased from the Yankees by the Philadelphia Phillies.
* May 26, 1959: Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant, and Jerry Lumpe were traded by the Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics for Ralph Terry and Héctor López.
* September 11, 1959: Enos Slaughter was selected off waivers from the Yankees by the Milwaukee Braves.

### 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 | Yogi Berra | 131 | 472 | 134 | .284 | 19 | 69 |
| 1B | Bill Skowron | 74 | 282 | 84 | .298 | 15 | 59 |
| 2B | Bobby Richardson | 134 | 469 | 141 | .301 | 2 | 33 |
| SS | Tony Kubek | 132 | 512 | 143 | .279 | 6 | 51 |
| 3B | Héctor López | 112 | 406 | 115 | .283 | 16 | 69 |
| LF | Norm Siebern | 120 | 380 | 103 | .271 | 11 | 53 |
| CF | Mickey Mantle | 144 | 541 | 154 | .285 | 31 | 75 |
| RF | Hank Bauer | 114 | 341 | 81 | .238 | 9 | 39 |

#### 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 |
| Elston Howard | 125 | 443 | 121 | .273 | 18 | 73 |
| Gil McDougald | 127 | 434 | 109 | .251 | 4 | 34 |
| Marv Throneberry | 80 | 192 | 46 | .240 | 8 | 22 |
| Clete Boyer | 47 | 114 | 20 | .175 | 0 | 3 |
| Andy Carey | 41 | 101 | 26 | .257 | 3 | 9 |
| Enos Slaughter | 74 | 99 | 17 | .172 | 6 | 21 |
| Johnny Blanchard | 49 | 59 | 10 | .169 | 2 | 4 |
| Jerry Lumpe | 18 | 45 | 10 | .222 | 0 | 2 |
| Fritz Brickell | 18 | 39 | 10 | .256 | 1 | 4 |
| Jim Pisoni | 17 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 1 |
| Ken Hunt | 6 | 12 | 4 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Gordie Windhorn | 7 | 11 | 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 |
| Whitey Ford | 35 | 204.0 | 16 | 10 | 3.04 | 114 |
| Art Ditmar | 38 | 202.0 | 13 | 9 | 2.90 | 96 |
| Bob Turley | 33 | 154.1 | 8 | 11 | 4.32 | 111 |
| Ralph Terry | 24 | 127.1 | 3 | 7 | 3.39 | 55 |
| Don Larsen | 25 | 124.2 | 6 | 7 | 4.33 | 69 |
| Mark Freeman | 1 | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 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 |
| Duke Maas | 38 | 138.0 | 14 | 8 | 4.43 | 67 |
| Eli Grba | 19 | 50.1 | 2 | 5 | 6.44 | 23 |
| Jim Bronstad | 16 | 29.1 | 0 | 3 | 5.22 | 14 |
| Tom Sturdivant | 7 | 25.1 | 0 | 2 | 4.97 | 16 |
| John Gabler | 3 | 19.1 | 1 | 1 | 2.79 | 11 |

#### 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 |
| Ryne Duren | 41 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 1.88 | 96 |
| Jim Coates | 37 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2.87 | 64 |
| Bobby Shantz | 33 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2.38 | 66 |
| Gary Blaylock | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.51 | 20 |
| Johnny Kucks | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.64 | 9 |
| Zach Monroe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Richmond Virginians | International League | Steve Souchock |
| A | Binghamton Triplets | Eastern League | Charlie Silvera |
| B | Greensboro Yankees | Carolina League | Vern Hoscheit |
| C | Modesto Reds | California League | Hal Charnofsky |
| C | Fargo-Moorhead Twins | Northern League | Dee Phillips |
| D | St. Petersburg Saints | Florida State League | Tom Hamilton |
| D | Kearney Yankees | Nebraska State League | Jim Gleeson |
| D | Auburn Yankees | New York–Penn League | Bob Bauer |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Modesto, St. Petersburg