1956 Baltimore Orioles season

The 1956 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing 6th in the American League with a record of 69 wins and 85 losses.

1956 Baltimore Orioles
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMemorial Stadium
CityBaltimore, Maryland
Record69–85 (.448)
League place6th
OwnersJerold Hoffberger, Joseph Iglehart
General managersPaul Richards
ManagersPaul Richards
TelevisionWMAR-TV/WAAM/WBAL-TV
RadioWCBM
(Ernie Harwell, Chuck Thompson, Bailey Goss)
← 1955 Seasons 1957 →

Offseason

edit
  • October 10, 1955: Ed Lopat was released by the Orioles.[1]

Regular season

edit
  • September 20, 1956: Catcher Tom Gastall was killed in a plane crash.[2]
  • September 30, 1956: Joe Frazier hit a home run in the last at bat of his career.[3]

Season standings

edit
American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 97 57 .630 49‍–‍28 48‍–‍29
Cleveland Indians 88 66 .571 9 46‍–‍31 42‍–‍35
Chicago White Sox 85 69 .552 12 46‍–‍31 39‍–‍38
Boston Red Sox 84 70 .545 13 43‍–‍34 41‍–‍36
Detroit Tigers 82 72 .532 15 37‍–‍40 45‍–‍32
Baltimore Orioles 69 85 .448 28 41‍–‍36 28‍–‍49
Washington Senators 59 95 .383 38 32‍–‍45 27‍–‍50
Kansas City Athletics 52 102 .338 45 22‍–‍55 30‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

edit

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KCA NYY WSH
Baltimore 6–16 9–13 5–17 13–9 15–7 9–13 12–10
Boston 16–6 14–8 13–9–1 12–10 12–10 8–14 9–13
Chicago 13–9 8–14 15–7 13–9 14–8 9–13 13–9
Cleveland 17–5 9–13–1 7–15 11–11 17–5 10–12 17–5
Detroit 9–13 10–12 9–13 11–11 16–6 12–10 15–7–1
Kansas City 7–15 10–12 8–14 5–17 6–16 4–18 12–10
New York 13–9 14–8 13–9 12–10 10–12 18–4 17–5
Washington 10–12 13–9 9–13 5–17 7–15–1 10–12 5–17


Notable transactions

edit

Roster

edit
1956 Baltimore Orioles
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

edit

Batting

edit

Starters by position

edit

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 Gus Triandos 131 452 126 .279 21 88
1B Bob Boyd 70 225 70 .311 2 11
2B Billy Gardner 144 515 119 .231 11 50
SS Willy Miranda 148 461 100 .217 2 34
3B George Kell 102 345 90 .261 8 37
LF Bob Nieman 114 388 125 .322 12 64
CF Dick Williams 87 353 101 .286 11 37
RF Tito Francona 139 445 115 .258 9 57

Other batters

edit

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
Hal Smith 77 229 60 .262 3 18
Bob Hale 85 207 49 .237 1 24
Jim Pyburn 84 156 27 .173 2 11
Dave Philley 32 117 24 .205 1 17
Hoot Evers 48 112 27 .241 1 4
Bobby Adams 41 111 25 .225 0 7
Chuck Diering 50 97 18 .186 1 4
Wayne Causey 53 88 15 .170 1 4
Joe Frazier 45 74 19 .257 1 12
Tex Nelson 39 68 14 .206 0 5
Grady Hatton 27 61 9 .148 1 3
Tom Gastall 32 56 11 .196 0 4
Brooks Robinson 15 44 10 .227 1 1
Joe Ginsberg 15 28 2 .071 0 2
Fred Marsh 20 24 3 .125 0 0
Jim Dyck 11 23 5 .217 0 0
Dave Pope 12 19 3 .158 0 1

Pitching

edit

Starting pitchers

edit

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ray Moore 32 185.0 12 7 4.18 105
Connie Johnson 26 183.2 9 10 3.43 130
Bill Wight 35 174.2 9 12 4.02 84
Jim Wilson 7 48.1 4 2 5.03 31
Bob Harrison 1 1.2 0 0 16.20 0

Other pitchers

edit

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Hal Brown 35 151.2 9 7 4.04 57
Erv Palica 29 116.1 4 11 4.49 62
Mike Fornieles 30 111.0 4 7 3.97 53
Don Ferrarese 36 102.0 4 10 5.03 81
Billy Loes 21 56.2 2 7 4.76 22
Fred Besana 7 17.2 1 0 5.60 7
Charlie Beamon 2 13.0 2 0 1.38 14
Ron Moeller 4 8.2 0 1 4.15 2
Sandy Consuegra 4 8.2 1 1 4.15 1
Billy O'Dell 4 8.0 0 0 1.13 6

Relief pitchers

edit

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
George Zuverink 62 7 6 16 4.16 33
Johnny Schmitz 18 0 3 0 3.99 15
Fritz Dorish 13 0 0 0 4.12 4
Morrie Martin 9 1 1 0 10.80 3
Mel Held 4 0 0 0 5.14 4
Babe Birrer 4 0 0 0 6.75 1
George Werley 1 0 0 0 9.00 0
Gordie Sundin 1 0 0 0 inf 0

Farm system

edit
Level Team League Manager
Open Vancouver Mounties Pacific Coast League Lefty O'Doul
AA San Antonio Missions Texas League Joe Schultz
A Columbus Foxes Sally League Skeeter Newsome
B Lubbock Hubbers/Texas City Texans Big State League Bill Krueger and Jay Haney
C Phoenix Stars Arizona–Mexico League Billy Capps
C Aberdeen Pheasants Northern League George Staller
D Thomson Orioles Georgia State League Barney Lutz and Enid Drake
D Paris Orioles Sooner State League Jimmy Adair and Barney Lutz

Lubbock franchise transferred to Texas City and renamed, July 8, 1956

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Ed Lopat at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ List of athletes who have died in plane crashes
  3. ^ "Home Run in Last at Bat | Baseball Almanac".
  4. ^ Billy Loes at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Dave Philley at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Morrie Martin at Baseball-Reference
  7. ^ Joe Ginsberg at Baseball-Reference

References

edit