The 1955 Boston Red Sox season was the 55th season of franchise of Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished fourth in the American League (AL) with a record of 84 wins and 70 losses, 12 games behind the New York Yankees.
Offseason October 14, 1954: Owen Friend was purchased by the Red Sox from the Cleveland Indians.Owen Friend page at Baseball Reference
Regular season After finishing fourth — but 42 games behind the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians — in 1954, the 1955 Red Sox improved substantially, gaining 15 games in the win column (although again finishing fourth). The Red Sox played especially well throughout the early and middle parts of the season, seemingly in pennant contention for the first time since 1950. Much of the improvement was ascribed to rookie manager Pinky Higgins, promoted to Boston after eight years as a skipper in the team's farm system.
But the Red Sox' improvement on the field was overshadowed by the sudden illness and death, on June 27, of the team's sophomore first baseman, Harry Agganis. Perhaps the most celebrated Boston-area athlete of the 20th century, the Lynn, Massachusetts, native had starred in football as the quarterback of the Boston University Terriers before signing a professional baseball contract with the Red Sox. He was batting .313 in 83 at bats on June 2 when he was initially taken ill with pneumonia. He died less than four weeks later, at 26, of a massive pulmonary embolism.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day lineup 10 Billy Goodman 2B20 Eddie Joost SS26 Faye Throneberry LF 4 Jackie Jensen RF 8 Sammy White C 3 Norm Zauchin 1B12 Ted Lepcio 3B37 Jimmy Piersall CF 18 Frank Sullivan P
Notable transactions June 12, 1955: Owen Friend was purchased from the Red Sox by the Chicago Cubs.
Roster 1955 Boston Red Sox Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches (First base) (Third base) (Pitching) (Bullpen) (Hitting)
Player stats
= Indicates team leader 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 White 143 544 142 .261 11 64 1B Norm Zauchin 130 477 114 .239 27 93 2B 149 599 176 .294 0 52 SS Billy Klaus 135 541 153 .283 7 60 3B Grady Hatton 126 380 93 .245 4 49 LF Ted Williams 98 320 114 .356 28 83 CF Jim Piersall 149 515 146 .283 13 62 RF Jackie Jensen 152 574 158 .275 26 116
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 Gene Stephens 109 157 46 .293 3 18 Faye Throneberry 60 144 37 .257 6 27 Ted Lepcio 51 134 31 .231 6 15 Eddie Joost 55 119 23 .193 5 17 25 83 26 .313 0 10 Pete Daley 17 50 11 .220 0 5 Karl Olson 26 48 12 .250 0 1 14 42 11 .262 0 2 Sam Mele 14 31 4 .129 0 1 Frank Malzone 6 20 7 .350 0 1 Dick Gernert 7 20 4 .200 0 1 Billy Consolo 8 18 4 .222 0 0 Haywood Sullivan 2 6 0 .000 0 0 Milt Bolling 6 5 1 .200 0 0 Jim Pagliaroni 1 0 0 ---- 0 1
Pitching = Indicates league leader 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 Frank Sullivan 35 260.0 18* 13 2.91 129 Willard Nixon 31 208.0 12 10 4.07 95 31 192.2 11 10 4.20 91 Tied with Whitey Ford and Bob Lemon
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 George Susce 29 144.1 9 7 3.06 60 Ike Delock 29 143.2 9 7 3.76 88 Bill Henry 17 59.2 2 4 3.32 23 Mel Parnell 13 46.0 2 3 7.83 18 7 34.0 2 1 5.82 27 Russ Kemmerer 7 17.1 1 1 7.27 13
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 Ellis Kinder 43 5 5 18 2.84 31 Tom Hurd 43 8 6 5 3.01 48 Leo Kiely 33 3 3 6 2.80 36 16 1 0 0 5.63 10 Hal Brown 2 1 0 0 2.25 2 Joe Trimble 2 0 0 0 0.00 1 Hersh Freeman 2 0 0 0 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 1
Farm system
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
References
External links 1955 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference 1955 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com