The 1959 Cincinnati Reds season consisted of the Reds finishing in a fifth-place tie with the Chicago Cubs in the National League standings, with a record of 74–80, 13 games behind the NL and World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Prior to the season the club, after calling themselves the Cincinnati Redlegs for the past six seasons, changed its nickname back to the Reds. The Reds played their home games at Crosley Field, where they attracted 801,298 fans, eighth and last in the Senior Circuit.Baseball Reference: 1959 MLB Attendance and Team Age

Offseason January 30, 1959: Smoky Burgess, Harvey Haddix and Don Hoak were traded by the Reds to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Whammy Douglas, Jim Pendleton, Frank Thomas, and John Powers.Smoky Burgess page at Baseball Reference March 20, 1959: Eddie Miksis was released by the Reds.Eddie Miksis page at Baseball Reference

Regular season For the second consecutive season, the Reds played under two managers. Mayo Smith, hired during the previous off-season, managed the Reds to a 35–45 start, seventh in the eight-team league. He was replaced during the first All-Star break by Fred Hutchinson, manager of their Triple-A Seattle Rainiers affiliate, on July 9. Hutchinson then led Cincinnati to a 39–35 record the rest of the way.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions May 1, 1959: Del Ennis was traded by the Reds to the Chicago White Sox for Lou Skizas and Don Rudolph.Lou Skizas page at Baseball Reference June 8, 1959: Hal Jeffcoat was traded by the Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jim Brosnan.Hal Jeffcoat page at Baseball Reference June 23, 1959: Walt Dropo was traded by the Reds to the Baltimore Orioles for Whitey Lockman.Walt Dropo page at Baseball Reference

Roster 1959 Cincinnati Reds Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches (Pitching; after 8/4) (Pitching; through 8/3) (Hitting & first base) (Third base)

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 Ed Bailey 121 379 100 .264 12 40 1B Frank Robinson 146 540 168 .311 36 125 2B Johnny Temple 149 598 186 .311 8 67 SS Eddie Kasko 118 329 93 .283 2 31 3B Willie Jones 72 233 58 .249 7 31 LF Jerry Lynch 117 379 102 .269 17 58 CF Vada Pinson 154 648 205 .316 20 84 RF Gus Bell 148 580 170 .293 19 115

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 108 374 84 .225 12 47 Roy McMillan 79 246 65 .264 9 24 Dutch Dotterer 52 161 43 .267 2 17 65 113 29 .257 3 9 Whitey Lockman 52 84 22 .262 0 7 Pete Whisenant 36 71 17 .239 5 11 43 43 11 .256 2 4 Walt Dropo 26 39 4 .103 1 2 Cliff Cook 9 21 8 .381 0 5 Buddy Gilbert 7 20 3 .150 2 2 5 12 4 .333 0 1 Bob Thurman 4 4 1 .250 0 2 Bobby Henrich 14 3 0 .000 0 0 Don Pavletich 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 Don Newcombe 30 222.0 13 8 3.16 100 Bob Purkey 38 218.0 13 18 4.25 78 Joe Nuxhall 28 131.2 9 9 4.24 75 Jim O'Toole 28 129.1 5 8 5.15 68 Jay Hook 17 79.0 5 5 5.13 37

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 Orlando Peña 46 136.0 5 9 4.76 76 Brooks Lawrence 43 128.1 7 12 4.77 64 Jim Brosnan 26 83.1 8 3 3.35 56 3 11.2 0 1 6.17 7

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 37 1 2 2 4.12 45 Willard Schmidt 36 3 2 0 3.95 40 Bob Mabe 18 4 2 3 5.46 8 Hal Jeffcoat 17 0 1 1 3.32 12 10 1 0 0 3.95 8 5 0 0 0 4.91 8 Claude Osteen 2 0 0 0 7.04 3 Mike Cuellar 2 0 0 0 15.75 5

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: HavanaJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

External links 1959 Cincinnati Redlegs season at Baseball Reference