1956 Cincinnati Redlegs season

1956 Cincinnati Redlegs
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1890)
Location
Crosley Field (since 1934)
Cincinnati (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s)	Powel Crosley, Jr.
General manager(s)	Gabe Paul
Manager(s)	Birdie Tebbetts
Local television	WLWT (Mark Scott, George Bryson)
Local radio	WSAI (Waite Hoyt, Jack Moran)
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The 1956 Cincinnati Redlegs season consisted of the Redlegs finishing in third place in the National League with a record of 91–63, two games behind the NL Champion Brooklyn Dodgers. The Redlegs were managed by Birdie Tebbetts and played their home games at Crosley Field.

Offseason

• November 28, 1955: Hobie Landrith was traded by the Redlegs to the Chicago Cubs for Hal Jeffcoat.^[1]
• January 31, 1956: Jackie Collum was traded by the Redlegs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Brooks Lawrence and Sonny Senerchia.^[2]
• Prior to 1956 season: Joe Azcue was signed as an amateur free agent by the Redlegs.^[3]

Regular season

The Redlegs were in first place at mid-season and stayed in the pennant race until the last day of the season, ending up with a 91–63 record, two games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.^[4] For his efforts, the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Birdie Tebbetts as the 1956 Manager of the Year.^[5]

The 1956 Redlegs tied the National League and MLB record for home runs in a season, hitting 221 over a 155 regular-season games. (The 1947 Giants also slugged 221 in 155 games played.) Three Redlegs hit more than 35 homers, with Frank Robinson (38) establishing a record for rookies; Wally Post (36) and Ted Kluszewski (35) were the others. Gus Bell (29) and Ed Bailey (28) came within reach of the 30-home-run mark, Bailey in only 383 at bats. The mark stood until 1961, when the New York Yankees hit 240 homers in the first year of the modern 162-game schedule.

Season standings

National League	W	L	GB	Pct.
Brooklyn Dodgers	93	61	--	.604
Milwaukee Braves	92	62	1	.597
Cincinnati Redlegs	91	63	2	.591
St. Louis Cardinals	76	78	17	.494
Philadelphia Phillies	71	83	22	.461
New York Giants	67	87	26	.435
Pittsburgh Pirates	66	88	27	.429
Chicago Cubs	60	94	33	.390

Record vs. opponents

1956 National League Records Sources:
Team	BR	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	16–6	11–11	10–12	14–8	13–9	13–9	16–6
Chicago	6–16	—	6–16–1	9–13	7–15	13–9	10–12–1	9–13–1
Cincinnati	11–11	16–6–1	—	9–13	14–8	11–11	17–5	13–9
Milwaukee	12–10	13–9	13–9	—	17–5	10–12	14–8–1	13–9
New York	8–14	15–7	8–14	5–17	—	11–11	13–9	7–15
Philadelphia	9–13	9–13	11–11	12–10	11–11	—	7–15	12–10
Pittsburgh	9–13	12–10–1	5–17	8–14–1	9–13	15–7	—	8–14–1
St. Louis	6–16	13–9–1	9–13	9–13	15–7	10–12	14–8–1	—

Notable transactions

• April 1, 1956: Jim Pearce was assigned by the Redlegs to the St. Louis Cardinals.^[6]

Roster

1956 Cincinnati Redlegs
Roster
Pitchers 40 Tom Acker 49 Joe Black 51 Art Fowler 30 Hersh Freeman 31 Don Gross 43 Larry Jansen 42 Hal Jeffcoat 43 Bill Kennedy 35 Johnny Klippstein 38 Paul LaPalme 46 Brooks Lawrence 34 Russ Meyer 39 Joe Nuxhall 48 Pat Scantlebury 32 Frank Smith		Catchers  6 Ed Bailey  7 Smoky Burgess  9 Bruce Edwards Infielders 14 Rocky Bridges 15 George Crowe 26 Jim Dyck 10 Alex Grammas 12 Ray Jablonski 18 Ted Kluszewski 11 Roy McMillan 16 Johnny Temple		Outfielders 24 Bobby Balcena 25 Gus Bell  9 Joe Frazier 10 Chuck Harmon 23 Stan Palys 28 Wally Post 20 Frank Robinson 37 Art Schult 22 Bob Thurman Other batters  9 Matt Batts 27 Curt Flood 36 John Oldham 27 Al Silvera		Manager  1 Birdie Tebbetts Coaches  4 Jimmy Dykes  3 Tom Ferrick  2 Frank McCormick

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

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
Frazier, JoeJoe Frazier	10	17	4	.235	1	2

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

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
Lawrence, BrooksBrooks Lawrence	49	218.2	19	10	3.99	96
Jeffcoat, HalHal Jeffcoat	38	171	8	2	3.84	55
Acker, TomTom Acker	29	83.2	4	3	2.37	54

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
Black, JoeJoe Black	32	3	2	2	4.52	27
Kennedy, BillBill Kennedy	1	0	0	0	18.00	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
Open	Seattle Rainiers	Pacific Coast League	Luke Sewell and Bill Brenner
AAA	Havana Sugar Kings	International League	Reggie Otero and Nap Reyes
AA	Nashville Vols	Southern Association	Ernie White
A	Savannah Redlegs	Sally League	Jimmy Brown
B	High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms	Carolina League	Bert Haas
B	Clovis Pioneers	Southwestern League	Frank Benites, Glenn McQuillen and Roy Parker
C	Yuma Sun Sox	Arizona–Mexico League	Whitey Wietelmann and Bill Harris
C	Wausau Lumberjacks	Northern League	John Streza
D	West Palm Beach Sun Chiefs	Florida State League	Walt Novick
D	Douglas Reds	Georgia State League	Johnny Vander Meer
D	Moultrie Reds	Georgia–Florida League	Bob Wellman

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Douglas^[7]

References

1. Hobie Landrith at Baseball-Reference
2. Jackie Collum at Baseball-Reference
3. Joe Azcue at Baseball-Reference
4. "1956 Cincinnati Redlegs Schedule, Box Scores and Splits". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
5. "Birdie Tebbetts Manager Of Year". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. October 24, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
6. Jim Pearce at Baseball-Reference
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 1956 Cincinnati Redlegs season at Baseball Reference