1956 Cincinnati Redlegs season

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, where they drew 1,125,928 fans, third-most in their league.[1]

1956 Cincinnati Redlegs
LeagueNational League
BallparkCrosley Field
CityCincinnati
OwnersPowel Crosley, Jr.
General managersGabe Paul
ManagersBirdie Tebbetts
TelevisionWLWT
(Mark Scott, George Bryson)
RadioWSAI
(Waite Hoyt, Jack Moran)
← 1955
1957 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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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.[5] For his efforts, the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Birdie Tebbetts as the 1956 Manager of the Year.[6]

The 1956 Redlegs tied the National League and MLB record for home runs in a season, hitting 221 over 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.

On Sunday, June 24, following a doubleheader sweep of the Brooklyn Dodgers,[7] eleven Redlegs players appeared on the panel quiz show What's My Line?.[8]

Season standings

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Brooklyn Dodgers 93 61 .604 52‍–‍25 41‍–‍36
Milwaukee Braves 92 62 .597 1 47‍–‍29 45‍–‍33
Cincinnati Redlegs 91 63 .591 2 51‍–‍26 40‍–‍37
St. Louis Cardinals 76 78 .494 17 43‍–‍34 33‍–‍44
Philadelphia Phillies 71 83 .461 22 40‍–‍37 31‍–‍46
New York Giants 67 87 .435 26 37‍–‍40 30‍–‍47
Pittsburgh Pirates 66 88 .429 27 35‍–‍43 31‍–‍45
Chicago Cubs 60 94 .390 33 39‍–‍38 21‍–‍56

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
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

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Roster

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1956 Cincinnati Redlegs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 118 383 115 .300 28 75
1B Ted Kluszewski 138 517 156 .302 35 102
2B Johnny Temple 154 632 180 .285 2 41
SS Roy McMillan 150 479 126 .263 3 62
3B Ray Jablonski 130 407 104 .256 15 66
LF Frank Robinson 152 572 166 .290 38 83
CF Gus Bell 150 603 176 .292 29 84
RF Wally Post 143 539 134 .249 36 83

Other batters

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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
Smokey Burgess 90 229 63 .275 12 39
George Crowe 77 144 36 .250 10 23
Alex Grammas 77 140 34 .243 0 16
Bob Thurman 80 139 41 .295 8 22
Stan Palys 40 53 12 .226 2 5
Rocky Bridges 71 19 4 .211 0 1
Joe Frazier 10 17 4 .235 1 2
Jim Dyck 18 11 1 .091 0 0
Art Schult 5 7 3 .429 0 2
Bruce Edwards 7 5 1 .200 0 0
Chuck Harmon 13 4 0 .000 0 0
Matt Batts 3 2 0 .000 0 0
Bobby Balcena 7 2 0 .000 0 0
Curt Flood 5 1 0 .000 0 0
Al Silvera 1 0 0 ---- 0 0
John Oldham 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Johnny Klippstein 37 211.0 12 11 4.09 86
Joe Nuxhall 44 200.2 13 11 3.72 120
Larry Jansen 8 34.2 2 3 5.19 16

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Brooks Lawrence 49 218.2 19 10 3.99 96
Art Fowler 45 177.2 11 11 4.05 86
Hal Jeffcoat 38 171.0 8 2 3.84 55
Tom Acker 29 83.2 4 3 2.37 54
Don Gross 19 69.1 3 0 1.95 47
Paul LaPalme 11 27.0 2 4 4.67 4
Pat Scantlebury 6 19.0 0 1 6.63 10

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Hersh Freeman 64 14 5 17 3.40 17
Joe Black 32 3 2 2 4.52 27
Frank Smith 2 0 0 0 12.00 1
Bill Kennedy 1 0 0 0 18.00 0
Russ Meyer 1 0 0 0 0.00 1

Farm system

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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[10]

References

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  1. ^ Baseball Reference: 1956 MLB Attendance
  2. ^ Hobie Landrith at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Jackie Collum at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Joe Azcue at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ "1956 Cincinnati Redlegs Schedule, Box Scores and Splits". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  6. ^ "Birdie Tebbetts Manager Of Year". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. October 24, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  7. ^ "1956 Cincinnati Redlegs: Schedule and Results". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  8. ^ "Cincinnati Reds, Bob and Linda Hope, Paul Winchell". What's My Line?. Series 316. June 24, 1956. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  9. ^ Jim Pearce at Baseball-Reference
  10. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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