1955 Chicago Cubs season explained

Chicago Cubs
Season:	1955
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Wrigley Field
City:	Chicago
Owners:	Philip K. Wrigley
General Managers:	Wid Matthews
Managers:	Stan Hack
Television:	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Harry Creighton)
Radio:	WIND (Bert Wilson, Jack Quinlan, Gene Elston, Vince Lloyd)

The 1955 Chicago Cubs season was the 84th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 80th in the National League and the 40th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished sixth in the National League with a record of 72–81.

Offseason

• October 1, 1954: Johnny Klippstein and Jim Willis were traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Redlegs for Jim Bolger, Harry Perkowski and Ted Tappe.^[1]
• November 16, 1954: Ralph Kiner was sent by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for $60,000 as part of an earlier deal (the Cubs sent a player to be named later to the Indians for Sam Jones and players to be named later) made on September 30, 1954. The Indians sent Gale Wade to the Cubs on November 30 to complete the trade.^[2]
• November 22, 1954: Jim King was drafted by the Cubs from the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1954 rule 5 draft.^[3]

Regular season

• May 10, 1955: Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit the 200th HR of his career against the Cubs. The opposing pitcher was Warren Hacker and the home run was hit at Wrigley Field.^[4]
• May 12, 1955: Sam Jones of the Cubs became the first black pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the major leagues.^[5] It was against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Notable transactions

• April 16, 1955: Lloyd Merriman was purchased by the Cubs from the Chicago White Sox.^[6]
• June 12, 1955: Owen Friend was purchased by the Cubs from the Boston Red Sox.^[7]
• August 19, 1955: George Altman was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.^[8]
• August 19, 1955: J. C. Hartman was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.^[9]

Roster

1955 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

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
C		113	338	78	.231	11	41
1B		150	574	152	.265	17	65
2B		154	609	163	.268	11	52
SS		154	596	176	.295	44	117
3B		138	499	132	.265	21	70
LF		79	261	55	.211	12	28
CF		131	481	113	.235	9	41
RF		113	301	77	.256	11	45

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
	105	280	81	.289	1	27
	95	261	57	.218	12	43
	64	160	33	.206	0	7
	72	145	31	.214	1	8
	54	111	31	.279	7	15
	44	81	16	.198	0	10
	23	50	13	.260	4	10
	9	33	6	.182	1	1
	5	10	0	.000	0	0
	6	10	1	.100	0	0
	7	7	1	.143	0	1
	2	0	0	----	0	0
	4	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
	36	241.2	14	20	4.10	198
	33	234.0	13	11	3.50	130
	35	213.0	11	15	4.27	80
	22	157.2	9	9	3.48	53

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
	42	133.2	7	11	4.44	62
	24	61.0	4	3	5.61	27
	7	17.0	0	0	7.94	4

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
	50	8	6	6	2.95	32
	25	0	0	0	5.31	23
	25	3	4	2	5.29	28
	23	3	0	2	3.72	13
	22	0	1	1	5.80	19
	11	0	0	0	5.40	11
	4	0	1	0	4.50	3
	2	0	0	1	5.40	3
	2	0	0	0	3.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lafayette, Magic Valley

Gainesville franchise transferred to Ponca City and renamed, May 19, 1955

References

• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1955 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bolgeji01.shtml Jim Bolger
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kinerra01.shtml Ralph Kiner
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kingji01.shtml Jim King
4. https://archive.today/20060507080216/http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/snidedu01.php Duke Snider | The Baseball Page
5. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 198, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/merrill01.shtml Lloyd Merriman
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/frienow01.shtml Owen Friend
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/altmage01.shtml George Altman
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hartmj_01.shtml J. C. Hartman