1956 Brooklyn Dodgers season explained

Brooklyn Dodgers
Season:	1956
Misc:	National League Champions
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Ebbets Field
City:	Brooklyn, New York
Owners:	Walter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey, Mary Louise Smith
President:	Walter O'Malley
General Managers:	Buzzie Bavasi
Managers:	Walter Alston
Television:	WOR-TV
Radio:	WMGM Vin Scully, Connie Desmond, Jerry Doggett, Al Helfer WHOM Buck Canel

The 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers edged out the Milwaukee Braves to win the National League title. The Dodgers again faced the New York Yankees in the World Series. This time they lost the series in seven games, one of which was a perfect game by the Yankees' Don Larsen.

Offseason

• December 9, 1955: Don Hoak, Russ Meyer and Walt Moryn were traded by the Dodgers to the Chicago Cubs for Randy Jackson and Don Elston.^[1]
• December 21, 1955: Jack Littrell was purchased by the Dodgers from the Kansas City Athletics.^[2]
• December 30, 1955: Pete Wojey was traded by the Dodgers to the Detroit Tigers for Leo Cristante and cash.^[3]
• March 2, 1956: Tommy Lasorda was purchased from the Dodgers by the Kansas City Athletics^[4]

Regular season

Don Newcombe won the NL MVP award and the very first Cy Young Award. He was the first pitcher to win the National League MVP and the Cy Young Award in the same season.^[5]

During the season, the Dodgers played seven home games at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey, as part of owner Walter O'Malley's continued attempts to pressure Brooklyn to allow him to build a new stadium in his preferred location at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. The first of these games was on April 19.^[6]

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Lineup

	Name	Position
19		LF
1		SS
4		CF
39		C
14		1B
42		3B
6		RF
43		2B
36		P

^[7]

Notable transactions

• April 16, 1956: Tim Thompson was traded by the Dodgers to the Kansas City Athletics for Lee Wheat, Tom Saffell and cash.^[8]
• May 14, 1956: Billy Loes was purchased from the Dodgers by the Baltimore Orioles.^[9]
• May 15, 1956: Jim Hughes was purchased from the Dodgers by the Chicago Cubs.^[10]
• May 15, 1956: Sal Maglie was purchased by the Dodgers from the Cleveland Indians.^[11]
• July 4, 1956: Ray Shearer was traded by the Dodgers to the Milwaukee Braves for Jim Frey.^[12]
• July 29, 1956: Dale Mitchell was purchased by the Dodgers from the Cleveland Indians.^[13]

Roster

1956 Brooklyn Dodgers
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		124	388	85	.219	20	73
1B		153	550	146	.265	32	87
2B		153	594	178	.300	6	43
3B		101	307	84	.274	8	53
SS		147	572	147	.257	9	46
LF		114	292	76	.260	16	58
CF		151	542	158	.292	43	101
RF		149	523	151	.289	21	83

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
	117	357	98	.275	10	43
	54	146	31	.212	3	20
	62	136	39	.287	2	14
	31	96	20	.208	4	15
	34	66	15	.227	1	9
	73	36	4	.111	0	4
	19	24	7	.292	0	1
	17	20	6	.300	0	2
	7	13	3	.231	0	1
	7	7	2	.286	0	0
	3	3	1	.333	1	1
	1	1	0	.000	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
	38	268.0	27	7	3.06	139
	35	199.0	12	11	3.71	109
	28	191.0	13	5	2.87	108
	31	186.1	13	11	4.25	95
	16	58.2	2	4	4.91	30
	1	1.1	0	1	40.50	2

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
	25	99.0	5	5	2.64	55
	25	49.1	2	3	5.66	29
	6	16.1	0	1	6.61	8

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
	62	10	6	19	3.35	75
	38	4	3	9	2.50	52
	43	5	4	1	3.93	60
	5	0	0	0	5.25	8
	1	0	0	0	0.00	2
	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

1956 World Series

See main article: article and 1956 World Series.

Game 1

October 3, 1956, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

align=left width=125	Team	width=25	1	width=25	2	width=25	3	width=25	4	width=25	5	width=25	6	width=25	7	width=25	8	width=25	9	width=25	R	width=25	H	width=25	E
New York (A)	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	9	1
Brooklyn (N)	0	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	x	6	9	0
W: Sal Maglie (1–0)  L: Whitey Ford (0–1)
HR: NYY – Mickey Mantle (1), Billy Martin (1)    BRO – Jackie Robinson (1), Gil Hodges (1)

Game 2

October 5, 1956, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

align=left width=125	Team	width=25	1	width=25	2	width=25	3	width=25	4	width=25	5	width=25	6	width=25	7	width=25	8	width=25	9	width=25	R	width=25	H	width=25	E
New York (A)	1	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	8	12	2
Brooklyn (N)	0	6	1	2	2	0	0	2	x	13	12	0
W: Don Bessent (1–0)  L: Tom Morgan (0–1)
HR: NYY – Yogi Berra (1)    BRO – Duke Snider (1)

Game 3

October 6, 1956, at Yankee Stadium in New York City

align=left width=125	Team	width=25	1	width=25	2	width=25	3	width=25	4	width=25	5	width=25	6	width=25	7	width=25	8	width=25	9	width=25	R	width=25	H	width=25	E
Brooklyn (N)	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	8	1
New York (A)	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	1	x	5	8	1
W: Whitey Ford (1–1)   L: Roger Craig (0–1)
HR: NYY – Enos Slaughter (1), Billy Martin (2)

Game 4

October 7, 1956, at Yankee Stadium in New York City

align=left width=125	Team	width=25	1	width=25	2	width=25	3	width=25	4	width=25	5	width=25	6	width=25	7	width=25	8	width=25	9	width=25	R	width=25	H	width=25	E
Brooklyn (N)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	0
New York (A)	1	0	0	2	0	1	2	0	x	6	7	2
W: Tom Sturdivant (1–0)   L: Carl Erskine (0–1)
HR: NYY – Mickey Mantle (2), Hank Bauer (1)

Game 5

October 8, 1956, at Yankee Stadium in New York City

align=left width=125	Team	width=25	1	width=25	2	width=25	3	width=25	4	width=25	5	width=25	6	width=25	7	width=25	8	width=25	9	width=25	R	width=25	H	width=25	E
Brooklyn (N)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
New York (A)	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	x	2	5	0
W: Don Larsen (1–0)   L: Sal Maglie (1–1)
HR: NYY – Mickey Mantle (3)

Game 6

October 9, 1956, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

align=left width=125	Team	width=25	1	width=25	2	width=25	3	width=25	4	width=25	5	width=25	6	width=25	7	width=25	8	width=25	9	width=25	10	width=25	R	width=25	H	width=25	E
New York (A)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Brooklyn (N)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	0
W: Clem Labine (1–0)  L: Bob Turley (0–1)

Game 7

October 10, 1956, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

align=left width=125	Team	width=25	1	width=25	2	width=25	3	width=25	4	width=25	5	width=25	6	width=25	7	width=25	8	width=25	9	width=25	R	width=25	H	width=25	E
New York (A)	2	0	2	1	0	0	4	0	0	9	10	0
Brooklyn (N)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
W: Johnny Kucks (1–0)  L: Don Newcombe (0–1)
HR: NYY – Yogi Berra (2, 3), Elston Howard (1), Bill Skowron (1)

Awards and honors

• National League Most Valuable Player
  • Don Newcombe
• Cy Young Award
  • Don Newcombe
• TSN Pitcher of the Year Award
  • Don Newcombe

All-Stars

• 1956 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Roy Campanella reserve
  • Jim Gilliam reserve
  • Clem Labine reserve
  • Duke Snider reserve
• TSN Major League All-Star Team
  • Don Newcombe

References

• Baseball-Reference season page
• Baseball Almanac season page

External links

• 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers uniform
• Brooklyn Dodgers reference site
• Acme Dodgers page
• Retrosheet

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jacksra01.shtml Randy Jackson
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/littrja01.shtml Jack Littrell
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wojeype01.shtml Pete Wojey
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lasorto01.shtml Tommy Lasorda
5. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
6. News: Parker. Vernon. On This Day in History: August 16 A Lonely Ebbets Without Dodgers. August 31, 2011. Brooklyn Eagle. August 16, 2011.
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO195604170.shtml 1956 Opening Day Lineup
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thompti01.shtml Tim Thompson
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/loesbi01.shtml Billy Loes
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hugheji02.shtml Jim Hughes
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/maglisa01.shtml Sal Maglie
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/shearra01.shtml Ray Shearer
13. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mitchda01.shtml Dale Mitchell