1953 Boston Red Sox season
| 1953 Boston Red Sox | |
|---|---|
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Fenway Park |
| City | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Record | 84–69 (.549) |
| League place | 4th |
| Owners | Tom Yawkey |
| President | Tom Yawkey |
| General managers | Joe Cronin |
| Managers | Lou Boudreau |
| Television | WBZ-TV, Ch. 4 and WNAC-TV, Ch. 7 |
| Radio | WHDH-AM 850 (Curt Gowdy, Bob DeLaney, Tom Hussey) |
| Stats | ESPN.com Baseball Reference |
The 1953 Boston Red Sox season was the 53rd season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished fourth in the American League (AL) with a record of 84 wins and 69 losses, 16 games behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1953 World Series.
Offseason
- November 28, 1952: Harry Agganis signs with the Red Sox.[1]
- December 1, 1952: The Red Sox draft Jack Merson from the Hollywood Stars for $15,000.[2]
- January 7, 1953: Pitcher Al Benton is assigned by the Red Sox to the San Diego Padres.[3]
- February 9, 1953: Vern Stephens was traded by the Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox for Marv Grissom, Hal Brown and Bill Kennedy.[4]
Regular season
- May 12, 1953: Outfielder Dom DiMaggio retires from professional baseball after manager Lou Boudreau decided to promote Tom Umphlett to be the regular Red Sox centerfielder; weeks earlier, according to DiMaggio, he had informed General Manager Joe Cronin that he should be traded or made regular centerfielder otherwise he would retire, after Cronin refused to do either, DiMaggio decided to retire.[5]
- June 18, 1953: Sammy White scored three runs in one inning for the Red Sox.[6] The Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers, 23–3 at Fenway Park.
Transactions
- April 23, 1953: The Washington Senators purchase outfielder Clyde Vollmer from the Red Sox.[7]
- May 13, 1953: The Red Sox purchase infielder Floyd Baker from the Washington Senators.[8]
- July 1, 1953: Marv Grissom was selected off waivers from the Red Sox by the New York Giants.[4]
- September 8, 1953: Shortstop Johnny Lipon is sold by the Red Sox to the St. Louis Browns on a waiver deal.[9]
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 99 | 52 | .656 | — | 50–27 | 49–25 |
| Cleveland Indians | 92 | 62 | .597 | 8½ | 53–24 | 39–38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 89 | 65 | .578 | 11½ | 41–36 | 48–29 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 69 | .549 | 16 | 38–38 | 46–31 |
| Washington Senators | 76 | 76 | .500 | 23½ | 39–36 | 37–40 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 94 | .390 | 40½ | 30–47 | 30–47 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 59 | 95 | .383 | 41½ | 27–50 | 32–45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 54 | 100 | .351 | 46½ | 23–54 | 31–46 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
| Boston | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 10–11 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 10–12 | |||||
| Chicago | 16–6 | — | 11–11–1 | 14–8–1 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 17–5 | 12–10 | |||||
| Cleveland | 9–13 | 11–11–1 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 19–3 | 17–5 | 11–11 | |||||
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 11–11–3 | 7–15 | 11–11 | |||||
| New York | 11–10 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 17–5 | 17–5 | 14–6 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 7–15 | 12–10 | 3–19 | 11–11–3 | 5–17 | — | 13–9 | 8–14 | |||||
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 5–17 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 | |||||
| Washington | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 6–14 | 14–8 | 12–10 | — | |||||
Opening Day lineup
| 10 | Billy Goodman | 2B |
| 37 | Jimmy Piersall | RF |
| 36 | Gene Stephens | LF |
| 3 | Dick Gernert | 1B |
| 1 | George Kell | 3B |
| 22 | Sammy White | C |
| 38 | Tom Umphlett | CF |
| 2 | Milt Bolling | SS |
| 17 | Mel Parnell | P |
Roster
| 1953 Boston Red Sox roster | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
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 | Sammy White | 136 | 476 | 130 | .273 | 13 | 64 |
| 1B | Dick Gernert | 139 | 494 | 125 | .253 | 21 | 71 |
| 2B | Billy Goodman | 128 | 514 | 161 | .313 | 2 | 41 |
| SS | Milt Bolling | 109 | 323 | 85 | .263 | 5 | 28 |
| 3B | George Kell | 134 | 460 | 141 | .307 | 12 | 73 |
| OF | Hoot Evers | 99 | 300 | 72 | .240 | 11 | 31 |
| OF | Jim Piersall | 151 | 585 | 159 | .272 | 3 | 52 |
| OF | Tom Umphlett | 137 | 495 | 140 | .283 | 3 | 59 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gene Stephens | 78 | 221 | 45 | .204 | 3 | 18 |
| Floyd Baker | 81 | 172 | 47 | .273 | 0 | 24 |
| Ted Lepcio | 66 | 161 | 38 | .236 | 4 | 11 |
| Johnny Lipon | 60 | 145 | 31 | .214 | 0 | 13 |
| Del Wilber | 58 | 112 | 27 | .241 | 7 | 29 |
| Ted Williams | 37 | 91 | 37 | .407 | 13 | 34 |
| Al Zarilla | 57 | 67 | 13 | .194 | 0 | 4 |
| Billy Consolo | 47 | 65 | 14 | .215 | 1 | 6 |
| Karl Olson | 25 | 57 | 7 | .123 | 1 | 6 |
| Gus Niarhos | 16 | 35 | 7 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Jack Merson | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dom DiMaggio | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Clyde Vollmer | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
| Al Richter | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mel Parnell | 38 | 241.0 | 21 | 8 | 3.06 | 136 |
| Mickey McDermott | 32 | 206.1 | 18 | 10 | 3.01 | 92 |
| Hal Brown | 30 | 166.1 | 11 | 6 | 4.65 | 62 |
| Willard Nixon | 23 | 116.2 | 4 | 8 | 3.93 | 57 |
| Marv Grissom | 13 | 59.1 | 2 | 6 | 4.70 | 31 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sid Hudson | 30 | 156.0 | 6 | 9 | 3.52 | 60 |
| Bill Henry | 21 | 85.2 | 5 | 5 | 3.26 | 56 |
| Ben Flowers | 32 | 79.1 | 1 | 4 | 3.86 | 36 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellis Kinder | 69 | 10 | 6 | 27 | 1.85 | 39 |
| Ike Delock | 23 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4.44 | 22 |
| Hersh Freeman | 18 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5.54 | 15 |
| Bill Kennedy | 16 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3.70 | 14 |
| Frank Sullivan | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.61 | 17 |
| Bill Werle | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.54 | 4 |
| Ken Holcombe | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.00 | 1 |
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose
Roanoke club folded, July 24, 1953
References
- ↑ "BoSox Ink Grid Star". St. Petersburg Times. November 29, 1952. p. 10. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ↑ "Major Draft Selects 11 Players". The Spokesman-Review. p. 13. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ↑ "Padres Get Pitcher". Spokane Daily Chronicle. January 7, 1953. p. 17. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- 1 2 Marv Grissom at Baseball-Reference
- ↑ Golenbock, Peter (2015). Red Sox Nation: The Rich and Colorful History of the Boston Red Sox (4th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Triumph Books. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-1-62937-050-7.
- ↑ Baseball Digest, April 1984
- ↑ "Senators Buy Clyde Vollmer". The Vancouver Sun. April 23, 1953. p. 14. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ↑ "Players Shifted To Meet Deadline". The Southeast Missourian. May 13, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
- ↑ "Red Sox Sell Lipon". The Montreal Gazette. September 9, 1953. p. 19. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
External links
- Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
- 1953 Boston Red Sox team at Baseball-Reference
- 1953 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com
