1959 New York Yankees season

The 1959 New York Yankees season was the 57th season for the team. The team finished in third place in the American League with a record of 79–75, 15 games behind the Chicago White Sox. New York was managed by Casey Stengel. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

1959 New York Yankees
League	American League
Ballpark	Yankee Stadium
City	New York City
Owners	Dan Topping and Del Webb
General managers	George Weiss
Managers	Casey Stengel
Television	WPIX (Mel Allen, Red Barber, Phil Rizzuto)
Radio	WMGM (Mel Allen, Red Barber, Phil Rizzuto)
← 1958 Seasons 1960 →

This was the only season between 1955 and 1964 in which the Yankees failed to win the American League pennant.

Offseason

• Prior to 1959 season: Elvio Jiménez was signed as an amateur free agent by the Yankees.^[1]

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	94	60	.610	—	47‍–‍30	47‍–‍30
Cleveland Indians	89	65	.578	5	43‍–‍34	46‍–‍31
New York Yankees	79	75	.513	15	40‍–‍37	39‍–‍38
Detroit Tigers	76	78	.494	18	41‍–‍36	35‍–‍42
Boston Red Sox	75	79	.487	19	43‍–‍34	32‍–‍45
Baltimore Orioles	74	80	.481	20	38‍–‍39	36‍–‍41
Kansas City Athletics	66	88	.429	28	37‍–‍40	29‍–‍48
Washington Senators	63	91	.409	31	34‍–‍43	29‍–‍48

Record vs. opponents

1959 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KCA	NYY	WSH
Baltimore	—	8–14	11–11–1	10–12	13–9	8–14	12–10	12–10
Boston	14–8	—	8–14	8–14	11–11	11–11	13–9	10–12
Chicago	11–11–1	14–8	—	15–7	13–9	12–10	13–9–1	16–6
Cleveland	12–10	14–8	7–15	—	14–8	15–7	11–11	16–6
Detroit	9–13	11–11	9–13	8–14	—	15–7	14–8	10–12
Kansas City	14–8	11–11	10–12	7–15	7–15	—	5–17	12–10
New York	10–12	9–13	9–13–1	11–11	8–14	17–5	—	15–7
Washington	10–12	12–10	6–16	6–16	12–10	10–12	7–15	—

Notable transactions

• April 13, 1959: Bobby Del Greco was purchased from the Yankees by the Philadelphia Phillies.^[2]
• May 26, 1959: Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant, and Jerry Lumpe were traded by the Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics for Ralph Terry and Héctor López.^[3]
• September 11, 1959: Enos Slaughter was selected off waivers from the Yankees by the Milwaukee Braves.^[4]

Roster

1959 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers 22 Gary Blaylock 22,49 Jim Bronstad 39 Jim Coates 28 Art Ditmar 26 Ryne Duren 16 Whitey Ford 45 Mark Freeman 48 John Gabler 47 Eli Grba 53 Johnny Kucks 18 Don Larsen 24 Duke Maas 55 Zach Monroe 30 Bobby Shantz 47 Tom Sturdivant 23 Ralph Terry 19 Bob Turley		Catchers  8 Yogi Berra 38 Johnny Blanchard Infielders 34 Clete Boyer 29 Fritz Brickell  6 Andy Carey 32 Elston Howard 10 Tony Kubek 11 Héctor López 11 Jerry Lumpe 12 Gil McDougald  1 Bobby Richardson 14 Bill Skowron 20 Marv Throneberry		Outfielders  9 Hank Bauer 44 Ken Hunt  7 Mickey Mantle 15 Jim Pisoni 25 Norm Siebern 17 Enos Slaughter 51 Gordie Windhorn		Manager 37 Casey Stengel Coaches  2 Frankie Crosetti 35 Ralph Houk 33 Charlie Keller 31 Jim Turner

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	Yogi Berra	131	472	134	.284	19	69
1B	Bill Skowron	74	282	84	.298	15	59
2B	Bobby Richardson	134	469	141	.301	2	33
SS	Tony Kubek	132	512	143	.279	6	51
3B	Héctor López	112	406	115	.283	16	69
LF	Norm Siebern	120	380	103	.271	11	53
CF	Mickey Mantle	144	541	154	.285	31	75
RF	Hank Bauer	114	341	81	.238	9	39

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
Elston Howard	125	443	121	.273	18	73
Gil McDougald	127	434	109	.251	4	34
Marv Throneberry	80	192	46	.240	8	22
Clete Boyer	47	114	20	.175	0	3
Andy Carey	41	101	26	.257	3	9
Enos Slaughter	74	99	17	.172	6	21
Johnny Blanchard	49	59	10	.169	2	4
Jerry Lumpe	18	45	10	.222	0	2
Fritz Brickell	18	39	10	.256	1	4
Jim Pisoni	17	17	3	.176	0	1
Ken Hunt	6	12	4	.333	0	1
Gordie Windhorn	7	11	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
Whitey Ford	35	204.0	16	10	3.04	114
Art Ditmar	38	202.0	13	9	2.90	96
Bob Turley	33	154.1	8	11	4.32	111
Ralph Terry	24	127.1	3	7	3.39	55
Don Larsen	25	124.2	6	7	4.33	69
Mark Freeman	1	7.0	0	0	2.57	4

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
Duke Maas	38	138.0	14	8	4.43	67
Eli Grba	19	50.1	2	5	6.44	23
Jim Bronstad	16	29.1	0	3	5.22	14
Tom Sturdivant	7	25.1	0	2	4.97	16
John Gabler	3	19.1	1	1	2.79	11

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
Ryne Duren	41	3	6	14	1.88	96
Jim Coates	37	6	1	3	2.87	64
Bobby Shantz	33	7	3	3	2.38	66
Gary Blaylock	15	0	1	0	3.51	20
Johnny Kucks	9	0	1	0	8.64	9
Zach Monroe	3	0	0	0	5.40	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Richmond Virginians	International League	Steve Souchock
A	Binghamton Triplets	Eastern League	Charlie Silvera
B	Greensboro Yankees	Carolina League	Vern Hoscheit
C	Modesto Reds	California League	Hal Charnofsky
C	Fargo-Moorhead Twins	Northern League	Dee Phillips
D	St. Petersburg Saints	Florida State League	Tom Hamilton
D	Kearney Yankees	Nebraska State League	Jim Gleeson
D	Auburn Yankees	New York–Penn League	Bob Bauer

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Modesto, St. Petersburg^[5]