1955 New York Yankees season

1955 New York Yankees
1955 AL Champions
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Yankee Stadium (since 1923)
New York City (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s)	Dan Topping and Del Webb
General manager(s)	George Weiss
Manager(s)	Casey Stengel
Local television	WPIX
Local radio	WINS (AM) (Mel Allen, Jim Woods, Red Barber)
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The 1955 New York Yankees season was the team's 53rd season in New York, and its 55th season overall. The team finished with a record of 96–58, winning their 21st pennant, finishing 3 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians. New York was managed by Casey Stengel. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they were defeated by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 7 games.

Offseason

• November 17, 1954: Gene Woodling, Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Willy Miranda and players to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Baltimore Orioles for Don Larsen, Billy Hunter, Bob Turley, and players to be named later. The deal was completed on December 1, when the Yankees sent Bill Miller, Kal Segrist, Don Leppert, and Ted Del Guercio (minors) to the Orioles, and the Orioles sent Mike Blyzka, Darrell Johnson, Jim Fridley, and Dick Kryhoski to the Yankees.^[1]

Regular season

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	96	58	.623	--
Cleveland Indians	93	61	.604	3
Chicago White Sox	91	63	.591	5
Boston Red Sox	84	70	.545	12
Detroit Tigers	79	75	.513	17
Kansas City Athletics	63	91	.409	33
Baltimore Orioles	57	97	.370	39
Washington Senators	53	101	.344	43

Record vs. opponents

1955 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	NYY	WSH
Baltimore	—	8–14	10–12–1	3–19	9–13	10–12–1	3–19	14–8
Boston	14–8	—	9–13	11–11	13–9	14–8	8–14	15–7
Chicago	12–10–1	13–9	—	10–12	14–8	14–8	11–11	17–5
Cleveland	19–3	11–11	12–10	—	12–10	17–5	13–9	9–13
Detroit	13–9	9–13	8–14	10–12	—	12–10	10–12	17–5
Kansas City	12–10–1	8–14	8–14	5–17	10–12	—	7–15	13–9
New York	19–3	14–8	11–11	9–13	12–10	15–7	—	16–6
Washington	8–14	7–15	5–17	13–9	5–17	9–13	6–16	—

Notable transactions

• May 11, 1955: Enos Slaughter and Johnny Sain were traded by the Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics for Sonny Dixon and cash.^[2]
• July 30, 1955: Ed Lopat was traded by the Yankees to the Baltimore Orioles for Jim McDonald.^[3]
• September 14, 1955: Jerry Staley was selected off waivers by the New York Yankees from the Cincinnati Redlegs.^[4]

Roster

1955 New York Yankees roster
Roster
Pitchers 23 Tommy Byrne 30 Rip Coleman 16 Whitey Ford 39 Ted Gray 55 Bob Grim 21 Jim Konstanty 53 Johnny Kucks 18 Don Larsen 30 Ed Lopat 28 Tom Morgan 11 Johnny Sain 38 Art Schallock 24 Gerry Staley 47 Tom Sturdivant 19 Bob Turley 39 Bob Wiesler		Catchers 35 Lou Berberet  8 Yogi Berra 38 Johnny Blanchard 29 Charlie Silvera Infielders  6 Andy Carey 40 Tom Carroll 42 Jerry Coleman 15 Joe Collins 20 Billy Hunter 51 Frank Leja  1 Billy Martin 12 Gil McDougald 17 Bobby Richardson 10 Phil Rizzuto 36 Eddie Robinson 14 Bill Skowron 41 Marv Throneberry		Outfielders  9 Hank Bauer 41 Bob Cerv 32 Elston Howard  7 Mickey Mantle 25 Irv Noren 44 Dick Tettelbach Other batters 17 Enos Slaughter		Manager 37 Casey Stengel Coaches  2 Frankie Crosetti 33 Bill Dickey 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	Berra, YogiYogi Berra	147	542	147	.272	27	108
1B	Skowron, BillBill Skowron	108	288	92	.319	12	61
2B	McDougald, GilGil McDougald	141	533	152	.285	13	53
3B	Carey, AndyAndy Carey	135	510	131	.257	7	47
SS	Hunter, BillyBilly Hunter	98	255	58	.227	3	20
LF	Noren, IrvIrv Noren	132	371	94	.253	8	59
CF	Mantle, MickeyMickey Mantle	147	517	158	.306	37	99
RF	Bauer, HankHank Bauer	139	492	137	.278	20	53

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
Howard, ElstonElston Howard	97	279	81	.290	10	43
Collins, JoeJoe Collins	105	278	65	.234	13	45
Robinson, EddieEddie Robinson	88	173	26	.208	16	42
Rizzuto, PhilPhil Rizzuto	81	143	37	.259	1	9
Coleman, JerryJerry Coleman	43	96	22	.229	0	8
Cerv, BobBob Cerv	55	85	29	.341	3	22
Martin, BillyBilly Martin	20	70	21	.300	1	9
Richardson, BobbyBobby Richardson	11	26	4	.154	0	3
Silvera, CharlieCharlie Silvera	14	26	5	.192	0	1
Slaughter, EnosEnos Slaughter	10	9	1	.111	0	1
Carroll, TomTom Carroll	14	6	2	.333	0	0
Tettelbach, DickDick Tettelbach	2	5	0	.000	0	0
Berberet, LouLou Berberet	2	5	2	.400	0	2
Blanchard, JohnnyJohnny Blanchard	1	3	0	.000	0	0
Throneberry, MarvMarv Throneberry	1	2	1	1.000	0	3
Leja, FrankFrank Leja	7	2	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
Ford, WhiteyWhitey Ford	39	253.2	18	7	2.63	137
Turley, BobBob Turley	36	246.2	17	13	3.06	210
Byrne, TommyTommy Byrne	27	160	16	5	3.15	76
Larsen, DonDon Larsen	19	97	9	2	3.06	44
Lopat, EdEd Lopat	16	86.2	4	8	3.74	24
Gray, TedTed Gray	1	3	0	0	3.00	1

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
Kucks, JohnnyJohnny Kucks	29	126.2	8	7	3.41	49
Grim, BobBob Grim	26	92.1	7	5	4.19	63
Wiesler, BobBob Wiesler	16	53	0	2	3.91	22
Coleman, RipRip Coleman	10	29	1	1	5.28	15

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
Konstanty, JimJim Konstanty	45	7	2	11	2.32	19
Morgan, TomTom Morgan	40	7	3	10	3.25	17
Sturdivant, TomTom Sturdivant	33	1	3	0	3.16	48
Sain, JohnnyJohnny Sain	3	0	0	0	6.75	5
Schallock, ArtArt Schallock	2	0	0	0	6.00	2
Staley, GerryGerry Staley	2	0	0	0	13.50	0

1955 World Series

In game one on September 28, Elston Howard became the sixth player in the history of the World Series to hit a home run in his first World Series at bat.

NL Brooklyn Dodgers (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (3)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Dodgers – 5, Yankees – 6	September 28	Yankee Stadium	63,869
2	Dodgers – 2, Yankees – 4	September 29	Yankee Stadium	64,707
3	Yankees – 3, Dodgers – 8	September 30	Ebbets Field	34,209
4	Yankees – 5, Dodgers – 8	October 1	Ebbets Field	36,242
5	Yankees – 3, Dodgers – 5	October 2	Ebbets Field	36,796
6	Dodgers – 1, Yankees – 5	October 3	Yankee Stadium	64,022
7	Dodgers – 2, Yankees – 0	October 4	Yankee Stadium	62,465

Awards and honors

• Yogi Berra, American League MVP

All-Star Game

League leaders

• Whitey Ford, league leader, complete games (Ford was the first player to lead the American League in complete games with fewer than 20)^[5]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Denver Bears	American Association	Ralph Houk
AA	Birmingham Barons	Southern Association	Phil Page
A	Binghamton Triplets	Eastern League	Snuffy Stirnweiss
B	Winston-Salem Twins	Carolina League	Ken Silvestri and Aaron Robinson
B	Quincy Gems	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Vern Hoscheit
B	Norfolk Tars	Piedmont League	Al Evans, Alton Brown and Bill Herring
C	Modesto Reds	California League	Jerry Crosby
C	Monroe Sports	Cotton States League	Ed Head
D	Bristol Twins	Appalachian League	Dave Madison
D	Owensboro Oilers	KITTY League	Walter Lance and Ken Silvestri
D	McAlester Rockets	Sooner State League	Marvin Crater

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Monroe

Norfolk club folded, July 14, 1955^[6]

Notes

1. Don Larsen at Baseball-Reference
2. Enos Slaughter at Baseball Reference
3. Ed Lopat at Baseball Reference
4. Jerry Staley at Baseball Reference
5. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.106, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
6. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

• 1955 New York Yankees
• 1955 World Series
• 1955 New York Yankees at Baseball Almanac