1956 Cincinnati Redlegs season

The 1956 Cincinnati Redlegs season consisted of the Redlegs finishing in third place in the National League with a record of 91–63, two games behind the NL Champion Brooklyn Dodgers. The Redlegs were managed by Birdie Tebbetts and played their home games at Crosley Field, where they drew 1,125,928 fans, third-most in their league.^[1]

1956 Cincinnati Redlegs
League	National League
Ballpark	Crosley Field
City	Cincinnati
Owners	Powel Crosley Jr.
General managers	Gabe Paul
Managers	Birdie Tebbetts
Television	WLWT (Mark Scott, George Bryson)
Radio	WSAI (Waite Hoyt, Jack Moran)
← 1955 1957 →

Offseason

• November 28, 1955: Hobie Landrith was traded by the Redlegs to the Chicago Cubs for Hal Jeffcoat.^[2]
• January 31, 1956: Jackie Collum was traded by the Redlegs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Brooks Lawrence and Sonny Senerchia.^[3]
• Prior to 1956 season: Joe Azcue was signed as an amateur free agent by the Redlegs.^[4]

Regular season

The Redlegs were in first place at mid-season and stayed in the pennant race until the last day of the season, ending up with a 91–63 record, two games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.^[5] For his efforts, the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted Birdie Tebbetts as the 1956 Manager of the Year.^[6]

The 1956 Redlegs tied the National League and MLB record for home runs in a season, hitting 221 over 155 regular-season games. (The 1947 Giants also slugged 221 in 155 games played.) Three Redlegs hit more than 35 homers, with Frank Robinson (38) establishing a record for rookies; Wally Post (36) and Ted Kluszewski (35) were the others. Gus Bell (29) and Ed Bailey (28) came within reach of the 30-home-run mark, Bailey in only 383 at bats. The mark stood until 1961, when the New York Yankees hit 240 homers in the first year of the modern 162-game schedule.

On Sunday, June 24, following a doubleheader sweep of the Brooklyn Dodgers,^[7] eleven Redlegs players appeared on the panel quiz show What's My Line?.^[8]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Dodgers	93	61	.604	—	52‍–‍25	41‍–‍36
Milwaukee Braves	92	62	.597	1	47‍–‍29	45‍–‍33
Cincinnati Redlegs	91	63	.591	2	51‍–‍26	40‍–‍37
St. Louis Cardinals	76	78	.494	17	43‍–‍34	33‍–‍44
Philadelphia Phillies	71	83	.461	22	40‍–‍37	31‍–‍46
New York Giants	67	87	.435	26	37‍–‍40	30‍–‍47
Pittsburgh Pirates	66	88	.429	27	35‍–‍43	31‍–‍45
Chicago Cubs	60	94	.390	33	39‍–‍38	21‍–‍56

Record vs. opponents

1956 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BR	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	16–6	11–11	10–12	14–8	13–9	13–9	16–6
Chicago	6–16	—	6–16–1	9–13	7–15	13–9	10–12–1	9–13–1
Cincinnati	11–11	16–6–1	—	9–13	14–8	11–11	17–5	13–9
Milwaukee	12–10	13–9	13–9	—	17–5	10–12	14–8–1	13–9
New York	8–14	15–7	8–14	5–17	—	11–11	13–9	7–15
Philadelphia	9–13	9–13	11–11	12–10	11–11	—	7–15	12–10
Pittsburgh	9–13	12–10–1	5–17	8–14–1	9–13	15–7	—	8–14–1
St. Louis	6–16	13–9–1	9–13	9–13	15–7	10–12	14–8–1	—

Notable transactions

• April 1, 1956: Jim Pearce was assigned by the Redlegs to the St. Louis Cardinals.^[9]

Roster

1956 Cincinnati Redlegs
Roster
Pitchers 40 Tom Acker 49 Joe Black 51 Art Fowler 30 Hersh Freeman 31 Don Gross 43 Larry Jansen 42 Hal Jeffcoat 43 Bill Kennedy 35 Johnny Klippstein 38 Paul LaPalme 46 Brooks Lawrence 34 Russ Meyer 39 Joe Nuxhall 48 Pat Scantlebury 32 Frank Smith		Catchers  6 Ed Bailey  7 Smoky Burgess  9 Bruce Edwards Infielders 14 Rocky Bridges 15 George Crowe 26 Jim Dyck 10 Alex Grammas 12 Ray Jablonski 18 Ted Kluszewski 11 Roy McMillan 16 Johnny Temple		Outfielders 24 Bobby Balcena 25 Gus Bell  9 Joe Frazier 10 Chuck Harmon 23 Stan Palys 28 Wally Post 20 Frank Robinson 37 Art Schult 22 Bob Thurman Other batters  9 Matt Batts 27 Curt Flood 36 John Oldham 27 Al Silvera		Manager  1 Birdie Tebbetts Coaches  4 Jimmy Dykes  3 Tom Ferrick  2 Frank McCormick

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	Ed Bailey	118	383	115	.300	28	75
1B	Ted Kluszewski	138	517	156	.302	35	102
2B	Johnny Temple	154	632	180	.285	2	41
SS	Roy McMillan	150	479	126	.263	3	62
3B	Ray Jablonski	130	407	104	.256	15	66
LF	Frank Robinson	152	572	166	.290	38	83
CF	Gus Bell	150	603	176	.292	29	84
RF	Wally Post	143	539	134	.249	36	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
Smokey Burgess	90	229	63	.275	12	39
George Crowe	77	144	36	.250	10	23
Alex Grammas	77	140	34	.243	0	16
Bob Thurman	80	139	41	.295	8	22
Stan Palys	40	53	12	.226	2	5
Rocky Bridges	71	19	4	.211	0	1
Joe Frazier	10	17	4	.235	1	2
Jim Dyck	18	11	1	.091	0	0
Art Schult	5	7	3	.429	0	2
Bruce Edwards	7	5	1	.200	0	0
Chuck Harmon	13	4	0	.000	0	0
Matt Batts	3	2	0	.000	0	0
Bobby Balcena	7	2	0	.000	0	0
Curt Flood	5	1	0	.000	0	0
Al Silvera	1	0	0	----	0	0
John Oldham	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
Johnny Klippstein	37	211.0	12	11	4.09	86
Joe Nuxhall	44	200.2	13	11	3.72	120
Larry Jansen	8	34.2	2	3	5.19	16

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
Brooks Lawrence	49	218.2	19	10	3.99	96
Art Fowler	45	177.2	11	11	4.05	86
Hal Jeffcoat	38	171.0	8	2	3.84	55
Tom Acker	29	83.2	4	3	2.37	54
Don Gross	19	69.1	3	0	1.95	47
Paul LaPalme	11	27.0	2	4	4.67	4
Pat Scantlebury	6	19.0	0	1	6.63	10

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
Hersh Freeman	64	14	5	17	3.40	17
Joe Black	32	3	2	2	4.52	27
Frank Smith	2	0	0	0	12.00	1
Bill Kennedy	1	0	0	0	18.00	0
Russ Meyer	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
Open	Seattle Rainiers	Pacific Coast League	Luke Sewell and Bill Brenner
AAA	Havana Sugar Kings	International League	Reggie Otero and Nap Reyes
AA	Nashville Vols	Southern Association	Ernie White
A	Savannah Redlegs	Sally League	Jimmy Brown
B	High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms	Carolina League	Bert Haas
B	Clovis Pioneers	Southwestern League	Frank Benites, Glenn McQuillen and Roy Parker
C	Yuma Sun Sox	Arizona–Mexico League	Whitey Wietelmann and Bill Harris
C	Wausau Lumberjacks	Northern League	John Streza
D	West Palm Beach Sun Chiefs	Florida State League	Walt Novick
D	Douglas Reds	Georgia State League	Johnny Vander Meer
D	Moultrie Reds	Georgia–Florida League	Bob Wellman

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Douglas^[10]