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1955 Boston Red Sox season

Major League Baseball season

Field	Value
name	Boston Red Sox
season	1955
league	American League
ballpark	Fenway Park
city	Boston, Massachusetts
record	84–70 (.545)
league_place	4th
owners	Tom Yawkey
president	Tom Yawkey
general_managers	Joe Cronin
managers	Pinky Higgins
television	WBZ-TV, Ch. 4 and WNAC-TV, Ch. 7
radio	WHDH-AM 850
(Curt Gowdy, Bob Murphy, Tom Hussey)
espntn	bos
brtn	BOS

(Curt Gowdy, Bob Murphy, Tom Hussey) The 1955 Boston Red Sox season was the 55th season of franchise of Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished fourth in the American League (AL) with a record of 84 wins and 70 losses, 12 games behind the New York Yankees.

Offseason

October 14, 1954: Owen Friend was purchased by the Red Sox from the Cleveland Indians.

Regular season

After finishing fourth — but 42 games behind the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians — in 1954, the 1955 Red Sox improved substantially, gaining 15 games in the win column (although again finishing fourth). The Red Sox played especially well throughout the early and middle parts of the season, seemingly in pennant contention for the first time since 1950. Much of the improvement was ascribed to rookie manager Pinky Higgins, promoted to Boston after eight years as a skipper in the team's farm system.

But the Red Sox' improvement on the field was overshadowed by the sudden illness and death, on June 27, of the team's sophomore first baseman, Harry Agganis. Perhaps the most celebrated Boston-area athlete of the 20th century, the Lynn, Massachusetts, native had starred in football as the quarterback of the Boston University Terriers before signing a professional baseball contract with the Red Sox. He was batting .313 in 83 at bats on June 2 when he was initially taken ill with pneumonia. He died less than four weeks later, at 26, of a massive pulmonary embolism.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

June 12, 1955: Owen Friend was purchased from the Red Sox by the Chicago Cubs.

Roster

1955 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers

Player stats

	= Indicates team leader

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	143	544	142	.261	11	64
1B	Norm Zauchin	130	477	114	.239	27	93
2B		149	599	176	.294	0	52
SS	Billy Klaus	135	541	153	.283	7	60
3B	Grady Hatton	126	380	93	.245	4	49
LF	Ted Williams	98	320	114	.356	28	83
CF	Jim Piersall	149	515	146	.283	13	62
RF	Jackie Jensen	152	574	158	.275	26	116

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	109	157	46	.293	3	18
Faye Throneberry	60	144	37	.257	6	27
Ted Lepcio	51	134	31	.231	6	15
Eddie Joost	55	119	23	.193	5	17
	25	83	26	.313	0	10
Pete Daley	17	50	11	.220	0	5
Karl Olson	26	48	12	.250	0	1
	14	42	11	.262	0	2
Sam Mele	14	31	4	.129	0	1
Frank Malzone	6	20	7	.350	0	1
Dick Gernert	7	20	4	.200	0	1
Billy Consolo	8	18	4	.222	0	0
Haywood Sullivan	2	6	0	.000	0	0
Milt Bolling	6	5	1	.200	0	0
Jim Pagliaroni	1	0	0	----	0	1

Pitching

	= Indicates league leader

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
Frank Sullivan	35	260.0	18*	13	2.91	129
Willard Nixon	31	208.0	12	10	4.07	95
	31	192.2	11	10	4.20	91

Tied with Whitey Ford and Bob Lemon

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
George Susce	29	144.1	9	7	3.06	60
Ike Delock	29	143.2	9	7	3.76	88
Bill Henry	17	59.2	2	4	3.32	23
Mel Parnell	13	46.0	2	3	7.83	18
	7	34.0	2	1	5.82	27
Russ Kemmerer	7	17.1	1	1	7.27	13

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	43	5	5	18	2.84	31
Tom Hurd	43	8	6	5	3.01	48
Leo Kiely	33	3	3	6	2.80	36
	16	1	0	0	5.63	10
Hal Brown	2	1	0	0	2.25	2
Joe Trimble	2	0	0	0	0.00	1
Hersh Freeman	2	0	0	0	0.00	1
	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

References

[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/frienow01.shtml Owen Friend page at Baseball Reference]
Golenbock, Peter. (2015). "Red Sox Nation: The Rich and Colorful History of the Boston Red Sox". [[Triumph Books]].
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 2nd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

Info: Wikipedia Source

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