1959 San Francisco Giants season

1959 San Francisco Giants
Willie McCovey's Rookie Year
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1883)
Location
Seals Stadium (since 1958)
San Francisco, California (since 1958)
Other information
Owner(s)	Horace Stoneham
General manager(s)	Chub Feeney
Manager(s)	Bill Rigney
Local television	KTVU (Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons)
Local radio	KSFO (Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Bill King)
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The 1959 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 77th year in Major League Baseball and their second year in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season. The team finished in third place in the National League with an 83-71 record, 4 games behind the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the team's second and final season at Seals Stadium before moving their games to Candlestick Park the following season.

Offseason

October 8, 1958: Marv Grissom and Ernie Broglio were traded by the Giants to the St. Louis Cardinals for Hobie Landrith, Billy Muffett and Benny Valenzuela.^[1]
December 3, 1958: Rubén Gómez and Valmy Thomas were traded by the Giants to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jack Sanford.^[2]
December 5, 1958: Joey Amalfitano was released by the Giants.^[3]
March 25, 1959: Ray Jablonski and Bill White were traded by the Giants to the St. Louis Cardinals for Sam Jones and Don Choate.^[4]

Regular season

In his major league debut on July 30, Willie McCovey went four-for-four against future Hall-of-Famer Robin Roberts en route to a .354 batting average. McCovey went on to win National League Rookie of the Year honors while playing in just 52 games.

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	88	68	0.564	—	46–32	42–36
Milwaukee Braves	86	70	0.551	2	49–29	37–41
San Francisco Giants	83	71	0.539	4	42–35	41–36
Pittsburgh Pirates	78	76	0.506	9	47–30	31–46
Chicago Cubs	74	80	0.481	13	38–39	36–41
Cincinnati Reds	74	80	0.481	13	43–34	31–46
St. Louis Cardinals	71	83	0.461	16	42–35	29–48
Philadelphia Phillies	64	90	0.416	23	37–40	27–50

Record vs. opponents

1959 National League Records Sources:
Team	CHC	CIN	LAD	MIL	PHI	PIT	SF	STL
Chicago	—	9–13	11–11	10–12	10–12–1	12–10	12–10	10–12
Cincinnati	13–9	—	13–9	11–11	9–13	9–13	8–14	11–11
Los Angeles	11–11	9–13	—	14–10	17–5	11–11	14–8	12–10
Milwaukee	12–10	11–11	10–14	—	13–9	15–7–1	12–10	13–9
Philadelphia	12–10–1	13–9	5–17	9–13	—	9–13	9–13	7–15
Pittsburgh	10–12	13–9	11–11	7–15–1	13–9	—	10–12	14–8
San Francisco	10–12	14–8	8–14	10–12	13–9	12–10	—	16–6
St. Louis	12–10	11–11	10–12	9–13	15–7	8–14	6–16	—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

July 26, 1959: Billy Muffett and cash were traded by the Giants to the Boston Red Sox for Bud Byerly.^[6]
August 25, 1959: Hank Sauer was released by the Giants.^[7]

Roster

1959 San Francisco Giants

Roster

Pitchers

43 Johnny Antonelli

39 Curt Barclay

36 Bud Byerly

39 Eddie Fisher

38 Gordon Jones

19 Sam Jones

40 Mike McCormick

37 Stu Miller

36 Billy Muffett

28 Marshall Renfroe

33 Jack Sanford

42 Joe Shipley

32 Al Worthington

34 Dom Zanni

Catchers

27 Jim Hegan

5 Hobie Landrith

8 Roger McCardell

9 Bob Schmidt

Infielders

16 Eddie Bressoud

30 Orlando Cepeda

12 Jim Davenport

44 Willie McCovey

22 Danny O'Connell

10 José Pagán

15,17 Andre Rodgers

20 Daryl Spencer

Outfielders

23 Felipe Alou

25 Jackie Brandt

28 Willie Kirkland

24 Willie Mays

6 Hank Sauer

39 Leon Wagner

Other batters

26 Dusty Rhodes

26 Bob Speake

Manager

18 Bill Rigney

Coaches

2 Salty Parker

1 Bill Posedel

6 Hank Sauer

3 Wes Westrum

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	Landrith, HobieHobie Landrith	109	283	71	.251	3	29

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
Rhodes, DustyDusty Rhodes	54	48	9	.188	0	7
Pagán, JoséJosé Pagán	31	46	8	.174	0	1

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
Antonelli, JohnnyJohnny Antonelli	40	282	19	10	3.10	165
Jones, SamSam Jones	50	270.2	21	15	2.83	209
Sanford, JackJack Sanford	36	222.1	15	12	3.16	132

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

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	ERA	SO
Byerly, BudBud Byerly	11	1	1.38	4
Muffett, BillyBilly Muffett	5	0	5.40	3
Barclay, CurtCurt Barclay	1	0	54.00	0

Awards and honors

Willie McCovey – National League Rookie of the Year

All-Star Game (first game) All-Star Game (second game)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Phoenix Giants	Pacific Coast League	Red Davis
AA	Corpus Christi Giants	Texas League	Ray Murray
A	Springfield Giants	Eastern League	Andy Gilbert
B	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	Roy Partee
C	Fresno Giants	California League	Mike McCormick
C	St. Cloud Rox	Northern League	Richie Klaus
D	Michigan City White Caps	Midwest League	Buddy Kerr
D	Hastings Giants	Nebraska State League	Leo Schrall
D	Artesia Giants	Sophomore League	Jodie Phipps

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Springfield^[8]

Notes

↑ Hobie Landrith page at Baseball Reference
↑ Rubén Gómez page at Baseball Reference
↑ Joey Amalfitano page at Baseball Reference
↑ Ray Jablonski page at Baseball Reference
↑ http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1959&t=SFN
↑ Billy Muffett page at Baseball Reference
↑ Hank Sauer page at Baseball Reference
↑ 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

1959 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City New York Washington
National League	Chicago Cincinnati Los Angeles Milwaukee Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis San Francisco
1959 All-Star Game (1st, 2nd) 1959 World Series

San Francisco Giants

Formerly the New York Gothams and the New York Giants
Based in San Francisco, California (Bay Area)

Franchise

Ballparks

Polo Grounds Oakland Park St. George Grounds Hilltop Park Seals Stadium Candlestick Park AT&T Park
Spring training	Payne Park Flamingo Field LSU Varsity Baseball Field Al Lang Stadium Phoenix Municipal Stadium Scottsdale Stadium

Culture and lore

Rivalries

Retired numbers

Pre-World Series Champions (2)

1888
1889

Temple Cup Champions (1)

1894

World Series Champions (8)

National League
Championships (23)

Division titles (8)

Wild card (3)

Minor league affiliates

AAA: Sacramento River Cats
AA: Richmond Flying Squirrels
A Adv.: San Jose Giants
A: Augusta GreenJackets
Short A: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
Rookie: AZL Giants; DSL Giants

Seasons (135)
1880s	1880 · 1881 · 1882 · 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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