1959 National League

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1959 National League
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The 1959 season of the National League was the eighty-fourth season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	Los Angeles Dodgers	156	88	68	0	.564	-.-	705 (4.52)	670 (4.29)	0.257	0.334	0.396	3.79	0.981
2	Milwaukee Braves	157	86	70	1	.551	2.0	724 (4.61)	623 (3.97)	0.265	0.326	0.417	3.51	0.979
3	San Francisco Giants	154	83	71	0	.539	4.0	705 (4.58)	613 (3.98)	0.261	0.322	0.414	3.47	0.974
4	Pittsburgh Pirates	155	78	76	1	.506	9.0	651 (4.20)	680 (4.39)	0.263	0.320	0.384	3.90	0.973
5	Chicago Cubs	155	74	80	1	.480	13.0	673 (4.34)	688 (4.44)	0.249	0.317	0.398	4.01	0.977
5	Cincinnati Redlegs	154	74	80	0	.480	13.0	764 (4.96)	738 (4.79)	0.274	0.337	0.427	4.31	0.978
7	St. Louis Cardinals	154	71	83	0	.461	16.0	641 (4.16)	725 (4.71)	0.269	0.331	0.400	4.34	0.975
8	Philadelphia Phillies	155	64	90	1	.416	23.0	599 (3.86)	725 (4.68)	0.242	0.312	0.362	4.27	0.975

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Ernie Banks Don Hoak	Chicago Cubs Pittsburgh Pirates	155
At Bats	Vada Pinson	Cincinnati Redlegs	648
Runs Scored	Vada Pinson	Cincinnati Redlegs	131
Hits	Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves	223
Doubles	Vada Pinson	Cincinnati Redlegs	47
Triples	Wally Moon Charlie Neal	Los Angeles Dodgers Los Angeles Dodgers	11
Home Runs	Eddie Mathews	Milwaukee Braves	46
Total Bases	Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves	400
Runs Batted In	Ernie Banks	Chicago Cubs	143
Stolen Bases	Willie Mays	San Francisco Giants	27
Caught Stealing	Wade Blasingame	St. Louis Cardinals	15
Walks	Jim Gilliam	Los Angeles Dodgers	96
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Ernie Banks	Chicago Cubs	20
Hit by Pitch	Frank Robinson	Cincinnati Redlegs	8
Strikeouts	Wally Post	Philadelphia Phillies	101
Sacrifice Hits	Charlie Neal	Los Angeles Dodgers	21
Sacrifice Flies	Johnny Temple	Cincinnati Redlegs	13
Grounded into Double Plays	Del Crandall	Milwaukee Braves	24
Batting Average	Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves	0.355
On-Base Percentage	Joe Cunningham	St. Louis Cardinals	0.453
Slugging Percentage	Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves	0.636
On-Base plus Slugging	Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves	1.037
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves	182

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Sam Jones Warren Spahn Lew Burdette	San Francisco Giants Milwaukee Braves Milwaukee Braves	21
Losses	Bob Friend	Pittsburgh Pirates	19
Win-Loss Percentage	Roy Face	Pittsburgh Pirates	0.947
Appearances	Don Elston Bill Henry	Chicago Cubs Chicago Cubs	65
Games Started	Lew Burdette	Milwaukee Braves	39
Complete Games	Warren Spahn	Milwaukee Braves	21
Shutouts	7 tied with		4
Games Finished	Don McMahon	Milwaukee Braves	49
Saves	Lindy McDaniel	St. Louis Cardinals	16
Innings Pitched	Warren Spahn	Milwaukee Braves	292.0
Batters Faced	Warren Spahn	Milwaukee Braves	1203
Hits Allowed	Lew Burdette	Milwaukee Braves	312
Home Runs Allowed	Lew Burdette	Milwaukee Braves	38
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Sam Jones	San Francisco Giants	109
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Mike McCormick Stu Miller	San Francisco Giants San Francisco Giants	13
Hit Batsmen	Don Drysdale	Los Angeles Dodgers	18
Strikeouts	Don Drysdale	Los Angeles Dodgers	242
Wild Pitches	Lindy McDaniel	St. Louis Cardinals	10
Balks	Bob Anderson	Chicago Cubs	3
Runs Allowed	Lew Burdette	Milwaukee Braves	144
Earned Runs Allowed	Lew Burdette	Milwaukee Braves	131
Earned Run Average	Sam Jones	San Francisco Giants	2.23
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Harvey Haddix	Pittsburgh Pirates	1.061

All-Star Games

In the First All-Star Game of 1959, the National League defeated the American League, 5-4, on July 7th at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, PA. In the Second Al-Star Game played on August 3rd at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA, the American League won 5-3 over the National League. In both games, the National League team was managed by Fred Haney of the Milwaukee Braves.

Hall of Fame Game

The seventeenth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on August 4 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the National League's Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Washington Senators of the American League by a score of 5 to 4.

Postseason

In the World Series, the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the American League's Chicago White Sox, 4 games to 2.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Ernie Banks, a shortstop with the Chicago Cubs. In the award's voting, he had 232.5 out of a possible 308 points and 10.5 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Willie McCovey, a first baseman with the San Francisco Giants. In the award's voting, he had 24 out of a possible 24 points and all 24 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Harvey Haddix	Pittsburgh Pirates
C	Del Crandall	Milwaukee Braves
1B	Gil Hodges	Los Angeles Dodgers
2B	Charlie Neal	Los Angeles Dodgers
3B	Roy McMillan	Cincinnati Redlegs
SS	Ken Boyer	St. Louis Cardinals
LF	Jackie Brandt	San Francisco Giants
CF	Willie Mays	San Francisco Giants
RF	Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: none
  • May: Hank Aaron, Milwaukee Braves and Harvey Haddix, Cincinnati Redlegs
  • June: Roy Face, Pittsburgh Pirates
  • July: Don Drysdale, Los Angeles Dodgers
  • August: Vern Law, Pittsburgh Pirates and Willie McCovey, San Francisco Giants
  • September: Eddie Mathews, Milwaukee Braves

Umpires

• Al Barlick
• Dusty Boggess
• Ken Burkhart
• Jocko Conlan
• Shag Crawford
• Frank Dascoli
• Vic Delmore
• Hal Dixon
• Augie Donatelli
• Tom Gorman
• Bill Jackowski
• Stan Landes
• Frank Secory
• Vinnie Smith
• Ed Sudol
• Tony Venzon

Further Reading

• Jim Brosnan: The Long Season, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, IL, 2002. ISBN 978-1566634182 (originally published in 1960).