1954 Chicago Cubs season

The 1954 Chicago Cubs season was the 83rd season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 79th in the National League and the 39th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished seventh in the National League with a record of 64–90.

1954 Chicago Cubs
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876)
Location
Wrigley Field (since 1916) Chicago (since 1870)
Other information
Owner(s)	Philip K. Wrigley
General manager(s)	Wid Matthews
Manager(s)	Stan Hack
Local television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Harry Creighton)
Local radio	WIND (Bert Wilson, Bob Elson)
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Offseason

• November 30, 1953: Carl Sawatski was selected off waivers from the Cubs by the Chicago White Sox.^[1]
• December 7, 1953: Catfish Metkovich was purchased from the Cubs by the Milwaukee Braves.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	97	57	0.630	—	53–23	44–34
Brooklyn Dodgers	92	62	0.597	5	45–32	47–30
Milwaukee Braves	89	65	0.578	8	43–34	46–31
Philadelphia Phillies	75	79	0.487	22	39–39	36–40
Cincinnati Redlegs	74	80	0.481	23	41–36	33–44
St. Louis Cardinals	72	82	0.468	25	33–44	39–38
Chicago Cubs	64	90	0.416	33	40–37	24–53
Pittsburgh Pirates	53	101	0.344	44	31–46	22–55

Record vs. opponents

1954 National League Records v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BKN	CHC	CIN	MIL	NYG	PHP	PIT	STL
Brooklyn	—	15–7	16–6	10–12	9–13	13–9	15–7	14–8
Chicago	7–15	—	8–14	6–16	7–15	7–15	15–7	14–8
Cincinnati	6–16	14–8	—	10–12	7–15	14–8	15–7	8–14
Milwaukee	12–10	16–6	12–10	—	10–12	13–9	14–8	12–10
New York	13–9	15–7	15–7	12–10	—	16–6	14–8	12–10
Philadelphia	9–13	15–7	8–14	9–13	6–16	—	16–6	12–10
Pittsburgh	7–15	7–15	7–15	8–14	8–14	6–16	—	10–12
St. Louis	8–14	8–14	14–8	10–12	10–12	10–12	12–10	—

Notable transactions

• April 30, 1954: Steve Bilko was purchased by the Cubs from the St. Louis Cardinals for $12,500.^[3]
• June 8, 1954: Billy Muffett was purchased by the Cubs from the Shreveport Sports.^[4]
• June 14, 1954: Luis Márquez was traded by the Cubs to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Hal Rice.^[5]
• September 8, 1954: Joe Garagiola was selected off waivers from the Cubs by the New York Giants.^[6]

Roster

1954 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 27 Jim Brosnan 23 Bubba Church 23,39 Dave Cole 22 Jim Davis 18 Warren Hacker 19 Hal Jeffcoat 36 Johnny Klippstein 31 Al Lary 35 Turk Lown 24 Paul Minner 16 Howie Pollet 34 John Pyecha 17 Bob Rush 33 Bill Tremel 28 Jim Willis 38 Bob Zick		Catchers 25 Walker Cooper 48 Jim Fanning 11 Joe Garagiola  8 Clyde McCullough 55 El Tappe Infielders 37 Gene Baker 14 Ernie Banks 39,49 Steve Bilko 40 Dee Fondy  2 Randy Jackson 12 Chris Kitsos 21 Eddie Miksis 30 Vern Morgan  1 Bill Serena		Outfielders  7 Frank Baumholtz  4 Ralph Kiner 48 Luis Márquez 28 Hal Rice 52 Don Robertson  9 Hank Sauer 10 Bob Talbot Other batters  5 Bruce Edwards		Manager  6 Stan Hack Coaches 41 Ray Blades 20 Dutch Leonard 46 Bob Scheffing

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	Joe Garagiola	63	153	43	.281	5	21
1B	Dee Fondy	141	568	162	.285	9	49
2B	Gene Baker	135	541	149	.275	13	61
SS	Ernie Banks	154	593	163	.275	19	79
3B	Randy Jackson	126	484	132	.273	19	67
LF	Ralph Kiner	147	557	159	.285	22	73
CF	Bob Talbot	114	403	97	.241	1	19
RF	Hank Sauer	142	520	150	.288	41	103

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
Frank Baumholtz	90	303	90	.297	4	28
Walker Cooper	57	158	49	.310	7	32
El Tappe	46	119	22	.185	0	4
Eddie Miksis	38	99	20	.202	2	3
Steve Bilko	47	92	22	.239	4	12
Clyde McCullough	31	81	21	.259	3	17
Hal Rice	51	72	11	.153	0	5
Vern Morgan	24	64	15	.234	0	2
Bill Serena	41	63	10	.159	4	13
Jim Fanning	11	38	7	.184	0	1
Luis Márquez	17	12	1	.083	0	0
Don Robertson	14	6	0	.000	0	0
Bruce Edwards	4	3	0	.000	0	1
Chris Kitsos	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
Bob Rush	33	236.1	13	15	3.77	124
Paul Minner	32	218.0	11	11	3.96	79
Howie Pollet	20	128.1	8	10	3.58	58
Dave Cole	18	84.0	3	8	5.36	37
Al Lary	1	6.0	0	0	3.00	4

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
Warren Hacker	39	158.2	6	13	4.25	80
Johnny Klippstein	36	148.0	4	11	5.29	69
Jim Davis	46	127.2	11	7	3.52	58
Bubba Church	7	14.2	1	3	9.82	8

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
Hal Jeffcoat	43	5	6	7	5.19	35
Bill Tremel	33	1	2	4	4.21	21
Jim Brosnan	18	1	0	0	9.45	17
Turk Lown	15	0	2	0	6.14	16
Jim Willis	14	0	1	0	3.91	5
Bob Zick	8	0	0	0	8.27	9
John Pyecha	1	0	1	0	10.13	2

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
Open	Los Angeles Angels	Pacific Coast League	Bill Sweeney
AA	Beaumont Exporters	Texas League	Les Fleming and Mickey Livingston
A	Macon Peaches	Sally League	Nick Cullop
A	Des Moines Bruins	Western League	Les Peden
B	Cedar Rapids Indians	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Bill Prince
C	Stockton Ports	California League	Gene Handley
C	Magic Valley Cowboys	Pioneer League	Everett Robinson
C	Blackwell Broncos	Western Association	Joe Consoli and Al Kubski
D	Gainesville Owls	Sooner State League	Dick Rigazio
D	Hickory Rebels	Tar Heel League	Charlie Teague

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Des Moines, Blackwell
Tar Heel League disbanded, June 21, 1954

Notes

1. Carl Sawatski at Baseball Reference
2. Catfish Metkovich at Baseball Reference
3. Steve Bilko at Baseball Reference
4. Billy Muffett at Baseball Reference
5. Hal Rice at Baseball Reference
6. Joe Garagiola at Baseball Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1954 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference