1951 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1951 Pittsburgh Pirates
1951 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1887);
Location
	Forbes Field (since 1909); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1] (since 1907);
Other information
Owners	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson, Branch Rickey (minority shareholders)
General managers	Branch Rickey
Managers	Billy Meyer
Local television	none
Local radio	WWSW; Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince
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The 1951 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 70th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 65th in the National League. The Pirates finished seventh in the league standings with a record of 64–90.

Offseason

November 16, 1950: Catfish Metkovich was drafted by the Pirates from the Oakland Oaks in the 1950 rule 5 draft.[2]

Regular season

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	98	59	0.624	—	50–28	48–31
Brooklyn Dodgers	97	60	0.618	1	49–29	48–31
St. Louis Cardinals	81	73	0.526	15½	44–34	37–39
Boston Braves	76	78	0.494	20½	42–35	34–43
Philadelphia Phillies	73	81	0.474	23½	38–39	35–42
Cincinnati Reds	68	86	0.442	28½	35–42	33–44
Pittsburgh Pirates	64	90	0.416	32½	32–45	32–45
Chicago Cubs	62	92	0.403	34½	32–45	30–47

Record vs. opponents

1951 National League record Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–12–1	10–12	10–12	8–14	12–10	13–9	13–9
Brooklyn	12–10–1	—	14–8	14–8	14–11	15–7	10–12	18–4
Chicago	12–10	8–14	—	10–12	7–15	7–15	9–13	9–13–1
Cincinnati	12–10	8–14	12–10	—	5–17	11–11	12–10–1	8–14
New York	14–8	11–14	15–7	17–5	—	16–6	14–8	11–11
Philadelphia	10–12	7–15	15–7	11–11	6–16	—	15–7	9–13
Pittsburgh	9–13	12–10	13–9	10–12–1	8–14	7–15	—	5–17
St. Louis	9–13	4–18	13–9–1	14–8	11–11	13–9	17–5	—

Game log

1951 Game Log: 64–90 (Home: 32–45; Away: 32–45)

April: 5–5 (Home: 2–2; Away: 3–3)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
1	April 16	@ Reds	4–3	Chambers (1–0)	Blackwell	Werle (1)	30,441	1–0
2	April 17	Cardinals	5–4	Dickson (1–0)	Poholsky	Werle (2)	25,894	2–0
3	April 21	@ Reds	3–8	Fox	Chambers (1–1)	—	4,180	2–1
4	April 22	@ Reds	7–5	Werle (1–0)	Blackwell	—	7,254	3–1
5	April 23	@ Cubs	1–2	Hiller	Queen (0–1)	—	7,899	3–2
6	April 24	@ Cubs	6–4	Law (1–0)	Lown	Werle (3)	7,750	4–2
7	April 25	@ Cardinals	0–4	Poholsky	Chambers (1–2)	—	9,628	4–3
8	April 27	Reds	5–7	Blackwell	Muir (0–1)	Fox	27,135	4–4
9	April 28	Reds	2–4	Wehmeier	Dempsey (0–1)	Smith	10,657	4–5
10	April 29	Reds	9–8 (13)	Dickson (2–0)	Smith	—		5–5
11	April 29	Reds	1–1 (10)			—	23,601	5–5

May: 10–18 (Home: 3–10; Away: 7–8)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
12	May 1	@ Dodgers	6–2	Chambers (2–2)	Palica	—	6,716	6–5
13	May 2	@ Dodgers	4–3	Dickson (3–0)	Newcombe	—	6,238	7–5
14	May 3	@ Giants	7–4 (10)	Queen (1–1)	Jones	Werle (4)	9,649	8–5
15	May 4	@ Giants	1–5	Maglie	Dempsey (0–2)	—	3,947	8–6
16	May 5	@ Giants	3–8	Bowman	Koski (0–1)	—	10,265	8–7
17	May 6	@ Braves	0–6	Spahn	Dickson (3–1)	—		8–8
18	May 6	@ Braves	3–0	Chambers (3–2)	Estock	—	15,492	9–8
19	May 8	@ Phillies	9–3	Queen (2–1)	Heintzelman	Werle (5)	13,700	10–8
20	May 9	@ Phillies	5–6 (10)	Konstanty	Muir (0–2)	—	14,134	10–9
21	May 10	@ Phillies	2–0	Dickson (4–1)	Church	—	3,562	11–9
22	May 11	Cubs	4–10	Rush	Chambers (3–3)	—	22,760	11–10
23	May 12	Cubs	4–8	Hiller	Law (1–1)	Minner	7,528	11–11
24	May 13	Cubs	2–1	Queen (3–1)	Schultz	—		12–11
25	May 13	Cubs	0–6	Klippstein	Dickson (4–2)	—	25,434	12–12
26	May 15	Giants	7–3	Werle (2–0)	Spencer	Law (1)	25,838	13–12
27	May 16	Giants	1–2	Hearn	Walsh (0–1)	—	24,103	13–13
28	May 17	Giants	12–7	Dickson (5–2)	Kennedy	—	13,926	14–13
29	May 18	Braves	3–12	Surkont	Queen (3–2)	—	30,890	14–14
30	May 19	Braves	2–6	Bickford	Law (1–2)	—	13,217	14–15
31	May 20	Phillies	0–17	Meyer	Dickson (5–3)	—		14–16
32	May 20	Phillies	4–12	Roberts	Dusak (0–1)	—	36,166	14–17
33	May 22	Dodgers	8–17	Erskine	Friend (0–1)	Branca	22,360	14–18
34	May 23	Dodgers	4–11	Newcombe	Queen (3–3)	—	15,759	14–19
35	May 25	@ Cubs	10–1	Dickson (6–3)	Hiller	—	8,143	15–19
36	May 26	@ Cubs	4–5 (10)	Schmitz	Walsh (0–2)	—	9,006	15–20
37	May 28	@ Cardinals	5–6 (10)	Poholsky	LaPalme (0–1)	—	9,757	15–21
38	May 30	@ Cardinals	3–4	Presko	Dickson (6–4)	Wilks		15–22
39	May 30	@ Cardinals	3–7	Munger	Queen (3–4)	—	26,952	15–23

June: 10–18 (Home: 4–9; Away: 6–9)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
40	June 1	@ Giants	2–8	Maglie	Chambers (3–4)	—	16,875	15–24
41	June 2	@ Giants	3–14	Hearn	LaPalme (0–2)	—	7,003	15–25
42	June 3	@ Phillies	2–11	Roberts	Queen (3–5)	—		15–26
43	June 3	@ Phillies	3–8	Church	Dickson (6–5)	—	19,325	15–27
44	June 4	@ Phillies	12–4	Friend (1–1)	Meyer	Dickson (1)	2,343	16–27
45	June 5	@ Braves	8–0	LaPalme (1–2)	Sain	—	4,302	17–27
46	June 6	@ Braves	2–5	Spahn	Chambers (3–5)	—	5,030	17–28
47	June 7	@ Braves	0–5	Bickford	Queen (3–6)	—	4,916	17–29
48	June 9	@ Dodgers	4–1	Dickson (7–5)	Newcombe	—	11,462	18–29
49	June 10	@ Dodgers	1–2	Branca	Friend (1–2)	—		18–30
50	June 10	@ Dodgers	5–4 (11)	Werle (3–0)	Erskine	—	24,602	19–30
51	June 12	Braves	3–13	Sain	Chambers (3–6)	—	16,054	19–31
52	June 14	Braves	9–4	Dickson (8–5)	Bickford	—	4,277	20–31
53	June 15	Giants	6–11	Hearn	Friend (1–3)	—	22,746	20–32
54	June 16	Giants	1–6	Maglie	LaPalme (1–3)	—	8,673	20–33
55	June 17	Giants	11–5	Pollet (1–0)	Bowman	Werle (6)		21–33
56	June 17	Giants	6–7 (10)	Jansen	Dickson (8–6)	—	25,090	21–34
57	June 19	Phillies	2–9	Meyer	Dickson (8–7)	—	16,601	21–35
58	June 20	Phillies	0–1	Church	Friend (1–4)	—	12,751	21–36
59	June 21	Phillies	5–10	Roberts	LaPalme (1–4)	—	5,682	21–37
60	June 22	Dodgers	4–8	King	Wilks (0–1)	—	24,966	21–38
61	June 23	Dodgers	1–13	Newcombe	Werle (3–1)	—	9,937	21–39
62	June 24	Dodgers	10–7	Dickson (9–7)	Erskine	—		22–39
63	June 24	Dodgers	5–4	Wilks (1–1)	King	—	31,435	23–39
64	June 26	@ Reds	3–2	Pollet (2–0)	Perkowski	—	8,313	24–39
65	June 27	@ Reds	1–2	Ramsdell	Friend (1–5)	—	5,788	24–40
66	June 28	@ Reds	7–5	Werle (4–1)	Raffensberger	Wilks (2)	7,568	25–40
67	June 30	@ Cardinals	4–8	Chambers	Dickson (9–8)	—	13,479	25–41

July: 14–16 (Home: 10–7; Away: 4–9)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
68	July 1	@ Cardinals	4–5 (12)	Staley	Pollet (2–1)	—	21,195	25–42
69	July 2	Cubs	7–2	Dickson (10–8)	Hiller	—	12,661	26–42
70	July 3	Cubs	2–0	Law (2–2)	Rush	—	4,650	27–42
71	July 4	Reds	4–1	Friend (2–5)	Blackwell	Wilks (3)		28–42
72	July 4	Reds	16–4 (6)	Werle (5–1)	Ramsdell	—	16,061	29–42
73	July 5	Reds	0–4	Fox	Pollet (2–2)	—	2,212	29–43
74	July 6	Cardinals	2–3	Munger	Dickson (10–9)	—	24,532	29–44
75	July 7	Cardinals	5–1	Law (3–2)	Lanier	—	10,127	30–44
76	July 8	Cardinals	6–2	Friend (3–5)	Staley	Wilks (4)		31–44
77	July 8	Cardinals	8–9	Chambers	Wilks (1–2)	Staley	31,085	31–45
78	July 12	@ Phillies	6–11	Meyer	Dickson (10–10)	—	10,618	31–46
79	July 13	@ Phillies	2–3	Roberts	Pollet (2–3)	—	7,786	31–47
80	July 14	@ Phillies	0–2	Church	Law (3–3)	—	4,106	31–48
81	July 15	@ Giants	7–6 (12)	Dickson (11–10)	Koslo	—		32–48
82	July 15	@ Giants	3–8	Hearn	Werle (5–2)	—	17,945	32–49
83	July 16	@ Giants	6–7	Spencer	Werle (5–3)	—	3,390	32–50
84	July 17	@ Dodgers	4–3	Pollet (3–3)	Podbielan	Wilks (5)	18,097	33–50
85	July 18	@ Dodgers	13–12	Walsh (1–2)	Palica	Wilks (6)	7,083	34–50
86	July 20	@ Braves	6–11	Spahn	Law (3–4)	—	5,767	34–51
87	July 21	@ Braves	6–11	Bickford	Law (3–5)	—	3,263	34–52
88	July 22	@ Braves	3–5	Chipman	Wilks (1–3)	—		34–53
89	July 22	@ Braves	5–2	Dickson (12–10)	Wilson	—	8,514	35–53
90	July 23	Braves	14–15	Paine	Law (3–6)	Chipman	8,112	35–54
91	July 24	Giants	3–4 (10)	Maglie	Friend (3–6)	—	17,858	35–55
92	July 25	Giants	5–4	Wilks (2–3)	Spencer	—	8,718	36–55
93	July 27	Braves	8–4	Pollet (4–3)	Surkont	—	17,256	37–55
94	July 28	Braves	8–4	Dickson (13–10)	Spahn	—	6,848	38–55
95	July 29	Braves	6–2	Friend (4–6)	Sain	—		39–55
96	July 29	Braves	4–5	Wilson	Queen (3–7)	Estock	17,881	39–56
97	July 31	Dodgers	3–8	Newcombe	Pollet (4–4)	—	26,132	39–57

August: 16–17 (Home: 6–6; Away: 10–11)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
98	August 1	Dodgers	12–9	Werle (6–3)	King	Wilks (7)	19,502	40–57
99	August 2	Dodgers	5–10	Erskine	Friend (4–7)	—	10,986	40–58
100	August 3	Phillies	4–5	Roberts	Law (3–7)	—	13,607	40–59
101	August 4	Phillies	7–3	Dickson (14–10)	Johnson	—	7,206	41–59
102	August 5	Phillies	1–5	Church	Friend (4–8)	—		41–60
103	August 5	Phillies	7–12	Heintzelman	Wilks (2–4)	Konstanty	20,049	41–61
104	August 7	@ Cardinals	7–16	Boyer	LaPalme (1–5)	Brazle	7,465	41–62
105	August 8	@ Cardinals	10–7	Dickson (15–10)	Poholsky	Wilks (8)	7,482	42–62
106	August 9	@ Cardinals	0–4	Chambers	Pollet (4–5)	—	6,855	42–63
107	August 10	@ Cubs	3–0	Queen (4–7)	McLish	—	7,703	43–63
108	August 11	@ Cubs	3–4	Kelly	Law (3–8)	—		43–64
109	August 11	@ Cubs	2–1	Friend (5–8)	Rush	—	20,522	44–64
110	August 12	@ Cubs	1–0	Dickson (16–10)	Hatten	—		45–64
111	August 12	@ Cubs	0–6	Minner	Werle (6–4)	—	25,891	45–65
112	August 13	@ Reds	0–2	Fox	Pollet (4–6)	—		45–66
113	August 13	@ Reds	1–7	Blackwell	Walsh (1–3)	—	9,992	45–67
114	August 15	Cardinals	7–0	Friend (6–8)	Staley	—	17,853	46–67
115	August 16	Cardinals	6–9	Staley	Dickson (16–11)	—	6,619	46–68
116	August 17	Cubs	8–3	Queen (5–7)	Minner	—	10,007	47–68
117	August 18	Cubs	5–11	Kelly	Pollet (4–7)	Leonard	6,212	47–69
118	August 19	Cubs	4–2	Carlsen (1–0)	Hatten	—		48–69
119	August 19	Cubs	5–4	Law (4–8)	Leonard	—	16,434	49–69
120	August 21	@ Braves	1–3	Wilson	Friend (6–9)	—	3,289	49–70
121	August 22	@ Braves	4–5 (10)	Chipman	Werle (6–5)	—	4,585	49–71
122	August 24	@ Phillies	5–1	Dickson (17–11)	Thompson	—	8,847	50–71
123	August 25	@ Phillies	3–2 (12)	Carlsen (2–0)	Konstanty	—	5,276	51–71
124	August 26	@ Dodgers	12–11	Law (5–8)	King	Dickson (2)		52–71
125	August 26	@ Dodgers	3–4 (10)	Roe	Wilks (2–5)	—	30,189	52–72
126	August 27	@ Dodgers	0–5	Branca	Queen (5–8)	—		52–73
127	August 27	@ Dodgers	5–2	Werle (7–5)	Palica	Law (2)	32,561	53–73
128	August 28	@ Giants	2–0	Pollet (5–7)	Jones	—	8,803	54–73
129	August 29	@ Giants	1–3	Hearn	Dickson (17–12)	—	7,678	54–74
130	August 30	@ Giants	10–9	Dickson (18–12)	Jansen	—	8,230	55–74

September: 9–16 (Home: 7–11; Away: 2–5)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
131	September 1	@ Cardinals	2–6	Chambers	Carlsen (2–1)	—	11,637	55–75
132	September 2	@ Cardinals	1–6	Poholsky	Pollet (5–8)	—	12,852	55–76
133	September 3	@ Cubs	10–11 (12)	Dubiel	Law (5–9)	—		55–77
134	September 3	@ Cubs	4–3 (7)	Wilks (3–5)	Lown	—	20,242	56–77
135	September 5	Reds	3–6	Wehmeier	Werle (7–6)	Raffensberger	9,086	56–78
136	September 6	Reds	7–4	Pollet (6–8)	Fox	Wilks (9)	4,222	57–78
137	September 7	Cardinals	4–11	Bokelmann	Carlsen (2–2)	—	7,371	57–79
138	September 8	Cardinals	2–4	Brazle	Queen (5–9)	—	5,511	57–80
139	September 9	Cardinals	1–2 (10)	Lanier	Dickson (18–13)	—		57–81
140	September 9	Cardinals	4–7	Bokelmann	Walsh (1–4)	—	17,456	57–82
141	September 11	Phillies	2–3	Roberts	Carlsen (2–3)	—	8,152	57–83
142	September 12	Phillies	8–6	Law (6–9)	Hansen	Wilks (10)	2,364	58–83
143	September 14	Dodgers	1–3	Roe	Dickson (18–14)	—	18,050	58–84
144	September 15	Dodgers	11–4	Queen (6–9)	Branca	Wilks (11)	11,098	59–84
145	September 16	Giants	1–7	Jansen	Pollet (6–9)	—		59–85
146	September 16	Giants	4–6	Maglie	Dickson (18–15)	—	24,990	59–86
147	September 18	Braves	6–5	Yochim (1–0)	Wilson	Wilks (12)	8,036	60–86
148	September 19	Braves	7–3	Dickson (19–15)	Nichols	—	2,793	61–86
149	September 22	@ Reds	0–9	Wehmeier	Friend (6–10)	—	1,093	61–87
150	September 23	@ Reds	3–0	Dickson (20–15)	Blackwell	—		62–87
151	September 23	@ Reds	0–2	Fox	Pollet (6–10)	—	6,152	62–88
152	September 25	Cubs	6–3	Queen (7–9)	Lown	Wilks (13)	6,063	63–88
153	September 28	Reds	3–4	Wehmeier	Yochim (1–1)	—	4,250	63–89
154	September 29	Reds	2–4	Blackwell	Dickson (20–16)	Smith	13,843	63–90
155	September 30	Reds	8–4 (11)	Werle (8–6)	Smith	—	9,068	64–90

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Notable transactions

June 15, 1951: Cliff Chambers and Wally Westlake were traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Garagiola, Dick Cole, Bill Howerton, Howie Pollet, and Ted Wilks.[3]

Roster

1951 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

35,39 Harry Fisher

Manager

1 Billy Meyer

Coaches

Player stats

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	Clyde McCullough	92	259	77	.297	8	39
1B	Jack Phillips	70	156	37	.237	0	12
2B	Monty Basgall	55	153	32	.209	0	9
SS	George Strickland	138	454	98	.216	9	47
3B	Pete Castiglione	132	482	126	.261	7	42
OF	Catfish Metkovich	120	423	124	.293	3	40
OF	Gus Bell	149	600	167	.278	16	89
OF	Ralph Kiner	151	531	164	.309	42	109

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
Bill Howerton	80	219	60	.274	11	37
Joe Garagiola	72	212	54	.255	9	35
Rocky Nelson	71	195	52	.267	1	14
Wally Westlake	50	181	51	.282	16	45
Danny Murtaugh	77	151	30	.199	1	11
Frank Thomas	39	148	39	.264	2	16
Pete Reiser	74	140	38	.271	2	13
Dick Cole	42	106	25	.236	1	11
Ed Fitz Gerald	55	97	22	.227	0	13
Tom Saffell	49	65	13	.200	1	5
Hank Schenz	25	61	13	.213	0	3
Jack Merson	13	50	18	.360	1	14
Ted Beard	22	48	9	.188	1	3
Dick Smith	12	46	8	.174	0	4
Bob Dillinger	12	43	10	.233	0	0
Erv Dusak	21	39	12	.308	1	7
Dino Restelli	21	38	7	.184	1	3
Stan Rojek	8	16	3	.188	0	0
Dale Long	10	12	2	.167	1	1
Jack Maguire	8	5	0	.000	0	0
Harry Fisher	3	3	0	.000	0	0

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
Murry Dickson	45	288.2	20	16	4.02	112
Howie Pollet	21	128.2	6	10	5.04	47
Cliff Chambers	10	59.2	3	6	5.58	19
Don Carlsen	7	43.2	2	3	4.19	20
Len Yochim	2	8.2	1	1	8.31	5

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
Mel Queen	39	168.1	7	9	4.44	123
Bob Friend	34	149.2	6	10	4.27	41
Vern Law	28	114.0	6	9	4.50	41
Paul LaPalme	22	54.1	1	5	6.29	24
Con Dempsey	3	7.0	0	2	9.00	3
Erv Dusak	3	6.2	0	1	12.15	2

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
Ted Wilks	48	3	5	12	2.83	43
Bill Werle	59	8	6	6	5.65	57
Junior Walsh	36	1	4	0	6.87	32
Bill Koski	13	0	1	0	6.67	6
Joe Muir	9	0	2	0	2.76	5
Paul Pettit	2	0	0	0	3.38	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Indianapolis Indians	American Association	Don Gutteridge
AAA	Hollywood Stars	Pacific Coast League	Fred Haney
AA	New Orleans Pelicans	Southern Association	Rip Sewell
A	Charleston Rebels	Sally League	Frank Oceak
B	Waco Pirates	Big State League	Walt Tauscher
B	Burlington Bees	Carolina League	Frank Barrett and Mike Kash
C	Modesto Reds	California League	Tony Freitas
C	Butler Tigers	Middle Atlantic League	Norm Gerdeman, William Allen and Frank Barrett
C	Hutchinson Elks	Western Association	Wes Griffin
D	Eugene Larks	Far West League	Duster Mails, George Matile and Cliff Dapper
D	Brunswick Pirates	Georgia–Florida League	Mickey O'Neil
D	Bartlesville Pirates	Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League	Tedd Gullic
D	Mayfield Clothiers	KITTY League	Jerry Gardner
D	Salisbury Pirates	North Carolina State League	George Detore

References

From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Side in 1907.
Catfish Metkovich page at Baseball-Reference
Joe Garagiola page at Baseball-Reference

External links

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[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Side in 1907.

[2] Catfish Metkovich page at Baseball-Reference

[3] Joe Garagiola page at Baseball-Reference

1951 MLB season by team
American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1951 All-Star Game 1951 World Series