1953 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 1953 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 72nd in franchise history. In April 1953, the New York Yankees visited Forbes Field and played two preseason games against the Pirates. Mickey Mantle hit a 500-foot home run that landed on the roof.

Offseason

October 14, 1952: Gus Bell was traded by the Pirates to the Cincinnati Reds for Cal Abrams, Joe Rossi, and Gail Henley.
Prior to 1953 season: Don Williams was signed as an amateur free agent by the Pirates.
March 19, 1953: Johnny O'Brien was signed by the Pirates as an amateur free agent.
March 19, 1953: Eddie O'Brien was signed by the Pirates as an amateur free agent.

Regular season

Notable transactions

June 4, 1953: Ralph Kiner, Joe Garagiola, Catfish Metkovich, and Howie Pollet were traded by the Pirates to the Chicago Cubs for Toby Atwell, Bob Schultz, Preston Ward, George Freese, Bob Addis, Gene Hermanski, and $150,000.
June 14, 1953: Pete Castiglione was traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Hal Rice.

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	Mike Sandlock	64	186	43	.231	0	12
1B	Preston Ward	88	281	59	.210	8	27
2B		89	279	69	.247	2	22
SS		89	261	62	.238	0	14
3B	Danny O'Connell	149	588	173	.294	7	55
OF		119	448	128	.286	15	43
OF		128	455	116	.255	30	102
OF	Carlos Bernier	105	310	66	.213	3	31

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
Paul Smith	118	389	110	.283	4	44
	78	286	89	.311	4	42
Dick Cole	97	235	64	.272	0	23
Eddie Pellagrini	78	174	44	.253	4	19
Pete Castiglione	45	159	33	.208	4	21
	41	148	40	.270	7	29
Toby Atwell	53	139	34	.245	0	17
Vic Janowicz	42	123	31	.252	2	8
	27	73	17	.233	2	14
Gene Hermanski	41	62	11	.177	1	4
Felipe Montemayor	28	55	6	.109	0	2
	13	43	7	.163	0	2
	26	41	6	.146	1	7
Brandy Davis	12	39	8	.205	0	2
Dick Hall	7	24	4	.167	0	1
Ed Fitz Gerald	6	17	2	.118	0	1
Nick Koback	7	16	2	.125	0	0
Pete Naton	6	12	2	.167	0	1
Jack Shepard	2	4	1	.250	0	0
Bob Addis	4	3	0	.000	0	0
Clem Koshorek	1	1	0	.000	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
Paul LaPalme	35	176.1	8	16	4.59	86
Johnny Lindell	27	175.2	5	16	4.71	102
	32	170.2	8	11	4.90	66

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
	45	200.2	10	19	4.53	88
Bob Hall	37	152.0	3	12	5.39	68
	41	119.0	6	8	6.58	56
Jim Waugh	29	90.1	4	5	6.48	23
Paul Pettit	10	28.0	1	2	7.71	14
Cal Hogue	3	19.0	1	1	5.21	10
	5	12.2	1	1	10.66	8
Bill Macdonald	4	7.1	0	1	12.27	4

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
Johnny Hetki	54	3	6	3	3.95	37
	30	0	4	0	4.82	36
Bob Schultz	11	0	2	0	8.20	5
Woody Main	2	0	0	0	11.25	4