1956 Pittsburgh Pirates season
The 1956 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 75th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise, the 70th in the National League. The Pirates finished seventh in the league standings with a record of 66–88.
Regular season
Notable transactions
- May 17, 1956: Dick Littlefield and Bobby Del Greco were traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bill Virdon.
- May 28, 1956: Toby Atwell was traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for cash and a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Dick Rand to the Pirates on October 14.
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 | Jack Shepard | 100 | 256 | 62 | .242 | 7 | 30 |
| 1B | Dale Long | 148 | 517 | 136 | .263 | 27 | 91 |
| 2B | Bill Mazeroski | 81 | 255 | 62 | .243 | 3 | 14 |
| SS | Dick Groat | 142 | 520 | 142 | .273 | 0 | 37 |
| 3B | 157 | 588 | 166 | .282 | 25 | 80 | |
| LF | Lee Walls | 143 | 474 | 130 | .274 | 11 | 54 |
| CF | 133 | 509 | 170 | .334 | 8 | 37 | |
| RF | Roberto Clemente | 147 | 543 | 169 | .311 | 7 | 60 |
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 |
| Bob Skinner | 113 | 233 | 47 | .202 | 5 | 29 |
| Hank Foiles | 79 | 222 | 47 | .212 | 7 | 25 |
| Gene Freese | 65 | 207 | 43 | .208 | 3 | 14 |
| Johnny O'Brien | 73 | 104 | 18 | .173 | 0 | 3 |
| Dick Cole | 72 | 99 | 21 | .212 | 0 | 9 |
| Danny Kravitz | 32 | 68 | 18 | .265 | 2 | 10 |
| Curt Roberts | 31 | 62 | 11 | .177 | 0 | 4 |
| Eddie O'Brien | 63 | 53 | 14 | .264 | 0 | 3 |
| Spook Jacobs | 11 | 37 | 6 | .162 | 0 | 1 |
| Preston Ward | 16 | 30 | 10 | .333 | 1 | 11 |
| John Powers | 11 | 21 | 1 | .048 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jerry Lynch | 19 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 18 | 2 | .111 | 0 | 3 | |
| Bill Hall | 1 | 3 | 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 |
| Bob Friend | 49 | 314.1 | 17 | 17 | 3.46 | 166 |
| Ron Kline | 44 | 264.0 | 14 | 18 | 3.38 | 125 |
| Vern Law | 39 | 195.2 | 8 | 16 | 4.32 | 60 |
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 |
| Red Munger | 35 | 107.0 | 3 | 4 | 4.04 | 45 |
| Dick Hall | 19 | 62.1 | 0 | 7 | 4.76 | 27 |
| Fred Waters | 23 | 51.0 | 2 | 2 | 2.82 | 14 |
| Laurin Pepper | 11 | 30.0 | 1 | 1 | 3.00 | 12 |
| 6 | 12.2 | 0 | 0 | 4.26 | 10 |
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 |
| 68 | 12 | 13 | 6 | 3.52 | 96 | |
| Nellie King | 38 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3.15 | 25 |
| Howie Pollet | 19 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3.09 | 10 |
| 18 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4.71 | 17 | |
| Cholly Naranjo | 17 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.46 | 26 |
| Jack McMahan | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.08 | 9 |
| 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.03 | 5 | |
| Johnny O'Brien | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.84 | 9 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | |
| Bob Purkey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 1 |
| Bob Garber | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 3 |
| Eddie O'Brien | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Max Surkont | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |