1959 Knoxville Smokies Statistics

South Atlantic League (SAL) - Class: A
Team Record: 78-62
Finished 1st in the SAL
Manager: Johnny Pesky (78-62)
Affiliation: Detroit Tigers
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Ballpark: Smithson Stadium
Attendance: 108,633, Avg. 1,552

1959 Knoxville Smokies Roster

Playoffs - Charleston ChaSox 3 games, Knoxville Smokies 2

The Knoxville Smokies of the South Atlantic League ended the 1959 season with a record of 78 wins and 62 losses, finishing first in the SAL.

The Smokies allowed 550 runs, least in the league. Knoxville tallied 659 runs. Allie Benza paced the team with 14 home runs and drove in 77 runs. Pablo Rivera led batters with significant playing time by connecting at a .292 clip. Jim Proctor topped the squad with 15 wins and a team-best 2.19 ERA, leading pitchers with enough qualifying appearances.

Players from the 1959 Knoxville Smokies who spent time in Major League Baseball during their careers included Dick McAuliffe, Jack Feller, Larry Foster, Howie Koplitz, Jake Wood, Mickey Lolich, Tex Nelson, Buck Rodgers, Bob Dustal, Frank Kostro, Doug Gallagher, Ron Nischwitz, Fred Gladding and Jim Proctor.

Johnny Pesky served as manager.

Click on column headings to sort.

Pitching:

Player	W	L	W%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF
Jim Proctor	15	5	.750	2.19	28	20		15	2		181.0	139	52	44	5	55	4	131	3	0	3
Bob Dustal	14	9	.609	2.63	37	21		9	3		185.0	175	72	54	12	57	3	124	2	0	3
Gerald Thomas	10	12	.455	3.29	48	9		3	1		175.0	160	70	64	12	73	8	88	4	0	4
Howie Koplitz	9	6	.600	3.66	28	19		9	2		145.0	123	67	59	15	60	1	126	1	1	5
Ron Nischwitz	6	2	.750	2.49	17	10		4	1		83.0	71	29	23	2	26	1	45	1	1	0
Fred Gladding	6	2	.750	3.56	20	11		1	0		81.0	92	42	32	1	42	2	52	9	0	6
Bob McDaniel	4	3	.571	3.00	25	1		0	0		45.0	43	16	15	0	22	2	33	2	0	2
Gene Bacque	4	7	.364	4.11	26	18		5	1		127.0	132	74	58	12	52	4	99	5	0	5
Max Simmons	3	0	1.000	3.44	11	3		0	0		34.0	31	20	13	0	16	0	31	3	0	0
Mickey Lolich	3	6	.333	2.55	11	11		2	1		67.0	51	29	19	1	53	1	42	3	1	6
Larry Foster	1	0	1.000		3						0.0
David Justus	1	2	.333		5						0.0
Richard Day	1	2	.333	4.05	11	3		1	0		40.0	31	22	18	3	14	0	14	2	0	1
Doug Gallagher	1	5	.167	4.42	9	9		3	1		53.0	48	28	26	3	37	0	68	2	0	4
George McCue	0	0			1						0.0
Phillip Kliewer	0	0			1						0.0
Allie Benza	0	1	.000		1						0.0
Totals	78	62	.557	3.15	282	135	0	52	12	0	1216.0	1096	521	425	66	507	26	853	37	3	39	0

Batting:

Player	GP	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	DP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
Don Lumley	139	583	502	80	138	25	7	11	74	4		71	54	.275	.366	.418	.784	210		3	4	3	11
Eugene Luck	130	529	488	69	136	25	3	10	62	5		31	47	.279	.320	.404	.724	197		1	4	5	3
Pablo Rivera	105	474	401	72	117	20	6	1	37	7		69	32	.292	.394	.379	.773	152		0	2	2	1
George McCue	119	513	449	67	117	21	5	3	40	5		54	43	.261	.344	.350	.694	157		4	5	1	2
Allie Benza	124	505	429	59	112	17	7	14	77	0		60	69	.261	.354	.431	.785	185		5	5	6	8
Buck Rodgers	105	413	355	53	102	18	6	7	55	3		47	38	.287	.366	.431	.797	153		1	3	7	3
Frank Kostro	77	339	297	51	89	13	4	6	52	6		32	28	.300	.370	.431	.801	128		4	1	5	3
Jake Wood	58	226	207	32	62	7	6	5	29	5		15	59	.300	.347	.464	.810	96		1	1	2	1
Arnie Hallgren	55	239	207	24	57	9	3	2	38	2		25	35	.275	.356	.377	.733	78		2	3	2	2
Jerry Kudajeski	51	180	167	14	45	11	0	1	12	0		12	16	.269	.318	.353	.672	59		0	1	0	1
Frankie Shell	46	174	136	22	44	4	1	3	21	1		30	7	.324	.450	.434	.884	59		2	5	1	1
Manuel Diaz	44	162	143	19	41	6	3	0	17	0		17	14	.287	.364	.371	.735	53		1	0	1	3
Jesse Queen	48	179	156	27	40	6	2	2	20	4		21	29	.256	.341	.359	.700	56		0	0	2	3
Jim Proctor	29	73	61	5	10	2	2	0	3	0		1	17	.164	.177	.262	.440	16		0	11	0	0
Jack Feller	26	82	68	3	10	1	0	0	2	0		13	13	.147	.280	.162	.442	11		0	0	1	2
Gerald Thomas	50	74	58	5	8	1	0	0	2	0		10	17	.138	.265	.155	.420	9		0	6	0	0
Gene Bacque	29	47	44	4	7	0	0	0	1	0		1	12	.159	.178	.159	.337	7		0	2	0	0
J. C. Sells	10	24	23	4	6	2	1	0	1	0		1	5	.261	.292	.435	.726	10		0	0	0	0
Ron Nischwitz	20	35	33	3	6	1	0	0	3	0		1	12	.182	.206	.212	.418	7		0	1	0	0
Ted Brzenk	15	48	44	3	6	1	1	1	5	1		2	8	.136	.167	.273	.439	12		0	0	2	0
Howie Koplitz	31	62	46	6	6	2	0	1	3	0		9	13	.130	.273	.239	.512	11		0	7	0	0
Bob Dustal	42	70	57	6	6	0	0	0	5	0		5	22	.105	.172	.105	.277	6		0	6	2	0
Richard Day	11	10	9	2	4	1	0	1	2	0		1	2	.444	.500	.889	1.389	8		0	0	0	0
Jack Bowen	9	26	26		4									.154	.154	.154	.308	4
Dick McAuliffe	11	27	26	1	4	0	1	0	3	0		1	5	.154	.185	.231	.416	6		0	0	0	0
Bob McDaniel	25	17	16	0	3	0	0	0	0	0		0	6	.188	.188	.188	.375	3		0	1	0	0
Mickey Lolich	11	24	22	2	3	1	0	0	2	0		1	9	.136	.174	.182	.356	4		0	1	0	0
Doug Gallagher	9	18	18		2									.111	.111	.111	.222	2
Fred Gladding	20	27	25	1	2	0	0	0	1	0		0	13	.080	.115	.080	.195	2		1	1	0	0
Richard Beck	4	5	5		1									.200	.200	.200	.400	1
Max Simmons	11	12	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	0		0	2	.091	.091	.091	.182	1		0	1	0	0
David Justus	5	3	3		0									.000	.000	.000	.000	0
Moby Benedict	5	2	2		0									.000	.000	.000	.000	0
Larry Foster	3	4	4		0									.000	.000	.000	.000	0
Totals	1477	5206	4538	634	1189	194	58	68	567	43	0	530	627	.262	.340	.375	.715	1703	0	25	71	42	44

Fielding:

Player	Pos	GP	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/G	PB	SB	CS
Don Lumley	1B	77	584	35	9	54	.986	8.039
Jerry Kudajeski	1B	44	363	15	6	42	.984	8.591
Pablo Rivera	2B	59	160	148	8	41	.975	5.220
Allie Benza	2B	39	124	140	14	35	.950	6.769
Jake Wood	2B	28	55	79	9	10	.937	4.786
Allie Benza	3B	79	65	139	14	14	.936	2.582
Manuel Diaz	3B	38	23	77	9	7	.917	2.632
Ted Brzenk	3B	12	11	28	2	7	.951	3.250
Frankie Shell	3B	10	6	7	2	0	.867	1.300
Buck Rodgers	C	90	547	58	11	12	.982	6.722	14
Frankie Shell	C	29	178	11	0	2	1.000	6.517	4
Jack Feller	C	22	145	15	2	7	.988	7.273	2
Eugene Luck	OF	128	235	15	4	5	.984	1.953
George McCue	OF	117	271	19	6	1	.980	2.479
Don Lumley	OF	61	129	12	3	2	.979	2.311
Arnie Hallgren	OF	55	107	5	4	1	.966	2.036
Jesse Queen	OF	43	74	1	4	0	.949	1.744
Buck Rodgers	OF	11	18	2	2	0	.909	1.818
Gerald Thomas	P	48	7	18	1	1	.962	.521
Bob Dustal	P	37	13	25	1	3	.974	1.027
Jim Proctor	P	28	4	23	3	2	.900	.964
Howie Koplitz	P	28	5	12	0	2	1.000	.607
Gene Bacque	P	26	2	17	2	0	.905	.731
Bob McDaniel	P	25	1	9	0	0	1.000	.400
Fred Gladding	P	20	3	11	2	3	.875	.700
Ron Nischwitz	P	17	2	16	0	1	1.000	1.059
Max Simmons	P	11	1	5	0	1	1.000	.545
Mickey Lolich	P	11	4	12	2	1	.889	1.455
Richard Day	P	11	1	13	0	1	1.000	1.273
Doug Gallagher	P	9						.000
David Justus	P	5						.000
Larry Foster	P	3						.000
George McCue	P	1						.000
Phillip Kliewer	P	1						.000
Allie Benza	P	1						.000
Frank Kostro	SS	76	118	218	37	51	.901	4.421
Pablo Rivera	SS	40	78	108	14	24	.930	4.650
Jake Wood	SS	19	26	48	10	12	.881	3.895
Totals		1359	3360	1341	181	342	.963	3.459	20	0	0

Average attendance is based upon the number of actual home dates where known (most leagues from 1992 and later). Where the number of home dates is not known, the average is calculated using half the team's total games.

Persons data from the Chadwick Baseball Bureau are Copyright Chadwick Baseball Bureau, and are made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License.