1953 Norfolk Tars Statistics

Piedmont League (PL) - Class: B
Team Record: 81-51
Finished 1st in the PL
Manager: Mickey Owen (81-51)
Affiliation: New York Yankees
Location: Norfolk, Virginia
Ballpark: High Rock Park
Attendance: 69,119, Avg. 1,047

1953 Norfolk Tars Roster

Playoffs - Norfolk Tars 4 games, Portsmouth Merrimacks 1
Finals - Norfolk Tars 4 games, Newport News Dodgers 1

The Norfolk Tars of the Piedmont League ended the 1953 season with a record of 81 wins and 51 losses, finishing first in the PL.

The Tars led the league with just 501 runs allowed. Norfolk scored 693 runs. Jerry Lynch paced all regular batters with a .333 average. Lloyd Merritt topped the squad with 20 wins, while Will Parsons, too added 15 or more wins, too Will Parsons recorded a 2.04 ERA, best among qualifying pitchers.

Jerry Lynch, Jim Coates, Alton Brown, Lloyd Merritt, Bobby Richardson, Herb Plews, Don Leppert and Mickey Owen were all players from the 1953 Norfolk Tars who played in the Majors during their careers.

Mickey Owen served as manager.

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Pitching:

Player	W	L	W%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF
Lloyd Merritt	20	5	.800	2.44	29	27					225.0	189	73	61	5	74
Will Parsons	15	7	.682	2.04	33	22					190.0	131	58	43	3	105
Stan Johnson	13	8	.619	3.16	28	23					182.0	151	83	64	8	76
Alton Brown	11	8	.579	2.24	42	13					189.0	144	61	47	4	87
Leo Parent	10	10	.500	3.62	30	19					149.0	154	82	60	3	92
Richard Olshefski	4	4	.500	4.62	25	9					78.0	59	45	40	3	63
Julius Moore	3	1	.750	3.00	11	7					45.0	40	26	15	1	38
Jim Coates	0	0		22.50	1						2.0	1	5	5		5
Totals	76	43	.639	2.84	199	120	0	0	0	0	1060.0	869	433	335	27	540	0	0	0	0	0	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
Jerry Lynch	132	541	541		180	33	22	21						.333	.333	.591	.924	320
James Ranson	132	464	464		131	19	4	19						.282	.282	.463	.746	215
Dick Sanders	113	421	421		116	17	5	12						.276	.276	.425	.701	179
Herb Plews	99	365	365		111	19	6	2						.304	.304	.405	.710	148
Frank Wehner	92	333	333		95	19	3	19						.285	.285	.532	.817	177
Mickey Owen	106	357	357		93	23	3	5						.261	.261	.384	.644	137
Dave Waters	56	210	210		53	8	2	3						.252	.252	.352	.605	74
Casey Darrah	54	197	197		51	8	1	4						.259	.259	.371	.629	73
Len Wiesner	47	146	146		43	8	0	2						.295	.295	.390	.685	57
Walter Lance	41	155	155		36	4	1	2						.232	.232	.310	.542	48
Pasquale Pescitelli	40	139	139		31	7	2	1						.223	.223	.324	.547	45
Paul Battavio	35	112	112		26	5	0	2						.232	.232	.330	.562	37
Ted Atkinson	31	100	100		25	3	1	0						.250	.250	.300	.550	30
Harron Floyd	26	79	79		19	4	1	2						.241	.241	.392	.633	31
George Liddy	24	71	71		16	4	0	0						.225	.225	.282	.507	20
Bobby Richardson	27	76	76		16	1	0	0						.211	.211	.224	.434	17
Warren Munsey	27	78	78		14	2	0	0						.179	.179	.205	.385	16
Edward Armstrong	15	49	49		11	2	0	1						.224	.224	.327	.551	16
Leo Parent	38	61	61		11	4	0	1						.180	.180	.295	.475	18
John Jones	24	85	85		10	2	0	0						.118	.118	.141	.259	12
Alton Brown	42	64	64		8	0	0	0						.125	.125	.125	.250	8
Lloyd Merritt	29	75	75		8	1	0	0						.107	.107	.120	.227	9
Stan Johnson	28	68	68		7	2	0	0						.103	.103	.132	.235	9
Richard Olshefski	28	28	28		6	2	0	0						.214	.214	.286	.500	8
Will Parsons	34	66	66		4	1	0	0						.061	.061	.076	.136	5
Ken Beardslee	15	13	13		3	1	0	0						.231	.231	.308	.538	4
Julius Moore	11	16	16		0	0	0	0						.000	.000	.000	.000	0
Totals	1346	4369	4369	0	1124	199	51	96	0	0	0	0	0	.257	.257	.392	.649	1713	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding:

Player	Pos	GP	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/G
Frank Wehner	1B	72	589	41	6		.991	8.750
Walter Lance	1B	41	357	27	2		.995	9.366
John Jones	1B	22	198	17	5		.977	9.773
Herb Plews	2B	99	287	298	26		.957	5.909
Paul Battavio	2B	24	60	59	7		.944	4.958
Dave Waters	3B	56	67	90	11		.935	2.804
Pasquale Pescitelli	3B	29	27	49	5		.938	2.621
Harron Floyd	3B	24	22	28	6		.893	2.083
Edward Armstrong	3B	11	8	10	2		.900	1.636
Mickey Owen	C	93	586	41	2		.997	6.742
Warren Munsey	C	27	116	11	6		.955	4.704
Ted Atkinson	C	25	155	21	6		.967	7.040
Jerry Lynch	OF	132	215	17	13		.947	1.758
James Ranson	OF	130	300	15	10		.969	2.423
Casey Darrah	OF	54	81	4	2		.977	1.574
Len Wiesner	OF	41	44	3	2		.959	1.146
George Liddy	OF	20	40	2	3		.933	2.100
Alton Brown	P	42						.000
Will Parsons	P	33						.000
Leo Parent	P	30						.000
Lloyd Merritt	P	29						.000
Stan Johnson	P	28						.000
Richard Olshefski	P	25						.000
Julius Moore	P	11						.000
Jim Coates	P	1						.000
Dick Sanders	SS	106	177	301	21		.958	4.509
Bobby Richardson	SS	23	36	68	14		.881	4.522
Totals		1228	3365	1102	149	0	.968	3.638

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.