1954 Baltimore Orioles season

1954 Baltimore Orioles
Major League affiliations
	American League (since 1901);
Location
	Memorial Stadium (since 1954);
	Baltimore, Maryland (since 1954);
Results
Record	54–100 (.351)
League place	7th
Other information
Owner(s)	Jerold Hoffberger, Clarence Miles
Manager(s)	Jimmy Dykes
Local television	WMAR-TV/WAAM
Local radio	WCBM; (Ernie Harwell, Howard Williams, Bailey Goss)
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The 1954 Baltimore Orioles season was the franchise's 54th season (it was founded as the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901, then played as the St. Louis Browns from 1902–53) but its first season as the Baltimore Orioles. The season involved the Orioles finishing 7th in the American League with a record of 54 wins and 100 losses, 57 games behind the AL champion Cleveland Indians in their first season in Baltimore. The team was managed by Jimmy Dykes, and played its home games at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.

Offseason

November 30, 1953: Chuck Diering was purchased by the Orioles from the San Francisco Seals.^[1]
February 2, 1954: Satchel Paige was released by the Orioles.^[2]
February 5, 1954: Johnny Groth and Johnny Lipon were traded by the Orioles to the Chicago White Sox for Neil Berry and Sam Mele.^[3]
April 8, 1954: Dave Koslo was acquired from the New York Giants.^[4]

Regular season

April 15, 1954: Thousands of Baltimoreans jammed city streets as the new Orioles paraded from downtown to their new home at Memorial Stadium. During the 90-minute parade, the new birds signed autographs, handed out pictures and threw styrofoam balls to crowd as the throng marched down 33rd Street West. Inside, more than 46,000 watched the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 3–1, to win their home opener and move into first place in the American League.^[5] Ironically, the Orioles lost their last home game of the season, 11–0, to the same White Sox, finishing with 100 losses and 57½ games out of first place.^[6]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Cleveland Indians	111	43	.721	--
New York Yankees	103	51	.669	8
Chicago White Sox	94	60	.610	17
Boston Red Sox	69	85	.448	42
Detroit Tigers	68	86	.442	43
Washington Senators	66	88	.429	45
Baltimore Orioles	54	100	.351	57
Philadelphia Athletics	51	103	.331	60

Notable transactions

May 11, 1954: Neil Berry, Dick Kokos and Jim Post (minors) were traded by the Orioles to the New York Yankees for Jim Brideweser.^[7]
May 12, 1954: Don Lenhardt was acquired from the Orioles by the Boston Red Sox.^[8]
May 25, 1954: Dick Littlefield was traded by the Orioles to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Cal Abrams.^[9]
June 1, 1954: Vic Wertz was traded by the Orioles to the Cleveland Indians for Bob Chakales.^[10]
July 4, 1954: Marlin Stuart was claimed off waivers from the Orioles by the New York Yankees.^[11]
August 7, 1954: Bob Kuzava was claimed off waivers by the Orioles from the New York Yankees.^[12]

Roster

1954 Baltimore Orioles

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

25 Jimmy Dykes

Coaches

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	Courtney, ClintClint Courtney	122	397	107	.270	4	37
1B	Waitkus, EddieEddie Waitkus	95	311	88	.283	2	33
2B	Young, BobbyBobby Young	130	432	106	.245	4	24
3B	Stephens, VernVern Stephens	101	365	104	.285	8	46
SS	Hunter, BillyBilly Hunter	125	411	100	.243	2	27
LF	Fridley, JimJim Fridley	85	240	59	.246	4	36
CF	Diering, ChuckChuck Diering	128	418	108	.258	2	29
RF	Abrams, CalCal Abrams	115	423	124	.293	6	25

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
Kennedy, BobBob Kennedy	106	323	81	.251	6	45
Kryhoski, DickDick Kryhoski	100	300	78	.260	1	34
Coan, GilGil Coan	94	265	74	.279	2	20
Brideweser, JimJim Brideweser	73	204	54	.265	0	12
Mele, SamSam Mele	72	230	55	.239	5	32
Moss, LesLes Moss	50	126	31	.246	0	5
García, ChicoChico García	39	62	7	.113	0	5
Wertz, VicVic Wertz	29	94	19	.202	1	13
Murray, RayRay Murray	22	61	15	.246	0	2
Lenhardt, DonDon Lenhardt	13	33	5	.152	0	1
Kokos, DickDick Kokos	11	10	2	.200	1	1
Durham, JoeJoe Durham	10	40	9	.225	1	3
Kellert, FrankFrank Kellert	10	34	7	.206	0	1
Berry, NeilNeil Berry	5	9	1	.111	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
Turley, BobBob Turley	35	247.1	14	15	3.46	185
Coleman, JoeJoe Coleman	33	221.1	13	17	3.50	103
Larsen, DonDon Larsen	29	201.2	3	21	4.37	80
Pillette, DuaneDuane Pillette	25	179	10	14	3.12	66
Kuzava, BobBob Kuzava	4	23.2	1	3	4.18	15
Bickford, VernVern Bickford	1	4	0	1	9.00	0

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
Kretlow, LouLou Kretlow	32	166.2	6	11	4.37	82
O'Dell, BillyBilly O'Dell	7	16.1	1	1	2.76	6
Koslo, DaveDave Koslo	3	14.1	0	1	3.14	3

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
Chakales, BobBob Chakales	38	3	7	3	3.73	44
Fox, HowieHowie Fox	38	1	2	2	3.67	27
Blyzka, MikeMike Blyzka	37	1	5	1	4.69	35
Stuart, MarlinMarlin Stuart	22	1	2	2	4.46	13
Littlefield, DickDick Littlefield	3	0	0	0	10.50	5
Heard, JayJay Heard	2	0	0	0	13.50	2
Duren, RyneRyne Duren	1	0	0	0	9.00	2

Awards and honors

1954 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Bob Turley

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager

Tar Heel League disbanded, June 21, 1954

Notes

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1954 Baltimore Orioles team page at Baseball Reference
1954 Baltimore Orioles season at baseball-almanac.com

[1] Chuck Diering page at Baseball Reference

[2] Satchel Paige page at Baseball Reference

[3] Johnny Groth page at Baseball Reference

[4] Dave Koslo transactions at Baseball Reference

[5] Baseball Library Chronology, April 1954

[6] 1954 Orioles page at Baseball Library

[7] Neil Berry page at Baseball Reference

[8] Don Lenhardt transactions at Baseball-Reference

[9] Dick Littlefield transactions at Baseball-Reference

[10] Bob Chakales page at Baseball Reference

[11] Marlin Stuart transactions at Baseball-Reference

[12] Bob Kuzava transactions at Baseball-Reference

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