1955 Baltimore Orioles season

MLB yearly infobox-pre1969 alt
name = Baltimore Orioles
season = 1955
misc =

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
ballpark = Memorial Stadium
y4 = 1954
city = Baltimore, Maryland
y5 = 1954
owners = Jerold Hoffberger, Clarence Miles
general manager = Paul Richards
managers = Paul Richards
television =WMAR-TV/WAAM/WBAL-TV
(Ernie Harwell, Bailey Goss)
radio = WCBM
(Ernie Harwell, Chuck Thompson, Bailey Goss) |

The 1955 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing 7th in the American League with a record of 57 wins and 97 losses, 39 games behind the AL champion New York Yankees. The team was managed by first-year manager Paul Richards and played their home games at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.

Offseason

In the fall of 1954, the Orioles further distanced themselves from their Browns past by making a 17-player trade with the New York Yankees that included most former Browns of note still on the Baltimore roster. Indeed, to this day the Orioles make almost no mention of their past as the Browns. Though the deal did little to improve the short-term competitiveness of the club, it helped establish a fresh identity for the Oriole franchise.The details of the trade were as follows:

* November 17, 1954: Don Larsen was traded by the Baltimore Orioles with players to be named later, Billy Hunter, and Bob Turley to the New York Yankees for players to be named later, Gene Woodling, Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, and Willy Miranda. The New York Yankees sent Bill Miller (December 1, 1954), Kal Segrist (December 1, 1954), Don Leppert (December 1, 1954), and Ted Del Guercio (minors) (December 1, 1954) to the Baltimore Orioles to complete the trade. The Baltimore Orioles sent Mike Blyzka (December 1, 1954), Darrell Johnson (December 1, 1954), Jim Fridley (December 1, 1954), and Dick Kryhoski (December 1, 1954) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.

Unlike other clubs that transferred in the 1950s, retaining their nickname and a sense of continuity with their past (such as the Brooklyn-Los Angeles Dodgers and New York-San Francisco Giants), the St. Louis Browns were renamed upon their transfer, implicitly distancing themselves at least somewhat from their history.

Regular Season

eason standings

Roster

Pitching

tarting pitchers

Farm system [Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., "The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997]

* Class AA: San Antonio Missions (Texas League; Don Heffner, manager)
* Class A: Wichita Indians (Western League; Buddy Bates, manager) — LEAGUE CHAMPION
* Class B: Fayetteville Highlanders (Carolina League; Aaron Robinson, Jack McKeon and Jack Sanford, managers)
* Class B: York White Roses (Piedmont League; George Staller, manager)
* Class C: Pine Bluff Judges/Meridian Millers (Cotton States League; Bob Knoke and Merrill Smith, managers) — Franchise transferred and renamed, June 16
* Class C: Aberdeen Pheasants (Northern League; Bill Krueger, manager)
* Class C: Thetford Mines Mineurs (Provincial League; Barney Lutz, manager)
* Class D: Cordele Orioles (Georgia-Florida League; Lloyd Brown and Max Carey, managers)
* Class D: Paris Orioles (Sooner State League; Jimmy Adair, manager)

References

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/1955.shtml 1955 Baltimore Orioles team page at Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1955&t=BAL 1955 Baltimore Orioles season at baseball-almanac.com]