1953 Philadelphia Athletics season

1953 Philadelphia Athletics
1953 Philadelphia Athletics
League	American League
Ballpark	Connie Mack Stadium
City	Philadelphia
Owners	Earle Mack & Roy Mack
General managers	Arthur Ehlers
Managers	Jimmy Dykes
Television	WPTZ/WCAU/WFIL
Radio	WIBG; (By Saam, Claude Haring)
	← 1952 1954 →

The 1953 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing seventh in the American League with a record of 59 wins and 95 losses, 41+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees, who would win their fifth consecutive World Series Championship. It was also the penultimate season for the franchise in Philadelphia.

Offseason

January 27, 1953: Ferris Fain and Bob Wilson (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Joe DeMaestri, Ed McGhee and Eddie Robinson.^[1]
February 2, 1953: Sam Zoldak was released by the Athletics.^[2]

Regular season

During the season, Bob Trice became the first black player in the history of the Athletics.^[3]

Season standings

v t e American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	99	52	0.656	—	50–27	49–25
Cleveland Indians	92	62	0.597	8½	53–24	39–38
Chicago White Sox	89	65	0.578	11½	41–36	48–29
Boston Red Sox	84	69	0.549	16	38–38	46–31
Washington Senators	76	76	0.500	23½	39–36	37–40
Detroit Tigers	60	94	0.390	40½	30–47	30–47
Philadelphia Athletics	59	95	0.383	41½	27–50	32–45
St. Louis Browns	54	100	0.351	46½	23–54	31–46

Record vs. opponents

1953 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	6–16	13–9	13–9	10–11	15–7	17–5	10–12
Chicago	16–6	—	11–11–1	14–8–1	9–13	10–12	17–5	12–10
Cleveland	9–13	11–11–1	—	14–8	11–11	19–3	17–5	11–11
Detroit	9–13	8–14–1	8–14	—	6–16	11–11–3	7–15	11–11
New York	11–10	13–9	11–11	16–6	—	17–5	17–5	14–6
Philadelphia	7–15	12–10	3–19	11–11–3	5–17	—	13–9	8–14
St. Louis	5–17	5–17	5–17	15–7	5–17	9–13	—	10–12
Washington	12–10	10–12	11–11	11–11	6–14	14–8	12–10	—

Roster

1953 Philadelphia Athletics

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

35 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	Ray Murray	84	268	76	.284	6	41
1B	Eddie Robinson	156	615	152	.247	22	102
2B	Cass Michaels	117	411	103	.251	12	42
SS	Joe DeMaestri	111	420	107	.255	6	35
3B	Loren Babe	103	343	77	.224	0	20
OF	Gus Zernial	147	556	158	.284	42	108
OF	Ed McGhee	104	358	94	.263	1	29
OF	Dave Philley	157	620	188	.303	9	59

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
Pete Suder	115	454	130	.286	4	35
Joe Astroth	82	260	77	.296	3	24
Eddie Joost	51	177	44	.249	6	15
Carmen Mauro	64	165	44	.267	0	17
Elmer Valo	50	85	19	.224	0	9
Allie Clark	20	74	15	.203	3	13
Tom Hamilton	58	56	11	.196	0	5
Kite Thomas	24	49	6	.122	0	2
Neal Watlington	21	44	7	.159	0	3
Tommy Giordano	11	40	7	.175	2	5
Spider Wilhelm	7	7	2	.286	0	0
Don Kolloway	2	1	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
Harry Byrd	40	236.2	11	20	5.51	122
Alex Kellner	25	201.2	11	12	3.93	81
Bobby Shantz	16	105.2	5	9	4.09	58
Bob Trice	3	23.0	2	1	5.48	4

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
Marion Fricano	39	211.0	9	12	3.88	67
Charlie Bishop	39	160.2	3	14	5.66	66
Morrie Martin	58	156.1	10	12	4.43	64
Carl Scheib	28	96.0	3	7	4.88	25
Joe Coleman	21	90.0	3	4	4.00	18

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	ERA	SO
Frank Fanovich	26	0	3	5.55	37
Bobo Newsom	17	2	1	4.89	16
Rinty Monahan	4	0	0	4.22	2
Dick Rozek	2	0	0	5.06	2
Walt Kellner	2	0	0	6.00	4
Bill Harrington	1	0	0	13.50	0
John Mackinson	1	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Ottawa Athletics	International League	Frank Skaff
A	Williamsport Athletics	Eastern League	George Staller
A	Savannah Indians	Sally League	Les Bell
B	Fayetteville Athletics	Carolina League	Buck Etchison, Bill Bergeron, Bob Eiziminger and Kemp Wicker
C	St. Hyacinthe A's	Provincial League	John Sosh and Joe Rullo
D	Welch Miners	Appalachian League	Jack Crosswhite
D	Cordele A's	Georgia–Florida League	Joe Rullo and Lew Richardson
D	Hopkinsville Hoppers	KITTY League	Norm Wilson and Ed Wright

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Savannah, Welch

References

External links

1953 Philadelphia Athletics at Baseball Reference
1953 Philadelphia Athletics at Baseball Almanac

[1]

[2]

[3]

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