1953 Philadelphia Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkConnie Mack Stadium
CityPhiladelphia
OwnersEarle Mack & Roy Mack
General managersArthur Ehlers
ManagersJimmy Dykes
TelevisionWPTZ/WCAU/WFIL
RadioWIBG
(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, 41½ 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

Regular season

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

Season standings

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

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

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

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
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

  1. ^ Joe DeMaestri at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Sam Zoldak at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

External links

1953 MLB season by team
Oakland Athletics
Major League Baseball on ABC
Categories