1956 Kansas City Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMunicipal Stadium
CityKansas City, Missouri
OwnersArnold Johnson
ManagersLou Boudreau
RadioKMBC
(Merle Harmon, Larry Ray)
← 1955
1957 →

The 1956 Kansas City Athletics season, the team's 56th in the American League and second in Kansas City, involved the A's finishing eighth in the American League with a record of 52 wins and 102 losses, 45 games behind the World Series champion New York Yankees.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 97 57 0.630 — 49–28 48–29
Cleveland Indians 88 66 0.571 9 46–31 42–35
Chicago White Sox 85 69 0.552 12 46–31 39–38
Boston Red Sox 84 70 0.545 13 43–34 41–36
Detroit Tigers 82 72 0.532 15 37–40 45–32
Baltimore Orioles 69 85 0.448 28 41–36 28–49
Washington Senators 59 95 0.383 38 32–45 27–50
Kansas City Athletics 52 102 0.338 45 22–55 30–47

Record vs. opponents

1956 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KCA NYY WSH
Baltimore — 6–16 9–13 5–17 13–9 15–7 9–13 12–10
Boston 16–6 — 14–8 13–9–1 12–10 12–10 8–14 9–13
Chicago 13–9 8–14 — 15–7 13–9 14–8 9–13 13–9
Cleveland 17–5 9–13–1 7–15 — 11–11 17–5 10–12 17–5
Detroit 9–13 10–12 9–13 11–11 — 16–6 12–10 15–7–1
Kansas City 7–15 10–12 8–14 5–17 6–16 — 4–18 12–10
New York 13–9 14–8 13–9 12–10 10–12 18–4 — 17–5
Washington 10–12 13–9 9–13 5–17 7–15–1 10–12 5–17 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1956 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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 Tim Thompson 92 268 73 .272 1 27
1B Vic Power 127 530 164 .309 14 63
2B Jim Finigan 91 250 54 .216 2 21
SS Joe DeMaestri 133 434 101 .233 6 39
3B Héctor López 151 561 153 .273 18 69
LF Gus Zernial 109 272 61 .224 16 44
CF Al Pilarcik 69 239 60 .251 4 22
RF Harry Simpson 141 543 159 .293 21 105

[8]

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
Lou Skizas 83 297 94 .316 11 39
Johnny Groth 95 244 63 .258 5 37
Enos Slaughter 91 223 62 .278 2 23
Joe Ginsberg 71 195 48 .246 1 12
Eddie Robinson 75 172 34 .198 2 12
Hal Smith 37 142 39 .275 2 24
Clete Boyer 67 129 28 .217 1 4
Mike Baxes 73 106 24 .226 1 5
Spook Jacobs 32 97 21 .216 0 5
Rance Pless 48 85 23 .271 0 9
Bill Renna 33 48 13 .271 2 5
Jim Pisoni 10 30 8 .267 2 5
Joe Astroth 8 13 1 .077 0 0
Elmer Valo 9 9 2 .222 0 2
Dave Melton 3 3 1 .333 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
Art Ditmar 44 254.1 12 22 4.42 126
Wally Burnette 18 121.1 6 8 2.89 54
Lou Kretlow 25 118.2 4 9 5.31 61
Alex Kellner 20 91.2 7 4 4.32 44
Glenn Cox 3 23.1 0 2 4.24 6
Walt Craddock 2 9.1 0 2 6.75 8
Carl Duser 2 6.0 1 1 9.00 5

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
Tom Gorman 52 171.1 9 10 3.83 56
Troy Herriage 31 103.0 1 13 6.64 59
Jack McMahan 23 61.2 0 5 4.82 13
Tommy Lasorda 18 45.1 0 4 6.15 28
José Santiago 9 21.2 1 2 8.31 9
Art Ceccarelli 3 10.0 0 1 7.20 2
George Brunet 6 9.0 0 0 7.00 5
Arnie Portocarrero 3 8.0 0 1 10.13 2

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
Bobby Shantz 45 2 7 9 4.35 67
Jack Crimian 54 4 8 3 5.51 59
Bill Harrington 23 2 2 1 6.45 14
Moe Burtschy 21 3 1 0 3.95 18
Bob Spicer 2 0 0 0 19.29 0
Bill Bradford 1 0 0 0 9.00 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Columbus Jets International League Nick Cullop
A Columbia Gems Sally League Hank Biasatti
B Abilene Blue Sox Big State League Al Evans
C Crowley Millers Evangeline League Vince Plumbo
C Pocatello Bannocks Pioneer League Joe Lutz and Lou Stringer
D Fitzgerald A's Georgia–Florida League Red Treadway
D Grand Island Athletics Nebraska State League Art Mazmanian
D Seminole Oilers Sooner State League Burl Storie

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Seminole

References

  1. ^ a b Tommy Lasorda page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Lee Wheat page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Johnny Groth page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Marion Fricano page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Lou Skizas page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Joe Ginsberg page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Enos Slaughter page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ "1956 Kansas City Athletics Statistics".

External links

1956 MLB season by team
Oakland Athletics
Categories