1955 Kansas City Athletics season
Municipal Stadium | |
---|---|
City | Kansas City, Missouri |
Owners | Arnold Johnson |
Managers | Lou Boudreau |
Radio | KMBC (Merle Harmon, Larry Ray) |
→ |
The 1955
Offseason
In 1954, the Mack family decided to sell the Philadelphia Athletics.
In 1955, the new Kansas City Athletics drew 1,393,054 to Municipal Stadium.
Notable transactions
Spring training
The A's and Philadelphia Phillies had played a Philadelphia City Series since 1903. The Kansas City A's returned to Philadelphia at the end of spring training in 1955, and the teams played two games. The A's beat the Phillies in the second game, 10–2, at Wilmington Park, home of the original Wilmington Blue Rocks.[3] Both games were played at Wilmington Park, Wilmington, Delaware, on April 9 and April 10, 1955, immediately prior to the start of the regular season.
Regular season
Opening game
The first game in Kansas City's Major League history was played at home at
Starting lineup
7 | Vic Power |
1B |
12 | Pete Suder | 2B |
4 | Jim Finigan | 3B |
30 | Gus Zernial | LF |
34 | Bill Renna | RF |
32 | Bill Wilson | CF |
2 | Joe DeMaestri | SS |
11 | Joe Astroth | C |
20 | Alex Kellner | P[4] |
Season standings
American League | W
|
L
|
Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 96 | 58 | 0.623 | — | 52–25 | 44–33 |
Cleveland Indians | 93 | 61 | 0.604 | 3 | 49–28 | 44–33 |
Chicago White Sox | 91 | 63 | 0.591 | 5 | 49–28 | 42–35 |
Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | 0.545 | 12 | 47–31 | 37–39 |
Detroit Tigers | 79 | 75 | 0.513 | 17 | 46–31 | 33–44 |
Kansas City Athletics | 63 | 91 | 0.409 | 33 | 33–43 | 30–48 |
Baltimore Orioles | 57 | 97 | 0.370 | 39 | 30–47 | 27–50 |
Washington Senators | 53 | 101 | 0.344 | 43 | 28–49 | 25–52 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH | |||||
Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 9–13 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 14–8 | |||||
Boston | 14–8 | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 15–7 | |||||
Chicago | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 17–5 | |||||
Cleveland | 19–3 | 11–11 | 12–10 | — | 12–10 | 17–5 | 13–9 | 9–13 | |||||
Detroit | 13–9 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 17–5 | |||||
Kansas City | 12–10–1 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 | |||||
New York | 19–3 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 15–7 | — | 16–6 | |||||
Washington | 8–14 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — |
Notable transactions
- May 11, 1955: Sonny Dixon and cash were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Enos Slaughter and Johnny Sain.[5]
- May 31, 1955: Clete Boyer was signed as an amateur free agent (bonus baby) by the Athletics.[6]
- May 1955: Washington Senators for Gus Keriazakos.[7]
- September 10, 1955: Joe Ginsberg was purchased by the Athletics from the Seattle Rainiers.[8]
- September 12, 1955: Glenn Cox was purchased by the Athletics from the Brooklyn Dodgers.[9]
Roster
1955 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 | Joe Astroth | 101 | 274 | 69 | .252 | 5 | 23 |
1B | Vic Power |
147 | 596 | 190 | .319 | 19 | 76 |
2B | Jim Finigan | 150 | 549 | 135 | .255 | 9 | 68 |
SS | Joe DeMaestri | 123 | 457 | 114 | .249 | 6 | 37 |
3B | Héctor López | 128 | 483 | 140 | .290 | 15 | 68 |
LF | Gus Zernial | 120 | 413 | 105 | .254 | 30 | 84 |
CF | Harry Simpson | 112 | 396 | 119 | .301 | 5 | 52 |
RF | Enos Slaughter | 108 | 267 | 86 | .322 | 5 | 34 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elmer Valo | 112 | 283 | 103 | .364 | 3 | 37 |
Bill Wilson | 98 | 273 | 61 | .223 | 15 | 38 |
Bill Renna | 100 | 249 | 53 | .213 | 7 | 28 |
Billy Shantz | 79 | 217 | 56 | .258 | 1 | 12 |
Pete Suder | 26 | 81 | 17 | .210 | 0 | 1 |
Clete Boyer | 47 | 79 | 19 | .241 | 0 | 6 |
Jack Littrell | 37 | 70 | 14 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
Jerry Schypinski | 22 | 69 | 15 | .217 | 0 | 5 |
Dick Kryhoski | 28 | 47 | 10 | .213 | 0 | 2 |
Tom Saffell | 9 | 37 | 8 | .216 | 0 | 1 |
Spook Jacobs | 13 | 23 | 6 | .261 | 0 | 1 |
Bill Stewart | 11 | 18 | 2 | .111 | 0 | 0 |
Don Plarski | 8 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
Alex George | 5 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 0 |
Don Bollweg | 12 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 2 |
Jim Robertson | 6 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
Hal Bevan | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Eric Mackenzie | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alex Kellner | 30 | 162.2 | 11 | 8 | 4.20 | 75 |
Bobby Shantz | 23 | 125.0 | 5 | 10 | 4.54 | 58 |
Arnie Portocarrero | 24 | 111.1 | 5 | 9 | 4.77 | 34 |
Vic Raschi | 20 | 101.1 | 4 | 6 | 5.42 | 38 |
Glenn Cox | 2 | 2.1 | 0 | 2 | 30.86 | 2 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Art Ditmar | 35 | 175.1 | 12 | 12 | 5.03 | 79 |
Art Ceccarelli | 31 | 123.2 | 4 | 7 | 5.31 | 68 |
Cloyd Boyer | 30 | 98.1 | 5 | 5 | 6.22 | 32 |
Ray Herbert | 23 | 87.2 | 1 | 8 | 6.26 | 30 |
Johnny Gray | 8 | 26.2 | 0 | 3 | 6.41 | 11 |
Mike Kume | 6 | 23.2 | 0 | 2 | 7.99 | 7 |
Walt Craddock | 4 | 15.0 | 0 | 2 | 7.80 | 9 |
Gus Keriazakos | 5 | 11.2 | 0 | 1 | 12.34 | 8 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tom Gorman | 57 | 7 | 6 | 18 | 3.55 | 46 |
Bill Harrington | 34 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4.11 | 26 |
Johnny Sain | 25 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5.44 | 12 |
Lou Sleater | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.71 | 11 |
Marion Fricano | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.15 | 5 |
Moe Burtschy | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10.32 | 9 |
Charlie Bishop | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 4 |
Bob Trice | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 2 |
Lee Wheat | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.50 | 0 |
Ewell Blackwell | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 2 |
Bob Spicer | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.75 | 2 |
Ozzie Van Brabant | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |
Sonny Dixon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.20 | 0 |
Bill Wilson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
Awards and honors
- Jim Finigan, third baseman, starter
- Vic Power, reserve
Farm system
Level | Team | League | Manager |
---|---|---|---|
AAA | Columbus Jets | International League | Nick Cullop |
A
|
Savannah Athletics | Sally League | Clyde Kluttz |
B
|
Lancaster Red Roses | Piedmont League | Hank Biasatti |
C
|
Hot Springs Bathers | Cotton States League | Mickey O'Neil
|
C
|
Burlington A's
|
Provincial League | Vince Plumbo |
D
|
Marion A's
|
Appalachian League | Herb Mancini |
D
|
Seminole Oilers | Sooner State League | Charles Hopkins and Al Evans |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lancaster
Welch franchise transferred to Marion and renamed, July 14, 1955
References
- ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
- ^ Bob Davis page at Baseball Reference
- ISBN 0-7864-1610-6. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ^ a b c Retrosheet box score: 1955-04-12
- ^ Enos Slaughter page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Clete Boyer page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Al Sima page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Joe Ginsberg page at Baseball Reference
- ^ Glenn Cox page at Baseball Reference
- ^ "1955 Kansas City Athletics Statistics".
- ^ "1955 All-Star Game".