1959 Kansas City Athletics season
Major League Baseball team season
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The 1959 Kansas City Athletics season was the fifth for the franchise in Kansas City, and its 59th overall. It involved the A's finishing seventh in the American League with a record of 66 wins and 88 losses, 28 games behind the AL Champion Chicago White Sox.
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| 1959 Kansas City Athletics | |
|---|---|
| |
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Municipal Stadium |
| City | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Record | 66–88 (.429) |
| League place | 7th |
| Owners | Arnold Johnson |
| General managers | Parke Carroll |
| Managers | Harry Craft |
| Television | WDAF-TV |
| Radio | WDAF (Merle Harmon, Bill Grigsby) |
Offseason
- October 2, 1958: Chico Carrasquel was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Dick Williams.[1]
Regular season
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | — | 47–30 | 47–30 |
| Cleveland Indians | 89 | 65 | .578 | 5 | 43–34 | 46–31 |
| New York Yankees | 79 | 75 | .513 | 15 | 40–37 | 39–38 |
| Detroit Tigers | 76 | 78 | .494 | 18 | 41–36 | 35–42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 75 | 79 | .487 | 19 | 43–34 | 32–45 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 74 | 80 | .481 | 20 | 38–39 | 36–41 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 66 | 88 | .429 | 28 | 37–40 | 29–48 |
| Washington Senators | 63 | 91 | .409 | 31 | 34–43 | 29–48 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH | |||||
| Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 11–11–1 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 12–10 | |||||
| Boston | 14–8 | — | 8–14 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 10–12 | |||||
| Chicago | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 13–9–1 | 16–6 | |||||
| Cleveland | 12–10 | 14–8 | 7–15 | — | 14–8 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 | |||||
| Detroit | 9–13 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 8–14 | — | 15–7 | 14–8 | 10–12 | |||||
| Kansas City | 14–8 | 11–11 | 10–12 | 7–15 | 7–15 | — | 5–17 | 12–10 | |||||
| New York | 10–12 | 9–13 | 9–13–1 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 17–5 | — | 15–7 | |||||
| Washington | 10–12 | 12–10 | 6–16 | 6–16 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 7–15 | — | |||||
Notable transactions
- May 2, 1959: Harry Simpson was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Ray Boone.[2]
- May 26, 1959: Ralph Terry and Héctor López were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant, and Jerry Lumpe.[3]
- August 20, 1959: Ray Boone was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Milwaukee Braves.[2]
- August 20, 1959: Ray Jablonski was selected off waivers by the Athletics from the St. Louis Cardinals.[4]
Roster
| 1959 Kansas City Athletics | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters
|
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
Player stats
| = Indicates team leader |
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Avg. | Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Frank House | 98 | 347 | 32 | 82 | .236 | 1 | 30 |
| 1B | Kent Hadley | 113 | 288 | 40 | 73 | .253 | 10 | 39 |
| 2B | Jerry Lumpe | 108 | 403 | 47 | 98 | .243 | 3 | 28 |
| 3B | Dick Williams | 130 | 488 | 72 | 130 | .266 | 16 | 75 |
| SS | Joe DeMaestri | 118 | 352 | 31 | 86 | .244 | 6 | 34 |
| LF | Bob Cerv | 125 | 463 | 61 | 132 | .285 | 20 | 87 |
| CF | Bill Tuttle | 126 | 463 | 74 | 139 | .300 | 7 | 43 |
| RF | Roger Maris | 122 | 433 | 69 | 118 | .273 | 16 | 72 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hal Smith | 108 | 292 | 36 | 84 | .288 | 5 | 31 |
| Russ Snyder | 73 | 243 | 41 | 76 | .313 | 3 | 21 |
| Wayne Terwilliger | 74 | 180 | 27 | 48 | .267 | 2 | 18 |
| Harry Chiti | 55 | 162 | 20 | 44 | .272 | 5 | 25 |
| Héctor López | 35 | 135 | 22 | 38 | .281 | 6 | 24 |
| Ray Boone | 61 | 132 | 19 | 36 | .273 | 2 | 12 |
| Whitey Herzog | 38 | 123 | 25 | 36 | .293 | 1 | 9 |
| Preston Ward | 58 | 109 | 8 | 27 | .248 | 2 | 19 |
| Zeke Bella | 47 | 82 | 10 | 17 | .207 | 1 | 9 |
| Lou Klimchock | 17 | 66 | 10 | 18 | .273 | 4 | 13 |
| Ray Jablonski | 25 | 65 | 4 | 17 | .262 | 2 | 8 |
| Joe Morgan | 20 | 21 | 2 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 3 |
| Harry Simpson | 8 | 14 | 1 | 4 | .286 | 1 | 2 |
| Tom Carroll | 14 | 7 | 1 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Martyn | 1 | 1 | 0 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bud Daley | 39 | 216.1 | 16 | 13 | 3.16 | 125 |
| Ned Garver | 32 | 201.0 | 10 | 13 | 3.71 | 61 |
| Ray Herbert | 37 | 183.2 | 11 | 11 | 4.85 | 99 |
| Johnny Kucks | 33 | 151.1 | 8 | 11 | 3.87 | 51 |
| Ralph Terry | 9 | 46.1 | 2 | 4 | 5.24 | 35 |
| Ken Johnson | 2 | 11.0 | 1 | 1 | 4.09 | 8 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Grim | 40 | 125.1 | 6 | 10 | 4.09 | 65 |
| John Tsitouris | 24 | 83.1 | 4 | 3 | 4.97 | 50 |
| Rip Coleman | 29 | 81.0 | 2 | 10 | 4.56 | 54 |
| Howie Reed | 6 | 20.2 | 0 | 3 | 7.40 | 11 |
| Al Grunwald | 6 | 11.1 | 0 | 1 | 7.94 | 9 |
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 Sturdivant | 36 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4.65 | 57 |
| Murry Dickson | 38 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.94 | 36 |
| Russ Meyer | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 10 |
| Tom Gorman | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.08 | 9 |
| Dick Tomanek | 16 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6.53 | 13 |
| Marty Kutyna | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Evans Killeen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | 1 |
| Mark Freeman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.82 | 1 |
| George Brunet | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.57 | 7 |
Awards and honors
- All-Star Game
- Roger Maris appeared in his first All-Star Game[6]
Farm system
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | Portland Beavers | Pacific Coast League | Tommy Heath |
| AA | Shreveport Sports | Southern Association | Les Peden |
| A | Albany Senators | Eastern League | Al Evans |
| B | Sioux City Soos | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Billy Capps |
| C | Pocatello Athletics | Pioneer League | Tommy Giordano |
| D | Grand Island Athletics | Nebraska State League | Art Mazmanian |
| D | Olean Athletics | New York–Penn League | Bill Robertson |
| D | Plainview Athletics | Sophomore League | Bobby Hofman |