1963 Kansas City Athletics season
Major League Baseball team season
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The 1963 Kansas City Athletics season was the ninth for the franchise in Kansas City and the 63rd overall. It involved the A's finishing eighth in the American League with a record of 73 wins and 89 losses, 31+1⁄2 games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees. The 1963 season was also the first season in which the Athletics debuted their current color scheme of green and gold and the first to feature names on the back of the jerseys.
| 1963 Kansas City Athletics | |
|---|---|
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Municipal Stadium |
| City | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Record | 73–89 (.451) |
| League place | 8th |
| Owners | Charles O. Finley |
| General managers | Pat Friday |
| Managers | Ed Lopat |
| Television | KCMO |
| Radio | KCMO (AM) (Monte Moore, George Bryson) |
Regular season
- Owner Charlie Finley changed the team's colors to Kelly green, Fort Knox Gold and Wedding Gown White, and replaced Connie Mack's elephant mascot with a Missouri mule — not just a cartoon logo, but a real mule, which he named after himself: "Charlie O, the Mule." In reading the Chicago Tribune, Charlie Finley read about the Missouri Mule, a mule which helped troops in World War I carry ammunition. Finley decided that a mule would become the club's new mascot.[1]
- He also began phasing out the team name "Athletics" in favor of simply, "A's." In June 1963, Bill Bryson wrote of the uniforms,
Kelly green is the Athletics' accent color. It was more a nauseous green the players wore on their wholesome, clean-cut faces the first few times they had to appear in public looking like refugees from a softball league.[2]
- Owner Charlie Finley was upset about his stadium deal with Kansas City. He had visited Dallas, Texas and Oakland, California as prospective places for relocation.[3] Finley also talked to Atlanta Journal sportswriter Furman Bisher about relocating the A's to Atlanta. Later in the season, Finley made threats of moving the club to Louisville, Kentucky and renaming the franchise the Kentucky Colonels.[4] As a sign of protest, Finley relocated the A's offices from the stadium to the garage of team scout J Bowman.[5]
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 104 | 57 | .646 | — | 58–22 | 46–35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 68 | .580 | 10½ | 49–33 | 45–35 |
| Minnesota Twins | 91 | 70 | .565 | 13 | 48–33 | 43–37 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 86 | 76 | .531 | 18½ | 48–33 | 38–43 |
| Cleveland Indians | 79 | 83 | .488 | 25½ | 41–40 | 38–43 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 83 | .488 | 25½ | 47–34 | 32–49 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 85 | .472 | 28 | 44–36 | 32–49 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 73 | 89 | .451 | 31½ | 36–45 | 37–44 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 70 | 91 | .435 | 34 | 39–42 | 31–49 |
| Washington Senators | 56 | 106 | .346 | 48½ | 31–49 | 25–57 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WAS | |||
| Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 15–3 | |||
| Boston | 11–7 | — | 8–10 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 9–8 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 9–9 | |||
| Chicago | 11–7 | 10–8 | — | 11–7 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 13–5 | |||
| Cleveland | 8–10 | 8–10 | 7–11 | — | 10–8 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 13–5 | |||
| Detroit | 5–13 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 8–10 | — | 13–5 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 | |||
| Kansas City | 9–9 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 5–13 | — | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 10–8 | |||
| Los Angeles | 9–9 | 8–9 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–10 | — | 9–9 | 5–13 | 9–9 | |||
| Minnesota | 9–9 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 9–9 | — | 6–11 | 14–4 | |||
| New York | 11–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 13–5 | 11–6 | — | 14–4 | |||
| Washington | 3–15 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 4–14 | 4–14 | — | |||
Notable transactions
- May 25, 1963: Joe Azcue and Dick Howser were traded by the Athletics to the Cleveland Indians for Doc Edwards and $100,000.[6]
- May 26, 1963: Sammy Esposito was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.[7]
Roster
| 1963 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 | Doc Edwards | 71 | 240 | 60 | .250 | 6 | 35 |
| 1B | Norm Siebern | 152 | 556 | 151 | .272 | 16 | 83 |
| 2B | Jerry Lumpe | 157 | 595 | 161 | .271 | 5 | 59 |
| SS | Wayne Causey | 139 | 554 | 155 | .280 | 8 | 44 |
| 3B | Ed Charles | 158 | 603 | 161 | .267 | 15 | 79 |
| LF | Chuck Essegian | 101 | 231 | 52 | .225 | 5 | 27 |
| CF | Bobby Del Greco | 121 | 306 | 65 | .212 | 8 | 29 |
| RF | Gino Cimoli | 145 | 529 | 139 | .263 | 4 | 48 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José Tartabull | 79 | 242 | 58 | .240 | 1 | 19 |
| Ken Harrelson | 79 | 226 | 52 | .230 | 6 | 23 |
| George Alusik | 87 | 221 | 59 | .267 | 9 | 37 |
| Charley Lau | 62 | 187 | 55 | .294 | 3 | 26 |
| Manny Jiménez | 60 | 157 | 44 | .280 | 0 | 15 |
| Haywood Sullivan | 40 | 113 | 24 | .212 | 0 | 8 |
| Billy Bryan | 24 | 65 | 11 | .169 | 3 | 7 |
| John Wojcik | 19 | 59 | 11 | .186 | 0 | 2 |
| Tony La Russa | 34 | 44 | 11 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Dick Howser | 15 | 41 | 8 | .195 | 0 | 1 |
| Dick Green | 13 | 37 | 10 | .270 | 1 | 4 |
| Jay Hankins | 10 | 34 | 6 | .176 | 1 | 4 |
| Sammy Esposito | 18 | 25 | 5 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Tommie Reynolds | 8 | 19 | 1 | .053 | 0 | 0 |
| Héctor Martínez | 6 | 14 | 4 | .286 | 1 | 3 |
| Joe Azcue | 2 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
| = Indicates league leader |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Wickersham | 38 | 237.2 | 12 | 15 | 4.09 | 118 |
| Orlando Peña | 35 | 217.0 | 12 | 20 | 3.69 | 128 |
| Moe Drabowsky | 26 | 174.1 | 7 | 13 | 3.05 | 109 |
| Ed Rakow | 34 | 174.1 | 9 | 10 | 3.92 | 104 |
| Fred Norman | 2 | 6.1 | 0 | 1 | 11.37 | 6 |
| John O'Donoghue | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 1.50 | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diego Seguí | 38 | 167.0 | 9 | 6 | 3.77 | 116 |
| Ted Bowsfield | 41 | 111.1 | 5 | 7 | 4.45 | 67 |
| Tom Sturdivant | 17 | 53.0 | 1 | 2 | 3.74 | 26 |
| Dave Thies | 9 | 25.1 | 0 | 1 | 4.62 | 9 |
| Dan Pfister | 3 | 9.1 | 1 | 0 | 1.93 | 9 |
| Norm Bass | 3 | 7.2 | 0 | 0 | 11.74 | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Wyatt | 63 | 6 | 4 | 21 | 3.13 | 81 |
| Bill Fischer | 45 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 3.57 | 34 |
| Dale Willis | 25 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.04 | 47 |
| Pete Lovrich | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.84 | 16 |
| José Santiago | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 6 |
| Aurelio Monteagudo | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 3 |
| Bill Landis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
Awards and honors
- Norm Siebern, reserve[8]
Farm system
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | Portland Beavers | Pacific Coast League | Les Peden and Dan Carnevale |
| AA | Binghamton Triplets | Eastern League | John McNamara |
| A | Daytona Beach Islanders | Florida State League | Bobby Hofman |
| A | Burlington Bees | Midwest League | Grady Wilson |
| A | Lewiston Broncos | Northwest League | Bill Robertson |