1956 Kansas City Athletics season
The 1956 Kansas City Athletics season, the team's 56th in the American League and second in Kansas City, involved the A's finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 52 wins and 102 losses, 45 games behind the World Series champion New York Yankees.
1956 Kansas City Athletics | |
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Major League affiliations | |
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Location | |
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Other information | |
Owners | Arnold Johnson |
Managers | Lou Boudreau |
Local television | none |
Local radio | KMBC (Merle Harmon, Larry Ray) |
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Offseason
- March 2, 1956: Tommy Lasorda was purchased by the Athletics from the Brooklyn Dodgers.[1]
Regular season
Season standings
American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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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
Sources: | |||||||||||||
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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
- April 16, 1956: Lee Wheat, Tom Saffell and cash were traded by the Athletics to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Tim Thompson.[2]
- April 16, 1956: Johnny Groth was purchased by the Athletics from the Washington Senators.[3]
- May 1956: Marion Fricano and $60,000 were traded by the Athletics to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Jack Crimian.[4]
- June 14, 1956: Moe Burtschy, Bill Renna and cash were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Lou Skizas and Eddie Robinson.[5]
- July 11, 1956: Tommy Lasorda was traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Wally Burnette.[1]
- August 17, 1956: Joe Ginsberg was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Hal Smith.[6]
- August 25, 1956: Enos Slaughter was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the New York Yankees.[7]
Roster
1956 Kansas City Athletics | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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Player stats
= Indicates team leader |
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 |
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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 |
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 |
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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 |
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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Seminole
References
- Tommy Lasorda page at Baseball Reference
- Lee Wheat page at Baseball Reference
- Johnny Groth page at Baseball Reference
- Marion Fricano page at Baseball Reference
- Lou Skizas page at Baseball Reference
- Joe Ginsberg page at Baseball Reference
- Enos Slaughter page at Baseball Reference
- "1956 Kansas City Athletics Statistics".