1957 Kansas City Athletics season

The 1957 Kansas City Athletics season, the third for the team in Kansas City and the 57th in MLB, involved the A's finishing seventh in the American League with a record of 59 wins and 94 losses, 38+12 games behind the American League Champion New York Yankees. The club drew 901,067 spectators, sixth in the league.

1957 Kansas City Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMunicipal Stadium
CityKansas City, Missouri
OwnersArnold Johnson
General managersGeorge Selkirk
ManagersLou Boudreau, Harry Craft
RadioKMBC
(Merle Harmon, Ed Edwards)
← 1956
1958 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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  • First baseman Vic Power became the first black player to lead the American League in fielding percentage at any position. He led all American League first basemen with a .998 fielding average.[4]
  • Manager Lou Boudreau, in his third season at the helm, was fired August 4 with the Athletics standing at 36–67 (.350) and in eighth and last place in the American League. Coach Harry Craft, former skipper of the minor-league Kansas City Blues, succeeded Boudreau. Craft led the Athletics to a 23–27 mark, enabling them to escape the basement.

Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 98 56 .636 48‍–‍29 50‍–‍27
Chicago White Sox 90 64 .584 8 45‍–‍32 45‍–‍32
Boston Red Sox 82 72 .532 16 44‍–‍33 38‍–‍39
Detroit Tigers 78 76 .506 20 45‍–‍32 33‍–‍44
Baltimore Orioles 76 76 .500 21 42‍–‍33 34‍–‍43
Cleveland Indians 76 77 .497 21½ 40‍–‍37 36‍–‍40
Kansas City Athletics 59 94 .386 38½ 37‍–‍40 22‍–‍54
Washington Senators 55 99 .357 43 28‍–‍49 27‍–‍50

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KCA NYY WSH
Baltimore 8–14 10–12–1 9–12 9–13 16–5–1 9–13 15–7
Boston 14–8 8–14 12–10 10–12 16–6 8–14 14–8
Chicago 12–10–1 14–8 14–8 11–11 14–8 8–14 17–5
Cleveland 12–9 10–12 8–14 11–11 11–11 9–13 15–7
Detroit 13–9 12–10 11–11 11–11 8–14 10–12 13–9
Kansas City 5–16–1 6–16 8–14 11–11 14–8 3–19 12–10
New York 13–9 14–8 14–8 13–9 12–10 19–3 13–9
Washington 7–15 8–14 5–17 7–15 9–13 10–12 9–13


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1957 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Hal Smith 107 360 109 .303 13 41
1B Vic Power 129 467 121 .259 14 42
2B Billy Hunter 116 319 61 .191 8 29
SS Joe DeMaestri 135 461 113 .245 9 33
3B Héctor López 121 391 115 .294 11 35
LF Gus Zernial 131 437 103 .236 27 69
CF Woodie Held 92 326 78 .239 20 50
RF Lou Skizas 119 376 92 .245 18 44

[8]

Other batters

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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
Bob Cerv 124 345 94 .272 11 44
Billy Martin 73 265 68 .257 9 27
Tim Thompson 81 230 47 .204 7 19
Harry Simpson 50 179 53 .296 6 24
Irv Noren 81 160 34 .213 2 16
Milt Graff 56 155 28 .181 0 10
Bob Martyn 58 131 35 .267 1 12
Jim Pisoni 44 97 23 .237 3 12
Johnny Groth 55 59 15 .254 0 2
Clete Boyer 10 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ned Garver 24 145.1 6 13 3.84 61
Alex Kellner 28 132.2 6 5 4.27 72
Ralph Terry 21 130.2 4 11 3.38 80

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tom Morgan 46 143.2 9 7 4.64 32
Jack Urban 31 129.1 7 4 3.34 55
Tom Gorman 38 124.2 5 9 3.83 66
Arnie Portocarrero 33 114.2 4 9 3.92 42
Wally Burnette 38 113.0 7 12 4.30 57
Ryne Duren 14 42.2 0 3 5.27 37
Rip Coleman 19 41.0 0 7 5.93 15
Gene Host 11 23.2 0 2 7.23 9
George Brunet 4 11.1 0 1 5.56 3

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Virgil Trucks 48 9 7 7 3.03 55
Mickey McDermott 29 1 4 0 5.48 29
Glenn Cox 10 1 0 0 5.02 8
Al Aber 3 0 0 0 12.00 0
Harry Taylor 2 0 0 0 3.12 4
Dave Hill 2 0 0 0 27.00 1
Ed Blake 2 0 0 0 5.40 0
Hal Raether 1 0 0 0 9.00 0

Awards and honors

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League leaders

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  • Vic Power, American League leader, fielding percentage, first basemen (.998)[4]

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Buffalo Bisons International League Phil Cavarretta
AA Little Rock Travelers Southern Association Al Evans
A Columbia Gems Sally League Ernie White
B Abilene Blue Sox Big State League Burl Storie
C Crowley Millers Evangeline League Everett Robinson
C Pocatello Athletics Pioneer League Vince Plumbo
D Mattoon Athletics Midwest League Lew Krausse Sr.
D Grand Island Athletics Nebraska State League Art Mazmanian
D Seminole Oilers Sooner State League Lee Anthony

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Buffalo, Grand Island

References

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  1. ^ Bob Cerv page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Clete Boyer page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Lou Klimchok page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ a b Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  5. ^ Ralph Terry page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Johnny Groth page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Al Aber page at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ "1957 Kansas City Athletics Statistics".
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