1929 Philadelphia Athletics season

1929 Philadelphia Athletics
1929 AL Champions
1929 World Series Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Connie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
Manager(s) Connie Mack
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The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing 1st in the American League with a record of 104 wins and 46 losses. After finishing in second place to the New York Yankees in 1927 and 1928, the club won the 1929 pennant by a large 18-game margin. The club went on to win the World Series over the NL champion Chicago Cubs, four games to one.

Offseason

Regular season

Led by longtime owner-manager Connie Mack, the Athletics dominated during the regular season. Mack had purchased quite a few players from the Baltimore Orioles minor league club, and many of them would contribute to the A's 1929–31 dynasty.

The most famous of these players was ace Lefty Grove. In 1929, Grove led the American League in ERA and strikeouts on his way to a 20–6 record. Big George Earnshaw was the number two pitcher on the squad. He led the league in wins (24) and was second in strikeouts. Led by these two, Philadelphia allowed the fewest runs of any AL team.

On the offensive side, the A's boasted Hall of Famers Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, and Al Simmons. Simmons beat out Babe Ruth for the RBI crown in 1929.

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB
Philadelphia Athletics 104 46 .693 --
New York Yankees 88 66 .571 18
Cleveland Indians 81 71 .533 24
St. Louis Browns 79 73 .520 26
Washington Senators 71 81 .467 34
Detroit Tigers 70 84 .455 36
Chicago White Sox 59 93 .388 46
Boston Red Sox 58 96 .377 48

Record vs. opponents

1929 American League Records

Sources:

Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHI STL WSH
Boston — 11–11 9–13 8–14 5–17 4–18 11–11–1 10–12
Chicago 11–11 — 9–12 10–12 6–16 9–13 4–17 10–12
Cleveland 13–9 12–9 — 11–11 14–8 7–14 10–12 14–8
Detroit 14–8 12–10 11–11 — 9–13 4–18 10–12 10–12–1
New York 17–5 16–6 8–14 13–9 — 8–14 14–8 12–10
Philadelphia 18–4 13–9 14–7 18–4 14–8 — 11–10–1 16–4
St. Louis 11–11–1 17–4 12–10 12–10 8–14 10–11–1 — 9–13
Washington 12–10 12–10 8–14 12–10–1 10–12 4–16 13–9 —

Roster

1929 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Player stats

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 Cochrane, MickeyMickey Cochrane 135 514 170 .331 7 95
1B Foxx, JimmieJimmie Foxx 149 517 183 .354 33 118
2B Bishop, MaxMax Bishop 129 475 110 .232 3 36
3B Hale, SammySammy Hale 101 379 105 .277 1 40
SS Boley, JoeJoe Boley 91 303 76 .251 2 47
LF Simmons, AlAl Simmons 143 581 212 .365 34 157
CF Haas, MuleMule Haas 139 578 181 .313 16 82
RF Miller, BingBing Miller 147 556 184 .331 8 93

Other batters

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
INF Dykes, JimmyJimmy Dykes 119 401 131 .327 13 79

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G GS IP W L ERA SO
Grove, LeftyLefty Grove 42 37 275.1 20 6 2.81 170
Earnshaw, GeorgeGeorge Earnshaw 44 33 254.2 24 8 3.29 149
Walberg, RubeRube Walberg 40 33 267.2 18 11 3.60 94
Quinn, JackJack Quinn 35 18 161.0 11 9 3.97 41

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
Breckinridge, BillBill Breckinridge 3 10 0 0 8.10 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

1929 World Series

Main article: 1929 World Series

AL Philadelphia Athletics (4) vs. NL Chicago Cubs (1)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1 Athletics – 3, Cubs – 1 October 8Wrigley Field 50,740
2 Athletics – 9, Cubs – 3 October 9Wrigley Field 49,987
3 Cubs – 3, Athletics – 1 October 11Shibe Park 29,921
4 Cubs – 8, Athletics – 10 October 12Shibe Park 29,921
5 Cubs – 2, Athletics – 3 October 14Shibe Park 29,921

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AA Baltimore Orioles International League Fritz Maisel
D Martinsburg Blue Sox Blue Ridge League Dan O'Leary

[2]

Awards and honors

League leaders

More recent honors

Al Simmons and the 1929–1931 Athletics were the subject of an August 19, 1996 cover-story in Sports Illustrated with the teaser, "The Team that Time Forgot". Author William Nack wrote, "according to most old-timers who played in that era, the 1927 and '28 Yankees and the 1929 and '30 Athletics matched up so closely that they were nearly equal, with the A's given the nod in fielding and pitching and the Yankees in hitting."[4]

On August 16, 2009, the Oakland Athletics celebrated the 80th anniversary of the 1929 team by wearing 1929 home uniforms against the Chicago White Sox. First pitches were thrown out by Kathleen Kelly, the granddaughter of Connie Mack, and Jim Conlin, the grandson of Jimmie Foxx.[5] The A's won the game on a walk-off home run by Mark Ellis.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Homer Summa page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
  3. ↑ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 51, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  4. ↑ Nack, William (August 19, 1996). "Lost in History". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
  5. ↑ "A's celebrate 80th anniversary of 1929 season with Turn-Back-the-Clock Day". MLB.com. August 11, 2009. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
  6. ↑ Loberstein, Adam (August 16, 2009). "Ellis' homer gives A's walk-off victory". MLB.com. Retrieved August 17, 2009.

External links

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