1959 Kansas City Athletics season

1959 Kansas City Athletics
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Municipal Stadium (since 1955)
Kansas City, Missouri (since 1955)
Other information
Owner(s)	Arnold Johnson
General manager(s)	Parke Carroll
Manager(s)	Harry Craft
Local television	WDAF-TV
Local radio	WDAF (Merle Harmon, Bill Grigsby)
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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 7th in the American League with a record of 66 wins and 88 losses, 28 games behind the AL Champion Chicago White Sox.

Offseason

• October 2, 1958: Chico Carrasquel was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Dick Williams.^[1]

Regular season

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Chicago White Sox	94	60	.610	--
Cleveland Indians	89	65	.578	5
New York Yankees	79	75	.513	15
Detroit Tigers	76	78	.494	18
Boston Red Sox	75	79	.487	19
Baltimore Orioles	74	80	.481	20
Kansas City Athletics	66	88	.429	28
Washington Senators	63	91	.409	31

Record vs. opponents

1959 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	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 30 George Brunet 36 Rip Coleman 28 Bud Daley 21 Murry Dickson 35 Mark Freeman 31 Ned Garver 37 Tom Gorman 34 Bob Grim 35 Al Grunwald 38 Ray Herbert 35 Ken Johnson 36 Evans Killeen 26 Johnny Kucks 36 Marty Kutyna 20 Russ Meyer 16 Howie Reed 32 Tom Sturdivant 26 Ralph Terry 15 Dick Tomanek 20 John Tsitouris		Catchers  8 Harry Chiti 12 Frank House Infielders 30 Ray Boone 14 Tom Carroll  2 Joe DeMaestri 18 Kent Hadley 4,30 Ray Jablonski  4 Lou Klimchock 10 Héctor López 11 Jerry Lumpe 10 Joe Morgan  5 Harry Simpson  9 Hal Smith  1 Wayne Terwilliger  7 Preston Ward 23 Dick Williams		Outfielders 17 Zeke Bella 33 Bob Cerv 22 Whitey Herzog  3 Roger Maris 14 Russ Snyder 13 Bill Tuttle Other batters 32 Bob Martyn		Manager 41 Harry Craft Coaches 39 Don Heffner 40 Johnny Sain 42 Bob Swift

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	House, FrankFrank House	98	347	32	82	.236	1	30
1B	Hadley, KentKent Hadley	113	288	40	73	.253	10	39
2B	Lumpe, JerryJerry Lumpe	108	403	47	98	.243	3	28
3B	Williams, DickDick Williams	130	488	72	130	.266	16	75
SS	DeMaestri, JoeJoe DeMaestri	118	352	31	86	.244	6	34
LF	Cerv, BobBob Cerv	125	463	61	132	.285	20	87
CF	Tuttle, BillBill Tuttle	126	463	74	139	.300	7	43
RF	Maris, RogerRoger Maris	122	433	69	118	.273	16	72

^[5]

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
Smith, HalHal Smith	108	292	36	84	.288	5	31
Terwilliger, WayneWayne Terwilliger	74	180	27	48	.267	2	18
Chiti, HarryHarry Chiti	55	162	20	44	.272	5	25
López, HéctorHéctor López	35	135	22	38	.281	6	24
Boone, RayRay Boone	61	132	19	36	.273	2	12
Herzog, WhiteyWhitey Herzog	38	123	25	36	.293	1	9
Ward, PrestonPreston Ward	58	109	8	27	.248	2	19
Simpson, HarryHarry Simpson	8	14	1	4	.286	1	2
Carroll, TomTom Carroll	14	7	1	.143	0	1

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
Daley, BudBud Daley	39	216.1	16	13	3.16	125
Garver, NedNed Garver	32	201	10	13	3.71	61
Kucks, JohnnyJohnny Kucks	33	151.1	8	11	3.87	51
Terry, RalphRalph Terry	9	46.1	2	4	5.24	35

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
Grim, BobBob Grim	40	125.1	6	10	4.09	65
Tsitouris, JohnJohn Tsitouris	24	83.1	4	3	4.97	50
Coleman, RipRip Coleman	29	81	2	10	4.56	54

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
Sturdivant, TomTom Sturdivant	36	2	6	5	4.65	57
Gorman, TomTom Gorman	17	1	0	1	7.08	9
Kutyna, MartyMarty Kutyna	4	0	0	1	0.00	1
Brunet, GeorgeGeorge 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	Bill 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

^[7]

References

1. Chico Carrasquel page at Baseball Reference
2. Ray Boone page at Baseball Reference
3. Ralph Terry page at Baseball Reference
4. Ray Jablonski page at Baseball Reference
5. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCA/1959.shtml
6. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 113, Tom Clavin and Danny Peary, Touchstone Books, Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4165-8928-0
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links

• 1959 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1959 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com