1961 Kansas City Athletics season

1961 Kansas City Athletics
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Municipal Stadium (since 1955)
Kansas City, Missouri (since 1955)
Other information
Owner(s)	Charles O. Finley
General manager(s)	Frank Lane, Pat Friday
Manager(s)	Joe Gordon, Hank Bauer
Local television	WDAF-TV
Local radio	WDAF (Merle Harmon, Bill Grigsby)
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The 1961 Kansas City Athletics season was a season in American baseball. In their seventh season in Kansas City, the 61st overall for the franchise, the A's finished with a record of 61–100, tying the expansion Washington Senators for ninth place, last in the newly expanded 10-team American League, 47½ games behind the World Champion New York Yankees.

Offseason

On December 19, 1960, Charles "Charlie O." Finley purchased a controlling interest in the team from Arnold Johnson's estate. In a highly publicized move, he purchased a bus, pointed it in the direction of New York, and burned it to symbolize the end of the "special relationship" with the Yankees. He called another press conference to burn the existing lease at Municipal Stadium, where the team played its home games, which included the despised "escape clause."^[1]

Finley made numerous renovations to the stadium, including lighting outside, and radio broadcasts in the restrooms.^[2] The seats were painted yellow, turquoise and orange, while a picnic area was added behind new bleacher seats in right field. In addition, lights were added to the dugout.^[3]

In addition, Finley introduced new uniforms, which had "Kansas City" on the road uniforms for the first time ever and an interlocking "KC" on the cap.

Notable transactions

• January 24, 1961: Whitey Herzog and Russ Snyder were traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Bob Boyd, Al Pilarcik, Jim Archer, Wayne Causey, and Clint Courtney. Clint Courtney was returned to the Orioles on April 14.^[4]

Regular season

Finley hired Frank Lane, a veteran baseball man with a reputation as a prolific trader, as general manager on April 27.^[5] However, Lane did not even last through the season, as he was fired on August 22.^[5] He was replaced by Pat Friday,^[5] whose sole qualification for the job was that he managed one of Finley's insurance offices. With the firing of Lane in 1961, Finley effectively became a one-man band as owner, president and de facto general manager, and would remain so for the duration of his ownership.

• Part of the tension between Finley and Lane occurred when Finley advised Lane that he wanted to move the club's spring training facilities from West Palm Beach, Florida to Chandler, Arizona. Lane had negotiated with city officials in Chandler and was prepared to sign a lease. A report on the radio had indicated that Finley reached his own deal with West Palm Beach and signed a five-year lease extension.^[6]
• On June 14, 1961, the feud between Charlie Finley and Frank Lane worsened as Lane traded fan favourite Bud Daley. Lane stated this was done in an attempt to embarrass the owner.^[7] Lew Krausse, Jr. made his major league debut on June 16, 1961 versus the Los Angeles Angels. Krausse had received a bonus of $125,000 to sign with the club. Finley admitted that he had the highly touted Krausse appear in a game so that fans could forget about the Bud Daley trade.^[8]
• August 17, 1961: Kansas City Star sportswriter Ernie Mehl had published a story indicating that Charlie Finley was ready to relocate the club to Dallas, Texas.^[9] Mabel found out about the proposed relocation because Finley went on a trip to Dallas with the supervisor of American League umpires Cal Hubbard. During the trip, the two visited the Cotton Bowl and Burnett Field. Finley was furious and it led to a long rivalry between the two. Three days later, Finley attempted to publicly humiliate Mehl by having an Ernie Mehl Appreciation Day. Ceremonies for Mehl were held in between a doubleheader with the Chicago White Sox. Finley presented Mehl with a Poison Pen Award in absentia.^[10]

Gimmicks

• Finley had a mechanical rabbit named Harvey installed to the right of home plate. Whenever the umpire required more baseballs, Harvey would emerge from a spot in the grass with a cage of baseballs. As the rabbit would emerge, the organist would play Here Comes Peter Cottontail.^[11]
• Sheep were on a tall rocky hill beyond the right field fence. Finley had employees dressed as sheep herders, and the employees would ring a bell whenever an Athletics player hit a home run.^[12]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	109	53	.673	--
Detroit Tigers	101	61	.623	8
Baltimore Orioles	95	67	.586	14
Chicago White Sox	86	76	.531	23
Cleveland Indians	78	83	.484	30.5
Boston Red Sox	76	86	.469	33
Minnesota Twins	70	90	.438	38
Los Angeles Angels	70	91	.435	38.5
Kansas City Athletics	61	100	.379	47.5
Washington Senators	61	100	.379	47.5

Record vs. opponents

1961 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	LAA	MIN	NYY	WSH
Baltimore	—	11–7	11–7	9–9	9–9	13–5	8–10	11–7	9–9–1	14–4
Boston	7–11	—	9–9	5–13	8–10	10–8	11–7–1	11–7	5–13	10–8
Chicago	7–11	9–9	—	12–6	6–12	14–4	10–8	9–9–1	6–12	13–5
Cleveland	9–9	13–5	6–12	—	6–12	8–9	10–8	10–8	4–14	12–6
Detroit	9–9	10–8	12–6	12–6	—	12–6–1	14–4	11–7	8–10	13–5
Kansas City	5–13	8–10	4–14	9–8	6–12–1	—	9–9	7–11	4–14	9–9
Los Angeles	10–8	7–11–1	8–10	8–10	4–14	9–9	—	8–9	6–12	10–8
Minnesota	7–11	7–11	9–9–1	8–10	7–11	11–7	9–8	—	4–14	8–9
New York	9–9–1	13–5	12–6	14–4	10–8	14–4	12–6	14–4	—	11–7
Washington	4–14	8–10	5–13	6–12	5–13	9–9	8–10	9–8	7–11	—

Notable transactions

• April 25, 1961: Bert Campaneris was signed as an amateur free agent by the Athletics.^[13]
• June 1, 1961: Bill Tuttle and a player to be named later were traded by the Athletics to the Minnesota Twins for Reno Bertoia, Paul Giel and a player to be named later. The Athletics completed the deal by returning Paul Giel to the Twins in exchange for cash on June 10.^[14]
• June 8, 1961: Marv Throneberry was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Gene Stephens.^[15]
• June 10, 1961: Ray Herbert, Don Larsen, Andy Carey, and Al Pilarcik were traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Wes Covington, Stan Johnson, Bob Shaw, and Gerry Staley.^[16]
• July 2, 1961: Wes Covington was traded by the Athletics to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bobby Del Greco.^[16]
• August 2, 1961: Gerry Staley and Reno Bertoia were traded by the Athletics to the Detroit Tigers for Bill Fischer and Ozzie Virgil.^[17]

Roster

1961 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 20 Jim Archer 30 Norm Bass 28 Bud Daley 28 Art Ditmar 31 Bill Fischer 27 Paul Giel 38 Ray Herbert 17 Ken Johnson 36 Ed Keegan 29 Bill Kirk 24 Lew Krausse 32 Bill Kunkel 18 Don Larsen 22 Mickey McDermott 33 Joe Nuxhall 27 Dan Pfister 35 Ed Rakow 26 Bob Shaw 38 Gerry Staley 23 Jerry Walker 27 Dave Wickersham 27 John Wyatt		Catchers 5,18 Billy Bryan 16 Gordon Mackenzie 12 Joe Pignatano  8 Haywood Sullivan Infielders 16 Reno Bertoia 10 Bob Boyd  1 Andy Carey  2 Wayne Causey  1 Dick Howser  4 Lou Klimchock 11 Jerry Lumpe 45 Charlie Shoemaker  7 Norm Siebern  3 Marv Throneberry  4 Ozzie Virgil		Outfielders  9 Hank Bauer 25 Frank Cipriani 14 Wes Covington 14 Bobby Del Greco 16 Chuck Essegian 21 Jay Hankins  6 Deron Johnson 22 Stan Johnson 14 Al Pilarcik 19 Leo Posada 22 Bobby Prescott 10 Jim Rivera  3 Gene Stephens 13 Bill Tuttle Other batters 22 Clint Courtney		Manager  9 Hank Bauer 39 Joe Gordon Coaches 42 Ed Fitz Gerald 40 Dario Lodigiani 44 Johnny Mize 41 Jo-Jo White 37 Ted Wilks

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
3B	Causey, WayneWayne Causey	104	312	86	.276	8	49

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
Bertoia, RenoReno Bertoia	39	120	29	.242	0	13
Tuttle, BillBill Tuttle	25	84	22	.262	0	8
Pilarcik, AlAl Pilarcik	35	60	12	.200	1	9
Boyd, BobBob Boyd	26	48	11	.229	0	9
Virgil, OzzieOzzie Virgil	11	21	3	.143	0	0
Johnson, StanStan Johnson	3	3	0	.000	0	0
Courtney, ClintClint Courtney	1	1	0	.000	0	0

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
Archer, JimJim Archer	39	205.1	9	15	3.20	110
Kirk, BillBill Kirk	1	3	0	0	12.00	3

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
Bass, NormNorm Bass	40	170.2	11	11	4.69	74
Daley, BudBud Daley	16	63.2	4	8	4.95	36
Krausse, LewLew Krausse	12	55.2	2	5	4.85	32
Ditmar, ArtArt Ditmar	20	54	0	5	5.67	19

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
Kunkel, BillBill Kunkel	58	3	4	4	5.18	46
Fischer, BillBill Fischer	15	1	0	2	3.86	12
Wyatt, JohnJohn Wyatt	5	0	0	1	2.45	6
Giel, PaulPaul Giel	1	0	0	0	37.80	1

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Hawaii Islanders	Pacific Coast League	Tommy Heath and Bill Werle
AA	Shreveport Sports	Southern Association	Les Peden
A	Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides	Sally League	Granny Hamner
B	Lewiston Broncos	Northwest League	John McNamara
C	Visalia Athletics	California League	Bobby Hofman
C	Pocatello Bannocks	Pioneer League	Bert Thiel
D	Sarasota Sun Sox	Florida State League	Bill Robertson
D	Albuquerque Dukes	Sophomore League	Grady Wilson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lewiston

Pocatello affiliation shared with San Francisco Giants

References

1. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.43–44, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
2. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.45, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
3. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.45–46, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
4. Whitey Herzog page at Baseball Reference
5. Baseball America list of Athletics General Managers
6. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.49, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
7. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.51, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
8. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.52, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
9. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.56, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
10. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.58, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
11. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.46, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
12. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.47, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
13. Bert Campaneris page at Baseball Reference
14. Bill Tuttle page at Baseball Reference
15. Marv Throneberry page at Baseball Reference
16. Wes Covington page at Baseball Reference
17. Gerry Staley page at Baseball Reference

External links

• 1961 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1961 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com