1963 Kansas City Athletics season

1963 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)	Pat Friday
Manager(s)	Ed Lopat
Local television	KCMO
Local radio	KCMO (AM) (Monte Moore, George Bryson)
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The 1963 Kansas City Athletics season was the ninth for the franchise in Kansas City and the 63rd overall. It involved the A's finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 73 wins and 89 losses, 31½ games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees. The 1963 season was also the first season in which the Athletics debuted their current color scheme of green and gold.

Regular season

• Owner Charlie Finley changed the team's colors to Kelly green, Fort Knox Gold and Wedding Gown White, and replaced Connie Mack's elephant mascot with a Missouri mule — not just a cartoon logo, but a real mule, which he named after himself: "Charlie O, the Mule." In reading the Chicago Tribune, Charlie Finley read about the Missouri Mule, a mule which helped troops in World War I carry ammunition. Finley decided that a mule would become the club's new mascot.^[1]
• He also began phasing out the team name "Athletics" in favor of simply, "A's." In June 1963, Bill Bryson wrote of the uniforms,

Kelly green is the Athletics' accent color. It was more a nauseous green the players wore on their wholesome, clean-cut faces the first few times they had to appear in public looking like refugees from a softball league.^[2]

• Owner Charlie Finley was upset about his stadium deal with Kansas City. He had visited Dallas, Texas and Oakland, California as prospective places for relocation.^[3] Finley also talked to Atlanta Journal sportswriter Furman Bisher about relocating the A's to Atlanta. Later in the season, Finley made threats of moving the club to Louisville, Kentucky and renaming the franchise the Kentucky Colonels.^[4] As a sign of protest, Finley relocated the A's offices from the stadium to the garage of team scout J Bowman.^[5]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	104	57	.646	--
Chicago White Sox	94	68	.580	10.5
Minnesota Twins	91	70	.565	13
Baltimore Orioles	86	76	.531	18.5
Cleveland Indians	79	83	.488	25.5
Detroit Tigers	79	83	.488	25.5
Boston Red Sox	76	85	.472	28
Kansas City Athletics	73	89	.451	31.5
Los Angeles Angels	70	91	.435	34
Washington Senators	56	106	.346	48.5

Record vs. opponents

1963 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	LAA	MIN	NYY	WSH
Baltimore	—	7–11	7–11	10–8	13–5	9–9	9–9	9–9	7–11	15–3
Boston	11–7	—	8–10	10–8	9–9	7–11	9–8	7–11	6–12	9–9
Chicago	11–7	10–8	—	11–7	11–7	12–6	10–8	8–10	8–10	13–5
Cleveland	8–10	8–10	7–11	—	10–8	11–7	10–8	5–13	7–11	13–5
Detroit	5–13	9–9	7–11	8–10	—	13–5	12–6	8–10	8–10	9–9
Kansas City	9–9	11–7	6–12	7–11	5–13	—	10–8	9–9	6–12	10–8
Los Angeles	9–9	8–9	8–10	8–10	6–12	8–10	—	9–9	5–13	9–9
Minnesota	9–9	11–7	10–8	13–5	10–8	9–9	9–9	—	6–11	14–4
New York	11–7	12–6	10–8	11–7	10–8	12–6	13–5	11–6	—	14–4
Washington	3–15	9–9	5–13	5–13	9–9	8–10	9–9	4–14	4–14	—

Notable transactions

• May 25, 1963: Joe Azcue and Dick Howser were traded by the Athletics to the Cleveland Indians for Doc Edwards and $100,000.^[6]
• May 26, 1963: Sammy Esposito was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[7]

Roster

1963 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 22 Norm Bass 43 Ted Bowsfield 25 Moe Drabowsky 28 Bill Fischer 35 Bill Landis 32 Pete Lovrich 31 Aurelio Monteagudo 27,36 Fred Norman 35 John O'Donoghue 19 Orlando Peña 27 Dan Pfister 21 Ed Rakow 22 José Santiago 24 Diego Seguí 18 Tom Sturdivant 25 Dave Thies 26 Dave Wickersham 20 Dale Willis 33 John Wyatt		Catchers 10 Joe Azcue 18 Billy Bryan 10 Doc Edwards 14 Charlie Lau  8 Haywood Sullivan Infielders  2 Wayne Causey 16 Ed Charles  1 Sammy Esposito  1 Dick Green 12 Ken Harrelson  1 Dick Howser 29 Tony La Russa 11 Jerry Lumpe  7 Norm Siebern		Outfielders  3 George Alusik  4 Gino Cimoli  5 Bobby Del Greco  6 Chuck Essegian  9 Jay Hankins 12,20 Manny Jiménez  9 Héctor Martínez  9 Tommie Reynolds 15 José Tartabull 17 John Wojcik		Manager 30 Ed Lopat Coaches 40 Jimmy Dykes 41 Mel McGaha 42 Gus Niarhos

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	Edwards, DocDoc Edwards	71	240	60	.250	6	35

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
Howser, DickDick Howser	15	41	8	.195	0	1
Azcue, JoeJoe Azcue	2	4	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
Drabowsky, MoeMoe Drabowsky	26	174.1	7	13	3.05	109

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
Bowsfield, TedTed Bowsfield	41	111.1	5	7	4.45	67
Bass, NormNorm Bass	3	7.2	0	0	11.74	4

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
Wyatt, JohnJohn Wyatt	63	6	4	21	3.13	81

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Norm Siebern, reserve^[8]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Les Peden and Dan Carnevale
AA	Binghamton Triplets	Eastern League	John McNamara
A	Daytona Beach Islanders	Florida State League	Bobby Hofman
A	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Grady Wilson
A	Lewiston Broncos	Northwest League	Bill Robertson

References

1. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.88, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
2. Bryson, Bill (June 1963). "Whose Hues? A's colored uniforms recall varied suits of the past". Baseball Digest. pp. 33, 34. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
3. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.70, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
4. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.71, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
5. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.72, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
6. Joe Azcue page at Baseball-Reference
7. Sammy Esposito page at Baseball-Reference
8. http://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1963as.shtml

External links

• 1963 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1963 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com