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. The A's finished nine games behind the league's other expansion team, the Los Angeles Angels and 47+1⁄2 games behind the World Champion New York Yankees.
1961 Kansas City Athletics | |
---|---|
League | American League |
Ballpark | Municipal Stadium |
City | Kansas City, Missouri |
Owners | Charles O. Finley |
General managers | Frank Lane, Pat Friday |
Managers | Joe Gordon, Hank Bauer |
Television | WDAF-TV |
Radio | WDAF (Merle Harmon, Bill Grigsby) |
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.[citation needed] 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, and 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.
Finley hired Frank Lane, a veteran baseball man with a reputation as a prolific trader, as general manager on January 2.[5] However, Lane did not even last through the season, as he was fired on August 22 and replaced by Pat Friday.[6]
American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 109 | 53 | 0.673 | — | 65–16 | 44–37 |
Detroit Tigers | 101 | 61 | 0.623 | 8 | 50–31 | 51–30 |
Baltimore Orioles | 95 | 67 | 0.586 | 14 | 48–33 | 47–34 |
Chicago White Sox | 86 | 76 | 0.531 | 23 | 53–28 | 33–48 |
Cleveland Indians | 78 | 83 | 0.484 | 30½ | 40–41 | 38–42 |
Boston Red Sox | 76 | 86 | 0.469 | 33 | 50–31 | 26–55 |
Minnesota Twins | 70 | 90 | 0.438 | 38 | 36–44 | 34–46 |
Los Angeles Angels | 70 | 91 | 0.435 | 38½ | 46–36 | 24–55 |
Kansas City Athletics | 61 | 100 | 0.379 | 47½ | 33–47 | 28–53 |
Washington Senators | 61 | 100 | 0.379 | 47½ | 33–46 | 28–54 |
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | 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 | — |
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 | Haywood Sullivan | 117 | 331 | 80 | .242 | 6 | 40 |
1B | Norm Siebern | 153 | 560 | 166 | .296 | 18 | 98 |
2B | Jerry Lumpe | 148 | 569 | 167 | .293 | 3 | 54 |
SS | Dick Howser | 158 | 611 | 171 | .280 | 3 | 45 |
3B | Wayne Causey | 104 | 312 | 86 | .276 | 8 | 49 |
LF | Leo Posada | 116 | 344 | 87 | .253 | 7 | 53 |
CF | Bobby Del Greco | 74 | 239 | 55 | .230 | 5 | 21 |
RF | Jim Rivera | 64 | 141 | 34 | .241 | 2 | 10 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Deron Johnson | 83 | 283 | 61 | .216 | 8 | 42 |
Joe Pignatano | 92 | 243 | 59 | .243 | 4 | 22 |
Gene Stephens | 62 | 183 | 38 | .208 | 4 | 26 |
Jay Hankins | 76 | 173 | 32 | .185 | 3 | 6 |
Marv Throneberry | 40 | 130 | 31 | .238 | 6 | 24 |
Andy Carey | 39 | 123 | 30 | .244 | 3 | 11 |
Lou Klimchock | 57 | 121 | 26 | .215 | 1 | 16 |
Reno Bertoia | 39 | 120 | 29 | .242 | 0 | 13 |
Hank Bauer | 43 | 106 | 28 | .264 | 3 | 18 |
Bill Tuttle | 25 | 84 | 22 | .262 | 0 | 8 |
Al Pilarcik | 35 | 60 | 12 | .200 | 0 | 9 |
Bob Boyd | 26 | 48 | 11 | .229 | 0 | 9 |
Wes Covington | 17 | 44 | 7 | .159 | 1 | 6 |
Frank Cipriani | 13 | 36 | 9 | .250 | 0 | 2 |
Charlie Shoemaker | 7 | 26 | 10 | .385 | 0 | 1 |
Gordon Mackenzie | 11 | 24 | 3 | .125 | 0 | 1 |
Ozzie Virgil | 11 | 21 | 3 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
Billy Bryan | 9 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 1 | 2 |
Bobby Prescott | 10 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 0 |
Chuck Essegian | 4 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
Stan Johnson | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Clint Courtney | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jim Archer | 39 | 205.1 | 9 | 15 | 3.20 | 110 |
Bob Shaw | 26 | 150.1 | 9 | 10 | 4.31 | 60 |
Ray Herbert | 13 | 83.2 | 3 | 6 | 5.38 | 34 |
Bill Kirk | 1 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 12.00 | 3 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Norm Bass | 40 | 170.2 | 11 | 11 | 4.69 | 74 |
Jerry Walker | 36 | 168.0 | 8 | 14 | 4.82 | 56 |
Joe Nuxhall | 37 | 128.0 | 5 | 8 | 5.34 | 81 |
Ed Rakow | 45 | 124.2 | 2 | 8 | 4.76 | 81 |
Bud Daley | 16 | 63.2 | 4 | 8 | 4.95 | 36 |
Lew Krausse Jr. | 12 | 55.2 | 2 | 5 | 4.85 | 32 |
Art Ditmar | 20 | 54.0 | 0 | 5 | 5.67 | 19 |
Don Larsen | 8 | 15.0 | 1 | 0 | 4.20 | 13 |
Ken Johnson | 6 | 9.1 | 0 | 4 | 10.61 | 4 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bill Kunkel | 58 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5.18 | 46 |
Gerry Staley | 23 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3.60 | 16 |
Dave Wickersham | 17 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5.14 | 10 |
Bill Fischer | 15 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.86 | 12 |
Ed Keegan | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 3 |
John Wyatt | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.45 | 6 |
Mickey McDermott | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.29 | 3 |
Dan Pfister | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 3 |
Paul Giel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37.80 | 1 |
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 |