The Athletics - The Golden Age  (1950-1959)
 
   
 
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      Yr City P W L   Yr City P W L   Yr City P W L         1950    
      1950 Philadelphia 8 52 102   1953 Philadelphia 8 59 95   1957 Kansas City 5 59 94         Decade    
      1951 Philadelphia 8 70 84   1954 Philadelphia 5 51 103   1958 Kansas City 4 73 81         Click    
      1952 Philadelphia 8 79 75   1955 Kansas City 8 63 91   1959 Kansas City 5 66 88         on Logo    
                  1956 Kansas City 8 52 102                          
                                                       
   
  Titles: None Top Athletics Players of the Fifties  
     
  BallPark: Shibe Park(1950-1954) Pitchers:  
  Municipal Stadium (1955-1959) Alex Kellner (7.6) -   41  
    Bobby Shantz (17.18) -   37  
  Team Name: Athletics Ned Garver (5.22) -   20  
    Art Ditmar (1.4) -   18  
  Owner: Connie Mack (1950-1954) Bob Hooper (1.22) -   18  
  Arnold Johnson (1955-1959) Tom Gorman (6.28) -   16  
    Harry Byrd (2.57) -   15  
  Managers: Connie Mack (1950) Ray Herbert (2.15) -   14  
  Jimmy Dykes (1951-1953) Ralph Terry (2.53) -   11  
  Eddie Joost (1954) Bud Daley (5.33) -   10   
  Lou Boudreau (1955-1957)    
  Harry Craft (1957-1959) Catchers:  
    Hal Smith (2.11) -   19  
  General Managers: Connie Mack(1950) Joe Astroth (2.27) -   12  
  Mickey Cochrane (1950)    
  Arthur Ehlers (1951-1953) First Basemen:  
  Parke Carroll (1954-1959) Ferris Fain (12.73) -   33  
    Vic Power (7.79) -   25  
  No Hitters: (None)    
    Second Basemen:  
  Hall of Famers: Jim Finigan (2.81) -   15  
  Connie Mack     
  Enos Slaughter  ShortStop:  
    Eddie Joost (14.16) -   27  
  Rookie of the Year: Harry Byrd (1952) Joe DeMaestri (2.81) -   26  
    Woodie Held (2.67) -   11  
  MVP: Bobby Shantz (1952)    
    Third Base:  
  Notable Events: Hector Lopez (9.52) -   34  
       
   1950 - Connie Mack retires at the age of 88 after fifty years as manager. Outfield:  
  He had been there at there at the very beginning with so much promise but it all  Gus Zernial (7.51) -   44  
  ended  on a sour note as the Mack-men went 52-102 in his final year. Elmer Valo (12.04) -   36  
  Mack's old third baseman, Jimmy Dykes, takes over for the 1951 season. Bob Cerv (7.31) -   33  
    Dave Philley (3.58) -   22  
  1952 - The A's have a winning season behind a pitching staff anchored by two aces,  Harry Simpson (3.05) -   20  
   the league MVP in lefty Bobby Shantz and the league ROY in righty Harry Byrd Roger Maris (4.2) -   17  
    Bill Tuttle (3.58) -   17  
  1954 - Arnold Johnson purchases the A's and moves them to Kansas City the Sam Chapman (0.9) -   10  
  following season. This was the culmination of everything that Connie Mack didn't want,    
   but his behavior had caused.  Mack had wanted to leave the A's to his three sons.  Notable Events:  
    However, infighting between all three and Mack, himself, led to a stalemate as to    
   whether to try to make the club more competitive or be more austere. 1955 - It's not like the A's got nothing in return from New York.  
   The result was that the austere brothers, Roy and Earl, mortgaged the team to the The Yankees had the best farm system in baseball thanks to the   
    hilt to buy out the progressive competitve younger brother, Connie Jr.  leadership of George Weiss and Lee MacPhail.  
   The mortgage was the final nail in the coffin and the team had to be sold before it    The issue was that when the Yankees had a hole at the major league  
  would go bankrupt.  Now, not only did Connie's sons not only not own a team,  level, Johnson was there with a major league ready plug to that hole.  
   the A's weren't weren't even in Philly anymore. Lose - Lose The Yankees sent back some real good young players such as   
   Connie wasn't even lucky enough to not outlive this ultimate fiasco.     1B Norm Siebern,  2B Jerry Lumpe, SS Woody Held, OF Deron Johnson   
  .He died in 1956 after watching this trainwreck that he was responsible for happen in and OF Bob Cerv.   
   slow motion right before his eyes.  There was also a litany of washed up Yankees that Johnson gladly took:   
    Vic Raschi, Johnny Sain, Mickey McDermott, Tom Morgan,    
  1955 - Arnold Johnson was friends with Yankee's ownership and got the A's     Johnny Kucks, Bob Grim, Tom Sturdivant, Don Larsen, Billy Hunter,  
  franchise with help from the New York organization. Kansas City had been  Irv Noren, Lou Skizas, Bob Martyn, Zeke Bella, Hank Bauer,   
   the Yankee's farm team up until the A's moved there. Marv Throneberry, Andy Carey and Billy Martin.   
   Unfortunately for the rest of the American League, Kansas City was still a de facto  It was reminiscent of the eighteen nineties when the National League   
  farm team for the Yankees even after the A's moved there for as long  as   had syndicate ownership of teams - i.e. multiple teams would have the     
  Johnson was owner.  same owner and they would stack   one of their teams at the expense  
  On top of being friends with Yankee ownership, Arnold had also been a big Yankee   of the others. Not quite the same but sort of similar. This was very  
   fan. He had no ambitions for the A's club other than to have a big league team in bad because this practice of syndicates stacking teams almost killed  
   Kansas City - he was just thrilled to be there. Johnson wasn't crooked, but AL the sport just prior to the turn of the Twentieth Century.  
   owners should have never approved him. As long as Arnold was owner of the A's,   
  the Yankees were always assured of a steady stream of major league quality  1959 - The one deal that was over the top was when the A's dealt  
  talent that they could plug in to fill a hole in their squad on demand.   Roger Maris to the Yankees for Norm Siebern (who was good,  
  Meanwhile, Johnson got a bunch of Yankees old-timers in return, which,  as a   but no Maris),  Don Larsen (washed up), and Hank Bauer (also  
  Yankee fan, he was thrilled about.  washed up). American League owners howled, and rightfully so,  
   The top players that the Yankees obtained from KC: Much more of this and something would have to be done because  
  □   1956 - HOF outfielder Enos Slaughter, 40,  this pseudo-collusive activity was hurting the game.   
   - was on loan to the A's, essentially, in '55    
  □   1957 - outfielder Harry Simpson, 31    
  □   1957 - lefty Bobby Shantz, 31  
  □   1957 righty Art Ditmar, 28  
  □   1958 righty Ryne Duren, 28    
  □   1958 righty Duke Maas,  28    
  □   1958 righty Virgil Trucks, 41    
  □   1958 righty Murry Dickson, 41    
  □   1959 righty Mark Freeman, 28    
  □   1959 outfielder Hector Lopez, 29    
  □   1959 infielder Cletis Boyer, 22    
  □   1959 righty Ralph Terry, 23, - was on loan to the A's, essentially, in '58    
  □   1960 1B Kent Hadley, 25    
  □   1960 infielder Joe DeMaestri, 31    
  □   1960 outfielder Roger Maris, 25