Athletics - The Kansas City Years (1955-1967)

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Titles: None

Top Kansas City Athletics Players

BallPark: Municipal Stadium (1955-1967)

Pitchers:

Team Name: Athletics

Ray Herbert (7.91) - 23

Ned Garver (7.1) - 21

Owner: Arnold Johnson (1955-1959)

Bud Daley (6.45) - 20

Charlie Finley (1960-1967)

John Wyatt (6.93) - 19

Catfish Hunter (5.68) - 18

Managers: Lou Boudreau (1955-1957)

Art Ditmar (1.72) - 18

Harry Craft (1957-1959)

Tom Gorman (6.28) - 16

Bob Elliott (1960)

Alex Kellner (3.21) - 15

Joe Gordon (1961)

Jack Aker (4.51) - 14

Hank Bauer (1961-1962, 1969)

Lew Krausse (1.05) - 14

Ed Lopat (1963-1964)

Ed Rakow (3.3) - 14

Mel McGaha (1964-1965)

Orlando Pena (6.09) - 13

Haywood Sullivan (1965)

Dave Wickersham (5.22) - 11

Al Dark (1966-1967)

Ralph Terry (2.29) - 11

Luke Appling (1967)

Jim Nash (4.96) - 8

Jack Urban (0.31) - 7

General Managers: Parke Carroll (1955-1960)

Rollie Sheldon (2.53) - 7

Frank Lane (1961)

Virgil Trucks (3.46) - 6

Charlie Finley (1961-1969)

Tom Morgan (0.75) - 6

Hank Peters (1965)

Johnny Kucks (0.36) - 5

Ed Lopat (1966)

Diego Segui (4.21) - 5

Bob Grim (1.48) - 4

No Hitters: None

Murry Dickson (0.97) - 3

Blue Moon Odom (-0.87) - 2

Hall of Famers:

Marty Kutyna (0.88) - 1

Enos Slaughter

Leo Kiely (1.42) - 0

Satchell Paige

Duke Maas (0.69) - 0

Catfish Hunter

Tom Sturdivant (0.3) - 1

Russ Meyer (0.23) - 0

Rookie of the Year: None

Satchell Paige (0.21) - 0

Ed Blake (0) - 0

MVP: None

Johnny Sain (-0.02) - 0

Ryne Duren (-0.09) - 0

Cy Young: None

Sonny Dixon (-0.09) - 0

Ray Blemker (-0.15) - 0

Notable Events:

Al Aber (-0.18) - 0

Carl Duser (-0.2) - 0

1954 - Arnold Johnson purchases the A's and moves them to Kansas City

Vic Raschi (-0.22) - 0

for the 1955 season. This was the culmination of everything that Connie Mack

Glenn Cox (-0.26) - 0

didn't want, but what his behavior had caused. Mack had wanted to leave the

Don Larsen (-0.3) - 0

A's to his three sons. However, infighting between all three and Mack, himself,

Bill Stafford (-0.34) - 0

led to a stalemate as to whether to try to make the club more competitive

Gene Host (-0.38) - 0

or be more austere. The result was that the austere brothers, Roy and Earl,

George Brunet (-0.49) - 0

mortgaged the team to the hilt to buy out the competitve brother, Connie Jr.

Rip Coleman (-0.54) - 0

The mortgage was the final nail in the coffin and the team had to be

Lou Sleater (-0.6) - 0

sold before it would go bankrupt. Now, not only did Connie's sons not only

Gus Keriazakos (-0.67) - 0

not own a team, the A's weren't even in Philly anymore. Lose - Lose.

Walt Craddock (-0.86) - 0

Connie wasn't even lucky enough to not outlive this ultimate fiasco.

Tom LaSorda (-0.89) - 0

He died in 1956. Sad ending to an illustrious life.

Mickey McDermott (-1.25) - 0

Cloyd Boyer (-1.51) - 0

1955 - Arnold Johnson was friends with Yankee's ownership and got the A's

franchise with help from the New York organization. Kansas City had been

Catchers:

the Yankees farm team up until the A's moved there. Unfortunately for the

Hal Smith (2.11) - 19

rest of the American League, Kansas City was still a de facto farm team for the

Frank House (-1) - 5

Yankees even after the A's moved there for as long as Johnson was owner.

Tim Thompson (-0.25) - 5

On top of being friends with Yankee ownership, Arnold had also been a big

Harry Chiti (1.08) - 4

Yankee fan. He had no ambitions for the A's club other than to have a big

Joe Pignatano (0.7) - 3

league team in Kansas City - he was just thrilled to be there. Johnson wasn't

Joe Astroth (0.55) - 2

crooked, but AL owners should have never approved him. As long as Arnold

Pete Daley (0.25) - 2

was owner of the A's, the Yankees were always assured of a steady stream of

Wilmer Shantz (-0.28) - 2

major league quality talent that they could plug in to fill a hole in their squad

Joe Ginsberg (0.23) - 1

on demand. Meanwhile, Johnson got a bunch of Yankees old-timers in return,

Hank Foiles (0.25) - 0

which, as a Yankee fan, he was thrilled about.

Gordon MacKenzie (-0.34) - 0

The top players that the Yankees obtained from KC:

□ 1956 - HOF outfielder Enos Slaughter, 40,

First Basemen:

- was on loan to the A's, essentially, in '55

Norm Siebern (11.16) - 42

□ 1957 - outfielder Harry Simpson, 31

Vic Power (7.75) - 22

□ 1957 - lefty Bobby Shantz, 31

Jim Gentile (2.13) - 7

□ 1957 righty Art Ditmar, 28

Hawk Harrelson (0.63) - 7

□ 1958 righty Ryne Duren, 28

Marv Throneberry (0.46) - 1

□ 1958 righty Duke Maas, 28

Kent Hadley (-0.41) - 1

□ 1958 righty Virgil Trucks, 41

Preston Ward (-1.34) - 1

□ 1958 righty Murry Dickson, 41

Eddie Robinson (-0.74) - 0

□ 1959 righty Mark Freeman, 28

Deron Johnson (-1.52) - 0

□ 1959 outfielder Hector Lopez, 29

□ 1959 infielder Cletis Boyer, 22

Second Basemen:

□ 1959 righty Ralph Terry, 23, - was on loan to the A's, essentially, in '58

Jerry Lumpe (9.09) - 28

□ 1960 1B Kent Hadley, 25

Dick Green (4.83) - 18

□ 1960 infielder Joe DeMaestri, 31

Wayne Terwilliger (0.83) - 2

□ 1960 outfielder Roger Maris, 25

Milt Graff (0.25) - 0

Bob Johnson (0.05) - 0

1955 - It's not like the A's got nothing in return from New York.

Billy Martin (0.18) - 0

The Yankees had the best farm system in baseball thanks to the leadership

Lou Klimchock (-0.89) - 0

of George Weiss and Lee MacPhail. The issue was that when the Yankees

had a hole at the major league level, Johnson was there with a plug to

ShortStop:

that hole.The Yankees sent back some real good young players such as

Bert Campaneris (6.6) - 33

1B Norm Siebern, 2B Jerry Lumpe, SS Woody Held, OF Deron Johnson

Wayne Causey (9.61)- 30

and OF Bob Cerv. There was also a litany of washed up Yankees that

Joe DeMaestri (0.7) - 20

Johnson gladly took: Johnny Sain, Vic Raschi, Mickey McDermott, Tom Morgan,

Dick Howser (4.23) - 16

Johnny Kucks, Bob Grim, Tom Sturdivant, Don Larsen, Billy Hunter, Lou Skizas,

Woody Held (2.67) - 11

Bob Martyn, Irv Noren, Zeke Bella, Hank Bauer, Marv Throneberry, Andy Carey

Ken Hamlin (-2.56) - 1

and Billy Martin. It's reminiscent of the eighteen nineties when the National

Tommy Carroll (-0.04) - 0

League had syndicate ownership of teams - i.e. multiple teams would have

Tony LaRussa (-0.1) - 0

have the same owner and they would stack one of their teams at the expense

Alex George (-0.29) - 0

of the others. Not quite the same, but sort of similar

Cletis Boyer (-0.6) - 0

Billy Hunter (-1.4) - 0

1959 - The one deal that went way over the top was when the A's dealt

Roger Maris to the Yankees for Norm Siebern (who was good, but no Maris),

Third Base:

Don Larsen (washed up) and Hank Bauer (also washed up).

Ed Charles (14.49) - 43

American League owners howled, and rightfully so, at this one.

Hector Lopez (9.52) - 34

Jim Finigan (0.18) - 5

1960 - Arnold Johnson dies suddently and unexpectedly of a cerebral

Sal Bando (1.52) - 0

hemorrage at the age of 53.

Rance Pless (0.16) - 0

Rac Slider (0) - 0

1960 - Charlie Finley buys the A's and is an extremely hands on owner

Ray Jablonski (-0.28) - 0

. He tried everything to turn the franchise around. Promotions, manager firings,

Mike Baxes (-0.97) - 0

broadcaster firings, moving fences, changing the.color of uniforms.

These things didn't help. However, investing in scouting and the farm system

Outfield:

and severing the Yankee feeder pipeline did help. Finley was an exceptionally

Bob Cerv (8.01) - 33

bright guy, and, at the end of the day, it didn't take him that long to figure it

Bill Tuttle (5.02) - 26

all out and build a powerhouse. Interestingly, the main thing that Finley did

Harry Simpson (3.05) - 20

figure out was that he was smarter and more competent than everyone

Roger Maris (4.2) - 17

around him. That all of the baseball experts both in his organization and

Dick Williams (4.33) - 14

in baseball, in general, really didn't know a whole lot more than he did and

Bobby Del Greco (1.74) - 14

that very quickly, he got a lot better than any of them

Gus Zernial (1.24) - 13

Mike Herschberger (0.56) - 12

1961 - Frank Lane is hired and fired as GM - knowing the two personalities,

Jose Tartabull (0.85) - 11

this was never going to work. Also, it didn't take Finley long to figure out

Danny Cater (1.8) - 9

that Lane didn't know what he was doing.

Rocco Colavito (4.08) - 9

Rick Monday (2.33) - 8

1962 - Finley tries unsuccessfully to move the franchise to Dallas in 1962

Manny Jimenez (-1.55) - 7

The other AL owners reject the move.

Lou Skizas (2.34) - 5

Enos Slaughter (3.44) - 3

1965 - Bert Campaneris plays all nine positions in a game.

Leo Posada (-0.39) - 3

George Alusik (1.92) - 3

1965 - Satchell Paige starts a game and pitches three scoreless

Whitey Herzog (3.07) - 2

innings. He was in his sixties at the time. Amazing.

Bob Martyn (0.23) - 1

Johnny Groth (-1.03) - 1

1965 - Hank Peters is hired and fired as GM - He would excel later in the

Hank Bauer (-2.03) - 1

same role in Baltimore

Jim Pisoni (0.46) - 0

Jim Delsing (0.05) - 0

1966 - Eddie Lopat is hired and fired as GM - It's now obvious to everybody,

Jim Small (-0.05) - 0

including Finley, that there is no way any GM is going to be able to

Dave Melton (-0.07) - 0

work for Finley

Bill Renna (-0.31) - 0

1968 - The A's move to Oakland. After six years, the AL owners finally let

Notable Events:

Finley move the franchise. They apparently were unwilling to call his

bluff that he would run the franchise into the ground if they didn't let him

1968 - Charlie Finley was one of the many mercenary owners that

move it. Notice that as soon as the A's moved, they became a winner.

populated their ranks during the late Fifties thru early Seventies. The worst

of these guys were short term owners who had no long term interest in the

1968 - What had to be doubly troubling to Kansas City fans, aside from

fans or the game itself, but were just looking out for their own short term

losing the club that they only had for thirteen years, was the remarkable

self interest. The others were in for the long haul but moved despite the

group of young talent that Finley had assembled. Kansas City fans were

havoc they would cause. These owners moved teams out of perfectly

about to miss out on Vida Blue, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi,

viable major league cities during this era, screw the fans and screw the

Catfish Hunter, Blue Moon Odom, Bert Campaneris and Rick Monday

long term efficacy of the sport in general. In the long run, if this behavior,

continued, it would have killed the sport. These owners were:

1968 - People talk about meddling owners running their teams into the

□ Walter O'Malley, moved the Dodgers out of Brooklyn to Los Angeles 1958

ground. Finley was the opposite of that. Acting as his own GM,

□ Horace Stoneham, moved the Giants out of New York to San Francisco 1958

he assembled one of the best young teams in baseball history.

□ Calvin Griffith, moved the Senators out of Washington to Minnesota 1961

It was a testimony to his genius (Altho' there were GM's on his payroll

□ Bill Bartholomay, moved the Braves out of Milwaukee to Atlanta 1966

during some of these years, you have to figure that Finley had his

□ Charlie Finley, moved the A's out of Kansas City to Oakland 1968

fingerprints all over the signings/selections below):

□ Bud Selig, moved the Pilots out of Seattle to Milwaukee 1970

□ 1961 - SS Bert Campaneris and RHP Lew Krausse - Amateur Free agents

□ Bob Short, moved the Senators out of Washington to Arlington 1972

(Note that Frank Lane was GM in 1961)

There were also a number of other teams threatening to change cities in

□ 1963 - C Dave Duncan, RHP Paul Liindblad, RHP Jim Nash

this era. Most notably, they were the.Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres,

- Amateur Free Agents

Cleveland Indians and later on the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota

□ 1964 - OF Joe Rudi, RHP Catfish Hunter, RHP Rollie Fingers,

Twins. The result of this was that baseball was starting to lose its popularity

□ RHP John Odom - Amateur Free agents

and fast. Fans felt that if you have no loyalty to us, why would we ever

□ 1965 - OF Rick Monday (Ist overall pick in draft), 3B Sal Bando (6th round),

be loyal to you? Most of the moves were to get a sweetheart stadium deal,

□ C Gene Tenace (20th round), RHP Chuck Dobson (21st round)

a sweetheart local TV deal, tax breaks, concessions breaks, sweetheart

(Note that Hank Peters was GM in 1965)

land deal, etc. by pitting one city against another.

□ 1966 - OF Reggie Jackson (2nd overall pick in draft)

Not a very good time for the sport.

(Note that Eddie Lopat was GM in 1966)

You'll note that all of the cities that were victims of moves or were on

□ 1967 - LHP Vida Blue (2nd round of draft)

the verge of having a move are thriving big league cities today.

The moves were bogus.