# 1916 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics season was the 16th season of the Philadelphia Athletics baseball franchise. The team concluded the season in eighth place within the American League, achieving a record of 36 wins against 117 losses. Baseball historians frequently regard the 1916 Athletics as the poorest-performing team in the history of the American League, with a winning percentage of .235, which remains the lowest for any modern major league team since 1900. The 117 losses recorded by the team stood as a Major League Baseball record until the expansion New York Mets surpassed it in 1962, finishing with 120 losses but a slightly better winning percentage of .250.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Boston Red Sox | 91 | 63 | .591 | — | 49‍–‍28 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 89 | 65 | .578 | 2 | 49‍–‍28 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 87 | 67 | .565 | 4 | 49‍–‍28 | 38‍–‍39 |
| New York Yankees | 80 | 74 | .519 | 11 | 46‍–‍31 | 34‍–‍43 |
| St. Louis Browns | 79 | 75 | .513 | 12 | 45‍–‍32 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Cleveland Indians | 77 | 77 | .500 | 14 | 44‍–‍33 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Washington Senators | 76 | 77 | .497 | 14½ | 49‍–‍28 | 27‍–‍49 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 36 | 117 | .235 | 54½ | 23‍–‍53 | 13‍–‍64 |

### Record vs. opponents

1916 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 14–8 | 15–7 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 16–6 | 10–12–1 | 11–11–1 |
| Chicago | 8–14 | — | 13–9 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 18–4 | 15–7 | 12–10–1 |
| Cleveland | 7–15 | 9–13 | — | 11–11 | 12–10 | 18–4 | 11–11–2 | 9–13–1 |
| Detroit | 8–14 | 9–13 | 11–11 | — | 14–8–1 | 18–4 | 13–9 | 14–8 |
| New York | 11–11 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 8–14–1 | — | 15–7 | 9–13 | 15–7–1 |
| Philadelphia | 6–16 | 4–18 | 4–18 | 4–18 | 7–15 | — | 5–17 | 6–15–1 |
| St. Louis | 12–10–1 | 7–15 | 11–11–2 | 9–13 | 13–9 | 17–5 | — | 10–12–1 |
| Washington | 11–11–1 | 10–12–1 | 13–9–1 | 8–14 | 7–15–1 | 15–6–1 | 12–10–1 | — |

### Roster
## 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 | Billy Meyer | 50 | 138 | 32 | .232 | 1 | 12 |
| 1B | Stuffy McInnis | 140 | 512 | 151 | .295 | 1 | 60 |
| 2B | Nap Lajoie | 113 | 426 | 105 | .246 | 2 | 35 |
| SS | Whitey Witt | 143 | 563 | 138 | .245 | 2 | 36 |
| 3B | Charlie Pick | 121 | 398 | 96 | .241 | 0 | 20 |
| OF | Wally Schang | 110 | 338 | 90 | .266 | 7 | 38 |
| OF | Amos Strunk | 150 | 544 | 172 | .316 | 3 | 49 |
| OF | Jimmy Walsh | 114 | 390 | 91 | .233 | 1 | 27 |

#### 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 |
| Lee McElwee | 54 | 155 | 41 | .265 | 0 | 10 |
| Rube Oldring | 40 | 146 | 36 | .247 | 0 | 14 |
| Lee King | 42 | 144 | 27 | .188 | 0 | 8 |
| Otis Lawry | 41 | 123 | 25 | .203 | 0 | 4 |
| Val Picinich | 40 | 118 | 23 | .195 | 0 | 5 |
| Raymond Haley | 34 | 108 | 25 | .231 | 0 | 4 |
| Roy Grover | 20 | 77 | 21 | .273 | 0 | 7 |
| Bill Stellbauer | 25 | 48 | 13 | .271 | 0 | 5 |
| Jim Brown | 14 | 42 | 10 | .238 | 1 | 5 |
| Ralph Mitterling | 13 | 39 | 6 | .154 | 0 | 2 |
| Harland Rowe | 17 | 36 | 5 | .139 | 0 | 3 |
| Red Lanning | 19 | 33 | 6 | .182 | 0 | 1 |
| Buck Thrasher | 7 | 29 | 9 | .310 | 0 | 4 |
| Mike Murphy | 14 | 27 | 3 | .111 | 0 | 1 |
| Thomas Healy | 6 | 23 | 6 | .261 | 0 | 2 |
| Doc Carroll | 10 | 22 | 2 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Grimm | 12 | 22 | 2 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Shag Thompson | 15 | 17 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Johnson | 4 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 0 | 1 |
| Moxie Divis | 3 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Lew Malone | 5 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Crane | 2 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Elmer Myers | 44 | 315.0 | 14 | 23 | 3.66 | 182 |
| Bullet Joe Bush | 40 | 286.2 | 15 | 24 | 2.57 | 157 |
| Jack Nabors | 40 | 212.2 | 1 | 20 | 3.47 | 74 |
| Jing Johnson | 12 | 84.1 | 2 | 8 | 3.74 | 25 |
| Rube Parnham | 4 | 24.2 | 2 | 1 | 4.01 | 8 |

#### 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 |
| Tom Sheehan | 38 | 188.0 | 1 | 16 | 3.69 | 54 |
| Marsh Williams | 10 | 51.1 | 0 | 6 | 7.89 | 17 |
| Cap Crowell | 9 | 39.2 | 0 | 5 | 4.99 | 15 |
| George Hesselbacher | 6 | 26.0 | 0 | 4 | 7.27 | 6 |
| Red Lanning | 6 | 24.1 | 0 | 3 | 8.14 | 9 |
| Socks Seibold | 3 | 21.2 | 1 | 2 | 4.15 | 5 |
| Weldon Wyckoff | 7 | 21.1 | 0 | 1 | 5.48 | 4 |
| Rube Bressler | 4 | 15.0 | 0 | 2 | 6.60 | 8 |
| Carl Ray | 3 | 9.1 | 0 | 1 | 4.82 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Harry Weaver | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.13 | 2 |
| Michael Driscoll | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.40 | 0 |
| Axel Lindstrom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |
| Bill Morrisette | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 2 |
| Walt Whittaker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |
| Jack Richardson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40.50 | 1 |

## Awards and honors
### League top five finishers

* Bullet Joe Bush: #4 in AL in strikeouts (157)
* Bullet Joe Bush: #3 in AL in shutouts (8)
* Bullet Joe Bush: #3 in AL in complete games (25)
* Bullet Joe Bush: MLB leader in losses (24)
* Bullet Joe Bush: MLB leader in wild pitches (15)
* Bullet Joe Bush: #2 in AL in walks allowed (130)
* Elmer Myers: #2 in AL in strikeouts (182)
* Elmer Myers: #2 in AL in complete games (31)
* Elmer Myers: #2 in AL in losses (23)
* Elmer Myers: MLB leader in earned runs allowed (128)
* Elmer Myers: #2 in AL in hits allowed (280)
* Elmer Myers: MLB leader in walks allowed (168)
* Elmer Myers: #2 in AL in home runs allowed (7)
* Elmer Myers: #2 in AL in wild pitches (13)
* Elmer Myers: #2 in AL in hit batsmen (14)
* Jack Nabors: #3 in AL in losses (20)
* Amos Strunk: #4 in AL in batting average (.316)