# 1929 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing first in the American League with a record of 104 wins and 46 losses. After finishing in second place to the New York Yankees in 1927 and 1928, the club won the 1929 pennant by a large 18-game margin. The club won the World Series over the National League champion Chicago Cubs, four games to one.

## Offseason

* January 5, 1929: Homer Summa was purchased by the Athletics from the Cleveland Indians.

## Regular season

Led by longtime owner-manager Connie Mack, the Athletics dominated during the regular season. Mack had purchased quite a few players from the Baltimore Orioles minor league club, and many of them would contribute to the A's 1929–31 dynasty.
The most famous of these players was ace Lefty Grove. In 1929, Grove led the American League in ERA and strikeouts on his way to a 20–6 record. Big George Earnshaw was the number two pitcher on the squad. He led the league in wins (24) and was second in strikeouts. Led by these two, Philadelphia allowed the fewest runs of any AL team.
On the offensive side, the A's boasted future Hall of Famers Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, and Al Simmons. Simmons beat out Babe Ruth for the RBI crown in 1929.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 104 | 46 | .693 | — | 57‍–‍16 | 47‍–‍30 |
| New York Yankees | 88 | 66 | .571 | 18 | 49‍–‍28 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Cleveland Indians | 81 | 71 | .533 | 24 | 44‍–‍32 | 37‍–‍39 |
| St. Louis Browns | 79 | 73 | .520 | 26 | 41‍–‍36 | 38‍–‍37 |
| Washington Senators | 71 | 81 | .467 | 34 | 37‍–‍40 | 34‍–‍41 |
| Detroit Tigers | 70 | 84 | .455 | 36 | 38‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Chicago White Sox | 59 | 93 | .388 | 46 | 35‍–‍41 | 24‍–‍52 |
| Boston Red Sox | 58 | 96 | .377 | 48 | 32‍–‍45 | 26‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1929 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 11–11 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 4–18 | 11–11–1 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 11–11 | — | 9–12 | 10–12 | 6–16 | 9–13 | 4–17 | 10–12 |
| Cleveland | 13–9 | 12–9 | — | 11–11 | 14–8 | 7–14 | 10–12 | 14–8 |
| Detroit | 14–8 | 12–10 | 11–11 | — | 9–13 | 4–18 | 10–12 | 10–12–1 |
| New York | 17–5 | 16–6 | 8–14 | 13–9 | — | 8–14 | 14–8 | 12–10 |
| Philadelphia | 18–4 | 13–9 | 14–7 | 18–4 | 14–8 | — | 11–10–1 | 16–4 |
| St. Louis | 11–11–1 | 17–4 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 10–11–1 | — | 9–13 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 12–10–1 | 10–12 | 4–16 | 13–9 | — |

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Mickey Cochrane | 135 | 514 | 170 | .331 | 7 | 95 |
| 1B | Jimmie Foxx | 149 | 517 | 183 | .354 | 33 | 118 |
| 2B | Max Bishop | 129 | 475 | 110 | .232 | 3 | 36 |
| 3B | Sammy Hale | 101 | 379 | 105 | .277 | 1 | 40 |
| SS | Joe Boley | 91 | 303 | 76 | .251 | 2 | 47 |
| LF | Al Simmons | 143 | 581 | 212 | .365 | 34 | 157 |
| CF | Mule Haas | 139 | 578 | 181 | .313 | 16 | 82 |
| RF | Bing Miller | 147 | 556 | 184 | .331 | 8 | 93 |

#### Other batters

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 |
| INF | Jimmy Dykes | 119 | 401 | 131 | .327 | 13 | 79 |
| OF | Homer Summa | 37 | 81 | 22 | .272 | 0 | 10 |
| C | Cy Perkins | 38 | 76 | 16 | .211 | 0 | 9 |
| INF | Joe Cronin | 25 | 56 | 13 | .232 | 0 | 4 |
| OF | Ossie Orwoll | 30 | 51 | 13 | .255 | 0 | 6 |
| IB | George Burns | 29 | 49 | 13 | .265 | 1 | 11 |
| OF | Walter French | 45 | 45 | 12 | .267 | 1 | 9 |
| 2B | Bud Morse | 8 | 27 | 2 | .074 | 0 | 0 |
| OF | Bevo LeBourveau | 12 | 16 | 5 | .313 | 0 | 2 |
| SS | Eric McNair | 4 | 8 | 4 | .500 | 0 | 3 |
| PH | Eddie Collins | 9 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| C | Cloy Mattox | 3 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| OF | Doc Cramer | 2 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| 3B | Rudy Miller | 2 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| SS | Joe Hassler | 4 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | GS | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Lefty Grove | 42 | 37 | 275.1 | 20 | 6 | 2.81 | 170 |
| Rube Walberg | 40 | 33 | 267.2 | 18 | 11 | 3.60 | 94 |
| George Earnshaw | 44 | 33 | 254.2 | 24 | 8 | 3.29 | 149 |
| Jack Quinn | 35 | 18 | 161.0 | 11 | 9 | 3.97 | 41 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Shores | 39 | 152.2 | 11 | 6 | 3.60 | 49 |
| Eddie Rommel | 32 | 113.2 | 12 | 2 | 2.85 | 25 |
| Howard Ehmke | 11 | 54.2 | 7 | 2 | 3.29 | 20 |
| Bill Breckinridge | 3 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | 2 |
Note: Bill Shores was team leader in saves with 7.

#### 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 |
| Carroll Yerkes | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.58 | 11 |
| Ossie Orwoll | 12 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4.80 | 12 |

## 1929 World Series

AL Philadelphia Athletics (4) vs. NL Chicago Cubs (1)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
| 1 | Athletics – 3, Cubs – 1 | October 8 | Wrigley Field | 50,740 |
| 2 | Athletics – 9, Cubs – 3 | October 9 | Wrigley Field | 49,987 |
| 3 | Cubs – 3, Athletics – 1 | October 11 | Shibe Park | 29,921 |
| 4 | Cubs – 8, Athletics – 10 | October 12 | Shibe Park | 29,921 |
| 5 | Cubs – 2, Athletics – 3 | October 14 | Shibe Park | 29,921 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Baltimore Orioles | International League | Fritz Maisel |
| D | Martinsburg Blue Sox | Blue Ridge League | Dan O'Leary |

## Awards and honors
### League leaders

* Lefty Grove, American League leader, strikeouts

### More recent honors

Al Simmons and the 1929–1931 Athletics were the subject of an August 19, 1996, cover story in Sports Illustrated with the teaser, "The Team that Time Forgot". Author William Nack wrote, "according to most old-timers who played in that era, the 1927 and '28 Yankees and the 1929 and '30 Athletics matched up so closely that they were nearly equal, with the A's given the nod in fielding and pitching and the Yankees in hitting."
On August 16, 2009, the Oakland Athletics celebrated the 80th anniversary of the 1929 team by wearing 1929 home uniforms against the Chicago White Sox. First pitches were thrown out by Kathleen Kelly, the granddaughter of Connie Mack, and Jim Conlin, the grandson of Jimmie Foxx. The A's won the game on a walk-off home run by Mark Ellis.