# 1953 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1953 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing seventh in the American League with a record of 59 wins and 95 losses, 41+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees, who would win their fifth consecutive World Series Championship. It was also the penultimate season for the franchise in Philadelphia.

## Offseason

* January 27, 1953: Ferris Fain and Bob Wilson (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Joe DeMaestri, Ed McGhee and Eddie Robinson.
* February 2, 1953: Sam Zoldak was released by the Athletics.

## Regular season

During the season, Bob Trice became the first black player in the history of the Athletics.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 52 | .656 | — | 50‍–‍27 | 49‍–‍25 |
| Cleveland Indians | 92 | 62 | .597 | 8½ | 53‍–‍24 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 89 | 65 | .578 | 11½ | 41‍–‍36 | 48‍–‍29 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 69 | .549 | 16 | 38‍–‍38 | 46‍–‍31 |
| Washington Senators | 76 | 76 | .500 | 23½ | 39‍–‍36 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 94 | .390 | 40½ | 30‍–‍47 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 59 | 95 | .383 | 41½ | 27‍–‍50 | 32‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 54 | 100 | .351 | 46½ | 23‍–‍54 | 31‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1953 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 10–11 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 16–6 | — | 11–11–1 | 14–8–1 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 17–5 | 12–10 |
| Cleveland | 9–13 | 11–11–1 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 19–3 | 17–5 | 11–11 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 11–11–3 | 7–15 | 11–11 |
| New York | 11–10 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 17–5 | 17–5 | 14–6 |
| Philadelphia | 7–15 | 12–10 | 3–19 | 11–11–3 | 5–17 | — | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 5–17 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 5–17 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 6–14 | 14–8 | 12–10 | — |

### 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 | Ray Murray | 84 | 268 | 76 | .284 | 6 | 41 |
| 1B | Eddie Robinson | 156 | 615 | 152 | .247 | 22 | 102 |
| 2B | Cass Michaels | 117 | 411 | 103 | .251 | 12 | 42 |
| SS | Joe DeMaestri | 111 | 420 | 107 | .255 | 6 | 35 |
| 3B | Loren Babe | 103 | 343 | 77 | .224 | 0 | 20 |
| OF | Gus Zernial | 147 | 556 | 158 | .284 | 42 | 108 |
| OF | Ed McGhee | 104 | 358 | 94 | .263 | 1 | 29 |
| OF | Dave Philley | 157 | 620 | 188 | .303 | 9 | 59 |

#### 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 |
| Pete Suder | 115 | 454 | 130 | .286 | 4 | 35 |
| Joe Astroth | 82 | 260 | 77 | .296 | 3 | 24 |
| Eddie Joost | 51 | 177 | 44 | .249 | 6 | 15 |
| Carmen Mauro | 64 | 165 | 44 | .267 | 0 | 17 |
| Elmer Valo | 50 | 85 | 19 | .224 | 0 | 9 |
| Allie Clark | 20 | 74 | 15 | .203 | 3 | 13 |
| Tom Hamilton | 58 | 56 | 11 | .196 | 0 | 5 |
| Kite Thomas | 24 | 49 | 6 | .122 | 0 | 2 |
| Neal Watlington | 21 | 44 | 7 | .159 | 0 | 3 |
| Tommy Giordano | 11 | 40 | 7 | .175 | 2 | 5 |
| Spider Wilhelm | 7 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Kolloway | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Harry Byrd | 40 | 236.2 | 11 | 20 | 5.51 | 122 |
| Alex Kellner | 25 | 201.2 | 11 | 12 | 3.93 | 81 |
| Bobby Shantz | 16 | 105.2 | 5 | 9 | 4.09 | 58 |
| Bob Trice | 3 | 23.0 | 2 | 1 | 5.48 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Marion Fricano | 39 | 211.0 | 9 | 12 | 3.88 | 67 |
| Charlie Bishop | 39 | 160.2 | 3 | 14 | 5.66 | 66 |
| Morrie Martin | 58 | 156.1 | 10 | 12 | 4.43 | 64 |
| Carl Scheib | 28 | 96.0 | 3 | 7 | 4.88 | 25 |
| Joe Coleman | 21 | 90.0 | 3 | 4 | 4.00 | 18 |

#### 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 |
| Frank Fanovich | 26 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5.55 | 37 |
| Bobo Newsom | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.89 | 16 |
| Rinty Monahan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.22 | 2 |
| Dick Rozek | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 2 |
| Walt Kellner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 4 |
| Bill Harrington | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |
| John Mackinson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Ottawa Athletics | International League | Frank Skaff |
| A | Williamsport Athletics | Eastern League | George Staller |
| A | Savannah Indians | Sally League | Les Bell |
| B | Fayetteville Athletics | Carolina League | Buck Etchison, Bill Bergeron, Bob Eiziminger and Kemp Wicker |
| C | St. Hyacinthe A's | Provincial League | John Sosh and Joe Rullo |
| D | Welch Miners | Appalachian League | Jack Crosswhite |
| D | Cordele A's | Georgia–Florida League | Joe Rullo and Lew Richardson |
| D | Hopkinsville Hoppers | KITTY League | Norm Wilson and Ed Wright |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Savannah, Welch