# 1938 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1938 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing eighth in the American League with a record of 53 wins and 99 losses.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 53 | .651 | — | 55‍–‍22 | 44‍–‍31 |
| Boston Red Sox | 88 | 61 | .591 | 9½ | 52‍–‍23 | 36‍–‍38 |
| Cleveland Indians | 86 | 66 | .566 | 13 | 46‍–‍30 | 40‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 84 | 70 | .545 | 16 | 48‍–‍31 | 36‍–‍39 |
| Washington Senators | 75 | 76 | .497 | 23½ | 44‍–‍33 | 31‍–‍43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 65 | 83 | .439 | 32 | 33‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍44 |
| St. Louis Browns | 55 | 97 | .362 | 44 | 31‍–‍43 | 24‍–‍54 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 99 | .349 | 46 | 28‍–‍47 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1938 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 12–6 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 17–5 | 12–9 |
| Chicago | 6–12 | — | 9–13 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 13–8–1 | 10–11 |
| Cleveland | 10–12 | 13–9 | — | 12–10 | 8–13 | 18–4 | 13–9–1 | 12–9 |
| Detroit | 12–10 | 15–7 | 10–12 | — | 8–14 | 14–8 | 12–10–1 | 13–9 |
| New York | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 13–8 | 14–8 | — | 16–5–2 | 15–7–1 | 16–6–1 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 10–12 | 4–18 | 8–14 | 5–16–2 | — | 12–9 | 6–16 |
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 8–13–1 | 9–13–1 | 10–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 9–12 | — | 7–15 |
| Washington | 9–12 | 11–10 | 9–12 | 9–13 | 6–16–1 | 16–6 | 15–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 4, 1938: Harry Kelley was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Washington Senators.

### 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 | Frankie Hayes | 99 | 316 | 92 | .291 | 11 | 55 |
| 1B | Lou Finney | 122 | 454 | 125 | .275 | 10 | 48 |
| 2B | Dario Lodigiani | 93 | 325 | 91 | .280 | 6 | 44 |
| SS | Wayne Ambler | 120 | 393 | 92 | .234 | 0 | 38 |
| 3B | Billy Werber | 134 | 499 | 129 | .259 | 11 | 69 |
| OF | Wally Moses | 142 | 589 | 181 | .307 | 8 | 49 |
| OF | Bob Johnson | 152 | 563 | 176 | .313 | 30 | 113 |
| OF | Sam Chapman | 114 | 406 | 105 | .259 | 17 | 63 |

#### 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 |
| Stan Sperry | 60 | 253 | 69 | .273 | 0 | 27 |
| Dick Siebert | 48 | 194 | 55 | .284 | 0 | 28 |
| Earle Brucker | 53 | 171 | 64 | .374 | 3 | 35 |
| Ace Parker | 56 | 113 | 26 | .230 | 0 | 12 |
| Hal Wagner | 33 | 88 | 20 | .227 | 0 | 8 |
| Nick Etten | 22 | 81 | 21 | .259 | 0 | 11 |
| Mule Haas | 40 | 78 | 16 | .205 | 0 | 12 |
| Gene Hasson | 19 | 69 | 19 | .275 | 1 | 12 |
| Skeeter Newsome | 17 | 48 | 13 | .271 | 0 | 7 |
| Irv Bartling | 14 | 46 | 8 | .174 | 0 | 5 |
| Babe Barna | 9 | 30 | 4 | .133 | 0 | 2 |
| Paul Easterling | 4 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Rusty Peters | 2 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Berry | 1 | 2 | 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 |
| George Caster | 42 | 281.1 | 16 | 20 | 4.35 | 112 |
| Bud Thomas | 42 | 212.1 | 9 | 14 | 4.92 | 48 |
| Lynn Nelson | 32 | 191.0 | 10 | 11 | 5.65 | 75 |
| Buck Ross | 29 | 184.1 | 9 | 16 | 5.32 | 54 |
| Jim Reninger | 4 | 22.2 | 0 | 2 | 7.15 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Chubby Dean | 6 | 23.0 | 2 | 1 | 3.52 | 3 |
| Randy Gumpert | 4 | 12.1 | 0 | 2 | 10.95 | 1 |
| Harry Kelley | 4 | 8.0 | 0 | 2 | 16.88 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Eddie Smith | 43 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 5.92 | 78 |
| Nels Potter | 35 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 6.47 | 43 |
| Al Williams | 30 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6.94 | 25 |
| Dave Smith | 21 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5.08 | 13 |
| Ralph Buxton | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.82 | 9 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| A | Williamsport Grays | Eastern League | Marty McManus |
| D | Federalsburg Athletics | Eastern Shore League | Charlie Moss |
| D | Lexington Indians | North Carolina State League | Phil Lundeen |