# 1947 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1947 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing fifth in the American League with a record of 78 wins and 76 losses.

## History

Except for a fifth-place finish in 1944, the A's finished in last or next-to-last place every year from 1935–1946. In 1947, Connie Mack not only got the A's out of last place, but actually finished with a winning record for the first time in 14 years in a season that would be the first to be aired on television, sharing the same station (WPTZ) as their NL counterparts, the Phillies.

## Offseason

* December 1946: Lou Brissie was signed as an amateur free agent by the Athletics.
* December 13, 1946: Hal Epps was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the St. Louis Cardinals.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 55‍–‍22 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 69 | .552 | 12 | 46‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 83 | 71 | .539 | 14 | 49‍–‍30 | 34‍–‍41 |
| Cleveland Indians | 80 | 74 | .519 | 17 | 38‍–‍39 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 78 | 76 | .506 | 19 | 39‍–‍38 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 70 | 84 | .455 | 27 | 32‍–‍43 | 38‍–‍41 |
| Washington Senators | 64 | 90 | .416 | 33 | 36‍–‍41 | 28‍–‍49 |
| St. Louis Browns | 59 | 95 | .383 | 38 | 29‍–‍48 | 30‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1947 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 16–6–1 | 9–13 | 12–10–1 | 9–13 | 10–12–1 | 15–7 | 12–10 |
| Chicago | 6–16–1 | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 14–8 |
| Cleveland | 13–9 | 11–11 | — | 8–14–2 | 7–15 | 11–11–1 | 17–5 | 13–9 |
| Detroit | 10–12–1 | 15–7 | 14–8–2 | — | 8–14–1 | 11–11 | 15–7 | 12–10 |
| New York | 13–9 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 14–8–1 | — | 13–9 | 15–7 | 15–7 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10–1 | 11–11 | 11–11–1 | 11–11 | 9–13 | — | 13–9 | 11–11 |
| St. Louis | 7–15 | 11–11 | 5–17 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 9–13 | — | 13–9 |
| Washington | 10–12 | 8–14 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 7–15 | 11–11 | 9–13 | — |

### 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 | Buddy Rosar | 102 | 359 | 93 | .259 | 1 | 33 |
| 1B | Ferris Fain | 136 | 461 | 134 | .291 | 7 | 71 |
| 2B | Pete Suder | 145 | 528 | 127 | .241 | 5 | 60 |
| 3B | Hank Majeski | 141 | 479 | 134 | .280 | 8 | 72 |
| SS | Eddie Joost | 151 | 540 | 111 | .206 | 13 | 64 |
| OF | Elmer Valo | 112 | 370 | 111 | .300 | 5 | 36 |
| OF | Barney McCosky | 137 | 546 | 179 | .328 | 1 | 52 |
| OF | Sam Chapman | 149 | 551 | 139 | .252 | 14 | 83 |

#### 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 |
| George Binks | 104 | 333 | 86 | .258 | 2 | 34 |
| Mike Guerra | 72 | 209 | 45 | .215 | 0 | 18 |
| Gene Handley | 36 | 90 | 23 | .256 | 0 | 8 |
| Dick Adams | 37 | 89 | 18 | .202 | 2 | 11 |
| Austin Knickerbocker | 21 | 48 | 12 | .250 | 0 | 2 |
| Mickey Rutner | 12 | 48 | 12 | .250 | 1 | 4 |
| Chet Laabs | 15 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 1 | 5 |
| Don Richmond | 19 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 4 |
| Pat Cooper | 13 | 16 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 3 |
| Herman Franks | 8 | 15 | 3 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Ray Poole | 13 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 1 |
| Nellie Fox | 7 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom Kirk | 1 | 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 |
| Phil Marchildon | 35 | 276.2 | 19 | 9 | 3.88 | 128 |
| Dick Fowler | 36 | 227.1 | 12 | 11 | 2.81 | 75 |
| Bill McCahan | 29 | 165.1 | 10 | 5 | 3.32 | 47 |
| Joe Coleman | 32 | 160.1 | 6 | 12 | 4.32 | 65 |
| Jesse Flores | 28 | 151.1 | 4 | 13 | 3.39 | 41 |
| Bill Dietrich | 11 | 60.2 | 5 | 2 | 3.12 | 18 |
| Lou Brissie | 1 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.43 | 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 |
| Bob Savage | 44 | 146.0 | 8 | 10 | 3.76 | 56 |
| Carl Scheib | 21 | 116.0 | 4 | 6 | 5.04 | 26 |

#### 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 |
| Russ Christopher | 44 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 2.90 | 33 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Birmingham Barons | Southern Association | Dick Porter |
| A | Savannah Indians | Sally League | Tom Oliver and Jimmy Adair |
| A | Lincoln Athletics | Western League | Ham Schulte and Tom Oliver |
| B | Lancaster Red Roses | Interstate League | Charlie English and Clayton Sheedy |
| C | Martinsville Athletics | Carolina League | Joe Glenn and Woody Wheaton |
| C | Moline A's | Central Association | Woody Wheaton and Joe Glenn |
| C | Niagara Falls Fronters | Middle Atlantic League | Steve Mizerak |
| D | Welch Miners | Appalachian League | Walter Youse and Joe Bird |
| D | Federalsburg A's | Eastern Shore League | Pep Rambert |
| D | Nyack Rockies | North Atlantic League | Emil Schwab |
| D | Lexington Indians | North Carolina State League | Homer Lee Cox |
| D | Red Springs Red Robins | Tobacco State League | Red Norris |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Savannah