# 1951 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1951 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing sixth in the American League with a record of 70 wins and 84 losses.

## Offseason

* November 16, 1950: Morrie Martin was drafted by the Athletics from the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950 rule 5 draft.

## Regular season

Ferris Fain won the American League batting championship with a .344 batting average.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 98 | 56 | .636 | — | 56‍–‍22 | 42‍–‍34 |
| Cleveland Indians | 93 | 61 | .604 | 5 | 53‍–‍24 | 40‍–‍37 |
| Boston Red Sox | 87 | 67 | .565 | 11 | 50‍–‍25 | 37‍–‍42 |
| Chicago White Sox | 81 | 73 | .526 | 17 | 39‍–‍38 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Detroit Tigers | 73 | 81 | .474 | 25 | 36‍–‍41 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 70 | 84 | .455 | 28 | 38‍–‍41 | 32‍–‍43 |
| Washington Senators | 62 | 92 | .403 | 36 | 32‍–‍44 | 30‍–‍48 |
| St. Louis Browns | 52 | 102 | .338 | 46 | 24‍–‍53 | 28‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1951 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 11–11 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 15–7 | 15–7 | 15–7 |
| Chicago | 11–11 | — | 12–10–1 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 14–8 |
| Cleveland | 14–8 | 10–12–1 | — | 17–5 | 7–15 | 16–6 | 16–6 | 13–9 |
| Detroit | 10–12 | 10–12 | 5–17 | — | 10–12 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 13–9 |
| New York | 11–11 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 12–10 | — | 13–9 | 17–5 | 16–6 |
| Philadelphia | 7–15 | 13–9 | 6–16 | 9–13 | 9–13 | — | 14–8 | 12–10 |
| St. Louis | 7–15 | 7–15 | 6–16 | 10–12 | 5–17 | 8–14 | — | 9–13 |
| Washington | 7–15 | 8–14 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 6–16 | 10–12 | 13–9 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 30, 1951: Lou Brissie was traded by the Athletics to the Cleveland Indians, and Paul Lehner was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox as part of a 3-team trade. The White Sox sent Gus Zernial and Dave Philley to the Athletics, and the Indians sent Sam Zoldak and Ray Murray to the Athletics. The Indians sent Minnie Miñoso to the White Sox.
* June 4, 1951: Kermit Wahl was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Hank Majeski.

### 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 | Joe Tipton | 72 | 213 | 51 | .239 | 3 | 20 |
| 1B | Ferris Fain | 117 | 425 | 146 | .344 | 6 | 57 |
| 2B | Pete Suder | 123 | 440 | 108 | .245 | 1 | 42 |
| SS | Eddie Joost | 140 | 553 | 160 | .289 | 19 | 78 |
| 3B | Hank Majeski | 89 | 323 | 92 | .285 | 5 | 42 |
| OF | Gus Zernial | 139 | 552 | 151 | .274 | 33 | 125 |
| OF | Elmer Valo | 123 | 444 | 134 | .302 | 7 | 55 |
| OF | Dave Philley | 125 | 468 | 123 | .263 | 7 | 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 |
| Billy Hitchcock | 77 | 222 | 68 | .306 | 1 | 36 |
| Lou Limmer | 94 | 213 | 34 | .159 | 5 | 30 |
| Joe Astroth | 64 | 187 | 46 | .246 | 2 | 19 |
| Allie Clark | 56 | 161 | 40 | .248 | 4 | 22 |
| Lou Klein | 49 | 144 | 33 | .229 | 5 | 17 |
| Wally Moses | 70 | 136 | 26 | .191 | 0 | 9 |
| Ray Murray | 40 | 122 | 26 | .213 | 0 | 13 |
| Sam Chapman | 18 | 65 | 11 | .169 | 0 | 5 |
| Kermit Wahl | 20 | 59 | 11 | .186 | 0 | 6 |
| Paul Lehner | 9 | 28 | 4 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Barney McCosky | 12 | 27 | 8 | .296 | 1 | 1 |
| Tod Davis | 11 | 15 | 1 | .067 | 0 | 0 |
| Ed Samcoff | 4 | 11 | 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 |
| Alex Kellner | 33 | 209.2 | 11 | 14 | 4.46 | 94 |
| Bobby Shantz | 32 | 205.1 | 18 | 10 | 3.94 | 77 |
| Sam Zoldak | 26 | 128.0 | 6 | 10 | 3.16 | 18 |
| Dick Fowler | 22 | 125.0 | 5 | 11 | 5.62 | 29 |
| Lou Brissie | 2 | 13.1 | 0 | 2 | 6.75 | 3 |

#### 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 Hooper | 38 | 189.0 | 12 | 10 | 4.38 | 64 |
| Carl Scheib | 46 | 143.0 | 1 | 12 | 4.47 | 49 |
| Morrie Martin | 35 | 138.0 | 11 | 4 | 3.78 | 35 |
| Joe Coleman | 28 | 96.1 | 1 | 6 | 5.98 | 34 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Kucab | 30 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4.22 | 23 |
| Hank Wyse | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7.98 | 5 |
| Moe Burtschy | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.29 | 4 |
| Bubba Harris | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| A | Savannah Indians | Sally League | George Staller |
| A | Lincoln Athletics | Western League | Frank Skaff |
| B | Fayetteville Athletics | Carolina League | Red Norris |
| B | Salisbury Athletics | Interstate League | Bunny Griffiths |
| C | Rome Colonels | Canadian–American League | Buck Etchison |
| D | Tarboro A's | Coastal Plain League | Joe Rullo |
| D | Cordele A's | Georgia–Florida League | Ducky Detweiler and Jimmie DeShong |
| D | Lexington Indians | North Carolina State League | Harold Harrigan, Gray Hampton and Bob Deese |
| D | Corning Athletics | PONY League | Irv Hall |