# 1954 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1954 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing eighth in the American League with a record of 51 wins and 103 losses, 60 games behind AL Champion Cleveland in their 54th and final season in Philadelphia, before moving to Kansas City, Missouri for the following season.

## Offseason

* February 19, 1954: Dave Philley was traded by the Athletics to the Cleveland Indians for Bill Upton and Lee Wheat.

## Regular season

The Athletics played the Philadelphia Phillies for the last time in their Philadelphia City Series on June 28, 1954 in the seventh annual Junior Baseball Federation of Philadelphia benefit exhibition game. The Phillies beat the Athletics 3 to 2 in 7 innings in front of 15,993 fans.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cleveland Indians | 111 | 43 | .721 | — | 59‍–‍18 | 52‍–‍25 |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 51 | .669 | 8 | 54‍–‍23 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | 17 | 45‍–‍32 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Boston Red Sox | 69 | 85 | .448 | 42 | 38‍–‍39 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 68 | 86 | .442 | 43 | 35‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Washington Senators | 66 | 88 | .429 | 45 | 37‍–‍41 | 29‍–‍47 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 54 | 100 | .351 | 57 | 32‍–‍45 | 22‍–‍55 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 51 | 103 | .331 | 60 | 29‍–‍47 | 22‍–‍56 |

### Record vs. opponents

1954 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 3–19 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 10–12 |
| Boston | 11–11 | — | 5–17 | 2–20–2 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 13–9 |
| Chicago | 15–7 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 7–15 | 17–5 | 15–7 |
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 20–2–2 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 18–4 | 18–4 |
| Detroit | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 9–13 |
| New York | 17–5 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 18–4–1 | 13–9 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 4–18 | 9–13 | 4–18–1 | — | 10–12–1 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 4–18 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 12–10–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 11, 1954: Morrie Martin and Ed McGhee were traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Sonny Dixon, Al Sima, Bill Wilson, and $20,000.

## 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 Astroth | 77 | 226 | 50 | .221 | 1 | 23 |
| 1B | Lou Limmer | 115 | 316 | 73 | .231 | 14 | 32 |
| 2B | Spook Jacobs | 132 | 508 | 131 | .258 | 0 | 26 |
| SS | Joe DeMaestri | 146 | 539 | 124 | .230 | 8 | 40 |
| 3B | Jim Finigan | 136 | 487 | 147 | .302 | 7 | 51 |
| LF | Gus Zernial | 97 | 336 | 84 | .250 | 14 | 62 |
| CF | Bill Wilson | 94 | 323 | 77 | .238 | 15 | 33 |
| RF | Bill Renna | 123 | 422 | 98 | .232 | 13 | 53 |

#### 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 |
| Vic Power | 127 | 462 | 118 | .255 | 8 | 38 |
| Don Bollweg | 103 | 268 | 60 | .224 | 5 | 24 |
| Elmer Valo | 95 | 224 | 48 | .214 | 1 | 33 |
| Pete Suder | 69 | 205 | 41 | .200 | 0 | 16 |
| Billy Shantz | 51 | 164 | 42 | .256 | 1 | 17 |
| Jim Robertson | 63 | 147 | 27 | .184 | 0 | 8 |
| Joe Taylor | 18 | 58 | 13 | .224 | 1 | 8 |
| Ed McGhee | 21 | 53 | 11 | .208 | 2 | 9 |
| Eddie Joost | 19 | 47 | 17 | .362 | 1 | 9 |
| Jack Littrell | 9 | 30 | 9 | .300 | 1 | 3 |

### 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 |
| Arnie Portocarrero | 34 | 248.0 | 9 | 18 | 4.06 | 132 |
| Alex Kellner | 27 | 173.2 | 6 | 17 | 5.39 | 69 |
| Bob Trice | 19 | 119.0 | 7 | 8 | 5.60 | 22 |
| Johnny Gray | 18 | 105.0 | 3 | 12 | 6.51 | 51 |
| Carl Scheib | 1 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 22.50 | 1 |

#### 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 | 37 | 151.2 | 5 | 11 | 5.16 | 43 |
| Charlie Bishop | 20 | 96.0 | 4 | 6 | 4.41 | 34 |
| Al Sima | 29 | 79.1 | 2 | 5 | 5.22 | 36 |
| Morrie Martin | 13 | 52.2 | 2 | 4 | 5.47 | 24 |
| Art Ditmar | 14 | 39.1 | 1 | 4 | 6.41 | 14 |
| Lee Wheat | 8 | 28.1 | 0 | 2 | 5.72 | 7 |
| Ozzie Van Brabant | 9 | 26.2 | 0 | 2 | 7.09 | 10 |
| Bill Oster | 8 | 15.2 | 0 | 1 | 6.32 | 5 |
| Bobby Shantz | 2 | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 7.88 | 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 |
| Moe Burtschy | 46 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3.80 | 54 |
| Sonny Dixon | 38 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4.86 | 42 |
| Dutch Romberger | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11.49 | 6 |
| Bill Upton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.80 | 2 |
| Dick Rozek | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 0 |
| Hal Raether | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Ottawa Athletics | International League | Les Bell and Taft Wright |
| A | Savannah Indians | Sally League | Clyde Kluttz |
| B | Lancaster Red Roses | Piedmont League | Kemp Wicker, Lena Blackburne and Buddy Walker |
| C | Drummondville A's | Provincial League | Hank Biasatti |
| D | Welch Miners | Appalachian League | Jack Crosswhite |
| D | Hopkinsville Hoppers | KITTY League | Ed Wright, Bearl Brooks and Paul Ramsey |