1951 Philadelphia Athletics season

1951 Philadelphia Athletics
1951 Philadelphia Athletics
League	American League
Ballpark	Shibe Park
City	Philadelphia
Owners	Earle Mack & Roy Mack
General managers	Arthur Ehlers
Managers	Jimmy Dykes
Television	WPTZ/WCAU/WFIL
Radio	WIBG ; (Ray Walton, By Saam, Claude Haring)
	← 1950 1952 →

Last updated May 30, 2025

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.^[1]

Regular season

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

Season standings

v
t
e
American 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 record v t e 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.^[2]
June 4, 1951: Kermit Wahl was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Hank Majeski.^[3]

Roster

1951 Philadelphia Athletics

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

35 Jimmy Dykes

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

= Indicates league leader

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