1954 Philadelphia Athletics season

1954  Philadelphia Athletics
League	American League
Ballpark	Connie Mack Stadium
City	Philadelphia
Owners	Earle Mack, Roy Mack
Managers	Eddie Joost
Television	WPTZ/WCAU/WFIL (By Saam, Claude Haring)
Radio	WIBG/WIP (By Saam, Claude Haring, Herb Carneal)
←  1953 1955  →

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. ^[1]

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. ^[2] The Phillies beat the Athletics 3 to 2 in 7 innings in front of 15,993 fans. ^[3]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

American 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 record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	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. ^[4]

1954 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 38 Charlie Bishop 33 Moe Burtschy 20,34 Art Ditmar 24 Sonny Dixon 37 Marion Fricano 32 Johnny Gray 22 Alex Kellner 26 Morrie Martin 17 Bill Oster 25 Arnie Portocarrero 43 Hal Raether 49 Dutch Romberger 49 Dick Rozek 24 Carl Scheib 30 Bobby Shantz 26 Al Sima 23 Bob Trice 17 Bill Upton 42 Ozzie Van Brabant 40 Lee Wheat		Catchers  9 Joe Astroth 18 Jim Robertson 11 Billy Shantz Infielders  4 Don Bollweg  2 Joe DeMaestri 15 Jim Finigan  6 Spook Jacobs  1 Eddie Joost 14,48 Lou Limmer  3 Jack Littrell 12 Pete Suder		Outfielders 16 Ed McGhee  5 Vic Power  8 Bill Renna 20 Joe Taylor 10 Elmer Valo 40 Bill Wilson 19 Gus Zernial		Manager  1 Eddie Joost Coaches 29 Augie Galan 35 Rollie Hemsley 31 Les McCrabb 28 Wally Moses

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

See also: Minor League Baseball

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

References

1. Dave Philley at Baseball Reference
2. Walter LeConte (April 1, 2010). "A Listing of In-Season Exhibition Games (ISEGs)". retrosheet.org. Retrosheet. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
3. Albertson, Matt (September 16, 2017). "The City Series: A Philadelphia Baseball Tradition". Sportstalkphilly - News, Rumors, Game Coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers, and Philadelphia 76Ers.
4. Morrie Martin at Baseball Reference

External links

• 1954 Philadelphia Athletics at Baseball Reference
• 1954 Philadelphia Athletics at Baseball Almanac