1951 Philadelphia Athletics season

Major League Baseball team season

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 →

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

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.
June 4, 1951: Kermit Wahl was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Hank Majeski.

Roster

1951 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 19 Lou Brissie 38 Moe Burtschy 20 Joe Coleman 25 Dick Fowler 17 Bubba Harris 23 Bob Hooper 22 Alex Kellner 37 Johnny Kucab 26,42 Morrie Martin 24 Carl Scheib 30 Bobby Shantz 36 Hank Wyse 21 Sam Zoldak		Catchers 9 Joe Astroth 14 Ray Murray 15 Joe Tipton Infielders 16 Tod Davis 8 Ferris Fain 11 Billy Hitchcock 1 Eddie Joost 6 Lou Klein 3 Lou Limmer 5 Hank Majeski 6 Ed Samcoff 12 Pete Suder 18 Kermit Wahl		Outfielders 4 Sam Chapman 7 Allie Clark 5 Paul Lehner 7 Barney McCosky 2 Wally Moses 17 Dave Philley 10 Elmer Valo 19 Gus Zernial		Manager 35 Jimmy Dykes Coaches 32 Chief Bender 31 Les McCrabb 33 Bing Miller 29 Tom Oliver

1951 Philadelphia Athletics

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

35 Jimmy Dykes

Coaches

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

References

External links

v t e 1951 MLB season by team
American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
1951 All-Star Game 1951 World Series

Athletics

Established in 1901
Formerly the Philadelphia Athletics, the Kansas City Athletics and the Oakland Athletics
Based in West Sacramento, California

Franchise

Ballparks

Columbia Park
Shibe Park
Municipal Stadium
Oakland Coliseum
Sutter Health Park (temporary 2025–2027)
New Las Vegas Stadium (proposed)

Spring training: Latta Park Baseball Field; Barrs Field; Cramton Bowl; Terry Park Ballfield; Wilmington Park; McCurdy Field; Connie Mack Field; McKechnie Field; Rendezvous Park; Scottsdale Stadium I; Phoenix Municipal Stadium; Hohokam Stadium

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

Key personnel

Owners: John Fisher
President: Dave Kaval
Executive vice president: Billy Beane
General manager: David Forst
Manager: Mark Kotsay

World Series
Champions (9)

American League
Championships (15)

AL West Division
Championships (17)

AL Wild Card (4)

Minors

Triple-A: Las Vegas Aviators
Double-A: Midland RockHounds
High-A: Lansing Lugnuts
Single-A: Stockton Ports
Rookie: ACL Athletics; DSL Athletics

Seasons (125)
1900s	1900 · 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

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