1959 Kansas City Athletics season

1959 Kansas City Athletics
League	American League
Ballpark	Municipal Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Record	66–88 (.429)
League place	7th
Owners	Arnold Johnson
General managers	Parke Carroll
Managers	Harry Craft
Television	WDAF-TV
Radio	WDAF (Merle Harmon, Bill Grigsby)

The 1959 Kansas City Athletics season was the fifth for the franchise in Kansas City, and its 59th overall. The 1959 Athletics finished seventh in the American League with a record of 66 wins and 88 losses, 28 games behind the AL champion Chicago White Sox. They were managed by Harry Craft, with coach Bob Swift directing the club to a 13–2 record during his two stints as emergency skipper in July.

Offseason

• October 2, 1958: Chico Carrasquel was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Dick Williams.

Regular season

Season standings

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	94	60	.610	—	47‍–‍30	47‍–‍30
Cleveland Indians	89	65	.578	5	43‍–‍34	46‍–‍31
New York Yankees	79	75	.513	15	40‍–‍37	39‍–‍38
Detroit Tigers	76	78	.494	18	41‍–‍36	35‍–‍42
Boston Red Sox	75	79	.487	19	43‍–‍34	32‍–‍45
Baltimore Orioles	74	80	.481	20	38‍–‍39	36‍–‍41
Kansas City Athletics	66	88	.429	28	37‍–‍40	29‍–‍48
Washington Senators	63	91	.409	31	34‍–‍43	29‍–‍48

Record vs. opponents

1959 American League record Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KCA	NYY	WSH
Baltimore	—	8–14	11–11–1	10–12	13–9	8–14	12–10	12–10
Boston	14–8	—	8–14	8–14	11–11	11–11	13–9	10–12
Chicago	11–11–1	14–8	—	15–7	13–9	12–10	13–9–1	16–6
Cleveland	12–10	14–8	7–15	—	14–8	15–7	11–11	16–6
Detroit	9–13	11–11	9–13	8–14	—	15–7	14–8	10–12
Kansas City	14–8	11–11	10–12	7–15	7–15	—	5–17	12–10
New York	10–12	9–13	9–13–1	11–11	8–14	17–5	—	15–7
Washington	10–12	12–10	6–16	6–16	12–10	10–12	7–15	—

Notable transactions

• May 2, 1959: Harry Simpson was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Ray Boone.
• May 26, 1959: Ralph Terry and Héctor López were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant, and Jerry Lumpe.
• August 20, 1959: Ray Boone was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Milwaukee Braves.
• August 20, 1959: Ray Jablonski was selected off waivers by the Athletics from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Roster

1959 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 30 George Brunet 36 Rip Coleman 28 Bud Daley 21 Murry Dickson 35 Mark Freeman 31 Ned Garver 37 Tom Gorman 34 Bob Grim 35 Al Grunwald 38 Ray Herbert 35 Ken Johnson 36 Evans Killeen 26 Johnny Kucks 36 Marty Kutyna 20 Russ Meyer 16 Howie Reed 32 Tom Sturdivant 26 Ralph Terry 15 Dick Tomanek 20 John Tsitouris		Catchers  8 Harry Chiti 12 Frank House Infielders 30 Ray Boone 14 Tom Carroll  2 Joe DeMaestri 18 Kent Hadley 4,30 Ray Jablonski  4 Lou Klimchock 10 Héctor López 11 Jerry Lumpe 10 Joe Morgan  5 Harry Simpson  9 Hal Smith  1 Wayne Terwilliger  7 Preston Ward 23 Dick Williams		Outfielders 17 Zeke Bella 33 Bob Cerv 22 Whitey Herzog  3 Roger Maris 14 Russ Snyder 13 Bill Tuttle Other batters 32 Bob Martyn		Manager 41 Harry Craft Coaches 39 Don Heffner 40 Johnny Sain 42 Bob Swift

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Avg.	Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Frank House	98	347	32	82	.236	1	30
1B	Kent Hadley	113	288	40	73	.253	10	39
2B	Jerry Lumpe	108	403	47	98	.243	3	28
3B	Dick Williams	130	488	72	130	.266	16	75
SS	Joe DeMaestri	118	352	31	86	.244	6	34
LF	Bob Cerv	125	463	61	132	.285	20	87
CF	Bill Tuttle	126	463	74	139	.300	7	43
RF	Roger Maris	122	433	69	118	.273	16	72

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Hal Smith	108	292	36	84	.288	5	31
Russ Snyder	73	243	41	76	.313	3	21
Wayne Terwilliger	74	180	27	48	.267	2	18
Harry Chiti	55	162	20	44	.272	5	25
Héctor López	35	135	22	38	.281	6	24
Ray Boone	61	132	19	36	.273	2	12
Whitey Herzog	38	123	25	36	.293	1	9
Preston Ward	58	109	8	27	.248	2	19
Zeke Bella	47	82	10	17	.207	1	9
Lou Klimchock	17	66	10	18	.273	4	13
Ray Jablonski	25	65	4	17	.262	2	8
Joe Morgan	20	21	2	4	.190	0	3
Harry Simpson	8	14	1	4	.286	1	2
Tom Carroll	14	7	1	1	.143	0	1
Bob Martyn	1	1	0	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
Bud Daley	39	216.1	16	13	3.16	125
Ned Garver	32	201.0	10	13	3.71	61
Ray Herbert	37	183.2	11	11	4.85	99
Johnny Kucks	33	151.1	8	11	3.87	51
Ralph Terry	9	46.1	2	4	5.24	35
Ken Johnson	2	11.0	1	1	4.09	8

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 Grim	40	125.1	6	10	4.09	65
John Tsitouris	24	83.1	4	3	4.97	50
Rip Coleman	29	81.0	2	10	4.56	54
Howie Reed	6	20.2	0	3	7.40	11
Al Grunwald	6	11.1	0	1	7.94	9

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
Tom Sturdivant	36	2	6	5	4.65	57
Murry Dickson	38	2	1	0	4.94	36
Russ Meyer	18	1	0	1	4.50	10
Tom Gorman	17	1	0	1	7.08	9
Dick Tomanek	16	0	1	2	6.53	13
Marty Kutyna	4	0	0	1	0.00	1
Evans Killeen	4	0	0	0	4.76	1
Mark Freeman	3	0	0	0	9.82	1
George Brunet	2	0	0	0	11.57	7

Awards and honors

• All-Star Game
  • Roger Maris appeared in his first All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Tommy Heath
AA	Shreveport Sports	Southern Association	Les Peden
A	Albany Senators	Eastern League	Al Evans
B	Sioux City Soos	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Billy Capps
C	Pocatello Athletics	Pioneer League	Tommy Giordano
D	Grand Island Athletics	Nebraska State League	Art Mazmanian
D	Olean Athletics	New York–Penn League	Bill Robertson
D	Plainview Athletics	Sophomore League	Bobby Hofman

External links

• 1959 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1959 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com