1931_Philadelphia_Athletics_season
1931 Philadelphia Athletics season
Major League Baseball team season
The 1931 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing first in the American League with a record of 107 wins and 45 losses. It was the team's third consecutive pennant-winning season and its third consecutive season with over 100 wins. However the A's lost the 1931 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The series loss prevented the Athletics from becoming the first major league baseball team to win three consecutive World Series; the New York Yankees would accomplish the feat seven years later. The Athletics, ironically, would go on to earn their own threepeat in 1974, some forty-three years after the failed 1931 attempt.
| 1931 Philadelphia Athletics | |
|---|---|
| American League Champions | |
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Shibe Park |
| City | Philadelphia |
| Owners | Connie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe |
| Managers | Connie Mack |
1931 was also the A's final World Series appearance in Philadelphia. Their next AL pennant would be in 1972, after they had moved to Oakland.
- November 29, 1930: Homer Summa and Ossie Orwoll were traded by the Athletics to the Portland Beavers for Herb Lahti (minors).[1]
- December 10, 1930: Cy Perkins was purchased from the Athletics by the New York Yankees.[2]
1931 was the greatest season of Lefty Grove's career. He went 31–4, with a 2.06 ERA and 175 strikeouts, easily winning the pitching triple crown. He was voted league Most Valuable Player. Combined with the efforts of 21- and 20-game winners George Earnshaw and Rube Walberg, Philadelphia allowed the fewest runs of any AL team.
Slugger Al Simmons won the batting title with a .390 average and came in third in MVP voting.
Season standings
| American League | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Athletics | 107 | 45 | 0.704 | — | 60–15 | 47–30 |
| New York Yankees | 94 | 59 | 0.614 | 13½ | 51–25 | 43–34 |
| Washington Senators | 92 | 62 | 0.597 | 16 | 55–22 | 37–40 |
| Cleveland Indians | 78 | 76 | 0.506 | 30 | 45–31 | 33–45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 63 | 91 | 0.409 | 45 | 39–38 | 24–53 |
| Boston Red Sox | 62 | 90 | 0.408 | 45 | 39–40 | 23–50 |
| Detroit Tigers | 61 | 93 | 0.396 | 47 | 36–41 | 25–52 |
| Chicago White Sox | 56 | 97 | 0.366 | 51½ | 31–45 | 25–52 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
| Boston | — | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 6–16 | 4–16 | 8–14 | 7–15 | |||||
| Chicago | 10–12–1 | — | 7–15–1 | 11–11 | 6–15 | 3–19 | 12–10 | 7–15 | |||||
| Cleveland | 9–13 | 15–7–1 | — | 13–9 | 13–9 | 4–18 | 16–6 | 8–14 | |||||
| Detroit | 10–12 | 11–11 | 9–13 | — | 8–14 | 4–18 | 11–11 | 8–14 | |||||
| New York | 16–6 | 15–6 | 9–13 | 14–8 | — | 11–11 | 16–6 | 13–9–1 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 16–4 | 19–3 | 18–4 | 18–4 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 11–11–1 | |||||
| St. Louis | 14–8 | 10–12 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 6–16 | 8–14 | — | 8–14 | |||||
| Washington | 15–7 | 15–7 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 9–13–1 | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | — | |||||
Roster
| 1931 Philadelphia Athletics | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
|
Manager
Coaches | ||||||
| = Indicates team 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 | Mickey Cochrane | 122 | 459 | 160 | .349 | 17 | 89 |
| 1B | Jimmie Foxx | 139 | 515 | 150 | .291 | 30 | 120 |
| 2B | Max Bishop | 130 | 497 | 146 | .294 | 5 | 37 |
| 3B | Jimmy Dykes | 101 | 355 | 97 | .273 | 3 | 46 |
| SS | Dib Williams | 86 | 294 | 79 | .269 | 6 | 40 |
| LF | Al Simmons | 128 | 513 | 200 | .390 | 22 | 128 |
| CF | Mule Haas | 102 | 440 | 142 | .323 | 8 | 56 |
| RF | Bing Miller | 137 | 534 | 150 | .281 | 8 | 77 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric McNair | 79 | 280 | 76 | .271 | 5 | 33 |
| Joe Boley | 67 | 224 | 51 | .228 | 0 | 20 |
| Doc Cramer | 65 | 223 | 58 | .260 | 2 | 20 |
| Phil Todt | 62 | 197 | 48 | .244 | 5 | 44 |
| Jimmy Moore | 49 | 143 | 32 | .224 | 2 | 21 |
| Johnnie Heving | 42 | 113 | 27 | .239 | 1 | 12 |
| Joe Palmisano | 19 | 44 | 10 | .227 | 0 | 4 |
| Lou Finney | 9 | 24 | 9 | .375 | 0 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rube Walberg | 44 | 291.0 | 20 | 12 | 3.74 | 106 |
| Lefty Grove | 41 | 288.2 | 31 | 4 | 2.06 | 175 |
| George Earnshaw | 43 | 281.2 | 21 | 7 | 3.67 | 152 |
| Roy Mahaffey | 30 | 162.1 | 15 | 4 | 4.21 | 59 |
| Waite Hoyt | 16 | 111.0 | 10 | 5 | 4.22 | 30 |
Note: George Earnshaw was team leader in saves with 6.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Rommel | 25 | 118.0 | 7 | 5 | 2.97 | 18 |
| Hank McDonald | 19 | 70.1 | 2 | 4 | 3.71 | 23 |
| Bill Shores | 6 | 16.0 | 0 | 3 | 5.06 | 2 |
| Jim Peterson | 6 | 13.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.23 | 7 |
| Lew Krausse | 3 | 11.0 | 1 | 0 | 4.09 | 1 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
League top five finishers
- #4 in AL in batting average (.349)
- #2 in AL in strikeouts (152)
- #3 in AL in wins (21)
- #4 in AL in home runs (30)
- AL leader in wins (31)
- AL leader in ERA (2.06) (Grove's 2.06 ERA was 2.32 runs below the league average.[3])
- AL leader in strikeouts (175)
- AL leader in batting average (.390)
- #3 in AL in slugging percentage (.641)
- #4 in AL in RBI (128)
- #4 in AL in on-base percentage (.444)
NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL Philadelphia Athletics (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Athletics – 6, Cardinals – 2 | October 1 | Sportsman's Park | 38,529 |
| 2 | Athletics – 0, Cardinals – 2 | October 2 | Sportsman's Park | 35,947 |
| 3 | Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 2 | October 5 | Shibe Park | 32,295 |
| 4 | Cardinals – 0, Athletics – 3 | October 6 | Shibe Park | 32,295 |
| 5 | Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 1 | October 7 | Shibe Park | 32,295 |
| 6 | Athletics – 8, Cardinals – 1 | October 9 | Sportsman's Park | 39,401 |
| 7 | Athletics – 2, Cardinals – 4 | October 10 | Sportsman's Park | 20,805 |
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA | Portland Beavers | Pacific Coast League | Spencer Abbott |
| B | Harrisburg Senators | New York–Pennsylvania League | Joe Cobb and Eddie Onslow |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg[4]
- Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.51, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
- Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007