1964 Kansas City Athletics season

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1964 Kansas City Athletics
Major League affiliations
  • American League (since 1901)
Location
  • Municipal Stadium (since 1955)
  • Kansas City, Missouri (since 1955)
Other information
Owner(s)Charles O. Finley
General manager(s)Pat Friday
Manager(s)Ed Lopat, Mel McGaha
Local televisionKCMO
Local radioKCMO (AM)
(Monte Moore, George Bryson, Betty Caywood)
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The 1964 Kansas City Athletics season was the tenth for the franchise in Kansas City and the 64th overall. It involved the A's finishing tenth in the American League with a record of 57 wins and 105 losses, 42 games behind the American League Champion New York Yankees.

Offseason[]

In January 1964, Charles O. Finley signed an agreement to move the A's to Louisville, promising to change the team's name to the "Kentucky Athletics".[1] (Other names suggested for the team were the "Kentucky Colonels" and the "Louisville Sluggers.") By another 9–1 vote his request was denied.[2] Six weeks later, by the same 9–1 margin, the A.L. owners denied Finley's request to move the team to Oakland, where the team would eventually move a few years later.

  • On February 23, 1964, Charlie Finley had signed a four-year lease to remain in Kansas City. The club would pay no rent on the stadium but the city would get 5% on admission and 7.5% on concessions. The clause was that if the club could not reach a paid attendance of 575,000 fans, then the club owed nothing.[3]

Notable transactions[]

Regular season[]

  • The club set a franchise record by hitting 107 home runs during home games. The pitching staff also gave up 132 home runs during home games. At the time, it was a major league record.[7]
  • Draft pick Catfish Hunter was not able to pitch in 1964. He was sent to the Mayo Clinic, as surgeons worked on his right foot. Hunter recovered at Charlie Finley's farm in Lapointe, Indiana.[8]
  • Bert Campaneris made his Major League debut on July 23, 1964. In his debut, he hit two HRs off Jim Kaat.[9]
  • On September 5, Blue Moon Odom made his major league debut against the New York Yankees. Odom pitched 2 innings, giving up 6 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out one.[10]

Season standings[]

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 99 63 0.611 50–31 49–32
Chicago White Sox 98 64 0.605 1 52–29 46–35
Baltimore Orioles 97 65 0.599 2 49–32 48–33
Detroit Tigers 85 77 0.525 14 46–35 39–42
Los Angeles Angels 82 80 0.506 17 45–36 37–44
Cleveland Indians 79 83 0.488 20 41–40 38–43
Minnesota Twins 79 83 0.488 20 40–41 39–42
Boston Red Sox 72 90 0.444 27 45–36 27–54
Washington Senators 62 100 0.383 37 31–50 31–50
Kansas City Athletics 57 105 0.352 42 26–55 31–50


Record vs. opponents[]


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore 11–7 10–8 8–10 11–7 13–5–1 11–7 10–8 10–8 13–5
Boston 7–11 4–14 9–9 5–13 12–6 9–9 5–13 9–9 12–6
Chicago 8–10 14–4 12–6 11–7 16–2 10–8 9–9 6–12 12–6
Cleveland 10–8 9–9 6–12 11–7 10–8 9–9 10–8–1 3–15–1 11–7
Detroit 7–11 13–5 7–11 7–11 11–7 10–8 11–7 8–10–1 11–7
Kansas City 5–13–1 6–12 2–16 8–10 7–11 6–12 9–9 6–12 8–10
Los Angeles 7–11 9–9 8–10 9–9 8–10 12–6 12–6 7–11 10–8
Minnesota 8–10 13–5 9–9 8–10–1 7–11 9–9 6–12 8–10 11–7
New York 8–10 9–9 12–6 15–3–1 10–8–1 12–6 11–7 10–8 12–6
Washington 5–13 6–12 6–12 7–11 7–11 10–8 8–10 7–11 6–12


Notable transactions[]

  • June 8, 1964: Catfish Hunter was signed as an amateur free agent by the Athletics.[11]
  • June 13, 1964: Joe Rudi was signed as an amateur free agent by the Athletics.[12]

Roster[]

1964 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

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 Doc Edwards 97 294 66 .224 5 28
1B Jim Gentile 136 439 110 .251 28 71
2B Dick Green 130 435 115 .264 11 37
3B Ed Charles 150 557 134 .241 16 63
SS Wayne Causey 157 604 170 .281 8 49
LF Manny Jiménez 95 204 46 .225 12 38
CF Nelson Mathews 157 573 137 .239 14 60
RF Rocky Colavito 160 588 161 .274 34 102

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
Bert Campaneris 67 269 69 .257 4 22
Billy Bryan 93 220 53 .241 13 36
George Alusik 102 204 49 .240 3 19
Ken Harrelson 49 139 27 .194 7 12
Charley Lau 43 118 32 .271 2 9
José Tartabull 104 100 20 .200 0 3
Tommie Reynolds 31 94 19 .202 2 9
George Williams 37 91 19 .209 0 2
Rick Joseph 17 54 12 .222 0 1
Dave Duncan 25 53 9 .170 1 5
Charlie Shoemaker 16 52 11 .212 0 3
Larry Stahl 15 46 12 .261 3 6
John Wojcik 6 22 3 .136 0 0
Gino Cimoli 4 9 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
Orlando Peña 40 219.1 12 14 4.43 184
Diego Seguí 40 217 8 17 4.56 155
John O'Donohue 39 173.2 10 14 4.92 79
Bob Meyer 9 42 1 4 3.86 30
Blue Moon Odom 5 17 1 2 10.06 10
Lew Krausse Jr. 5 14.2 0 2 7.36 9

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
Moe Drabowski 53 168.1 5 13 5.29 119
Ted Bowsfield 50 118.2 4 7 4.10 45
José Santiago 34 83.2 0 6 4.73 64
Aurelio Monteagudo 11 31.1 0 4 8.90 14

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
John Wyatt 81 9 8 20 3.59 74
Wes Stock 50 6 3 5 1.94 101
Ken Sanders 21 0 2 1 3.67 18
Joe Grzenda 20 0 2 0 5.40 17
Dan Pfister 19 1 5 0 6.53 21
Vern Handrahan 18 0 1 0 6.06 18
Jack Aker 9 0 1 0 8.82 7
Tom Sturdivant 3 0 0 0 9.82 1

Farm system[]

  • The A's scouts had signed 80 prospects for $650,000, at the time, the most money spent on prospects in one year.[9]
Level Team League Manager
AAA Dallas Rangers Pacific Coast League John McNamara
AA Birmingham Barons Southern League Haywood Sullivan
A Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League Grady Wilson, Bill Posedel
and Lew Krausse, Sr.
A Burlington Bees Midwest League
A Lewiston Broncos Northwest League Bobby Hofman
Rookie Wytheville A's Appalachian League Gus Niarhos

References[]

  1. ^ "Finley Signs Contract to Transfer Athletics to Louisville". New York Times. January 6, 1964. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
  2. ^ John Drebinger (January 18, 1964). "Finley Will Open in Kansas City, But Promises Court Action Soon". New York Times.
  3. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.73, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  4. ^ Sammy Esposito page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Norm Siebern page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ John Donaldson page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.75, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  8. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.81, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  9. ^ a b Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.79, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  10. ^ Blue Moon Odom page at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Catfish Hunter page at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Joe Rudi page at Baseball Reference

External links[]

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