1928 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1928 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing 2nd in the American League with a record of 98 wins and 55 losses. The team featured seven eventual Hall-of-Fame players: Ty Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Al Simmons, and Tris Speaker.

1928 Philadelphia Athletics
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Connie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
Manager(s)Connie Mack
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Offseason
  • February 5, 1928: Tris Speaker was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.[1]

Regular season

By this time, the nucleus of the 1929–31 dynasty was in place for the A's. The team featured three starters who were later elected into the Hall of Fame: catcher Mickey Cochrane and outfielders Al Simmons and Ty Cobb. Cochrane was voted league MVP. Simmons led the team with a .351 batting average and 107 RBI. Cobb, in his last major league season, hit .323 in 95 games. Jimmie Foxx, Tris Speaker, and Eddie Collins also saw playing time for the 1928 team.

The pitching staff, led by 24-game winner Lefty Grove, allowed the fewest runs in the AL.

The A's were in a hard fought pennant race with the New York Yankees this season. After trailing the Yankees by 13.5 games on July 1st, the A's caught fire with a 25-8 record in July and a 19-9 record in August. In September, the A's won the first 6 out of 8 games and on the 8th pulled into first place by 1/2 game by sweeping the Red Sox at Fenway Park in a doubleheader. However, on the very next day, the A's were swept by the Yankees in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium to fall back into second place. The A's kept close on the Yankees heels, but couldn't overtake New York.

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10153 0.656 — 52–25 49–28
Philadelphia Athletics 9855 0.641 2½ 52–25 46–30
St. Louis Browns 8272 0.532 19 43–34 39–38
Washington Senators 7579 0.487 26 37–43 38–36
Chicago White Sox 7282 0.468 29 37–40 35–42
Detroit Tigers 6886 0.442 33 36–41 32–45
Cleveland Indians 6292 0.403 39 28–49 34–43
Boston Red Sox 5796 0.373 43½ 26–47 31–49

Record vs. opponents
1928 American League Records

Sources:
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHI STL WSH
Boston —10–129–137–156–163–189–1313–9–1
Chicago 12–10—12–10–113–99–136–1610–1210–12
Cleveland 13–910–12–1—10–126–166–167–1510–12
Detroit 15–79–1312–10—7–158–149–138–14
New York 16–613–916–615–7—16–612–1013–9
Philadelphia 18–316–616–614–86–16—16–612–10
St. Louis 13–912–1015–713–910–126–16—13–9
Washington 9–13–112–1012–1014–89–1310–129–13—

Roster
1928 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

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
CMickey Cochrane131468137.2931057
1BJoe Hauser9530078.2601659
2BMax Bishop126472149.316650
3BSammy Hale8831497.309458
SSJoe Boley132425112.264049
OFBing Miller139510168.329885
OFAl Simmons119464163.35115107
OFTy Cobb95353114.323140

[2]

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
Jimmie Foxx118400131.3281379
Mule Haas9133293.280639
Jimmy Dykes8524267.277530
Tris Speaker6419151.267330
Ossie Orwoll6417052.306022
Walter French487419.25707
Joe Hassler28349.26503
Eddie Collins363310.30307
Cy Perkins19295.17201

[2]

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
Lefty Grove39261.22482.58183
Rube Walberg38235.217123.55112
Jack Quinn31211.11872.9043
George Earnshaw26158.1773.81117
Howard Ehmke23139.1983.6234

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 Rommel43173.21353.0637
Ossie Orwoll27106654.5853
Bill Shores314113.215
Carroll Yerkes28.2012.081

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
Joe Bush112115.0915
Ike Powers91024.504
Jing Johnson30005.063
Art Daney10000.000

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Max Bishop

  • #4 in AL in on-base percentage (.435)

Lefty Grove

  • AL leader in wins (24)
  • AL leader in strikeouts (183)
  • #3 in AL in ERA (2.58)[3]

Joe Hauser

  • #4 in AL in home runs (16)

Al Simmons

  • #4 in AL in batting average (.351)

References
  1. Tris Speaker page at Baseball Reference
  2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHA/1928.shtml
  3. Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.51, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7


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