1961 Kansas City Athletics season

The 1961 Kansas City Athletics season was a season in American baseball. In their seventh season in Kansas City, the 61st overall for the franchise, the A's finished with a record of 61–100, tying the expansion Washington Senators for ninth place, last in the newly expanded 10-team American League, 47½ games behind the World Champion New York Yankees.

1961 Kansas City Athletics
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Charles O. Finley
General manager(s)Frank Lane, Pat Friday
Manager(s)Joe Gordon, Hank Bauer
Local televisionWDAF-TV
Local radioWDAF
(Merle Harmon, Bill Grigsby)
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Offseason

On December 19, 1960, Charles "Charlie O." Finley purchased a controlling interest in the team from Arnold Johnson's estate. In a highly publicized move, he purchased a bus, pointed it in the direction of New York, and burned it to symbolize the end of the "special relationship" with the Yankees. He called another press conference to burn the existing lease at Municipal Stadium, where the team played its home games, which included the despised "escape clause."[1]

Finley made numerous renovations to the stadium, including lighting outside, and radio broadcasts in the restrooms.[2] The seats were painted yellow, turquoise and orange, while a picnic area was added behind new bleacher seats in right field, and lights were added to the dugout.[3]

In addition, Finley introduced new uniforms, which had "Kansas City" on the road uniforms for the first time ever and an interlocking "KC" on the cap.

Notable transactions

Regular season

Finley hired Frank Lane, a veteran baseball man with a reputation as a prolific trader, as general manager on January 2.[5] However, Lane did not even last through the season, as he was fired on August 22 and replaced by Pat Friday.[6]

  • Part of the tension between Finley and Lane occurred when Finley advised Lane that he wanted to move the club's spring training facilities from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Chandler, Arizona. Lane had negotiated with city officials in Chandler and was prepared to sign a lease. A report on the radio had indicated that Finley reached his own deal with West Palm Beach and signed a five-year lease extension.[7]
  • On June 14, 1961, the feud between Charlie Finley and Frank Lane worsened as Lane traded fan favourite Bud Daley. Lane stated this was done in an attempt to embarrass the owner.[8] Lew Krausse, Jr. made his major league debut on June 16, 1961, versus the Los Angeles Angels. Krausse had received a bonus of $125,000 to sign with the club. Finley admitted that he had the highly touted Krausse appear in a game so that fans could forget about the Bud Daley trade.[9]
  • August 17, 1961: Kansas City Star sportswriter Ernie Mehl had published a story indicating that Charlie Finley was ready to relocate the club to Dallas, Texas.[10] Mehl found out about the proposed relocation because Finley went on a trip to Dallas with the supervisor of American League umpires Cal Hubbard. During the trip, the two visited the Cotton Bowl and Burnett Field. Finley was furious and it led to a long rivalry between the two. Three days later, Finley attempted to publicly humiliate Mehl by having an Ernie Mehl Appreciation Day. Ceremonies for Mehl were held in between a doubleheader with the Chicago White Sox. Finley presented Mehl with a Poison Pen Award in absentia.[11]

Gimmicks
  • Finley had a mechanical rabbit named Harvey installed to the right of home plate. Whenever the umpire required more baseballs, Harvey would emerge from a spot in the grass with a cage of baseballs. As the rabbit would emerge, the organist would play Here Comes Peter Cottontail.[12]
  • Sheep were on a tall rocky hill beyond the right field fence. Finley had employees dressed as sheep herders, and the employees would ring a bell whenever an Athletics player hit a home run.[13]

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10953 0.673 — 65–16 44–37
Detroit Tigers 10161 0.623 8 50–31 51–30
Baltimore Orioles 9567 0.586 14 48–33 47–34
Chicago White Sox 8676 0.531 23 53–28 33–48
Cleveland Indians 7883 0.484 30½ 40–41 38–42
Boston Red Sox 7686 0.469 33 50–31 26–55
Minnesota Twins 7090 0.438 38 36–44 34–46
Los Angeles Angels 7091 0.435 38½ 46–36 24–55
Kansas City Athletics 61100 0.379 47½ 33–47 28–53
Washington Senators 61100 0.379 47½ 33–46 28–54

Record vs. opponents
1961 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore —11–711–79–99–913–58–1011–79–9–114–4
Boston 7–11—9–95–138–1010–811–7–111–75–1310–8
Chicago 7–119–9—12–66–1214–410–89–9–16–1213–5
Cleveland 9–913–56–12—6–128–910–810–84–1412–6
Detroit 9–910–812–612–6—12–6–114–411–78–1013–5
Kansas City 5–138–104–149–86–12–1—9–97–114–149–9
Los Angeles 10–87–11–18–108–104–149–9—8–96–1210–8
Minnesota 7–117–119–9–18–107–1111–79–8—4–148–9
New York 9–9–113–512–614–410–814–412–614–4—11–7
Washington 4–148–105–136–125–139–98–109–87–11—

Notable transactions

Roster
1961 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers
  • 30 Norm Bass
  • 24 Lew Krausse
 Catchers

Infielders

  •  4 Ozzie Virgil
 Outfielders

Other batters

 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
3BWayne Causey10431286.276849

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
Reno Bertoia3912029.242013
Bill Tuttle258422.26208
Al Pilarcik356012.20019
Bob Boyd264811.22909
Ozzie Virgil11213.14300
Stan Johnson330.00000
Clint Courtney110.00000

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
Jim Archer39205.19153.20110
Bill Kirk130012.003

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
Norm Bass40170.211114.6974
Bud Daley1663.2484.9536
Lew Krausse1255.2254.8532
Art Ditmar2054055.6719

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
Bill Kunkel583445.1846
Bill Fischer151023.8612
John Wyatt50012.456
Paul Giel100037.801

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Hawaii Islanders Pacific Coast League Tommy Heath and Bill Werle
AA Shreveport Sports Southern Association Les Peden
A Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides Sally League Granny Hamner
B Lewiston Broncos Northwest League John McNamara
C Visalia Athletics California League Bobby Hofman
C Pocatello Bannocks Pioneer League Bert Thiel
D Sarasota Sun Sox Florida State League Bill Robertson
D Albuquerque Dukes Sophomore League Grady Wilson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lewiston

Pocatello affiliation shared with San Francisco Giants

References
  1. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.43–44, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  2. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.45, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  3. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.45–46, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  4. Whitey Herzog page at Baseball Reference
  5. Frank Lane is chosen as new A's general boss
  6. Frank Lane fired from KC position
  7. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.49, 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.51, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  9. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.52, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  10. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.56, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  11. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.58, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  12. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.46, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  13. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.47, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  14. Bert Campaneris page at Baseball Reference
  15. Bill Tuttle page at Baseball Reference
  16. Marv Throneberry page at Baseball Reference
  17. Wes Covington page at Baseball Reference
  18. Tigers land 3rd sacker
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