1963 Kansas City Athletics season

The 1963 Kansas City Athletics season was the ninth for the franchise in Kansas City and the 63rd overall. It involved the A's finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 73 wins and 89 losses, 31½ games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees. The 1963 season was also the first season in which the Athletics debuted their current color scheme of green and gold.

1963 Kansas City Athletics
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Charles O. Finley
General manager(s)Pat Friday
Manager(s)Ed Lopat
Local televisionKCMO
Local radioKCMO (AM)
(Monte Moore, George Bryson)
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Regular season
  • Owner Charlie Finley changed the team's colors to Kelly green, Fort Knox Gold and Wedding Gown White, and replaced Connie Mack's elephant mascot with a Missouri mule — not just a cartoon logo, but a real mule, which he named after himself: "Charlie O, the Mule." In reading the Chicago Tribune, Charlie Finley read about the Missouri Mule, a mule which helped troops in World War I carry ammunition. Finley decided that a mule would become the club's new mascot.[1]
  • He also began phasing out the team name "Athletics" in favor of simply, "A's." In June 1963, Bill Bryson wrote of the uniforms,

Kelly green is the Athletics' accent color. It was more a nauseous green the players wore on their wholesome, clean-cut faces the first few times they had to appear in public looking like refugees from a softball league.[2]

  • Owner Charlie Finley was upset about his stadium deal with Kansas City. He had visited Dallas, Texas and Oakland, California as prospective places for relocation.[3] Finley also talked to Atlanta Journal sportswriter Furman Bisher about relocating the A's to Atlanta. Later in the season, Finley made threats of moving the club to Louisville, Kentucky and renaming the franchise the Kentucky Colonels.[4] As a sign of protest, Finley relocated the A's offices from the stadium to the garage of team scout J Bowman.[5]

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10457 0.646 — 58–22 46–35
Chicago White Sox 9468 0.580 10½ 49–33 45–35
Minnesota Twins 9170 0.565 13 48–33 43–37
Baltimore Orioles 8676 0.531 18½ 48–33 38–43
Cleveland Indians 7983 0.488 25½ 41–40 38–43
Detroit Tigers 7983 0.488 25½ 47–34 32–49
Boston Red Sox 7685 0.472 28 44–36 32–49
Kansas City Athletics 7389 0.451 31½ 36–45 37–44
Los Angeles Angels 7091 0.435 34 39–42 31–49
Washington Senators 56106 0.346 48½ 31–49 25–57

Record vs. opponents
1963 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore —7–117–1110–813–59–99–99–97–1115–3
Boston 11–7—8–1010–89–97–119–87–116–129–9
Chicago 11–710–8—11–711–712–610–88–108–1013–5
Cleveland 8–108–107–11—10–811–710–85–137–1113–5
Detroit 5–139–97–118–10—13–512–68–108–109–9
Kansas City 9–911–76–127–115–13—10–89–96–1210–8
Los Angeles 9–98–98–108–106–128–10—9–95–139–9
Minnesota 9–911–710–813–510–89–99–9—6–1114–4
New York 11–712–610–811–710–812–613–511–6—14–4
Washington 3–159–95–135–139–98–109–94–144–14—

Notable transactions

Roster
1963 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers
  • 22 Norm Bass
 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
CDoc Edwards7124060.250635

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
Dick Howser15418.19501
Joe Azcue240.00000

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
Moe Drabowsky26174.17133.05109

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
Ted Bowsfield41111.1574.4567
Norm Bass37.20011.744

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 Wyatt6364213.1381

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Les Peden and Dan Carnevale
AA Binghamton Triplets Eastern League John McNamara
A Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League Bobby Hofman
A Burlington Bees Midwest League Grady Wilson
A Lewiston Broncos Northwest League Bill Robertson

References
  1. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.88, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  2. Bryson, Bill (June 1963). "Whose Hues? A's colored uniforms recall varied suits of the past". Baseball Digest. pp. 33, 34. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  3. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.70, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  4. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.71, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  5. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.72, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  6. Joe Azcue page at Baseball-Reference
  7. Sammy Esposito page at Baseball-Reference
  8. http://baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1963as.shtml
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