The 1965 Kansas City Athletics season was the 11th for the franchise in Kansas City and the 65th in its overall history. It involved the A's finishing tenth in the American League with a record of 59 wins and 103 losses, 43 games behind the American League Champion Minnesota Twins. The paid attendance for the season was 528,344, the lowest in the major leagues (and the lowest ever by the A's in Kansas City).Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.92, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, The club won 59 games, their worst showing since the A's moved to Kansas City.

Offseason January 20, 1965: Rocky Colavito was traded by the Athletics to the Cleveland Indians as part of a three-team trade. Jim Landis, Mike Hershberger and a player to be named later were sent by the Chicago White Sox to the Athletics. Tommy John, Tommie Agee and Johnny Romano were sent by the Indians to the White Sox, and Cam Carreon was sent by the White Sox to the Indians. The White Sox completed the deal by sending Fred Talbot to the Athletics on February 10.Tommy John page at Baseball Reference

Regular season April 6, 1965: Hank Peters was named general manager.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.78, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, The A's lost 21 of their first 26 games. On May 15, manager Mel McGaha was replaced by AAA manager Haywood Sullivan. At the age of 34, Sullivan was the youngest manager in the major leagues.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.92, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, Owner Charlie Finley steadily built up the team's farm system. He was assisted by the creation of the baseball draft in 1965, which forced young prospects to sign with the team that drafted them—at the price offered by the team—if they wanted to play professional baseball. Thus, Finley was spared from having to compete with wealthier teams for top talent. The Athletics, owners of the worst record in the American League in 1964, had the first pick in the first draft, selecting Rick Monday on June 8, 1965.

Promotions Club owner Charlie Finley had a pitchometer on the scoreboard. In an attempt to speed up the game, it was a way to measure the time a pitcher spent in between pitches thrown.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.86, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, Finley installed a small zoo in the club picnic area to generate interest in the ball club with small children. September 8, 1965: The Campy Camp Night promotion was held as Bert Campaneris played every position in the field.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.93, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, In a promotional move, Finley signed Satchel Paige on September 10,Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.93, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, 58 years old at the time, for one game. On September 25, against the Boston Red Sox, Finley invited several Negro league veterans, including Cool Papa Bell, to be introduced before the game. Paige was in the bullpen, sitting on a rocking chair, being served coffee by a "nurse" between innings.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.94, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, He started the game by getting Jim Gosger out on a pop foul. The next man, Dalton Jones, reached first and went to second on an infield error, but was thrown out trying to reach third on a pitch in the dirt. Carl Yastrzemski doubled and Tony Conigliaro hit a fly ball to end the inning. The next six batters went down in order, including a strikeout of Bill Monbouquette. In the fourth inning, Paige took the mound, to be removed according to plan by Haywood Sullivan. He walked off to a boisterous ovation despite the small crowd of 9,000. The lights dimmed and, led by the PA announcer, the fans lit matches and cigarette lighters while singing "The Old Gray Mare."

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions May 3, 1965: Joe Rudi was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Cleveland Indians as a first-year waiver pick.Joe Rudi page at Baseball-Reference May 3, 1965: Doc Edwards was traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Johnny Blanchard and Rollie Sheldon.Doc Edwards page at Baseball-Reference May 28, 1965: Don Mossi was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Don Mossi page at Baseball-Reference June 8, 1965: 1965 Major League Baseball draft notable picks:1965 Kansas City Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft Round 1: Rick Monday (1st pick). Player signed June 15, 1965.Rick Monday page at Baseball-Reference Round 2: Joe KeoughJoe Keough page at Baseball-Reference Round 3: Bob Stinson (did not sign) Round 4: Pete Koegel Round 6: Sal BandoSal Bando page at Baseball-Reference Round 7: Scott Reid (did not sign) Round 10: George Lauzerique Round 15: Bobby Brooks Round 20: Gene Tenace Round 28: Greg Garrett (did not sign) September 10, 1965: Satchel Paige was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Satchel Paige page at Baseball Reference

Roster 1965 Kansas City Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders 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 C Billy Bryan 108 325 82 .252 14 51 1B Ken Harrelson 150 483 115 .238 23 66 2B Dick Green 133 474 110 .232 15 55 SS Bert Campaneris 144 578 156 .270 6 42 3B Ed Charles 134 480 129 .269 8 56 LF Tommie Reynolds 90 270 64 .237 1 22 CF 118 364 87 .239 3 36 RF 150 494 114 .231 5 48

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 Wayne Causey 144 513 134 .261 3 34 José Tartabull 68 218 68 .312 1 19 Rene Lachemann 92 216 49 .227 9 29 67 184 39 .212 2 15 Johnny Blanchard 52 120 24 .200 2 11 Jim Gentile 38 118 29 .246 10 22 Santiago Rosario 81 85 20 .235 2 8 Larry Stahl 28 81 16 .198 4 14 Skip Lockwood 42 33 4 .121 0 0 Doc Edwards 6 20 3 .150 0 0 Randy Schwartz 6 7 2 .286 0 1 Lou Clinton 1 1 0 .000 0 0 John Sanders 1 0 0 ---- 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 Fred Talbot 39 198.0 10 12 4.14 117 Rollie Sheldon 32 186.2 10 8 3.95 105 John O'Donoghue 34 177.2 9 18 3.95 82 1 3.0 0 0 0.00 1

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 Diego Seguí 40 163.0 5 15 4.64 119 Catfish Hunter 32 133.0 8 8 4.26 83 Moe Drabowsky 14 38.2 1 5 4.42 25 Orlando Peña 12 35.1 0 6 6.88 24 12 31.0 0 1 4.35 9 Lew Krausse Jr. 7 25.0 2 4 5.04 22 Dick Joyce 5 13.0 0 1 2.77 7 Ron Tompkins 5 10.1 0 0 3.48 4

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 65 2 6 18 3.25 70 68 3 2 0 3.47 54 Wes Stock 62 0 4 4 5.24 52 Don Mossi 51 5 8 7 3.74 41 34 4 3 3 3.16 26 Jesse Hickman 12 0 1 0 5.87 16 Paul Lindblad 4 0 1 0 11.05 12 Aurelio Monteagudo 4 0 0 0 3.86 5 José Santiago 4 0 0 0 9.00 8 Blue Moon Odom 1 0 0 0 9.00 0 Tom Harrison 1 0 0 0 9.00 0 Bert Campaneris 1 0 0 0 9.00 1

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Burlington

References

External links 1965 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1965 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com