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 eighth in the American League with a record of 73 wins and 89 losses, 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 and the first to feature names on the back of the jerseys.

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.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, 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.

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.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, 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.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, As a sign of protest, Finley relocated the A's offices from the stadium to the garage of team scout J Bowman.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,

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions May 25, 1963: Joe Azcue and Dick Howser were traded by the Athletics to the Cleveland Indians for Doc Edwards and $100,000.Joe Azcue page at Baseball-Reference May 26, 1963: Sammy Esposito was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Sammy Esposito page at Baseball-Reference

Roster 1963 Kansas City Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats = Indicates team leader

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 71 240 60 .250 6 35 1B Norm Siebern 152 556 151 .272 16 83 2B Jerry Lumpe 157 595 161 .271 5 59 SS Wayne Causey 139 554 155 .280 8 44 3B Ed Charles 158 603 161 .267 15 79 LF Chuck Essegian 101 231 52 .225 5 27 CF Bobby Del Greco 121 306 65 .212 8 29 RF Gino Cimoli 145 529 139 .263 4 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 José Tartabull 79 242 58 .240 1 19 Ken Harrelson 79 226 52 .230 6 23 George Alusik 87 221 59 .267 9 37 Charley Lau 62 187 55 .294 3 26 Manny Jiménez 60 157 44 .280 0 15 Haywood Sullivan 40 113 24 .212 0 8 Billy Bryan 24 65 11 .169 3 7 John Wojcik 19 59 11 .186 0 2 Tony La Russa 34 44 11 .250 0 1 15 41 8 .195 0 1 Dick Green 13 37 10 .270 1 4 Jay Hankins 10 34 6 .176 1 4 Sammy Esposito 18 25 5 .200 0 2 Tommie Reynolds 8 19 1 .053 0 0 Héctor Martínez 6 14 4 .286 1 3 2 4 0 .000 0 0

Pitching = Indicates league leader 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 Dave Wickersham 38 237.2 12 15 4.09 118 Orlando Peña 35 217.0 12 20 3.69 128 26 174.1 7 13 3.05 109 Ed Rakow 34 174.1 9 10 3.92 104 Fred Norman 2 6.1 0 1 11.37 6 John O'Donoghue 1 6.0 0 1 1.50 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 38 167.0 9 6 3.77 116 41 111.1 5 7 4.45 67 Tom Sturdivant 17 53.0 1 2 3.74 26 Dave Thies 9 25.1 0 1 4.62 9 Dan Pfister 3 9.1 1 0 1.93 9 3 7.2 0 0 11.74 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 63 6 4 21 3.13 81 Bill Fischer 45 9 6 3 3.57 34 Dale Willis 25 0 2 1 5.04 47 Pete Lovrich 20 1 1 0 7.84 16 José Santiago 4 1 0 0 9.00 6 Aurelio Monteagudo 4 0 0 0 2.57 3 Bill Landis 1 0 0 0 0.00 3

Awards and honors All-Star Game Norm Siebern, reserve

Farm system

References

External links 1963 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1963 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com