The 1959 Kansas City Athletics season was the fifth for the franchise in Kansas City, and its 59th overall. The 1959 Athletics finished seventh in the American League with a record of 66 wins and 88 losses, 28 games behind the AL champion Chicago White Sox. They were managed by Harry Craft, with coach Bob Swift directing the club to a 13–2 record during his two stints as emergency skipper in July.
Offseason October 2, 1958: Chico Carrasquel was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Dick Williams.Chico Carrasquel page at Baseball Reference
Regular season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions May 2, 1959: Harry Simpson was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Ray Boone.Ray Boone page at Baseball Reference May 26, 1959: Ralph Terry and Héctor López were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant, and Jerry Lumpe.K.C. A's trade two to Yankees August 20, 1959: Ray Boone was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Milwaukee Braves. August 20, 1959: Ray Jablonski was selected off waivers by the Athletics from the St. Louis Cardinals.Ray Jablonski page at Baseball Reference
Roster 1959 Kansas City Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders
Other batters Manager
Coaches
Player stats = Indicates team leader
Batting
Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Avg. Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI C 98 347 32 82 .236 1 30 1B 113 288 40 73 .253 10 39 2B 108 403 47 98 .243 3 28 3B 130 488 72 130 .266 16 75 SS 118 352 31 86 .244 6 34 LF 125 463 61 132 .285 20 87 CF 126 463 74 139 .300 7 43 RF 122 433 69 118 .273 16 72
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI 108 292 36 84 .288 5 31 Russ Snyder 73 243 41 76 .313 3 21 74 180 27 48 .267 2 18 55 162 20 44 .272 5 25 35 135 22 38 .281 6 24 61 132 19 36 .273 2 12 38 123 25 36 .293 1 9 58 109 8 27 .248 2 19 Zeke Bella 47 82 10 17 .207 1 9 Lou Klimchock 17 66 10 18 .273 4 13 Ray Jablonski 25 65 4 17 .262 2 8 Joe Morgan 20 21 2 4 .190 0 3 8 14 1 4 .286 1 2 14 7 1 1 .143 0 1 Bob Martyn 1 1 0 0 .000 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 39 216.1 16 13 3.16 125 32 201.0 10 13 3.71 61 Ray Herbert 37 183.2 11 11 4.85 99 33 151.1 8 11 3.87 51 9 46.1 2 4 5.24 35 Ken Johnson 2 11.0 1 1 4.09 8
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 40 125.1 6 10 4.09 65 24 83.1 4 3 4.97 50 29 81.0 2 10 4.56 54 Howie Reed 6 20.2 0 3 7.40 11 Al Grunwald 6 11.1 0 1 7.94 9
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 36 2 6 5 4.65 57 Murry Dickson 38 2 1 0 4.94 36 Russ Meyer 18 1 0 1 4.50 10 17 1 0 1 7.08 9 Dick Tomanek 16 0 1 2 6.53 13 4 0 0 1 0.00 1 Evans Killeen 4 0 0 0 4.76 1 Mark Freeman 3 0 0 0 9.82 1 2 0 0 0 11.57 7
Awards and honors All-Star Game Roger Maris appeared in his first All-Star GameRoger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 113, Tom Clavin and Danny Peary, Touchstone Books, Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010,
Farm system
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
References
External links 1959 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1959 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com