The 1956 Kansas City Athletics season, the team's 56th in the American League and second in Kansas City, involved the A's finishing eighth in the American League with a record of 52 wins and 102 losses, 45 games behind the World Series champion New York Yankees.
Offseason March 2, 1956: Tommy Lasorda was purchased by the Athletics from the Brooklyn Dodgers.Tommy Lasorda page at Baseball Reference
Regular season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions April 16, 1956: Lee Wheat, Tom Saffell and cash were traded by the Athletics to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Tim Thompson.Lee Wheat page at Baseball Reference April 16, 1956: Johnny Groth was purchased by the Athletics from the Washington Senators.Johnny Groth page at Baseball Reference May 1956: Marion Fricano and $60,000 were traded by the Athletics to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Jack Crimian.Marion Fricano page at Baseball Reference June 14, 1956: Moe Burtschy, Bill Renna and cash were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Lou Skizas and Eddie Robinson.Lou Skizas page at Baseball Reference July 11, 1956: Tommy Lasorda was traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Wally Burnette. August 17, 1956: Joe Ginsberg was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Hal Smith.Joe Ginsberg page at Baseball Reference August 25, 1956: Enos Slaughter was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the New York Yankees.Enos Slaughter page at Baseball Reference
Roster 1956 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 Tim Thompson 92 268 73 .272 1 27 1B Vic Power 127 530 164 .309 14 63 2B Jim Finigan 91 250 54 .216 2 21 SS Joe DeMaestri 133 434 101 .233 6 39 3B Héctor López 151 561 153 .273 18 69 LF Gus Zernial 109 272 61 .224 16 44 CF Al Pilarcik 69 239 60 .251 4 22 RF Harry Simpson 141 543 159 .293 21 105
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 Lou Skizas 83 297 94 .316 11 39 Johnny Groth 95 244 63 .258 5 37 Enos Slaughter 91 223 62 .278 2 23 Joe Ginsberg 71 195 48 .246 1 12 Eddie Robinson 75 172 34 .198 2 12 Hal Smith 37 142 39 .275 2 24 Clete Boyer 67 129 28 .217 1 4 Mike Baxes 73 106 24 .226 1 5 Spook Jacobs 32 97 21 .216 0 5 Rance Pless 48 85 23 .271 0 9 Bill Renna 33 48 13 .271 2 5 Jim Pisoni 10 30 8 .267 2 5 Joe Astroth 8 13 1 .077 0 0 Elmer Valo 9 9 2 .222 0 2 Dave Melton 3 3 1 .333 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 Art Ditmar 44 254.1 12 22 4.42 126 Wally Burnette 18 121.1 6 8 2.89 54 Lou Kretlow 25 118.2 4 9 5.31 61 Alex Kellner 20 91.2 7 4 4.32 44 3 23.1 0 2 4.24 6 Walt Craddock 2 9.1 0 2 6.75 8 Carl Duser 2 6.0 1 1 9.00 5
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 Tom Gorman 52 171.1 9 10 3.83 56 Troy Herriage 31 103.0 1 13 6.64 59 Jack McMahan 23 61.2 0 5 4.82 13 18 45.1 0 4 6.15 28 José Santiago 9 21.2 1 2 8.31 9 Art Ceccarelli 3 10.0 0 1 7.20 2 George Brunet 6 9.0 0 0 7.00 5 Arnie Portocarrero 3 8.0 0 1 10.13 2
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 Bobby Shantz 45 2 7 9 4.35 67 Jack Crimian 54 4 8 3 5.51 59 Bill Harrington 23 2 2 1 6.45 14 Moe Burtschy 21 3 1 0 3.95 18 Bob Spicer 2 0 0 0 19.29 0 Bill Bradford 1 0 0 0 9.00 0
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Seminole
References
External links 1956 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1956 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com