1931 Philadelphia Athletics season

1931 Philadelphia Athletics
1931 AL Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Connie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
Manager(s) Connie Mack
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The 1931 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing first in the American League with a record of 107 wins and 45 losses. It was the team's third consecutive pennant-winning season and its third consecutive season with over 100 wins. However the A's lost the 1931 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The series loss prevented the Athletics from becoming the first major league baseball team to win three consecutive World Series; the New York Yankees would accomplish the feat a mere seven years later. The Athletics, ironically, would eventually earn their own threepeat in 1974, some forty-three years after the failed 1931 attempt.

1931 was also the A's final World Series appearance in Philadelphia. Their next AL pennant would be in 1972, after they had moved to Oakland.

Offseason

Regular season

1931 was the greatest season of Lefty Grove's career. He went 31–4, with a 2.06 ERA and 175 strikeouts, easily winning the pitching triple crown. He was voted league MVP. Combined with the efforts of 21- and 20-game winners George Earnshaw and Rube Walberg, Philadelphia allowed the fewest runs of any AL team.

Slugger Al Simmons won the batting title with a .390 average and came in third in MVP voting.

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB
Philadelphia Athletics 107 45 .704 --
New York Yankees 94 59 .614 13½
Washington Senators 92 62 .597 16
Cleveland Indians 78 76 .506 30
St. Louis Browns 63 91 .409 45
Boston Red Sox 62 90 .408 45
Detroit Tigers 61 93 .396 47
Chicago White Sox 56 97 .366 51½

Record vs. opponents

1931 American League Records

Sources:

Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHI STL WSH
Boston — 12–10–1 13–9 12–10 6–16 4–16 8–14 7–15
Chicago 10–12–1 — 7–15–1 11–11 6–15 3–19 12–10 7–15
Cleveland 9–13 15–7–1 — 13–9 13–9 4–18 16–6 8–14
Detroit 10–12 11–11 9–13 — 8–14 4–18 11–11 8–14
New York 16–6 15–6 9–13 14–8 — 11–11 16–6 13–9–1
Philadelphia 16–4 19–3 18–4 18–4 11–11 — 14–8 11–11–1
St. Louis 14–8 10–12 6–16 11–11 6–16 8–14 — 8–14
Washington 15–7 15–7 14–8 14–8 9–13–1 11–11–1 14–8 —

Roster

1931 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 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
C Cochrane, MickeyMickey Cochrane 122 459 160 .349 17 89
1B Foxx, JimmieJimmie Foxx 139 515 150 .291 30 120
2B Bishop, MaxMax Bishop 130 497 146 .294 5 37
3B Dykes, JimmyJimmy Dykes 101 355 97 .273 3 46
SS Williams, DibDib Williams 86 294 79 .269 6 40
LF Simmons, AlAl Simmons 128 513 200 .390 22 128
CF Haas, MuleMule Haas 102 440 142 .323 8 56
RF Miller, BingBing Miller 137 534 150 .281 8 77

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
Moore, JimmyJimmy Moore 49 143 32 .224 2 21
Palmisano, JoeJoe Palmisano 19 44 10 .227 0 4

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
Walberg, RubeRube Walberg 44 291 20 12 3.74 106
Earnshaw, GeorgeGeorge Earnshaw 43 281.2 21 7 3.67 152
Grove, LeftyLefty Grove 41 288.2 31 4 2.06 175
Mahaffey, RoyRoy Mahaffey 30 162.1 15 4 4.21 59
Hoyt, WaiteWaite Hoyt 16 111 10 5 4.22 30

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
McDonald, HankHank McDonald 19 70.1 2 4 3.71 23
Peterson, JimJim Peterson 6 13 0 1 6.23 7
Krausse, LewLew Krausse 3 11 1 0 4.09 1

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
Carter, SolSol Carter 2 0 0 0 19.29 1

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Mickey Cochrane

George Earnshaw

Jimmie Foxx

Lefty Grove

Al Simmons

1931 World Series

Main article: 1931 World Series

NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL Philadelphia Athletics (3)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1 Athletics – 6, Cardinals – 2 October 1Sportsman's Park 38,529
2 Athletics – 0, Cardinals – 2 October 2Sportsman's Park 35,947
3 Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 2 October 5Shibe Park 32,295
4 Cardinals – 0, Athletics – 3 October 6Shibe Park 32,295
5 Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 1 October 7Shibe Park 32,295
6 Athletics – 8, Cardinals – 1 October 9Sportsman's Park 39,401
7 Athletics – 2, Cardinals – 4 October 10Sportsman's Park 20,805

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Spencer Abbott
B Harrisburg Senators New York–Pennsylvania League Joe Cobb and Eddie Onslow

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ Homer Summa page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Cy Perkins page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.51, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  4. ↑ 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

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