1937 Philadelphia Athletics season

1937 Philadelphia Athletics
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Shibe Park (since 1909)
Philadelphia (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Connie Mack and John Shibe
Manager(s)	Connie Mack
Local radio	Roger Griswold, Bill Dwyer
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The 1937 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing 7th in the American League with a record of 54 wins and 97 losses.

Offseason

On January 11, 1937, at the club's annual meeting, John Shibe officially retired from the day-to-day operations of the Athletics, although he had not been with the team since August 1936. Connie Mack, the team's other principal owner, was elected club president. Shibe died on July 11, leaving Mack as sole owner of the team.^[1]

Regular season

The club started to use uniform numbers during the 1937 season. They were the last team in the American League to do so.^[2]

The Athletics set a Major League record which still stands for the fewest batters hit by a pitch in a season, with only 5.^[3]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	102	52	.662	--
Detroit Tigers	89	65	.578	13
Chicago White Sox	86	68	.558	16
Cleveland Indians	83	71	.539	19
Boston Red Sox	80	72	.526	21
Washington Senators	73	80	.477	28½
Philadelphia Athletics	54	97	.358	46½
St. Louis Browns	46	108	.299	56

Record vs. opponents

1937 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	10–12	11–11	12–10–1	7–15	17–3	15–7	8–14–1
Chicago	12–10	—	10–12	8–14	9–13	15–7	18–4	14–8
Cleveland	11–11	12–10	—	11–11	7–15–1	13–9	18–4–1	11–11
Detroit	10–12–1	14–8	11–11	—	9–13	14–8	15–7	16–6
New York	15–7	13–9	15–7–1	13–9	—	14–8	16–6–1	16–6–1
Philadelphia	3–17	7–15	9–13	8–14	8–14	—	11–11	8–13–3
St. Louis	7–15	4–18	4–18–1	7–15	6–16–1	11–11	—	7–15
Washington	14–8–1	8–14	11–11	6–16	6–16–1	13–8–3	15–7	—

Roster

1937 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 26,41 Fred Archer 20 George Caster 18 Herman Fink 14,19,32 Randy Gumpert 61 Bill Kalfass 15 Harry Kelley 11 Lynn Nelson 17 Buck Ross 22 Eddie Smith 21 Bud Thomas 24 George Turbeville 19,25 Al Williams		Catchers  2 Earle Brucker 25 Bill Conroy  1 Frankie Hayes -- Hal Wagner Infielders  4 Wayne Ambler  4 Bill Cissell  3 Chubby Dean  8 Lou Finney 35 Gene Hasson 10 Warren Huston  6 Skeeter Newsome 19,26 Ace Parker 12 Rusty Peters  5 Billy Werber		Outfielders 10,42 Babe Barna 15 Jess Hill  7 Bob Johnson 92 Doyt Morris  9 Wally Moses 23 Jack Rothrock  8 Eddie Yount		Manager Connie Mack Coaches 29 Charlie Berry 28 Lena Blackburne 27 Earle Mack

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	Brucker, EarleEarle Brucker	102	317	82	.259	6	37
1B	Dean, ChubbyChubby Dean	104	309	81	.262	2	31
3B	Werber, BillyBilly Werber	128	493	144	.292	7	70

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
Conroy, BillBill Conroy	26	60	12	.200	0	3

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
Caster, GeorgeGeorge Caster	34	231.2	12	19	4.43	100
Thomas, BudBud Thomas	35	169.2	8	15	4.99	54

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
Kelley, HarryHarry Kelley	41	205	13	21	5.36	68
Kalfass, BillBill Kalfass	3	12	1	0	3.00	9
Dean, ChubbyChubby Dean	2	9	1	0	4.00	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
Fink, HermanHerman Fink	28	2	1	1	4.05	18
Gumpert, RandyRandy Gumpert	10	0	0	0	12.00	5
Archer, FredFred Archer	1	0	0	0	6.00	2

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	Williamsport Grays	New York–Pennsylvania League	Ollie Marquardt
D	Federalsburg Athletics	Eastern Shore League	George Short

^[4]

References

1. Biography of John Shibe from the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society Archived October 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
2. Numbelivable!, p. 89, Michael X. Ferraro and John Veneziano, Triumph Books, Chicago, Illinois, 2007, ISBN 978-1-57243-990-0
3. "Hit By A Pitch Team Records". Baseball-Almanac.com. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
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

External links

• 1937 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1937 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com