1938 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1938 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing 8th in the American League with a record of 53 wins and 99 losses.

1938 Philadelphia Athletics
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Shibe Park (since 1909) Philadelphia (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Connie Mack
Manager(s)	Connie Mack
Local radio	WIP (By Saam) WFIL (Stan Lomax)
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Regular season

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	99	53	0.651	—	55–22	44–31
Boston Red Sox	88	61	0.591	9½	52–23	36–38
Cleveland Indians	86	66	0.566	13	46–30	40–36
Detroit Tigers	84	70	0.545	16	48–31	36–39
Washington Senators	75	76	0.497	23½	44–33	31–43
Chicago White Sox	65	83	0.439	32	33–39	32–44
St. Louis Browns	55	97	0.362	44	31–43	24–54
Philadelphia Athletics	53	99	0.349	46	28–47	25–52

Record vs. opponents

1938 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	12–6	12–10	10–12	11–11–1	14–8	17–5	12–9
Chicago	6–12	—	9–13	7–15	8–14	12–10	13–8–1	10–11
Cleveland	10–12	13–9	—	12–10	8–13	18–4	13–9–1	12–9
Detroit	12–10	15–7	10–12	—	8–14	14–8	12–10–1	13–9
New York	11–11–1	14–8	13–8	14–8	—	16–5–2	15–7–1	16–6–1
Philadelphia	8–14	10–12	4–18	8–14	5–16–2	—	12–9	6–16
St. Louis	5–17	8–13–1	9–13–1	10–12–1	7–15–1	9–12	—	7–15
Washington	9–12	11–10	9–12	9–13	6–16–1	16–6	15–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 4, 1938: Harry Kelley was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the Washington Senators.[1]

Roster

1938 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers -- Ralph Buxton 16 George Caster 19 Chubby Dean -- Randy Gumpert 15 Harry Kelley 22 Lynn Nelson 24 Nels Potter 30 Jim Reninger 17 Buck Ross 11 Dave Smith 18 Eddie Smith 21,20 Bud Thomas 21 Al Williams		Catchers 29 Charlie Berry  9 Earle Brucker  8 Frankie Hayes 26 Hal Wagner Infielders 12 Wayne Ambler -- Irv Bartling -- Nick Etten  8 Lou Finney  5 Gene Hasson  7 Dario Lodigiani  2 Skeeter Newsome 25,30 Ace Parker 11 Rusty Peters 10 Dick Siebert  7 Stan Sperry  3 Billy Werber		Outfielders 14 Babe Barna 14 Sam Chapman 10 Paul Easterling 30 Mule Haas  4 Bob Johnson  1 Wally Moses		Manager Connie Mack Coaches 29 Charlie Berry 28 Lena Blackburne 27 Earle Mack

Player stats

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	Frankie Hayes	99	316	92	.291	11	55
1B	Lou Finney	122	454	125	.275	10	48
2B	Dario Lodigiani	93	325	91	.280	6	44
SS	Wayne Ambler	120	393	92	.234	0	38
3B	Billy Werber	134	499	129	.259	11	69
OF	Wally Moses	142	589	181	.307	8	49
OF	Bob Johnson	152	563	176	.313	30	113
OF	Sam Chapman	114	406	105	.259	17	63

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
Earle Brucker	53	171	64	.374	3	35
Mule Haas	40	78	16	.205	0	12

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
George Caster	42	281.1	16	20	4.35	112
Bud Thomas	42	212.1	9	14	4.92	48
Lynn Nelson	32	191	10	11	5.65	75
Jim Reninger	4	22.2	0	2	7.15	9

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
Chubby Dean	6	23	2	1	3.52	3
Randy Gumpert	4	12.1	0	2	10.95	1
Harry Kelley	4	8	0	2	16.88	3

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
Nels Potter	35	2	12	5	6.47	43
Eddie Smith	43	3	10	4	5.92	78
Al Williams	30	0	7	0	6.94	25
Dave Smith	21	2	1	0	5.08	13
Ralph Buxton	5	0	1	0	4.82	9

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	Williamsport Grays	Eastern League	Marty McManus
D	Federalsburg Athletics	Eastern Shore League	Charlie Moss
D	Lexington Indians	North Carolina State League	Phil Lundeen

[2]

References

1. Harry Kelley page at Baseball Reference
2. 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

• 1938 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1938 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com