1965 Kansas City Athletics season

The 1965 Kansas City Athletics season was the eleventh for the franchise in Kansas City and the 65th in its overall history. It involved the A's finishing 10th in the American League with a record of 59 wins and 103 losses, 43 games behind the American League Champion Minnesota Twins. The paid attendance for the season was 528,344, the lowest in the major leagues (and the lowest ever by the A's in Kansas City).[1] The club won 59 games, their worst showing since the A's moved to Kansas City.

1965 Kansas City Athletics
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Charles O. Finley
General manager(s)Pat Friday, Hank Peters
Manager(s)Mel McGaha, Haywood Sullivan
Local televisionKCMO
Local radioKCMO (AM)
(Monte Moore, Red Rush)
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Offseason

Regular season
  • April 6, 1965: Hank Peters was named General Manager.[3]
  • The A's lost 21 of their first 26 games. On May 15, manager Mel McGaha was replaced by AAA manager Haywood Sullivan. At the age of 34, Sullivan was the youngest manager in the major leagues.[4]
  • Owner Charlie Finley steadily built up the team's farm system. He was assisted by the creation of the baseball draft in 1965, which forced young prospects to sign with the team that drafted them—at the price offered by the team—if they wanted to play professional baseball. Thus, Finley was spared from having to compete with wealthier teams for top talent. The Athletics, owners of the worst record in the American League in 1964, had the first pick in the first draft, selecting Rick Monday on June 8, 1965.

Promotions
  • Club owner Charlie Finley had a pitchometer on the scoreboard. In an attempt to speed up the game, it was a way to measure the time a pitcher spent in between pitches thrown.[5] Finley installed a small zoo in the club picnic area to generate interest in the ball club with small children.
  • September 8, 1965: The Campy Camp Night promotion was held as Bert Campaneris played every position in the field.[6]
  • In a promotional move, Finley signed Satchel Paige on September 10,[7] 58 years old at the time, for one game. On September 25, against the Boston Red Sox, Finley invited several Negro league veterans, including Cool Papa Bell, to be introduced before the game. Paige was in the bullpen, sitting on a rocking chair, being served coffee by a "nurse" between innings.[8] He started the game by getting Jim Gosger out on a pop foul. The next man, Dalton Jones, reached first and went to second on an infield error, but was thrown out trying to reach third on a pitch in the dirt. Carl Yastrzemski doubled and Tony Conigliaro hit a fly ball to end the inning. The next six batters went down in order, including a strikeout of Bill Monbouquette. In the fourth inning, Paige took the mound, to be removed according to plan by Haywood Sullivan. He walked off to a boisterous ovation despite the small crowd of 9,000. The lights dimmed and, led by the PA announcer, the fans lit matches and cigarette lighters while singing "The Old Gray Mare."

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Minnesota Twins 10260 0.630 — 51–30 51–30
Chicago White Sox 9567 0.586 7 48–33 47–34
Baltimore Orioles 9468 0.580 8 46–33 48–35
Detroit Tigers 8973 0.549 13 47–34 42–39
Cleveland Indians 8775 0.537 15 52–30 35–45
New York Yankees 7785 0.475 25 40–43 37–42
Los Angeles/California Angels 7587 0.463 27 46–34 29–53
Washington Senators 7092 0.432 32 36–45 34–47
Boston Red Sox 62100 0.383 40 34–47 28–53
Kansas City Athletics 59103 0.364 43 33–48 26–55

Record vs. opponents
1965 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA/
CAL		 MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore —11–79–910–811–711–713–58–1013–58–10
Boston 7–11—4–148–106–1211–75–131–179–911–7
Chicago 9–914–4—10–89–913–512–67–118–1013–5
Cleveland 8–1010–88–10—9–99–99–911–712–611–7
Detroit 7–1112–69–99–9—13–510–88–1010–811–7
Kansas City 7–117–115–139–95–13—5–138–107–116–12
Los Angeles/California 5–1313–56–129–98–1013–5—9–96–126–12
Minnesota 10–817–111–77–1110–810–89–9—13–515–3
New York 5–139–910–86–128–1011–712–65–13—11–7
Washington 10–87–115–137–117–1112–612–63–157–11—

NOTE: The Los Angeles Angels changed their name to California Angels on September 2, 1965, with the season in progress.

Notable transactions
Round 1: Rick Monday (1st pick). Player signed June 15, 1965.[13]
Round 2: Joe Keough [14]
Round 3: Bob Stinson (did not sign)
Round 4: Pete Koegel
Round 6: Sal Bando [15]
Round 7: Scott Reid (did not sign)
Round 10: George Lauzerique
Round 15: Bobby Brooks
Round 20: Gene Tenace
Round 28: Greg Garrett (did not sign)

Roster
1965 Kansas City Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

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
CFJim Landis11836487.239336
RFMike Hershberger150494114.231548

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
Nelson Mathews6718439.212215

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
Satchel Paige13000.001

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
Don Buschhorn1231014.359

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
Jim Dickson683203.4754
John Wyatt6526183.2570
Jack Aker344333.1626

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Vancouver Mounties Pacific Coast League Haywood Sullivan and Bobby Hofman
AA Birmingham Barons Southern League John McNamara
A Leesburg Athletics Florida State League Tony Frulio
A Burlington Bees Midwest League Gus Niarhos
A Shelby Rebels Western Carolinas League Wes Ferrell and Jimmy Williams
Short-Season A Lewiston Broncos Northwest League Bobby Hofman, Bill Posedel and Al Ronning

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Burlington

References
  1. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.92, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  2. Tommy John page at Baseball Reference
  3. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.78, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  4. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.92, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  5. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.86, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  6. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.93, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  7. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.93, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  8. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.94, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  9. Joe Rudi page at Baseball-Reference
  10. Doc Edwards page at Baseball-Reference
  11. Don Mossi page at Baseball-Reference
  12. 1965 Kansas City Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
  13. Rick Monday page at Baseball-Reference
  14. Joe Keough page at Baseball-Reference
  15. Sal Bando page at Baseball-Reference
  16. Satchel Paige page at Baseball Reference
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