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1929 Philadelphia Athletics season

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1929 Philadelphia Athletics
World Series Champions
American League Champions
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkShibe Park
CityPhiladelphia
OwnersConnie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
ManagersConnie Mack
← 1928
1930 ⊟

The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing first in the American League with a record of 104 wins and 46 losses. After finishing in second place to the New York Yankees in 1927 and 1928, the club won the 1929 pennant by a large 18-game margin. The club won the World Series over the National League champion Chicago Cubs, four games to one.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Led by longtime owner-manager Connie Mack, the Athletics dominated during the regular season. Mack had purchased quite a few players from the Baltimore Orioles minor league club, and many of them would contribute to the A's 1929–31 dynasty.[citation needed]

The most famous of these players was ace Lefty Grove. In 1929, Grove led the American League in ERA and strikeouts on his way to a 20–6 record. Big George Earnshaw was the number two pitcher on the squad. He led the league in wins (24) and was second in strikeouts. Led by these two, Philadelphia allowed the fewest runs of any AL team.

On the offensive side, the A's boasted future Hall of Famers Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, and Al Simmons. Simmons beat out Babe Ruth for the RBI crown in 1929.

Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Athletics 104 46 .693 — 57‍–‍16 47‍–‍30
New York Yankees 88 66 .571 18 49‍–‍28 39‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians 81 71 .533 24 44‍–‍32 37‍–‍39
St. Louis Browns 79 73 .520 26 41‍–‍36 38‍–‍37
Washington Senators 71 81 .467 34 37‍–‍40 34‍–‍41
Detroit Tigers 70 84 .455 36 38‍–‍39 32‍–‍45
Chicago White Sox 59 93 .388 46 35‍–‍41 24‍–‍52
Boston Red Sox 58 96 .377 48 32‍–‍45 26‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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1929 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 11–11 9–13 8–14 5–17 4–18 11–11–1 10–12
Chicago 11–11 — 9–12 10–12 6–16 9–13 4–17 10–12
Cleveland 13–9 12–9 — 11–11 14–8 7–14 10–12 14–8
Detroit 14–8 12–10 11–11 — 9–13 4–18 10–12 10–12–1
New York 17–5 16–6 8–14 13–9 — 8–14 14–8 12–10
Philadelphia 18–4 13–9 14–7 18–4 14–8 — 11–10–1 16–4
St. Louis 11–11–1 17–4 12–10 12–10 8–14 10–11–1 — 9–13
Washington 12–10 12–10 8–14 12–10–1 10–12 4–16 13–9 —


Roster

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1929 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Mickey Cochrane 135 514 170 .331 7 95
1B Jimmie Foxx 149 517 183 .354 33 118
2B Max Bishop 129 475 110 .232 3 36
3B Sammy Hale 101 379 105 .277 1 40
SS Joe Boley 91 303 76 .251 2 47
LF Al Simmons 143 581 212 .365 34 157
CF Mule Haas 139 578 181 .313 16 82
RF Bing Miller 147 556 184 .331 8 93

Other batters

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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
INF Jimmy Dykes 119 401 131 .327 13 79
OF Homer Summa 37 81 22 .272 0 10
C Cy Perkins 38 76 16 .211 0 9
INF Joe Cronin 25 56 13 .232 0 4
OF Ossie Orwoll 30 51 13 .255 0 6
IB George Burns 29 49 13 .265 1 11
OF Walter French 45 45 12 .267 1 9
2B Bud Morse 8 27 2 .074 0 0
OF Bevo LeBourveau 12 16 5 .313 0 2
SS Eric McNair 4 8 4 .500 0 3
PH Eddie Collins 9 7 0 .000 0 0
C Cloy Mattox 3 6 1 .167 0 0
OF Doc Cramer 2 6 0 .000 0 0
3B Rudy Miller 2 4 1 .250 0 1
SS Joe Hassler 4 4 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L ERA SO
Lefty Grove 42 37 275.1 20 6 2.81 170
Rube Walberg 40 33 267.2 18 11 3.60 94
George Earnshaw 44 33 254.2 24 8 3.29 149
Jack Quinn 35 18 161.0 11 9 3.97 41

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bill Shores 39 152.2 11 6 3.60 49
Eddie Rommel 32 113.2 12 2 2.85 25
Howard Ehmke 11 54.2 7 2 3.29 20
Bill Breckinridge 3 10.0 0 0 8.10 2

Note: Bill Shores was team leader in saves with 7.

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Carroll Yerkes 19 1 0 1 4.58 11
Ossie Orwoll 12 0 2 1 4.80 12

1929 World Series

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Main article: 1929 World Series

AL Philadelphia Athletics (4) vs. NL Chicago Cubs (1)

Game Score Date Location Attendance
1 Athletics – 3, Cubs – 1 October 8 Wrigley Field 50,740
2 Athletics – 9, Cubs – 3 October 9 Wrigley Field 49,987
3 Cubs – 3, Athletics – 1 October 11 Shibe Park 29,921
4 Cubs – 8, Athletics – 10 October 12 Shibe Park 29,921
5 Cubs – 2, Athletics – 3 October 14 Shibe Park 29,921

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AA Baltimore Orioles International League Fritz Maisel
D Martinsburg Blue Sox Blue Ridge League Dan O'Leary

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Awards and honors

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League leaders

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More recent honors

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Al Simmons and the 1929–1931 Athletics were the subject of an August 19, 1996, cover story in Sports Illustrated with the teaser, "The Team that Time Forgot". Author William Nack wrote, "according to most old-timers who played in that era, the 1927 and '28 Yankees and the 1929 and '30 Athletics matched up so closely that they were nearly equal, with the A's given the nod in fielding and pitching and the Yankees in hitting."[4]

On August 16, 2009, the Oakland Athletics celebrated the 80th anniversary of the 1929 team by wearing 1929 home uniforms against the Chicago White Sox. First pitches were thrown out by Kathleen Kelly, the granddaughter of Connie Mack, and Jim Conlin, the grandson of Jimmie Foxx.[5] The A's won the game on a walk-off home run by Mark Ellis.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Homer Summa 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
  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. ^ Nack, William (August 19, 1996). "Lost in History". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  5. ^ "A's celebrate 80th anniversary of 1929 season with Turn-Back-the-Clock Day". MLB.com. August 11, 2009. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
  6. ^ Loberstein, Adam (August 16, 2009). "Ellis' homer gives A's walk-off victory". MLB.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
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