1929 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing 1st 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 went on to win the World Series over the NL champion Chicago Cubs, four games to one.

1929 Philadelphia Athletics
1929 AL Champions
1929 World Series Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Connie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
Manager(s)Connie Mack
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Offseason

Regular season

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.

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 Hall of Famers Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, and Al Simmons. Simmons beat out Babe Ruth for the RBI crown in 1929.

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Athletics 10446 0.693 — 57–16 47–30
New York Yankees 8866 0.571 18 49–28 39–38
Cleveland Indians 8171 0.533 24 44–32 37–39
St. Louis Browns 7973 0.520 26 41–36 38–37
Washington Senators 7181 0.467 34 37–40 34–41
Detroit Tigers 7084 0.455 36 38–39 32–45
Chicago White Sox 5993 0.388 46 35–41 24–52
Boston Red Sox 5896 0.377 48 32–45 26–51

Record vs. opponents
1929 American League Records

Sources:
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHI STL WSH
Boston —11–119–138–145–174–1811–11–110–12
Chicago 11–11—9–1210–126–169–134–1710–12
Cleveland 13–912–9—11–1114–87–1410–1214–8
Detroit 14–812–1011–11—9–134–1810–1210–12–1
New York 17–516–68–1413–9—8–1414–812–10
Philadelphia 18–413–914–718–414–8—11–10–116–4
St. Louis 11–11–117–412–1012–108–1410–11–1—9–13
Washington 12–1012–108–1412–10–110–124–1613–9—

Roster
1929 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

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
CMickey Cochrane135514170.331795
1BJimmie Foxx149517183.35433118
2BMax Bishop129475110.232336
3BSammy Hale101379105.277140
SSJoe Boley9130376.251247
LFAl Simmons143581212.36534157
CFMule Haas139578181.3131682
RFBing Miller147556184.331893

Other batters

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
INFJimmy Dykes119401131.3271379
OFHomer Summa378122.272010
CCy Perkins387616.21109
INFJoe Cronin255613.23204
OFOssie Orwoll305113.25506
IBGeorge Burns294913.265111
OFWalter French454512.26719
2BBud Morse8272.07400
OFBevo LeBourveau12165.31302
SSEric McNair484.50003
PHEddie Collins970.00000
CCloy Mattox361.16700
OFDoc Cramer260.00000
3BRudy Miller241.25001
SSJoe Hassler440.00000

Starting pitchers

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 Grove4237275.12062.81170
Rube Walberg4033267.218113.6094
George Earnshaw4433254.22483.29149
Jack Quinn3518161.01193.9741

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
Bill Shores39152.21163.6049
Eddie Rommel32113.21222.8525
Howard Ehmke1154.2723.2920
Bill Breckinridge310008.102

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
Carroll Yerkes191014.5811
Ossie Orwoll120214.8012

1929 World Series
Main article: 1929 World Series

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

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Athletics – 3, Cubs – 1October 8Wrigley Field50,740
2Athletics – 9, Cubs – 3October 9Wrigley Field49,987
3Cubs – 3, Athletics – 1October 11Shibe Park29,921
4Cubs – 8, Athletics – 10October 12Shibe Park29,921
5Cubs – 2, Athletics – 3October 14Shibe Park29,921

Farm system
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

[2]

Awards and honors

League leaders

More recent honors

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
  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 August 17, 2009.
  5. "A's celebrate 80th anniversary of 1929 season with Turn-Back-the-Clock Day". MLB.com. August 11, 2009. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
  6. Loberstein, Adam (August 16, 2009). "Ellis' homer gives A's walk-off victory". MLB.com. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
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