List of Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics Opening Day starting pitchers

The Athletics are a Major League Baseball team that was originally based in Philadelphia. They moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1956 before moving to their current home, Oakland, California in 1968. They have always played in the American League. During the 20th century until their move to Kansas City, they played their home games primarily at two home ball parks – Columbia Park until 1908, and Shibe Park (renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953) from 1909 through 1967. Their home ball park in Kansas City was Municipal Stadium. The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starter is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season,[1] though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day.[2]

For the Opening Day starting pitchers since 1968, see List of Oakland Athletics Opening Day starting pitchers.
Eddie Plank made three Opening Day starts for the Athletics.

The Athletics played their first game on April 26, 1901 at Columbia Park.[3] Chick Fraser was the Opening Day starter for that game, which the Athletics lost to the Washington Senators by a score of 5–1.[3] The Athletics used 45 different Opening Day starting pitchers in their 67 seasons to moving to Oakland. The Athletics won 32 of those games against 35 losses in those Opening Day starts.[4]

Lefty Grove and Alex Kellner had the most Opening Day starts for the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics with four. Grove made four Opening Day starts for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1930. Kellner made two Opening Day starts for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1952 and 1953, and two Opening Day starts for the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 and 1956. Eddie Plank (1904, 1909, 1910), Chief Bender (1905, 1906, 1911), Jack Coombs (1907, 1912, 1913), Scott Perry (1919–1921) and Phil Marchildon (1942, 1947, 1948) each made three Opening Day starts for the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics. The other pitchers who made multiple Opening Day starts for the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics are Bullet Joe Bush, Sugar Cain, Chubby Dean, Lum Harris, Slim Harriss and Bobby Shantz. Catfish Hunter made one Opening Day start for the Kansas City Athletics, but later made three Opening Day starts for the Oakland Athletics, giving him a total of four for the franchise.[4]

In the ten years from 1904 through 1913 the Athletics used four different Opening Day starting pitchers. Plank, Bender and Coombs each made three Opening Day starts during that span. The other Opening Day start during that span was made by Nick Carter in 1908.[5] Carter made that start despite never having pitched in Major League Baseball prior to 1908 and, as it turned out, 1908 was Carter's only year in the Major Leagues.[6]

When the Athletics moved to Kansas City in 1955, Alex Kellner was the Opening Day starting pitcher.[4][7] The Athletics won the game by a score of 6–2 over the Detroit Tigers.[4][7] Kellner was the Opening Day starter for the Athletics again in 1956. However, in the 12 seasons from 1956 through their last season in Kansas City, 1967, the Athletics used a different Opening Day starting pitcher every season.

The Philadelphia Athletics were the American League champions nine times—1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914 and 1929 through 1931. They won the World Series five times, in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930 (no World Series was played in 1902). In the seasons in which the Athletics won the World Series, their Opening Day starting pitchers were Plank (1910), Bender (1911), Coombs (1913), Carroll Yerkes (1929) and Grove (1930). The Athletics lost their Opening Day game in 1910 and 1911, but won in 1913, 1929 and 1930.[4] The Kansas City Athletics never won and American League or World Series championship.[8]

Key
Year Each year is linked to an article about that particular Athletics season.
W Win
L Loss
ND (W) No Decision by starting pitcher; Athletics won game
ND (L) No Decision by starting pitcher; Athletics lost game
(W) Athletics won game; no information on starting pitcher's decision
(L) Athletics lost game; no information on starting pitcher's decision
Location Stadium in italics for home game
(#) Number of appearances as Opening Day starter
** AL Champions
† World Series Champions

Pitchers
Rube Waddell was the Athletics' Opening Day starting pitcher in 1903.
Chief Bender made three Opening Day starts for the Athletics.
Hall of Famer Herb Pennock was the Athletics Opening Day starter in 1915.
Catfish Hunter made his first of four Opening Day starts for the Athletics franchise with the Kansas City Athletics in 1966.
Year Pitcher Decision Opponent Location Reference
1901 Chick Fraser (L) Washington Senators Columbia Park [3]
1902** Bill Bernhard (W) Baltimore Orioles Oriole Park [9]
1903 Rube Waddell (L) Boston Red Sox Huntington Avenue Grounds [10]
1904 Eddie Plank (W) Washington Senators American League Park II [11]
1905** Chief Bender (W) Boston Red Sox Columbia Park [12]
1906 Chief Bender (2) (W) Washington Senators American League Park II [13]
1907 Jack Coombs (L) Boston Red Sox Columbia Park [14]
1908 Nick Carter (L) New York Yankees Hilltop Park [5]
1909 Eddie Plank (2) (W) Boston Red Sox Shibe Park [15]
1910† Eddie Plank (3) (L) Washington Senators American League Park II [16]
1911† Chief Bender (3) (L) New York Yankees Shibe Park [17]
1912 Jack Coombs (2) (W) Washington Senators Shibe Park [18]
1913† Jack Coombs (3) ND (W) Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [19]
1914** Joe Bush (L) New York Yankees Polo Grounds [20]
1915 Herb Pennock (W) Boston Red Sox Shibe Park [21]
1916 Jack Nabors (L) Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [22]
1917 Joe Bush (2) (L) Washington Senators Shibe Park [23]
1918 Elmer Myers (L) Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [24]
1919 Scott Perry (L) Washington Senators Griffith Park [25]
1920 Scott Perry (2) (W) New York Yankees Shibe Park [26]
1921 Scott Perry (3) (L) New York Yankees Polo Grounds [27]
1922 Rollie Naylor (W) Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [28]
1923 Slim Harriss (W) Washington Senators Shibe Park [29]
1924 Slim Harriss (2) (L) Washington Senators Griffith Park [30]
1925 Lefty Grove (W) Boston Red Sox Shibe Park [31]
1926 Eddie Rommel (L) Washington Senators Griffith Park [32]
1927 Lefty Grove (2) (L) New York Yankees Yankee Stadium [33]
1928 Lefty Grove (3) (L) New York Yankees Shibe Park [34]
1929† Carroll Yerkes (W) Washington Senators Griffith Park [35]
1930† Lefty Grove (4) (W) New York Yankees Shibe Park [36]
1931** Rube Walberg (W) Washington Senators Griffith Park [37]
1932 George Earnshaw (L) New York Yankees Shibe Park [38]
1933 Tony Freitas (L) Washington Senators Griffith Park [39]
1934 Sugar Cain (W) New York Yankees Shibe Park [40]
1935 Sugar Cain (2) (L) Washington Senators Griffith Park [41]
1936 Bill Dietrich (L) Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [42]
1937 Eddie Smith (W) Washington Senators Griffith Park [43]
1938 Harry Kelley (L) Washington Senators Griffith Park [44]
1939 George Caster (W) Washington Senators Shibe Park [45]
1940 Chubby Dean (W) New York Yankees Shibe Park [46]
1941 Chubby Dean (2) (W) New York Yankees Yankee Stadium [47]
1942 Phil Marchildon (L) Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [48]
1943 Lum Harris (L) Washington Senators Griffith Stadium [49]
1944 Lum Harris (2) (W) Washington Senators Griffith Stadium [50]
1945 Bobo Newsom (L) Washington Senators Shibe Park [51]
1946 Russ Christopher (L) New York Yankees Shibe Park [52]
1947 Phil Marchildon (2) (W) New York Yankees Yankee Stadium [53]
1948 Phil Marchildon (3) (W) Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [54]
1949 Dick Fowler (L) Washington Senators Griffith Stadium [55]
1950 Carl Scheib (L) Washington Senators Griffith Stadium [56]
1951 Bobby Shantz (L) Washington Senators Shibe Park [57]
1952 Alex Kellner (L) New York Yankees Shibe Park [58]
1953 Alex Kellner (2) (W) New York Yankees Yankee Stadium [59]
1954 Bobby Shantz (2) (W) Boston Red Sox Shibe Park [60]
1955 Alex Kellner (3) W Detroit Tigers Municipal Stadium [4][7]
1956 Alex Kellner (4) W Detroit Tigers Tiger Stadium [61]
1957 Tom Morgan W Detroit Tigers Municipal Stadium [62]
1958 Ned Garver W Cleveland Indians Cleveland Stadium [63]
1959 Bob Grim L Cleveland Indians Municipal Stadium [64][65]
1960 Bud Daley ND (L) Chicago White Sox Comiskey Park [66]
1961 Ray Herbert W Boston Red Sox Fenway Park [67]
1962 Ed Rakow W Minnesota Twins Municipal Stadium [68]
1963 Diego Segui L New York Yankees Municipal Stadium [69]
1964 Orlando Peña L Detroit Tigers Tiger Stadium [70]
1965 Moe Drabowsky L Detroit Tigers Municipal Stadium [71]
1966 Catfish Hunter L Minnesota Twins Metropolitan Stadium [72]
1967 Jim Nash W Cleveland Indians Municipal Stadium [73]

References
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