1956 Kansas City Athletics season

March 2026 November 2013 Kansas City Athletics 1956 Kansas City Athletics Cap Logo (1955 to 1959).svg American League Municipal Stadium Kansas City, Missouri 52 102 y 8th Arnold Johnson Lou Boudreau KMBC(Merle Harmon, Larry Ray) The 1956 Kansas City Athletics season, the team's 56th in the American League and second in Kansas City, involved the A's finishing eighth in the American League with a record of 52 wins and 102 losses, 45 games behind the World Series champion New York Yankees. Offseason March 2, 1956: Tommy Lasorda was purchased by the Athletics from the Brooklyn Dodgers.Tommy Lasorda page at Baseball Reference Regular season Season standings Kansas City Athletics Record vs. opponents KCA Notable transactions April 16, 1956: Lee Wheat, Tom Saffell and cash were traded by the Athletics to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Tim Thompson.Lee Wheat page at Baseball Reference April 16, 1956: Johnny Groth was purchased by the Athletics from the Washington Senators.Johnny Groth page at Baseball Reference May 1956: Marion Fricano and $60,000 were traded by the Athletics to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Jack Crimian.Marion Fricano page at Baseball Reference June 14, 1956: Moe Burtschy, Bill Renna and cash were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Lou Skizas and Eddie Robinson.Lou Skizas page at Baseball Reference July 11, 1956: Tommy Lasorda was traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Wally Burnette. August 17, 1956: Joe Ginsberg was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Hal Smith.Joe Ginsberg page at Baseball Reference August 25, 1956: Enos Slaughter was selected off waivers from the Athletics by the New York Yankees.Enos Slaughter page at Baseball Reference Roster 1956 Kansas City Athletics Roster Pitchers 14 Bill Bradford 9,53 George Brunet 23 Wally Burnette 36 Moe Burtschy 19 Art Ceccarelli 16 Glenn Cox 15 Walt Craddock 24 Jack Crimian 28 Art Ditmar 39 Carl Duser 37 Tom Gorman 26 Bill Harrington 17 Troy Herriage 20 Alex Kellner 18,23 Lou Kretlow 23 Tommy Lasorda 14 Jack McMahan 25 Arnie Portocarrero 26,34 José Santiago 21 Bobby Shantz 19 Bob Spicer Catchers 11 Joe Astroth  9 Joe Ginsberg 32 Hal Smith 22 Tim Thompson Infielders  1 Mike Baxes 12 Clete Boyer  2 Joe DeMaestri  4 Jim Finigan  6 Spook Jacobs 10 Héctor López  8 Rance Pless  7 Vic Power 25 Eddie Robinson Outfielders 39 Johnny Groth 31 Dave Melton  6 Al Pilarcik 36 Jim Pisoni 34 Bill Renna 38 Harry Simpson 35 Lou Skizas 33 Enos Slaughter 35 Elmer Valo 30 Gus Zernial Manager  5 Lou Boudreau Coaches 41 Harry Craft 42 Ski Melillo 40 George Susce Player stats = Indicates team leader Batting 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 Tim Thompson 92 268 73 .272 1 27 1B Vic Power 127 530 164 .309 14 63 2B Jim Finigan 91 250 54 .216 2 21 SS Joe DeMaestri 133 434 101 .233 6 39 3B Héctor López 151 561 153 .273 18 69 LF Gus Zernial 109 272 61 .224 16 44 CF Al Pilarcik 69 239 60 .251 4 22 RF Harry Simpson 141 543 159 .293 21 105https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCA/1956.shtml 1956 Kansas City Athletics Statistics 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 Lou Skizas 83 297 94 .316 11 39 Johnny Groth 95 244 63 .258 5 37 Enos Slaughter 91 223 62 .278 2 23 Joe Ginsberg 71 195 48 .246 1 12 Eddie Robinson 75 172 34 .198 2 12 Hal Smith 37 142 39 .275 2 24 Clete Boyer 67 129 28 .217 1 4 Mike Baxes 73 106 24 .226 1 5 Spook Jacobs 32 97 21 .216 0 5 Rance Pless 48 85 23 .271 0 9 Bill Renna 33 48 13 .271 2 5 Jim Pisoni 10 30 8 .267 2 5 Joe Astroth 8 13 1 .077 0 0 Elmer Valo 9 9 2 .222 0 2 Dave Melton 3 3 1 .333 0 0 Pitching = Indicates league leader 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 Art Ditmar 44 254.1 12 22 4.42 126 Wally Burnette 18 121.1 6 8 2.89 54 Lou Kretlow 25 118.2 4 9 5.31 61 Alex Kellner 20 91.2 7 4 4.32 44 Glenn Cox 3 23.1 0 2 4.24 6 Walt Craddock 2 9.1 0 2 6.75 8 Carl Duser 2 6.0 1 1 9.00 5 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 Tom Gorman 52 171.1 9 10 3.83 56 Troy Herriage 31 103.0 1 13 6.64 59 Jack McMahan 23 61.2 0 5 4.82 13 Tommy Lasorda 18 45.1 0 4 6.15 28 José Santiago 9 21.2 1 2 8.31 9 Art Ceccarelli 3 10.0 0 1 7.20 2 George Brunet 6 9.0 0 0 7.00 5 Arnie Portocarrero 3 8.0 0 1 10.13 2 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 Bobby Shantz 45 2 7 9 4.35 67 Jack Crimian 54 4 8 3 5.51 59 Bill Harrington 23 2 2 1 6.45 14 Moe Burtschy 21 3 1 0 3.95 18 Bob Spicer 2 0 0 0 19.29 0 Bill Bradford 1 0 0 0 9.00 0 Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Columbus Jets International League Nick Cullop A Columbia Gems Sally League Hank Biasatti B Abilene Blue Sox Big State League Al Evans C Crowley Millers Evangeline League Vince Plumbo C Pocatello Bannocks Pioneer League Joe Lutz and Lou Stringer D Fitzgerald A's Georgia–Florida League Red Treadway D Grand Island Athletics Nebraska State League Art Mazmanian D Seminole Oilers Sooner State League Burl Storie LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Seminole References 2 External links 1956 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1956 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com Category:Kansas City Athletics seasons Kansas City Athletics season Category:1956 in sports in Missouri