1931 Philadelphia Athletics season

March 2026 November 2013 Philadelphia Athletics 1931 American League champions Philadelphia Athletics Jersey Logo (1928 to 1949).svg American League Shibe Park Philadelphia 107 45 y 1st Connie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe Connie Mack The 1931 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing first in the American League with a record of 107 wins and 45 losses. It was the team's third consecutive pennant-winning season and its third consecutive season with over 100 wins. However the A's lost the 1931 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The series loss prevented the Athletics from becoming the first major league baseball team to win three consecutive World Series; the New York Yankees would accomplish the feat seven years later. The Athletics, ironically, would go on to earn their own threepeat in 1974, some forty-three years after the failed 1931 attempt. 1931 was also the A's final World Series appearance in Philadelphia. Their next AL pennant would be in 1972, after they had moved to Oakland. Offseason November 29, 1930: Homer Summa and Ossie Orwoll were traded by the Athletics to the Portland Beavers for Herb Lahti (minors).Homer Summa page at Baseball Reference December 10, 1930: Cy Perkins was purchased from the Athletics by the New York Yankees.Cy Perkins page at Baseball Reference Regular season 1931 was the greatest season of Lefty Grove's career. He went 31–4, with a 2.06 ERA and 175 strikeouts, easily winning the pitching triple crown. He was voted league Most Valuable Player. Combined with the efforts of 21- and 20-game winners George Earnshaw and Rube Walberg, Philadelphia allowed the fewest runs of any AL team. Slugger Al Simmons won the batting title with a .390 average and came in third in MVP voting. Season standings Philadelphia Athletics Record vs. opponents PHA Roster 1931 Philadelphia Athletics Roster Pitchers 19 Sol Carter 11 George Earnshaw 10 Lefty Grove 28 Waite Hoyt 18 Lew Krausse 15 Roy Mahaffey 16 Hank McDonald 17 Jim Peterson 14 Eddie Rommel 13 Bill Shores 12 Rube Walberg Catchers  2 Mickey Cochrane 20 Johnnie Heving 21 Joe Palmisano Infielders  4 Max Bishop  6 Joe Boley  5 Jimmy Dykes  3 Jimmie Foxx 22 Eric McNair 24 Phil Todt 23 Dib Williams Outfielders 26 Doc Cramer 44 Lou Finney  8 Mule Haas  9 Bing Miller 25 Jimmy Moore  7 Al Simmons Manager Connie Mack Coaches Eddie Collins Kid Gleason Earle Mack 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 Mickey Cochrane 122 459 160 .349 17 89 1B Jimmie Foxx 139 515 150 .291 30 120 2B Max Bishop 130 497 146 .294 5 37 3B Jimmy Dykes 101 355 97 .273 3 46 SS Dib Williams 86 294 79 .269 6 40 LF Al Simmons 128 513 200 .390 22 128 CF Mule Haas 102 440 142 .323 8 56 RF Bing Miller 137 534 150 .281 8 77 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 Eric McNair 79 280 76 .271 5 33 Joe Boley 67 224 51 .228 0 20 Doc Cramer 65 223 58 .260 2 20 Phil Todt 62 197 48 .244 5 44 Jimmy Moore Jimmy Moore (baseball) 49 143 32 .224 2 21 Johnnie Heving 42 113 27 .239 1 12 Joe Palmisano Joe Palmisano (baseball) 19 44 10 .227 0 4 Lou Finney 9 24 9 .375 0 3 Pitching 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 Rube Walberg 44 291.0 20 12 3.74 106 Lefty Grove 41 288.2 31 4 2.06 175 George Earnshaw 43 281.2 21 7 3.67 152 Roy Mahaffey 30 162.1 15 4 4.21 59 Waite Hoyt 16 111.0 10 5 4.22 30 Note: George Earnshaw was team leader in saves with 6. 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 Eddie Rommel 25 118.0 7 5 2.97 18 Hank McDonald 19 70.1 2 4 3.71 23 Bill Shores 6 16.0 0 3 5.06 2 Jim Peterson Jim Peterson (baseball) 6 13.0 0 1 6.23 7 Lew Krausse Lew Krausse, Sr. 3 11.0 1 0 4.09 1 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 Sol Carter 2 0 0 0 19.29 1 Awards and honors League top five finishers Mickey Cochrane #4 in AL in batting average (.349) George Earnshaw #2 in AL in strikeouts (152) #3 in AL in wins (21) Jimmie Foxx #4 in AL in home runs (30) Lefty Grove AL leader in wins (31) AL leader in ERA (2.06) (Grove's 2.06 ERA was 2.32 runs below the league average.Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.51, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, 978-1-55365-507-7) AL leader in strikeouts (175) Al Simmons AL leader in batting average (.390) #3 in AL in slugging percentage (.641) #4 in AL in RBI (128) #4 in AL in on-base percentage (.444) 1931 World Series 1931 World Series NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL Philadelphia Athletics (3) GameScoreDateLocationAttendance1 Athletics – 6, Cardinals – 2 October 1Sportsman's Park 38,5292 Athletics – 0, Cardinals – 2 October 2Sportsman's Park 35,9473 Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 2 October 5Shibe Park 32,2954 Cardinals – 0, Athletics – 3 October 6Shibe Park 32,2955 Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 1 October 7Shibe Park 32,2956 Athletics – 8, Cardinals – 1 October 9Sportsman's Park 39,4017 Athletics – 2, Cardinals – 4 October 10Sportsman's Park 20,805 Farm system Minor League Baseball AA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Spencer Abbott B Harrisburg Senators New York–Pennsylvania League Joe Cobb and Eddie Onslow LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: HarrisburgJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007 Notes 2 References 1931 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1931 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com Category:Philadelphia Athletics seasons Philadelphia Athletics season Category:American League champion seasons Oakland