1931 Philadelphia Athletics season

1931 Philadelphia Athletics 1931 AL Champions
Major league affiliations
American League (Since 1901)
Location
Shibe Park (Since 1909) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Since 1901)
1931 Information
Owner(s)	Connie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
Manager(s)	Connie Mack
Previous season     Next season

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, in a major upset, the A's lost the 1931 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

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.

Contents 1 Offseason 2 Regular season 2.1 Season standings 2.2 Roster 3 Player stats 3.1 Batting 3.1.1 Starters by position 3.1.2 Other batters 3.2 Pitching 3.2.1 Starting pitchers 3.2.2 Other pitchers 3.2.3 Relief pitchers 4 Awards and honors 4.1 League top five finishers 5 1931 World Series 6 Farm system 7 Notes 8 References

Offseason

• November 29, 1930: Homer Summa and Ossie Orwoll were traded by the Athletics to the Portland Beavers for Herb Lahti (minors).^[1]
• December 10, 1930: Cy Perkins was purchased from the Athletics by the New York Yankees.^[2]

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 MVP. 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

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Philadelphia Athletics	107	45	.704	--
New York Yankees	94	59	.614	13½
Washington Senators	92	62	.597	16
Cleveland Indians	78	76	.506	30
St. Louis Browns	63	91	.409	45
Boston Red Sox	62	90	.408	45
Detroit Tigers	61	93	.396	47
Chicago White Sox	56	97	.366	51½

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

Player stats

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	Cochrane, MickeyMickey Cochrane	122	459	160	.349	17	89
1B	Foxx, JimmieJimmie Foxx	139	515	150	.291	30	120
2B	Bishop, MaxMax Bishop	130	497	146	.294	5	37
3B	Dykes, JimmyJimmy Dykes	101	355	97	.273	3	46
SS	Williams, DibDib Williams	86	294	79	.269	6	40
LF	Simmons, AlAl Simmons	128	513	200	.390	22	128
CF	Haas, MuleMule Haas	102	440	142	.323	8	56
RF	Miller, BingBing 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
Moore, JimmyJimmy Moore	49	143	32	.224	2	21
Palmisano, JoeJoe Palmisano	19	44	10	.227	0	4

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
Walberg, RubeRube Walberg	44	291	20	12	3.74	106
Earnshaw, GeorgeGeorge Earnshaw	43	281.2	21	7	3.67	152
Grove, LeftyLefty Grove	41	288.2	31	4	2.06	175
Mahaffey, RoyRoy Mahaffey	30	162.1	15	4	4.21	59
Hoyt, WaiteWaite Hoyt	16	111	10	5	4.22	30

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
McDonald, HankHank McDonald	19	70.1	2	4	3.71	23
Peterson, JimJim Peterson	6	13	0	1	6.23	7
Krausse, LewLew Krausse	3	11	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
Carter, SolSol 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.^[3])
• 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

NL St. Louis Cardinals (4) vs. AL Philadelphia Athletics (3)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Athletics – 6, Cardinals – 2	October 1	Sportsman’s Park	38,529
2	Athletics – 0, Cardinals – 2	October 2	Sportsman’s Park	35,947
3	Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 2	October 5	Shibe Park	32,295
4	Cardinals – 0, Athletics – 3	October 6	Shibe Park	32,295
5	Cardinals – 5, Athletics – 1	October 7	Shibe Park	32,295
6	Athletics – 8, Cardinals – 1	October 9	Sportsman’s Park	39,401
7	Athletics – 2, Cardinals – 4	October 10	Sportsman’s Park	20,805

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Spencer Abbott
B	Harrisburg Senators	New York-Pennsylvania League	Joe Cobb and Eddie Onslow

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg^[4]

Notes

References

• 1931 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1931 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Preceded by Philadelphia Athletics 1930

American League Champions Philadelphia Athletics 1931

Succeeded by New York Yankees 1932

1931 MLB season by team American League Boston • Chicago • Cleveland • Detroit • New York • Philadelphia • St. Louis • Washington National League Boston • Brooklyn • Chicago • Cincinnati • New York • Philadelphia • Pittsburgh • St. Louis 1931 World Series

Oakland Athletics Formerly the Philadelphia Athletics and the Kansas City Athletics • Based in Oakland, California (Bay Area) The Franchise History • Seasons • Records • No-hitters • Players • Owners and executives • Managers • Broadcasters • Award winners and league leaders • First-round draft picks Ballparks Columbia Park • Shibe Park • Municipal Stadium • O.co Coliseum • Cashman Field • Cisco Field (proposed) Spring Training: Barrs Field • Terry Park Ballfield • Wilmington Park • McCurdy Field • Connie Mack Field • McKechnie Field • Scottsdale Stadium I • Phoenix Municipal Stadium Culture Philadelphia Athletics (football) • Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame • Athletics Nation • Charlie-O • Bash Brothers (Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire) • Stomper • $100,000 Infield • "Holy Toledo!" • Billyball • Celebration • White Cleats • Moneyball (book) • Moneyball (film) Lore The Mack Attack • Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series home run • 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake • Dallas Braden's perfect game Rivalries City Series • Bay Bridge Series Important figures Hall of Fame members Home Run Baker • Chief Bender • Mickey Cochrane • Eddie Collins • Dennis Eckersley • Rollie Fingers • Jimmie Foxx • Lefty Grove • Rickey Henderson • Catfish Hunter • Reggie Jackson • Nap Lajoie • Connie Mack • Eddie Plank • Al Simmons • Rube Waddell • Dick Williams Wall of Fame members Sam Chapman • Jack Coombs • Jimmy Dykes • George Earnshaw • Ferris Fain • Bob Johnson • Eddie Joost • Bing Miller • Wally Moses • Rube Oldring • Bobby Shantz • Eddie Rommel • Elmer Valo • Rube Walberg • Gus Zernial Franchise record holders Don Baylor • Bert Campaneris • José Canseco • Jason Giambi • Ben Grieve • Dave Kingman • Bill Lamar • Mark McGwire • Cy Morgan • Danny Murphy • Elmer Myers • Roy Grover • Blue Moon Odom • Scott Perry • Vic Power • Pete Suder Retired numbers 9 • 24 • 27 • 34 • 42 • 43 World Series Champions (9) 1910 • 1911 • 1913 • 1929 • 1930 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1989 American League Championships (15) 1902 • 1905 • 1910 • 1911 • 1913 • 1914 • 1929 • 1930 • 1931 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 Minors AAA: Sacramento River Cats • AA: Midland RockHounds • A: Stockton Ports, Burlington Bees, Vermont Lake Monsters • Rookie: Arizona League Athletics, DSL Athletics   Seasons (112) 1900s-1910s 1900 • 1901 • 1902 • 1903 • 1904 • 1905 • 1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909 • 1910 • 1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 • 1915 • 1916 • 1917 • 1918 • 1919 1920s-1930s 1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929 • 1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939 1940s-1950s 1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 • 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 1960s-1970s 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 1980s-1990s 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 2000s-2010s 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012