1913 Philadelphia Athletics

1913 Philadelphia Athletics / Franchise: Oakland Athletics / BR Team Page

Record: 96-57, Finished 1st in American League (1913 AL)

Clinched Pennant: September 22, 1913, vs. Detroit Tigers

World Series Champs

Managed by Connie Mack

Ballpark: Shibe Park

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1913 Philadelphia Athletics rose back to the top of the American League standing after finishing third in 1912, albeit with a creditable 90 wins. Their starting rotation was anchored by three veteran pitchers, Albert Bender (21-10, 2.21, 13 saves), Eddie Plank (18-10, 2.60) and Boardwalk Brown (17-11, 2.94), but one of their best moundsmen over the previous two season, Jack Coombs, missed all but two games, being felled by what was fist described as the flu but turned out to be typhoid fever. Three youngsters made important contributions in his stead, with Bob Shawkey (6-5, 2.34), Bullet Joe Bush (15-6, 3.82) and Byron Houck (14-6, 4.14) helping to make this a good enough pitching staff to finish first.

The heart of the Athletics' offense was their vaunted "$100,000 infield" composed of 1B Stuffy McInnis (.324, 90 RBI); 2B Eddie Collins (.345, 145 R, 55 SB); SS Jack Barry (.275, 85 RBI); and 3B Frank Baker (.337, 12 HR, 1116 R, 117 RBI). The addition of OF Eddie Murphy (.295, 105 R) and the return to form of Rube Oldring (.283, 101 R) gave them the best line-up in the league, putting them over the top. They were a strong running team, as apart from Collins, 7 other players were in double figures in stolen bases. They finished second in the league with 227 swipes (the Washington Senators had 287, outdistancing every one by a mile), and led the league in runs, hits, doubles, homers (with just 33 - this was the heart of the Deadball Era after all) and tied for the lead in walks with the New York Yankees.

The A's reached first place on April 24th, then won 15 consecutive games from May 27-June 10 and were 51-17 on July 3rd. The second-place team at that point were the surprising Cleveland Naps, who eventually finished third, behind the Senators. The Athletics finished with 96 wins and a 6 1/2 game lead on Washington, the pennant never really being in doubt after their hot start.

Standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Philadelphia Athletics	96	57	.627	--
Washington Senators	90	64	.584	6½
Cleveland Naps	86	66	.566	9½
Boston Red Sox	79	71	.527	15½
Chicago White Sox	78	74	.513	17½
Detroit Tigers	66	87	.431	30
New York Yankees	57	94	.377	38
St. Louis Browns	57	96	.373	39

World Series

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Athletics - 6, Giants - 4,	October 7	Polo Grounds	36,291
2	Giants - 3, Athletics - 0 (10 innings)	October 8	Shibe Park	20,563
3	Athletics - 8, Giants - 2	October 9	Polo Grounds	36,896
4	Giants - 5, Athletics - 6	October 10	Shibe Park	20,568
5	Athletics - 3, Giants - 1	October 11	Polo Grounds	36,682

Further Reading

• Richard Adler: Mack, McGraw and the 1913 Baseball Season, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2008.
• Lew Freedman: Connie Mack's First Dynasty: The Philadelphia Athletics, 1910–1914, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2017. ISBN 978-0-7864-9627-3

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Athletics over Giants (4-1)