1953 American Association season

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The 1953 American Association season was the 52nd in the league's history, and ended with the Kansas City Blues winning their second straight league championship. The Blues would go on to lose the Junior World Series.

Final standings

Playoff teams in bold.

	W	L	Pct.	GB	Manager	Affiliation
Toledo Sox	90	64	.584	--	Tommy Holmes/George Selkirk	Milwaukee Braves
Kansas City Blues	88	66	.571	2	Harry Craft	New York Yankees
Louisville Colonels	84	70	.545	6	Pinky Higgins	Boston Red Sox
Indianapolis Indians	82	72	.532	8	Birdie Tebbetts	Cleveland Indians
Minneapolis Millers	76	78	.494	14	Freddie Fitzsimmons/Frank Genovese	New York Giants
St. Paul Saints	72	82	.468	18	Clay Bryant	Brooklyn Dodgers
Columbus Red Birds	64	90	.416	26	Johnny Keane	St. Louis Cardinals
Charleston Senators	60	94	.390	30	Joe Becker	Chicago White Sox

Playoffs

	First Round					Championship Finals
	1	Toledo Sox	4
	3	Louisville Colonels	3
						1	Toledo Sox	3
						2	Kansas City Blues	4
	2	Kansas City Blues	4
	4	Indianapolis Indians	2

First Round

Toledo vs. Louisville Date Away Home September 15 Louisville 3 Toledo 4 September 16 Louisville 3 Toledo 0 September 17 Louisville 2 Toledo 3 September 19 Toledo 0 Louisville 2 September 20 Toledo 5 Louisville 4 10 innings September 21 Toledo 2 Louisville 3 September 22 Toledo 5 Louisville 2 Toledo wins series 4-3

Kansas City vs. Indianapolis Date Away Home September 15 Indianapolis 3 Kansas City 0 September 16 Indianapolis 1 Kansas City 4 September 17 Indianapolis 3 Kansas City 4 September 18 Kansas City 2 Indianapolis 5 September 20 Kansas City 3 Indianapolis 2 11 innings September 21 Kansas City 2 Indianapolis 0 Kansas City wins series 4-2

Championship Finals

Toledo vs. Kansas City Date Away Home September 23 Kansas City 5 Toledo 2 September 24 Kansas City 9 Toledo 8 September 26 Kansas City 10 Toledo 0 September 27 Toledo 8 Kansas City 3 September 28 Toledo 5 Kansas City 4 September 29 Toledo 4 Kansas City 2 September 30 Toledo 1 Kansas City 4 Kansas City wins series 4-3 and advances to Junior World Series

League Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average Vic Power, Kansas City, .349
• Runs Scored Sam Jethroe, Toledo, 137
• Hits Power, 237
• Doubles Billy Klaus, Toledo, 41
• Triples Dave Pope, Indianapolis, 14
• Home Runs George Wilson, Minneapolis, 34
• Runs Batted In Wally Post, Indianapolis, 120
• Stolen Bases Don Nicholas, Charlotte, 41

Pitching

• Wins Gene Conley, Toledo, 23
• Earned Run Average Conley, 2.90
• Complete Games Conley, 24
• Shutouts Conley, 4
• Strikeouts Conley, 211

References

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. W. Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, editors. Baseball America, 1993.

1954 Baseball Guide