1965 Kansas City Athletics

1965 Kansas City Athletics / Franchise: Oakland Athletics / BR Team Page

Record: 59-103, Finished 10th in American League (1965 AL)

Managed by Mel McGaha (5-21) and Haywood Sullivan (54-82)

Coaches: Luke Appling, Tom Ferrick, Gabby Hartnett and Whitey Herzog

Ballpark: Municipal Stadium

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1965 Kansas City Athletics were a dreadful team, finishing in last place in the American League, with 103 losses, but there were a few signs that better times were on the way - although the team would have relocated to Oakland by the time these came around. For example, they were the last team in over half a century to have three starting pitcher below the age of 21, in Catfish Hunter, Don Buschhorn and Ron Tompkins. The next team to do that would be the 2018 Atlanta Braves. Another positive sign came in the inaugural amateur draft, when the Athletics had the first overall pick and selected OF Rick Monday, who would turn out to be an excellent player, the first of many stars taken by the A's via the amateur draft.

The Athletics were also the team that gave a 59-year-old Satchel Paige a chance to pitch one game, on September 25th. Paige was already a living legend by then, but he acquitted himself better than anyone thought possible, as he limited the Boston Red Sox to one hit over three scoreless innings before leaving the game. It was not the team's only stunt that year, as on September 8th, SS Bert Campaneris became the first major leaguer to play all nine positions in one game.

Awards and Honors

• All-Star: John O'Donoghue

Standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Minnesota Twins	102	60	.630	--
Chicago White Sox	95	67	.586	7
Baltimore Orioles	94	68	.580	8
Detroit Tigers	89	73	.549	13
Cleveland Indians	87	75	.537	15
New York Yankees	77	85	.475	25
California Angels	75	87	.463	27
Washington Senators	70	92	.432	32
Boston Red Sox	62	100	.383	40
Kansas City Athletics	59	103	.364	43

Further Reading

• Dom Amore: "A Paige out of history: Satchel's return in '65", mlb.com, February 6, 2022. [1]