1928 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1928 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing second in the American League with a record of 98 wins and 55 losses. The team featured seven eventual Hall-of-Fame players: Ty Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Al Simmons, and Tris Speaker.

1928 Philadelphia Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkShibe Park
CityPhiladelphia
OwnersConnie Mack, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
ManagersConnie Mack
← 1927
1929 →

Offseason

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  • February 5, 1928: Tris Speaker was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.[1]

Regular season

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By this time, the nucleus of the 1929–31 dynasty was in place for the A's. The team featured three starters who were later elected into the Hall of Fame: catcher Mickey Cochrane and outfielders Al Simmons and Ty Cobb. Cochrane was voted league MVP. Simmons led the team with a .351 batting average and 107 RBI. Cobb, in his last major league season, hit .323 in 95 games. Jimmie Foxx, Tris Speaker, and Eddie Collins also saw playing time for the 1928 team.

The pitching staff, led by 24-game winner Lefty Grove, allowed the fewest runs in the AL.

The A's were in a hard fought pennant race with the New York Yankees this season. After trailing the Yankees by 13.5 games on July 1, the A's caught fire with a 25-8 record in July and a 19-9 record in August. In September, the A's won the first 6 out of 8 games and on the 8th pulled into first place by 1/2 game by sweeping the Red Sox at Fenway Park in a doubleheader. However, on the very next day, the A's were swept by the Yankees in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium to fall back into second place. The A's kept close on the Yankees heels, but couldn't overtake New York.

Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 101 53 .656 52‍–‍25 49‍–‍28
Philadelphia Athletics 98 55 .641 52‍–‍25 46‍–‍30
St. Louis Browns 82 72 .532 19 43‍–‍34 39‍–‍38
Washington Senators 75 79 .487 26 37‍–‍43 38‍–‍36
Chicago White Sox 72 82 .468 29 37‍–‍40 35‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers 68 86 .442 33 36‍–‍41 32‍–‍45
Cleveland Indians 62 92 .403 39 28‍–‍49 34‍–‍43
Boston Red Sox 57 96 .373 43½ 26‍–‍47 31‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston 10–12 9–13 7–15 6–16 3–18 9–13 13–9–1
Chicago 12–10 12–10–1 13–9 9–13 6–16 10–12 10–12
Cleveland 13–9 10–12–1 10–12 6–16 6–16 7–15 10–12
Detroit 15–7 9–13 12–10 7–15 8–14 9–13 8–14
New York 16–6 13–9 16–6 15–7 16–6 12–10 13–9
Philadelphia 18–3 16–6 16–6 14–8 6–16 16–6 12–10
St. Louis 13–9 12–10 15–7 13–9 10–12 6–16 13–9
Washington 9–13–1 12–10 12–10 14–8 9–13 10–12 9–13


Roster

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1928 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 131 468 137 .293 10 57
1B Joe Hauser 95 300 78 .260 16 59
2B Max Bishop 126 472 149 .316 6 50
3B Sammy Hale 88 314 97 .309 4 58
SS Joe Boley 132 425 112 .264 0 49
OF Bing Miller 139 510 168 .329 8 85
OF Al Simmons 119 464 163 .351 15 107
OF Ty Cobb 95 353 114 .323 1 40

[2]

Other batters

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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
Jimmie Foxx 118 400 131 .328 13 79
Mule Haas 91 332 93 .280 6 39
Jimmy Dykes 85 242 67 .277 5 30
Tris Speaker 64 191 51 .267 3 30
Ossie Orwoll 64 170 52 .306 0 22
Walter French 48 74 19 .257 0 7
Joe Hassler 28 34 9 .265 0 3
Eddie Collins 36 33 10 .303 0 7
Cy Perkins 19 29 5 .172 0 1

[2]

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Lefty Grove 39 261.2 24 8 2.58 183
Rube Walberg 38 235.2 17 12 3.55 112
Jack Quinn 31 211.1 18 7 2.90 43
George Earnshaw 26 158.1 7 7 3.81 117
Howard Ehmke 23 139.1 9 8 3.62 34

Other pitchers

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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 43 173.2 13 5 3.06 37
Ossie Orwoll 27 106.0 6 5 4.58 53
Bill Shores 3 14.0 1 1 3.21 5
Carroll Yerkes 2 8.2 0 1 2.08 1

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Joe Bush 11 2 1 1 5.09 15
Ike Powers 9 1 0 2 4.50 4
Jing Johnson 3 0 0 0 5.06 3
Art Daney 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Awards and honors

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League top five finishers

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Max Bishop

  • #4 in AL in on-base percentage (.435)

Lefty Grove

  • AL leader in wins (24)
  • AL leader in strikeouts (183)
  • #3 in AL in ERA (2.58)[3]

Joe Hauser

  • #4 in AL in home runs (16)

Al Simmons

  • #4 in AL in batting average (.351)

References

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  1. ^ Tris Speaker page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ a b "1928 Philadelphia Athletics Statistics".
  3. ^ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.51, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
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