1901 Philadelphia Athletics season

The 1901 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing fourth in the American League with a record of 74 wins and 62 losses. The franchise that would become the modern Athletics originated in 1901 as a new franchise in the American League.

Before the 1901 season

The Western League had been renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Bancroft (Ban) Johnson, and declared itself the second major league in 1901.
In 1901, Johnson created new franchises in the east and eliminated some franchises in the west. Philadelphia seems to have been a new franchise created to compete with the National League's Philadelphia Phillies. Former catcher Connie Mack was recruited to manage the club. Mack in turn persuaded Phillies minority owner Ben Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics. He himself bought a 25 percent interest.

Regular season

In 1901, Nap Lajoie jumped from the Phillies to the crosstown Philadelphia Athletics, owned by Connie Mack. Lajoie's batting average that year was.426, still a league record. The same year Lajoie became the second major leaguer to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded after Abner Dalrymple in 1881.

Notable transactions

June 1901: Tom Leahy was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
July 1901: Tom Leahy was acquired from the Athletics by the Providence Grays.
July 20, 1901: Snake Wiltse was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

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		116	431	108	.251	1	47
1B		117	496	152	.306	8	76
2B		131	544	232	.426	14	125
3B		100	424	139	.328	2	73
SS		98	338	73	.216	1	38
OF		114	449	150	.334	8	90
OF		82	308	85	.276	0	46
OF		132	561	164	.292	0	52

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
	50	211	49	.232	0	23
	51	211	56	.265	0	17
	45	171	37	.216	0	16
	27	88	23	.261	0	7
	11	34	11	.324	0	3
	9	34	3	.088	0	2
	9	28	6	.214	0	6
	5	22	5	.227	0	2
	5	15	5	.333	0	1
	3	9	1	.111	0	0
	2	8	1	.125	0	0
	2	8	1	.125	0	0
	2	2	0	.000	0	0

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
	40	331.0	22	16	3.81	110
	33	260.2	17	13	3.31	90
	31	257.0	17	10	4.52	58
	19	166.0	13	5	3.58	40
	18	140.0	5	12	4.63	45
	1	6.0	0	1	10.50	1
	1	4.0	0	1	11.25	0
	1	1.0	0	1	27.00	0

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
	6	33.0	0	3	4.36	5

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
	1	0	0	0	0.00	1