1953 Philadelphia Athletics season
The 1953 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing seventh in the American League with a record of 59 wins and 95 losses, games behind the New York Yankees, who would win their fifth consecutive World Series Championship. It was also the penultimate season for the franchise in Philadelphia.
Offseason
- January 27, 1953: Ferris Fain and Bob Wilson were traded by the Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Joe DeMaestri, Ed McGhee and Eddie Robinson.
- February 2, 1953: Sam Zoldak was released by the Athletics.
Regular season
During the season, Bob Trice became the first black player in the history of 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 | Ray Murray | 84 | 268 | 76 | .284 | 6 | 41 |
| 1B | 156 | 615 | 152 | .247 | 22 | 102 | |
| 2B | Cass Michaels | 117 | 411 | 103 | .251 | 12 | 42 |
| SS | 111 | 420 | 107 | .255 | 6 | 35 | |
| 3B | Loren Babe | 103 | 343 | 77 | .224 | 0 | 20 |
| OF | Gus Zernial | 147 | 556 | 158 | .284 | 42 | 108 |
| OF | 104 | 358 | 94 | .263 | 1 | 29 | |
| OF | Dave Philley | 157 | 620 | 188 | .303 | 9 | 59 |
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 |
| Pete Suder | 115 | 454 | 130 | .286 | 4 | 35 |
| Joe Astroth | 82 | 260 | 77 | .296 | 3 | 24 |
| Eddie Joost | 51 | 177 | 44 | .249 | 6 | 15 |
| Carmen Mauro | 64 | 165 | 44 | .267 | 0 | 17 |
| Elmer Valo | 50 | 85 | 19 | .224 | 0 | 9 |
| Allie Clark | 20 | 74 | 15 | .203 | 3 | 13 |
| 58 | 56 | 11 | .196 | 0 | 5 | |
| Kite Thomas | 24 | 49 | 6 | .122 | 0 | 2 |
| Neal Watlington | 21 | 44 | 7 | .159 | 0 | 3 |
| Tommy Giordano | 11 | 40 | 7 | .175 | 2 | 5 |
| Spider Wilhelm | 7 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Kolloway | 2 | 1 | 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 | 236.2 | 11 | 20 | 5.51 | 122 | |
| Alex Kellner | 25 | 201.2 | 11 | 12 | 3.93 | 81 |
| Bobby Shantz | 16 | 105.2 | 5 | 9 | 4.09 | 58 |
| 3 | 23.0 | 2 | 1 | 5.48 | 4 |
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 |
| 39 | 211.0 | 9 | 12 | 3.88 | 67 | |
| 39 | 160.2 | 3 | 14 | 5.66 | 66 | |
| Morrie Martin | 58 | 156.1 | 10 | 12 | 4.43 | 64 |
| Carl Scheib | 28 | 96.0 | 3 | 7 | 4.88 | 25 |
| 21 | 90.0 | 3 | 4 | 4.00 | 18 |
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 |
| 26 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5.55 | 37 | |
| Bobo Newsom | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.89 | 16 |
| Rinty Monahan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.22 | 2 |
| Dick Rozek | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 2 |
| Walt Kellner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 4 |
| Bill Harrington | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |
| John Mackinson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |