The 1963

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...

season was the ninth for the franchise in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

and the 63rd overall. It involved the A's finishing eighth in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

with a record of 73 wins and 89 losses, 31½ games behind the AL Champion

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. The 1963 season was also the first season in which the Athletics debuted their current color scheme of green and gold.

Regular season

*Owner

Charlie Finley Charles Oscar Finley (February 22, 1918 – February 19, 1996), nicknamed Charlie O or Charley O, was an American businessman who owned Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas Cit ...

changed the team's colors to

Kelly green Shades of chartreuse are listed below. Historically, many of these colors have gone under the name of either yellow or green, as the specifics of their color composition was not known until later. Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel In a c ...

, Fort Knox Gold and Wedding Gown White, and replaced

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...

's elephant mascot with a Missouri

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...

— not just a cartoon logo, but a real mule, which he named after himself: " Charlie O, the Mule." In reading the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

, Charlie Finley read about the Missouri Mule, a mule which helped troops in World War I carry ammunition. Finley decided that a mule would become the club's new mascot. *He also began phasing out the team name "Athletics" in favor of simply, "A's." In June 1963,

Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...

wrote of the uniforms,

Kelly green is the Athletics' accent color. It was more a nauseous green the players wore on their wholesome, clean-cut faces the first few times they had to appear in public looking like refugees from a softball league.

*Owner Charlie Finley was upset about his stadium deal with Kansas City. He had visited Dallas, Texas and Oakland, California as prospective places for relocation. Finley also talked to

Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

sportswriter

Furman Bisher James Furman Bisher (November 4, 1918 – March 18, 2012) was a newspaper sports writer and columnist for ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' in Atlanta, Georgia. North Carolina beginnings Bisher was born in Denton, North Carolina.Associa ...

about relocating the A's to Atlanta. Later in the season, Finley made threats of moving the club to Louisville, Kentucky and renaming the franchise the Kentucky Colonels. As a sign of protest, Finley relocated the A's offices from the stadium to the garage of team scout J Bowman.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

* May 25, 1963:

Joe Azcue José Joaquín Azcue López (born August 18, 1939) is a Cuban former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher, most prominently as a member of the Cleveland Indians where he played the bulk of his ...

and

Dick Howser Richard Dalton Howser (May 14, 1936 – June 17, 1987) was an American Major League Baseball shortstop, coach, and manager who was best known as the manager of the Kansas City Royals during the 1980s and for guiding them to the franchise's first W ...

were traded by the Athletics to the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

for

Doc Edwards Howard Rodney "Doc" Edwards (December 10, 1938 – August 20, 2018), was an American professional baseball catcher, Manager (baseball), manager, and Coach (baseball), coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Cleveland Indians, Kan ...

and $100,000. * May 26, 1963:

Sammy Esposito Samuel Esposito (December 15, 1931 – July 9, 2018) was an American professional baseball third baseman and shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 10 seasons on the Chicago White Sox (1952, 1955–1963) and Kansas City Athletics ...

was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

Roster

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''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Other pitchers

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

Relief pitchers

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

Awards and honors

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

Norm Siebern Norman Leroy Siebern (July 26, 1933 – October 30, 2015) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He appeared in 1,406 games over a 12-year career in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder for the New York Yankee ...

, reserve

Farm system

References

External links

1963 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference1963 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
{{Oakland Athletics Oakland Athletics seasons

1963 in sports in Missouri