The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing first in the American League with a record of 104 wins and 46 losses. After finishing in second place to the New York Yankees in 1927 and 1928, the club won the 1929 pennant by a large 18-game margin. The club won the World Series over the National League champion Chicago Cubs, four games to one.
Offseason January 5, 1929: Homer Summa was purchased by the Athletics from the Cleveland Indians.
Regular season Led by longtime owner-manager Connie Mack, the Athletics dominated during the regular season. Mack had purchased quite a few players from the Baltimore Orioles minor league club, and many of them would contribute to the A's 1929–31 dynasty.
The most famous of these players was ace Lefty Grove. In 1929, Grove led the American League in ERA and strikeouts on his way to a 20–6 record. Big George Earnshaw was the number two pitcher on the squad. He led the league in wins (24) and was second in strikeouts. Led by these two, Philadelphia allowed the fewest runs of any AL team.
On the offensive side, the A's boasted future Hall of Famers Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, and Al Simmons. Simmons beat out Babe Ruth for the RBI crown in 1929.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster 1929 Philadelphia Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders
Other batters Manager
Player stats = Indicates team leader = Indicates league leader 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 135 514 170 .331 7 95 1B 149 517 183 .354 33 118 2B 129 475 110 .232 3 36 3B 101 379 105 .277 1 40 SS 91 303 76 .251 2 47 LF 143 581 212 .365 34 157 CF 139 578 181 .313 16 82 RF 147 556 184 .331 8 93
Other batters 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 INF 119 401 131 .327 13 79 OF 37 81 22 .272 0 10 C 38 76 16 .211 0 9 INF 25 56 13 .232 0 4 OF 30 51 13 .255 0 6 IB 29 49 13 .265 1 11 OF 45 45 12 .267 1 9 2B 8 27 2 .074 0 0 OF 12 16 5 .313 0 2 SS 4 8 4 .500 0 3 PH 9 7 0 .000 0 0 C 3 6 1 .167 0 0 OF 2 6 0 .000 0 0 3B 2 4 1 .250 0 1 SS 4 4 0 .000 0 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G GS IP W L ERA SO 42 37 275.1 20 6 2.81 170 40 33 267.2 18 11 3.60 94 44 33 254.2 24 8 3.29 149 35 18 161.0 11 9 3.97 41
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 39 152.2 11 6 3.60 49 32 113.2 12 2 2.85 25 11 54.2 7 2 3.29 20 3 10.0 0 0 8.10 2 Note: Bill Shores was team leader in saves with 7.
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 19 1 0 1 4.58 11 12 0 2 1 4.80 12
1929 World Series
AL Philadelphia Athletics (4) vs. NL Chicago Cubs (1) GameScoreDateLocationAttendance1 Athletics – 3, Cubs – 1 October 8Wrigley Field 50,7402 Athletics – 9, Cubs – 3 October 9Wrigley Field 49,9873 Cubs – 3, Athletics – 1 October 11Shibe Park 29,9214 Cubs – 8, Athletics – 10 October 12Shibe Park 29,9215 Cubs – 2, Athletics – 3 October 14Shibe Park 29,921
Farm system
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
Awards and honors
League leaders Lefty Grove, American League leader, strikeoutsBaseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 51, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC,
More recent honors Al Simmons and the 1929–1931 Athletics were the subject of an August 19, 1996, cover story in Sports Illustrated with the teaser, "The Team that Time Forgot". Author William Nack wrote, "according to most old-timers who played in that era, the 1927 and '28 Yankees and the 1929 and '30 Athletics matched up so closely that they were nearly equal, with the A's given the nod in fielding and pitching and the Yankees in hitting."
On August 16, 2009, the Oakland Athletics celebrated the 80th anniversary of the 1929 team by wearing 1929 home uniforms against the Chicago White Sox. First pitches were thrown out by Kathleen Kelly, the granddaughter of Connie Mack, and Jim Conlin, the grandson of Jimmie Foxx. The A's won the game on a walk-off home run by Mark Ellis.
References
External links 1929 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1929 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com MLB.com: Photo Gallery of Oakland Athletics wearing 1929 uniforms on August 16, 2009 Lost In History: 1929 Philadelphia Athletics, Sports Illustrated August 19, 1996