1909 Philadelphia Athletics season

1909 Philadelphia Athletics
League	American League
Ballpark	Shibe Park
City	Philadelphia
Owners	Benjamin Shibe, Tom Shibe, John Shibe, Connie Mack, Sam Jones, Frank Hough
Managers	Connie Mack

The 1909 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing second in the American League with a record of 95 wins and 58 losses. The A's also moved into the majors' first concrete-and-steel ballpark, Shibe Park.

Regular season

Fans in Shibe Park watching the inaugural game in 1909.

In 1909, the A's were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters.

Season standings

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Detroit Tigers	98	54	.645	—	57‍–‍19	41‍–‍35
Philadelphia Athletics	95	58	.621	3½	49‍–‍27	46‍–‍31
Boston Red Sox	88	63	.583	9½	47‍–‍28	41‍–‍35
Chicago White Sox	78	74	.513	20	42‍–‍34	36‍–‍40
New York Highlanders	74	77	.490	23½	41‍–‍35	33‍–‍42
Cleveland Naps	71	82	.464	27½	39‍–‍37	32‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns	61	89	.407	36	40‍–‍37	21‍–‍52
Washington Senators	42	110	.276	56	27‍–‍48	15‍–‍62

Record vs. opponents

1909 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYH	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	13–9–1	14–8	9–13	13–9	10–11	13–7	16–6
Chicago	9–13–1	—	8–13–1	6–15–2	14–8–1	12–10	10–12–1	19–3–1
Cleveland	8–14	13–8–1	—	8–14–1	8–14	9–13	14–8	11–11
Detroit	13–9	15–6–2	14–8–1	—	14–8	8–14	18–3–1	16–6–2
New York	9–13	8–14–1	14–8	8–14	—	8–14	13–8–1	14–6
Philadelphia	11–10	10–12	13–9	14–8	14–8	—	14–8	19–3
St. Louis	7–13	12–10–1	8–14	3–18–1	8–13–1	8–14	—	15–7–1
Washington	6–16	3–19–1	11–11	6–16–2	6–14	3–19	7–15–1	—

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	Ira Thomas	84	256	57	.223	0	31
1B	Harry Davis	149	530	142	.268	4	75
2B	Eddie Collins	153	571	198	.347	3	56
SS	Jack Barry	124	409	88	.215	1	23
3B	Frank Baker	148	541	165	.305	4	85
OF	Rube Oldring	90	326	75	.230	1	28
OF	Bob Ganley	80	274	54	.197	0	9
OF	Danny Murphy	149	541	152	.281	5	69

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
Topsy Hartsel	83	267	72	.270	1	18
Heinie Heitmuller	64	210	60	.286	0	15
Paddy Livingston	64	175	41	.234	0	15
Simon Nicholls	21	71	15	.211	0	3
Jack Lapp	21	56	19	.339	0	10
Scotty Barr	22	51	4	.078	0	1
Stuffy McInnis	19	46	11	.239	1	4
Amos Strunk	11	35	4	.114	0	2
Morrie Rath	7	26	7	.269	0	3
Shoeless Joe Jackson	5	17	3	.176	0	3
Ed Larkin	2	6	1	.167	0	1
Doc Powers	1	4	1	.250	0	0
Jim Curry	1	4	1	.250	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
Eddie Plank	34	265.1	19	10	1.76	132
Chief Bender	34	250.0	18	8	1.66	161
Cy Morgan	28	228.2	16	11	1.65	81
Jack Coombs	30	205.2	12	11	2.32	97
Tommy Atkins	1	6.0	0	0	4.50	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
Harry Krause	32	213.0	18	8	1.39	139
Jimmy Dygert	32	137.1	9	5	2.42	79
Rube Vickers	18	55.2	2	2	3.40	25
Biff Schlitzer	4	13.1	0	3	5.40	6

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
John Kull	1	1	0	0	3.00	4

References

• 1909 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1909 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com