1961 Kansas City Athletics season

MLB yearly infobox-pre1969
name = Kansas City Athletics
season = 1961
misc =

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = Western Division
y2 = 1969
Uniform
ballpark = Municipal Stadium
y4 = 1955
city = Kansas City, Missouri
y5 = 1955
owners = Charles O. Finley
managers = Joe Gordon and Hank Bauer
television = WDAF-TV
radio = WDAF
(Merle Harmon, Bill Grigsby)|The Kansas City Athletics' 1961 season involved the A's finishing 9th in the American League West with a record of 61 wins and 100 losses.

Offseason

*On December 19, 1960, Charles "Charlie O." Finley purchased a controlling interest in the team from Johnson's estate. In a highly publicized move, he purchased a bus, pointed it in the direction of New York, and burned it to symbolize the end of the “special relationship” with the Yankees. He called another press conference to burn the existing lease at Municipal Stadium which included the despised "escape clause." Finley introduced new uniforms which had "Kansas City" on the road uniforms for the first time ever and an interlocking "KC" on the cap. Finley immediately hired Frank Lane, a veteran baseball man with a reputation as a prolific trader, as general manager.

Frank Lane was fired as General Manager during the 1961 season. He was temporarily replaced by Pat Friday, whose sole qualification for the job was that he managed one of Finley's insurance offices. With the firing of Lane in 1961, Finley effectively became a one-man band as owner, president and de facto general manager, and would remain so for the duration of his ownership.

*January 24, 1961: Whitey Herzog was traded by the Kansas City Athletics with Russ Snyder to the Baltimore Orioles for Bob Boyd, Al Pilarcik, Jim Archer, Wayne Causey, and Clint Courtney. Clint Courtney returned to original teams on April 14, 1961. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/herzowh01.shtml Whitey Herzog Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]

Regular season

eason standings

Transactions

*April 25, 1961: Bert Campaneris was signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/campabe01.shtml Bert Campaneris Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
*June 1, 1961: Bill Tuttle was traded by the Kansas City Athletics with a player to be named later to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later, Reno Bertoia, and Paul Giel. The Minnesota Twins sent cash (June 10, 1961) to the Kansas City Athletics to complete the trade. The Kansas City Athletics sent Paul Giel (June 10, 1961) to the Minnesota Twins to complete the trade. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tuttlbi01.shtml]
*June 8, 1961: Marv Thorneberry was traded by the Kansas City Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Gene Stephens. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thronma01.shtml]

Roster

References

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCA/1961.shtml 1961 Kansas City Athletics team page at Baseball Reference]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1961&t=KC1 1961 Kansas City Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com]