7 Pitchers On The Athletics
An Impossible Situation
7 Pitchers On The Athletics
I discovered in my replay the other day that the 1949 Athletics simply don’t have enough pitchers in late May.
I mean it when I say they simply didn’t have enough. It led to this bizarre situation for Philadelphia’s game against the Yankees on May 29:
The Athletics had a doubleheader scheduled on May 30th, which is why I felt concerned about this. Basically, there was no possible way for the Athletics to use a relief pitcher, unless they wanted to start a tired pitcher in the second game of the doubleheader.
We’ve already talked about the Phil Marchildon case in this post. Note, though, that Marchildon is still on the roster at this point in the season. He’s not the reason for this bizarre lack of pitching.
I’m guessing that Connie Mack simply didn’t feel the need to have more pitchers on his roster. However, I was curious, and decided to take a look at how the Athletics pitching was managed from May 22 to June 5.
This is what I found.
Bullpen Management
As you’ve figured out by now, all good analysis requires some kind of spreadsheet.
This is how the Athletics bullpen worked from May 22 to June 5:
Now, if you’ve got a sharp eye, you’ll see right away that there are 9 pitchers listed here, not 7. Rookie Bobby Shantz and third year pitcher Bill McCahan were missing on May 29. I’m guessing Shantz was out with a temporary injury, and McCahan was apparently out with the arm trouble that would end his career prematurely.
Here’s how those 9 men featured in Athletics games:
Phil Marchildon only pitched to two batters on May 30, which almost shouldn’t count.
Now, the other interesting thing here is that Connie Mack doesn’t seem to have used any sort of rotation among his starting pitchers.
Alex Kellner started on May 22, a week later on May 29, and then on June 3. He did have a relief appearance on May 25, going 4 innings to help stop the White Sox from coming back. I’m guessing that’s why he seems to have missed a start.
Lou Brissie started on May 22, May 28, and then on June 2, which makes him the closest thing to consistent in this list.
Bill McCahan started on May 23, lasting only 2 1/3 innings. He must have suffered from arm trouble, as he came out after giving up only one run. He struck out Lou Boudreau right before being removed from the game.
Dick Fowler started on May 25, and then didn’t appear again until his start on June 4. He went only 5 innings in that game on May 25, giving up only 3 runs before getting the hook. Apparently Mack wasn’t as concerned with the 3 runs he gave up in his complete game win on June 4.
Joe Coleman threw complete games on May 27 and June 1. He seems to have been on a four days of rest plan, since his next start came on June 6.
Bobby Shantz and Bubba Harris were dedicated relievers during this stint, which leaves us with Carl Scheib. Scheib’s one start in this time period came on June 5th, when he went 2 1/3 innings in the second game of the doubleheader before walking 3 straight hitters and being yanked.
The Athletics started 7 different pitchers during this 2 week span. Marhcildon has an excuse, since he was so badly hurt he clearly could barely pitch the ball. I’m baffled by the lack of consistency for the other pitchers, though — especially when you consider the rest days in the schedule.
Of the 15 games the Athletics played in this stretch, their pitchers threw 8 complete games. I’m not sure which is more impressive: the fact that they had complete games in over 50% of those starts, or the fact that Mack was able to manage a clearly depleted bullpen to finish the other 7.
Incidentally, the Athletics went 7-8 in this period, dropping from 2nd place and 3 games out before May 22 all the way to 4th place and 7 1/2 games out after the games of June 5.
Kind of makes you wonder if a consistent pitching strategy wouldn’t have helped.
Want to know another strange thing? Philadelphia only used 11 pitchers all season. That’s right:
If you ignore Jim Wilson and Clem Hausmann, who thre a combined 6 innings in 3 games, the 9 players listed above represented the entire pitching staff of the 5th place 1949 Philadelphia Athletics.