On January 11, 1937, at the club's annual meeting, John Shibe officially retired from the day-to-day operations of the Athletics, although he had not been with the team since August 1936. Connie Mack, the team's other principal owner, was elected club president. Shibe died on July 11, leaving Mack as sole owner of the team.[1]
Regular season
The Athletics had refused the American League's directives to add numbers to all player uniforms, and would not post visiting players' uniform numbers on the scoreboard. The team argued that they posted both teams' full lineups to the scoreboard, then the only ballpark to do so, making numbers superfluous. The team relented to its fans who wished to be able to identify pitchers warming up in the bullpens, and players during pregame practice.[2]
The club started to use uniform numbers during the 1937 season. They were the last team in the American League to do so.[3]
The Athletics set a Major League record which still stands for the fewest batters hit by a pitch in a season, with only 5.[4]
^"Number Mackmen for Identity's Sake; New scorecard at Shibe Park Certain to Make Fans Familiar with Men on Field". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 17, 1937. p. 20.
^Ferraro, Michael X.; Veneziano, John (2007). Numbelievable!. Chicago: Triumph Books. p. 89. ISBN978-1-57243-990-0.
^Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007