1947 Athletics and Newspaper Coverage

[disgrig]

Can someone tell me if The Philadelphia Inquirer was partial to the Athletics? I recently read some articles from the 1947 season and it seemed like the Inquirer gave better coverage to the Athletics than the Phillies. What I mean is that the Inquirer put the story about the A's game at the top of the sports page while the Phillies stories were lower on the page with smaller headlines than on the A's stories. The A's were in fourth place at the time and the Phillies were in last place in the NL. Did the Inquirer always give better coverage to the A's or was it because the A's weren't in last place in 1947? Was the Athletics' fan base more or less the readership of the Inquirer?

[philliesfiend55]

Phillies Gain The Upperhand Over Athletics In Popularity & Media Coverage- Part I
It can't have been much more than that the Athletics were the better team at the time. By '47 Simmons, Ashburn, Jones, Hamner, Konstanty and Roberts hadn't yet arrived on the scene and only Ennis and Seminick were already there among the players who would become Phillies mainstays. The young exciting Phillies team stole some of the A's thunder in the coming years.
I have an Opening Day article from 1950. Every Athletics and Phillies photo is there and the news coverage is equal. The soaring Phillies fortunes and declining A's on-field fortunes definitely helped to sink the A's in this town, and no amount of positive press by the Inquirer could save them. Just a few years later, after the '54 season, the A's were gone.
Dennis Orlandini
(phillies fiend55)

[philliesfiend55]

Part II
The Phillies pennant run in '50 really helped change coverage that and a strong third-place finish in '49 produced the effect that coverage became lopsided towards the Phillies and away from the A's. After '50 they were still contenders through 1953. At the point when the A's left town before the '55 season, the Phillies had settled into four years ('54-'57) of roughly .500 ball. That was still more exciting than the A's who had dropped all the way to the cellar. They were a horrible team at the point that they left town for KC. In their final six or seven years in Philadelphia, the A's had one last decent year (1952), but it took a Golden Year by Bobby Shantz, where he won about 25 games, to bring them that last taste of respectability.
Dennis Orlandini
(philliesfiend55)

[PlayJay]

Don't forget...there was a third big paper in town in those days. It was still around for Schmidt and Luzinski, too. The Bulletin.

Look, you cover who's hot. Granville Hamner and Willie Jones and Del Ennis and Richie Ashburn and Dick Sisler and Robin Roberts were a hell of a lot hotter than...Joe Astroth.

The Athletics managed to live for many last place years afterwards, off of Foxx and Cochrane. What helped was that the Phillies fielded clubs that would've finished in the basement in a league of parapalegics. If, in '47, the Inquirer wasn't used to the Phils being legit, it could easily be understood.

[disgrig]

Does anyone have a list of living members of the 1947 Athletics? Thanks.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Just curious. What is so special about the 1947 Athletics?

[disgrig]

I'm researching the 1947 Browns and I am looking for any living members of the other teams in the American League from that season.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

I'm researching the 1947 Browns and I am looking for any living members of the other teams in the American League from that season.

Ah. I see.

Are you planning to post the results of your research on BBF?

[disgrig]

Actually, I'm writing a book so it should be too much information to post on baseball-fever.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Actually, I'm writing a book so it should be too much information to post on baseball-fever.

Too bad.

But please keep us informed if your book is ready.

[soberdennis]

I have posted about this before.
My dad was a big Philadelphia A's fan growing up in Hershey. In later years he used to rave about the infield back in the late 40s. His favorite player was Pete Suder.
I wonder what kind of coverage the Inquirer gave Suder and his infield mates back then.