It’s hard to imagine the kind of despair the players on a team like the 1957 Athletics must have felt. Going to the ballpark every day, knowing that you had no chance at winning the league. Hoping that management might trade you to a contender. When it’s 105 degrees in July and August, it had to be tough to get motivated. The expectations were not high for the 1957 team and they didn’t disappoint, going 59-94, good for a seventh place finish.
In the previous off-season, the team had traded away several of their best veterans: Jack Crimian, Jim Finegan, Art Ditmar and Bobby Schantz.