Tag: Oakland A’s

Dec. 18: Charlie, Oh!

DECEMBER 18, 1973 | NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK – The shenanigans of one time Oakland A’s owner  Charlie O. Finley were entertaining even during the offseason – though not to many of those closest to him. Finley’s manager, at the helm when the A’s won two World Series in a row, did the unthinkable this offseason – Dick Williams resigned. And on this date in 1973 Williams was named manager of the New York Yankees. Oakland Tribune sportswriter Jack Rux reported in the next day’s paper that Charlie Finley “gave no printable response” when asked for reaction to Williams leaving for New York.

Finley filed suit in federal court in San Francisco to prevent Williams from being George Steinbrenner‘s first manager, claiming that Williams was under contract to him for 1974 and 1975. Rather than deal with the hassle the Yankees hired Bill Virdon. And rather than deal with Finley anymore, Williams didn’t manager anywhere, at least at the start of the ’74 season (Finley finally gave the California Angels permission to talk to Williams about becoming their manager in mid-season, which he did).

But why would a manager leave a team he had won two World Series with? Williams, a firey personality himself, had enough of the A’s owner’s meddling. In particular, Williams was upset with Finley’s public humiliation of A’s second baseman Mike Andrews who he fired after he made a couple errors during the ’73 World Series. Andrews was quickly reinstated by Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, but Dick Williams was gone.

Despite the distractions and a new manager, Alvin Dark, the A’s won a third consecutive World Series in 1974.

Contributing sources:
Oakland Tribune, December 19, 1973, By Jack Rux
Oakland A’s managers

Oct 14: Spinach or Wheaties?

OCTOBER 14, 1972 – CINCINNATI, OHIO – Oakland A’s catcher Gene Tenace picked baseball’s biggest stage to breakout as a power hitter on this date in 1972. He hit just 5 home runs during the entire 1972 regular season, but hit 4 in the World Series. Tenace hit 2 home runs on this date, driving in all 3 Oakland runs as the A’s beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in game one. Besides the 4 homers Tenace drove in 9 runs in the seven game series, and was named World Series Most Valuable Player. The A’s won that World Series, and the next two (’73 and ’74).

He was born Fiore Gino Tennaci in Russellton, Pennsylvania. Up until the ’72 World Series, Tenace was Dave Duncan‘s backup behind the plate. He hit a total of 20 home runs in his first four years with the A’s. After his breakout World Series he became an every day player. He played a lot of first base, as Duncan – later Tony LaRussa‘s pitching coach for several teams – was a pretty good receiver and not a bad hitter himself.

Over the next eight seasons Tenace had home run totals of 24, 26, 29, 22, 15, 16, 20 and 17 playing for the San Diego Padres and the St. Louis Cardinals in addition to the A’s. He finished his fifteen year career with 201 home runs.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
1972 World Series
Sports Illustrated Greatest Teams, by Tim Crothers, 1998

Dec 21: A’s hope less is more

DECEMBER 21, 2005 | OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA • The Oakland A’s hope it becomes addition by subtraction. ‘If you take away seats, they will come,’ seemed to be the intention when the ball club announced on this date in 2005 that they will no longer sell seats to the upper deck in McAfee Coliseum (now called RingCentral Coliseum).

At a time when ballparks like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are squeezing more seats into their venues, the A’s are trying to pretend an upper deck of empty seats doesn’t exist. The move reduced the A’s ballpark’s capacity, at the time, to the lowest in the major leagues.

It was another act in the drama playing out in the East Bay over a new place for the A’s to play. Team president Michael Crowley told reporters back in 2005, “Our goal is to create a more intimate ballpark atmosphere and bring our seating capacity in line to what we have proposed for our new venue.”

While the team seems to annually over-achieve on the field the A’s have struck out on a new ballpark deal. But as of December 2016 the A’s have restructured their leadership with the goal of making it happen this time.

Stay tuned to see if less is more for the Oakland A’s.

Contributing sources:
Comcast SportsNet, “Futuristic, Transforming Stadiums offer Intriguing Solutions For Oakland,” by Andy Dolich, December 19, 2016
San Jose Mercury News, December 16, 2013

OCT 17 IN BASEBALL HISTORY, “I’ll tell ya what. We’re having an earth…”

OCTOBER 17, 1989 | SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – Broadcaster Al Michaels was frantic as ABC lost its signal just before game 3 of the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s. Rain, sometimes snow, has been known to interrupt post-season play. This time the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 brought all activity in Candlestick Park, other than self-preservation, to a screeching halt, because, as Michaels’ said off-camera, “I’ll tell ya what. We’re having an earth…”. He was unable to get out “quake” before he was cut-off.

Millions watching the broadcast saw highlights of the previous game being described by announcer Tim McCarver when all of the sudden the picture sizzled and the broadcast signal was lost.

Candlestick Park, with 62,000 people inside, bent – fans felt the stands move and the light standards sway several feet – but did not break. There was catastrophic damage in other parts of the Bay Area; a section of the double deck Nimitz Freeway collapsed, as did part of the Bay Bridge. There were multiple explosions and fires in the Mission District of San Francisco. Sixty-three deaths and almost 4,000 injuries were reportedly caused by the earthquake.

The World Series, coincidentally involving the two Bay Area teams, was postponed for ten days, because, “I’ll tell ya what… we’re having an earth-“. The A’s eventually swept the Giants in four games.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
1989 Earthquake
ABC-TV
Oakland A’s post season

June 5, 1974: Can’t we all just get along?

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – The Oakland A’s came out swinging on this date in 1974, before the game against the Detroit Tigers. A’s teammates Reggie Jackson and Billy North got into a fight in the visitors’ clubhouse. It was broken up by teammates Vida Blue and John “Blue Moon” Odom, who had their own scuffle two years earlier.

A few minutes after the first fight was broken up Jackson and North came to blows again. This time Jackson banged his shoulder, but teammate catcher Ray Fosse playing peacemaker crushed a disc in his neck that virtually ended his season.

Jackson and North were close friends at one time, but according to the Oakland Tribune they had not spoken in a month. Apparently they had something to say to each other that day.

The ’74 A’s weren’t exactly the picture of harmony, still they went on to win their third straight World Series; a feat no team not named Yankees has ever done.

Oakland players have said they played so well as a team because of their common dislike for micromanaging owner Charles Finley. Oh, by the way, the A’s beat the Tigers that day 9-1.

Contributing sources:
Oakland Tribune, June 6, 1974
Consecutive World Series winners
World Series winners