July 11- Oakland Athletics

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve written an Oakland Athletics post; May 30^th to be exact. Somewhere in my constant hat shuffling and not wanting to over-saturate my posts with just my team I became a bit too wayward. Time to remedy that lapse of judgment.

Up until today this cap was just chillin’ in my closet with all of the stickers still on it. I scooped it up a few days after this last Christmas along with about 10 other caps on the last day of my holiday run while working at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX). For some strange reason this cap was never really been much of a priority for me to add to my collection even though it’s one of the harder ones to pick up in the correct color scheme and without the MLB and New Era Cap logos on the panels. Luckily there was still one cap left in my size… which I hid in the backstock room until I was finally ready to buy it.

The Athletics first wore this cap at the start of the 1970 season under then-manager John McNamara, who was replaced that the end of the season despite the fact that it was his first full season in which he led the team to a record of 89-73. To add insult to injury, McNamara managed the last 13 games of the 1969 season in which the team went 8-5 under his leadership. Just to do the math for you that’s a record of 97-78. For those of you who aren’t too familiar with McNamara he was actually a coach for the A’s for the previous two seasons, which also happened to be the first two seasons in Oakland. Prior to that McNamara was a manager in the AA system for the Athletics and won back-to-back Southern League championships with the Mobile Athletics (1966) and Birmingham A’s (1967). Oh, and before that McNamara had been playing in the Athletics farm system from 1960-1967 during their days in Kansas City. And before that he was just some kid growing up in Sacramento, California with dreams of making it big in the Majors. So basically what you have here is a kid who grew up in the Bay Area, became a man in the farm system for the A’s before they moved to the Bay, became a leader and won championships for the A’s before they moved to the Bay, then became “The Man” not too long after they moved to the Bay, had a pretty successful first season which ended with a second place finish in the American League Western Division, only to be canned and replaced with Dick Williams. Oh wait… Dick Williams? Weeeeellllll… I guess I don’t feel so sentimental toward McNamara anymore. Williams was “The Man.” No, I don’t really feel that way. I do believe that McNamara got a bit of a raw deal by the A’s, but the move to bring in Williams as manager proved to be one of the boldest, most successful moves in franchise history. But I’ll discuss all of that in a not-too-distant post.

From 1970 through the end of the 1982 season the A’s rocked this cap with a flurry of uniform combinations that inadvertently inspired my alma mater, the University of Oregon Ducks’ dozens of football uniform combinations. Or so I’d like to think. I mean, green and gold… AND AWESOME!!! Sometimes stealing from others is flattering, and the A’s teams of the 1970s and early 1980s were definitely worth stealing from. One of the key components of this cap was the ushering in of the new “A” logo which inevitably and perfectly morphed into the “A’s.” Prior to 1970 the Athletics caps were either blank, had a “KC” or feature only the “A” as shown here in my post from January 1^st during the Philly days. Oh and trust, I have many more Athletics caps to come to break down and discuss all of these little variances. One thing to keep an eye on that has a tendency to change over the years in the bottom-left leg of the “A.” In some years and locations the extension at the bottom is small, sometime it’s long. Sometimes it has a sharper curve going off to the left; or in this case, sometimes the right extension is sharper. For some reason that has primarily been the only real difference in the logo throughout the 112-year history of the team; well, besides width, but I don’t consider that to be a dramatic difference. Also, the particular shade of Kelly green used for the hats changed to the most current, darker style that we're all used to today. The old shad of green had been used since the old Kansas City days dating back to 1963.

#35- Despite the fact that my father is an ardent San Francisco Giants fan, his favorite player growing up in San Leandro was Vida Blue. As a kid he used to tell me stories of all the games he caught at the Coliseum when he was a youngling, watching Blue and the Mustache Gang dominate in the 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Series. Actually, everyone except Blue was dominant. In the four games he pitched in at the Coliseum during all three World Series Blue went 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA and a blown save. I’m not sure if my father neglected that information on purpose or if he just blocked it out over the years. Kind of like how I’ve always elected to not care about the six years that Blue played for the Giants.

Blue wore many numbers on the back of his jersey, but it was when he wore the #35 that he had the most success from 1970-1973. In 1969 he wore #21 and #28. In the early bit of 1970 he wore #17. And from 1974-1977 he wore #14. Unlike most southpaws, Blue was a power pitcher who worked fast and blasted the strike zone. He possessed a stunning curveball and an above average change-up, but his signature pitch was a blazing fastball that could dial up to 100 miles per hour. For that time period it was unheard of for a lefty to clock that fast. In The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers, all-time hits leader Pete Rose stated that Blue "threw as hard as anyone" he had ever faced, and baseball historian Bill James cited Blue as the hardest-throwing lefty, and the second hardest thrower of his era, behind only Nolan Ryan. At the same time Bill James is also a tool and completely forgot about JR Richard when making that comment. Sorry, I’m not a fan of James.

In 1969 Blue made his Major League debut, going 1-1 with a 6.64 ERA in 12 games. Needing more help with his control, Blue started out the 1970 season in the minor leagues with the Iowa Oaks of the American Association. Blue was then called up in September, making two starts that provided a glimpse of what was to come. On September 11, he shut out the Kansas City Royals 3–0, giving up only one hit, to Pat Kelly in the eighth inning. Ten days later he no-hit the Minnesota Twins 6–0 at the Coliseum with the lone baserunner being Harmon Killebrew, who walked in the fourth inning. Not bad for the first month of his career.

In 1971 Blue dominated the American League with a force that no one could have ever predicted including his teammates. He posted a 24-8 record with a 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts. Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich had 25 wins and 308 strikeouts and pitched in six more games than Blue, and proved to be the only factor in preventing the Triple Crown for Blue. Nonetheless, due to the fact that Blue was so dominant and because the Athletics won the AL West title for the franchise's first postseason berth since the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1931 World Series, Blue was awarded with the AL Cy Young and the AL MVP award, becoming the third player in MLB history to win both awards in the same season and the second person in the AL to do so. That season he also became the only player ever to be a starting pitcher in the league opener (against the Washington Senators), the All-Star Game and the playoff opener (against the Baltimore Orioles) in the same season.

After Blue's breakthrough season in 1971, he and Athletics owner Charlie Finley clashed over his salary. Blue held out, missing much of the year, and ended up with a 6–10 record. He didn't make the Athletics' post-season starting rotation, instead pitching mainly in relief. Against the Cincinnati Reds in the 1972 World Series he made four appearances, including a save in Game 1, a blown save in Game 4, and a loss in a spot-starting role in Game 6.

Blue returned to form to win 20 games in 1973, 17 games in 1974, and 22 games in 1975, as an integral member of the Oakland Athletics' five straight American League Western Division pennants from 1971 to 1975, and three consecutive World Championships in 1972, 1973, and 1974. In the cases of 1973 and 1975, as well as in 1976, he only managed to crack the top-seven for AL Cy Young voting and the top-29 for the AL MVP. Perhaps his finest postseason performances were four innings of shutout relief work against the Tigers to save Game 5 of the 1972 American League Championship Series and a complete-game 1-0 shutout against the Orioles in Game 3 of the 1974 ALCS.

On September 28, 1975, Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers combined to no-hit the California Angels 5-0. The no-hitter is, as of 2012, one of only two to be pitched on the final day of a regular season, the other being Mike Witt's perfect game in 1984. Blue also became the first no-hit pitcher to also pitch in a combined no-hitter; he has since been joined by Witt, Kent Mercker and Kevin Millwood.

In 1976, baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn vetoed an attempt by  Charlie Finley to sell Blue to the New York Yankees, and in 1977, Kuhn cancelled a proposed trade of Blue to the Reds. In both instances, Kuhn said the trades would be bad for baseball because they would benefit already powerful teams without making them give up any significant talent in return. At the end of the 1976 season, nearly the entire A's roster of star players from Oakland's championship teams left with baseball's new free agency, or were traded off by Finley, leaving Blue, who was still under contract with Oakland, to mentor a new team of primarily rookies and other young players. In 1978, Blue was traded to the San Francisco Giants. Overall he finished his A’s career with a record of 124-86, an ERA of 2.95 and threw 1315 strikeouts.

Even though he is arguably one of the most accomplished pitchers of all-time, even by Bill James’s standards, Blue only managed to get 8.7% of the vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1993 for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Blue was never eligible for a vote from the Veteran’s Committee due to the fact that he only made it four years in the voting process. Pretty God damn ridiculous if you ask me.

.118- One of my favorite MLB trivia questions I was asked as a kid and I now ask to anyone who challenges me at overall knowledge has to be, “ Who was the last switch-hitter to win the AL MVP award?” Two names will generally ring out in even the most casual of baseball fan’s heads: Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray, but both answers are wrong. Murray is wrong for the sake that he never won an MVP award in his career, but he did finish in second place twice in 1982 and 1983 while with the Orioles. Mantle would technically be correct if it wasn’t for another player winning the MVP after he last did in 1962. So? Who is it?

The only thing you really need to know in this case to help you remember is that up until 1973 the designated hitter rule didn’t exist. Therefore, any pitcher who won the MVP award before then gets to be thrown into the mix. It just so happens that Blue is a switch-hitter and batted a legit .118 on the season in 1971 with one double and two RBI to his credit. Pretty crazy eh?

May 30- Oakland Athletics

I’ve finally come to the end of this journey, but I assure that this will not be my final Stars and Stripes post. I still have a few more teams to go, but I still need to track them down. Some day soon I’m sure it will all come together.

This was the first and only hat of the 2012 Stars and Stripes collection I ever intended on picking up. I bought it a few days before Father’s Day when I was hanging out and catching up with my friend Jason at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) in Clackamas. I was originally going to scoop it up while I was in New York during my time in the MLB Fan Cave, but unfortunately there was a “disagreement” between the powers that be and myself over retaining my employment. Basically, I wanted to keep my job, but they felt the exact opposite. It happens.

Actually, due to the fact that it’s an Oakland Athletics hat, they were pretty much non-existent throughout New York City. I had popped over the New Era Flagship store a few times as they were being released, but they had the New York Yankees, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox in stock. The Red Sox one was really weird for them to have, but then again I’m sure they sell. The Lids Web site had all three color variations of the cap, but for some reason I didn’t buy any of them there either. Actually, to be honest, the main reason I started collecting of these specific models is because of something I touched on in my post from May 20^th about the Atlanta Braves. 10 of the hats I picked up were being clearanced out for the price of 2 for $22. At that moment the only thing that mattered was that they were worn on the field at some point and I had no reason to not pull the trigger. It is my one rule (which I bend a few times) of my New Era collection, every hat must have been used on the field. There just isn’t that much history that can be drawn out of a custom cap… well, maybe one custom cap, but that’ll be kept a secret until later in the year.

Sorry to break off in a weird tangent, just had to bring everyone else up to speed. Anyway, this was the only color that any of the Just Sports stores had in stock. Since I was able to actually touch it and try it on I didn’t really have any reason to not buy it. It was also within this purchase that I bought my stepfather’s Los Angeles Dodgers cap for Father’s Day as well. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone, I always say.

The second I got home I absconded into my bedroom to do a bit of research and hat marking for this cap. It was interesting to see so many players from the turn of the century who had gone to war during the Connie Mack era, but none of them really seemed to fit my mold of an interesting story. So I combed along, changing my keywords and parameters until I came across one player, buuuuuuut… I’ll get to that in a moment. Sorry, I segued myself to the end a little too fast there. Sorry.

Since 1971, the Athletics third season in Oakland, they’ve gone 21-18 on Memorial Day with five days missed due to travel or off days, the most of any team I’ve written about. I found a feeeeeewww patters within their record, but something that could easily be refuted. In 1971 the Athletics played the Yankees in a double header. They lost the first game, but won the second. In 1972 they played they Texas Rangers in a double dip, winning both games as well as the World Series that season. In 1973 they beat the Yankees and went on to win the World Series that year as well. In 1974 the Athletics played and beat the Detroit Tigers and then went on to win the World Series for a third time. Now, up until this point anytime the Athletics beat a team twice on Memorial Day they went on to win the World Series; however, they only beat the Tigers once. Well, upon further research I found out that the Athletics beat the Tigers the next time they played… in 1977. The Athletics won every game leading up to the game as well. After that, everything falls apart. The Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals twice in 1976 and 1980, but no trophy. In 1985 the Athletics beat the Yankees once again and then followed that up with another victory in 1988, but they lost the World Series that year to the Dodgers. But not 1989. Basically, all these little facts and numbers really don’t mean anything other than what the writer (me) can spin out of the information. I thought this bit of history was fun to break down on a more unorthodox level.

Now, onto the marks.

19-’49: Leland V “Lou” Brissie was born on June 5, 1924 in Anderson, South Carolina. He didn’t play baseball in high school but played, instead, in the local textile league with the ware Shoals mill team. On the day he graduated from Ware Shoals High School, Athletics’ manager, Connie Mack, signed him to a professional contract and agreed to send the 6-foot 4-inch southpaw to Presbyterian College for three years.

Brissie was scheduled to report to the Athletics for spring training in 1943, but enlisted with the Army in December 1942. “I lost a brother in the war so I enlisted in the service,” Brissie explained. Brissie began basic training on March 25, 1943, and was stationed at Camp Croft, South Carolina. In June 1944, he pitched for the Monaghan semi-pro textile team of Greenville. Brissie struck out 22 of the Easley mill team batters in the contest but lost, 1-0, on a home run. The week before, pitching for Camp Croft against the Greenville Army Air Base Jay Birds, he struck out 19.

Later that year, Corporal Brissie was sent to Italy with the 88^th Infantry Division. He served as a squad leader with G Company of the 351^st Infantry Regiment. On December 7, 1944, Brissie's squad was hit by a fierce artillery attack in the Apennine Mountains in northern Italy. "Our unit suffered over 90 percent casualties," Brissie said. "Within minutes we lost three of our four officers as well as eight other men in the barrage," he recalled. Brissie was badly hit. His left shinbone was shattered in more than 30 pieces and his left ankle and right foot were broken. He had to crawl for cover through the mud and then lay there unconscious until he was found hours later. Brissie was rushed to a field hospital where his leg should have been amputated, but somehow he was able to persuade the doctors to ship him to an evacuation hospital where the limb might be saved. He was finally sent to a military hospital in Naples where Captain Wilbur Brubaker set about saving the young soldier’s leg. “Captain Brubaker did a marvelous job,” Brissie told sportswriter Joe O’Loughlin in 2005. “Once he operated on me, I didn’t wonder if I could make it back to pitch but how I could do it. I felt like the good Lord put Dr. Brubaker in my life. I really felt that God put me on the path that took me to all those hospitals over that three-day period to get me to someone who could help me.”

Brissie went through a total of 23 operations and 40 blood transfusions on the road to recovery. “They had to reconstruct my leg with wire,” he explains. “I wound up going to hospitals all over. I was the first guy in the Mediterranean Theater who was put on penicillin therapy.” During that time, Brissie received a letter from Connie Mack who said that when Brissie was ready to play ball he would see to it that he would get the chance. Brissie never wavered from his vision of pitching in the majors. “I’ll play ball again,” he told Scoop Latimer, sports editor of the Greenville News, “but it will be quite a while. I want to play ball. If God lets me, I’ll play it, too. That’s my ambition.”

In 1945, still on crutches and with a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts to his name, Brissie went to Philadelphia to see Mack. But at that time he was not ready to play. “Determination can do it,” Mack told reporters. "I know he'll make good. I'll never forget how he looked last summer, he had just undergone an operation and was about to undergo another one. He was on crutches and I thought ‘poor boy, he'll never be able to pitch again.'” But crutches and all, Brissie could not stay away from baseball. Although he suffered a re-infection of the leg in 1946, he received a contract from Mack for 1947.

He reported to the Savannah Indians of the South Atlantic League and went on to win 23 games that year with an incredible 1.19 ERA. "Brissie has had only one year of organized baseball,” Mack told the press. “But he has tremendous speed and a lot of stuff." 

On September 28, with his leg in a specially designed brace, Brissie was on the mound for the Philadelphia Athletics in his major league debut, donning the #17. Facing the Yankees in their last game of the season, the lefthander went seven innings and struck out four against Bill Wight in the 5-3 loss. "It was a great day," Brissie later recalled. "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I lost the game, but it was still a great experience."

Brissie returned with the Athletics for the 1948 season and changed his jersey to #19, posting a 14-10 record with a 4.13 ERA and 127 strikeouts, as Mack’s team finished a surprising fourth in the American League. Brissie finished in fourth place for the AL Rookie of the Year award and 24^th place for the AL MVP. In 1949, he went 16-11 with 4.28 ERA and 118 strikeouts. ’49 would also be the year he’d make an appearance in an All-Star Game. He pitched three innings, giving up a few runs including a home run to Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth inning. Regardless, the American League won the game 11-7.

Brissie pitched for the Athletics until the middle of 1951 when he was traded to the Cleveland Indians, where he’d stick it out until the end of the 1953 season.

#30/36 On July 23, 1939 an unknown Athletics player named Harry O’Neill was brought into the game as a defensive substitution at catcher for every day guy Franklin Hayes. The two innings he’d end up recording were the only six outs he’d ever make in his professional career. He never had an at-bat; he also never had a consistent jersey number for the few games he saw from the bench, #30 and #36.

O'Neill distinguished himself as a very gifted college athlete. At Gettysburg College, the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder sometimes called "Porkie," led the school's baseball, football and basketball teams to league championships. After graduation, he was the subject of a bidding war between two American League teams, eventually signing with his hometown A's. After spending two years in the minor leagues, O'Neill enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942, and rose to the rank of first lieutenant with the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. Fighting in Saipan, he was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel, treated for weeks back in the U.S. Soon after, he was shipped back to the Pacific to Iwo Jima, where he was killed by a sniper. O’Neill has the unfortunate distinction of being one of two MLB players to be killed during the war. In 1980, Harry M. O'Neill was inducted into Gettysburg College's Hall of Athletic Honor for baseball, football and basketball.

May 21- Oakland Athletics

I should first point out that this is the one, and hopefully, only post that I’ll be writing in which I don’t actually own the cap. This Oakland Athletics cap is one of two that I’ve been trying to track down since last season with very little luck; however, it is one that I really wanted to write about so I was lucky to find someone who owned it.

This last weekend I was fortunate enough to travel down to Oakland for the Athletics’ three-game series versus the Kansas City Royals. For the last two years my friends Anson Casanares (@AnsonCasanares), Omar Gonzalez (@OmarInTheOF), Charlie Fernandez (@CharliesTheorys), James Sanos (@EastBay_Sports), Ross Retzler (@roscoe), Will MacNeil (@RFWill149), Jorge Leon (@Jorgeleon17), Quintona Branch (@Wiggi_Marley), Samuel Ligosky (@samligosky) Drew Martin (@DrewMartin6), (@TonyTwo_Tone), Andy Cho (@RFDrummer149), Dennis Biles (@Denny149), Spencer Mills, (@Sniff009), (@Lopsided50), Michael Dehl (@Dehlman1), Will Schlies and anyone else who I may have forgotten have been the official pioneers of Bacon Tuesday at the Oakland Coliseum. For those who don’t know, Bacon Tuesday started on Monday September 5, 2011. One long-standing traditions of right field is a healthy dose of banter between the crew and whomever is playing right field for the rival team. On this particular night Jeff Francoeur was the “victim.” Throughout the game jibber-jabber was exchanged back-and-forth between each party until the topic of bacon was brought up. Francoeur, a bacon lover himself, joined in with much enthusiasm. The Royals ended up winning the game 6-11, but the loss didn’t sway the attitude amongst the right field faithful. Instead, they got creative. On Tuesday the gang of roustabouts I mentioned above gathered before the game equipped with bacon-related delights. The Coliseum is one of the few places where outside food is allowed into the stadium so the right field gang packed what they could carry to enjoy during the game. After the A’s lost again 7-4 the gang met up with Frenchy over by the Royals dugout after for chatter, photos and autographs. At the end of the meet and greet Frenchy told them he’d have a surprise for them the next day, but nothing else was said beyond that to give a hint as to what it might be. Basically, everything I just tried to describe is painted more colorfully with this video: Bacon Tuesday!!!

On Wednesday the right field faithful showed up as they do to every other regular season home game awaiting their surprise. During warm-ups Frenchy called to the crowd and tossed a baseball up: Frenchy Gifts!!! It’s one thing to toss an autographed ball up; it’s a completely different thing to strap a $100 bill (which has still yet to be spent) around it for drinks on the house, a true class gesture. 

Now, I wasn’t there for either of the first two games, nor did I know any of the guys at the time, but I was in the house for the third game of that series which resulted in a 7-0 victory for Guillermo Moscoso and the Athletics. Sadly, it would be another few months before I even knew about Bacon Tuesday, but the timing on my new discovery was met with perfect timing.

During my MLB Fan Cave campaign I came across all of the videos posted to YouTube, as I’m showing you now, about Bacon Tuesday. At the time I didn’t really know much of what was going on with the fans at the Coliseum and I wanted to make some new friends, who in my opinion were way more deserving of being in the Fan Cave as the Athletics representative than myself. Nothing against myself, I think I’ve done a pretty solid job, but at the same time I can’t say that I’ve been there for as many games as any of these guys. They inspire me to be a bigger and better fan. We of course all clicked instantly; passing jokes back-and-forth to one another, cheering on our boys in green and gold, bust most of all just enjoying the game together… even if we were 3,000 miles apart.

The second Annual Bacon Tuesday was slated for April 10; a dark and dreary day in Oakland, but not for the right filed faithful who went to town on making more bacon-related wares. For this even Omar had made t-shirts for the crowd which he was nice enough to send Ricardo Marquez and me for the game. Sadly, we got them two days later on account of package delivery being rather sucky in New York City. No matter, we were both happy to get them. That night’s game was one of the few to ever get called on account of rain at the Coliseum. The Royals won 3-0 in eight innings, but Frenchy was nice enough to meet up with the gang again after the game: Bacon Tuesday, Part 2: The Revenge

Like the previous season, Frenchy kept to his word and bought Round Table mini pizzas for the crowd... and a little something extra: More Frenchy Gifts. Once again, a gesture that very few would ever do for their own fans, let alone a rival team’s fan base. I couldn’t help but think about how much of a drag it was to be stuck in New York merely watching these events unfold on TV. I knew I had to do something big to repay Omar and the gang for their hospitality, and luckily it came in the form of Frenchy himself. On Tuesday, May 22^nd Bruce Chen, Aaron Crow, Brayan Pena, Billy Butler and of course Frenchy stopped by the Fan Cave before their game against the New York Yankees that night. With two days notice I sent a message to Anson and Omar to make a video for Frenchy’s arrival which they happened to make at the Athletics game the night before his arrival: Message to Frenchy.

Ricardo and I knew it would be a tragedy if we didn’t have bacon for their visit so we both had $20 worth of bacon delivered to the Fan Cave from a café three blocks away. 

With bacon in-hand we showed Frenchy the video the right field crew made and made sure to record one back for them: Message to RF Bleachers.

Three things I need to point out with this video:

1. Notice “the shark” in the background from production crew member Andrew Benestante. I never noticed that until today.

2. I’m wearing the Bacon Tuesday shirt underneath my Royals jersey.

3. Jeff Francoeur stuck to his word.

Getting down to Oakland was a huge priority for me. Any other game this season I could have totally lived with missing, but the Third Annual Bacon Friday (Sponsored by Bacon Tuesday) was one I truly would have regretted had I missed. Unless you follow me on Twitter most of you don’t know how close I was to missing this. Air travel was too expensive and taking the train or bus was way too much of a hassle. Someone had suggested that I hit up Craigslist for a rideshare down to the Bay which I quickly dismissed. Who was to say that I wasn’t going to be murdered and left in a ditch? With my options running short I decided to take the Craigslist route. Oddly enough I was able to lock up a ride in less than an hour with a group of hippies who were heading down for the weekend as well. Plus, it only cost me a tank of gas ($34), I dare you to beat that price. Another thing that I should point out is that I kept selling the idea that I was going to miss out on the event. I really wanted it to be more of a surprise… which I inevitably blew on account that the first tweet I sent when I got to San Francisco had the location tagged on it. Oops! With the cat out of the bag Vanessa Demske (@vdemske) and I headed out Oakland and arrived at the Coliseum around 3:00 PM with beer, pickles, ketchup and mustard in tow. If anything, I really wish I had the money to bring down two dozen bacon maple bars from Voodoo Doughnut. Drat!

It’s pretty amazing what some people can do with bacon and an imagination; the most spectacular of which was the bacon loaf with consisted of a cream cheese core, pork sausage and bacon wrapped around it. Other notables included bacon cup cakes, tacos in which the shell is bacon strips, chicken drumsticks wrapped in bacon, and on and on. There comes a point when you’re eating all of this that you SHOULD worry about your heart exploding, but this day was not that day. 

In keeping with the theme of last season Omar had more shirts made to toast the occasion. Around 5:00 PM the master of ceremonies, Frenchy, made his way into section A4 of the parking lot. Now, I’m still incredibly miffed as I took well over 30 photos and not a single one of them saved to my phone, so everything I have I pilfered from others who were there. Sorry guys. Frenchy made sure to give anyone who asked a photo, sign autographs for the younglings and even take part in a game or two of corn hole and Battle Shots with Sara Dunaway (@BARThaiku). 

For a guy who isn’t even part of our team to be so beloved is really saying a lot.

Anson, Omar and the gang made sure to pack away enough treats for Frenchy and his buddies in the clubhouse, but the really unfortunate part of the day was that he had the day off as David Lough started in his place. Our praises would have to wait until the next night. Before he headed back inside Frenchy did his best to thank everyone individually and even gave a special public service announcement to those who didn’t make it out: A Message from Our Sponsor. With a jovial smile affixed to his face and a box of goodies under his arm he was off. We all went back to business, completely mesmerized by what had just taken place. Just as we were coming down from our high Josh Reddick came out of nowhere and joined in on the fun as well. 

Needless to say, it was a crazy day in the parking lot. Being able to finally be a part of this tradition is one of the biggest highlights of not only being an A’s fan, but for having such incredible, caring friends. It’s a very rare thing for fans to transcend the game and become just as much of a draw as the players, but in right field of the Coliseum it’s just another day at the ballpark.

 On to the hat: I didn’t come across this cap until the end of the third game of the series in which the Athletics were able to get a nice little three-game sweep under their belt. I was finishing up with my round of goodbyes to everyone when fellow Athletics Fan Cave hopeful Taylor Hensely (@TaylorAHensley) popped over to cut it up with us. Taylor had come with her family so we walked back over to the area where they were parked to hang out and chat for a bit. Throughout the conversation I noticed that her younger brother Hunter was running around with this hat on his head. I was a bit gloomy about it considering the fact that he’s actually a San Francisco Giants fan. Either way I snatched it from off of his head and boxed him out as I took photos for this post before handing it back over. He wears a size 7 while I wear a 7 3/8, which will help explain why it’s sitting on my head as awkwardly as it is. The one downside of this is that I wasn’t able to mark any numbers or names on it; however, what’s to stop me from coming up with some ideas in case I am able to track one down ever?

I still have another Athletics Stars and Stripes hat to write about on Memorial Day, so I’ll hold off on writing about their past games and such until then. I think I’ve been blatherskithing on long enough with this post.

TB- On September 2, 1871 Thomas Berry played in one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in the National Association. Berry went 1-4 with a single, but very little is mentioned aside from that about his baseball career.

If you couldn’t tell by the date Berry fought for the North in the US Civil War. This is an excerpt from SABR’s research project about Berry and other men who were enlisted during this time. In 1864, Grant’s army in Virginia had suffered horrendous casualties and Jubal Early’s Confederates were in the middle of a raid that took them to the gates of Washington DC and Baltimore and had even penetrated into southern Pennsylvania. In response, the government issued a call for 100 days’ regiments, most of which came from Pennsylvania and the affected areas. These short-duty volunteers were originally sent to threatened Baltimore, and after that threat subsided they ended up guarding bridges and prisoners, mostly in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The 192nd-197th Pennsylvania volunteer regiments were among the respondents, and they included a disproportionate number of ballplayers, including many members of the Philadelphia Athletics. One of them was Thomas Berry, who enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant on July 15, 1864, and was commissioned in Company A, 197th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania. He was mustered out on November 11, 1864, in Philadelphia. The ballplayer died in June of 1915 and his wife filed for a widow’s pension the following month. Her application is difficult to read, but appears to list the 197th as one of his regiments, along with another, unreadable one.

January 1- Philadelphia Athletics

As a huge fan of the Oakland Athletics, I had to kick the year off with a hat from their past. 

I could have started with a hat of theirs from and even earlier time; however, it didn’t really match my outfit. This hat in particular is a tribute from the Athletics' time in Philadelphia, specifically from 1931-1949. From 1929-1930 the A’s had worn an all white with a navy bill, which also featured the “A” logo in the center of the front panels… but that is a hat I will feature later in the year. A particular note in the history of the A’s and their hats is that they never featured any kind of a logo of their hats from 1901-1928. During that time the A’s had won four World Series, while their fifth, and last in Philadelphia, came in 1930. Therefore, the all navy blue road addition with the white “A”, which I am featuring could in fact be considered a bit of a curse of the franchise as they were subsequently relocated twice after the 1954 season and never found World Series success again until the 1970s.

The A’s went 107-45 under manager/owner Connie Mack that season; in fact, the A’s won the American League pennant, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in the World Series. An even more important detail of 1931, this is the first year the A’s put numbers on the backs of their jerseys. My personal addition to this hat does in fact date back to 1931. I figured; why not start at the beginning? Of all the players to choose from, I had to stick with three who were enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame, but most importantly, three guys who were the faces of the franchise that particular year.

#2- Born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1903, Mickey Cochrane was educated at Boston University, where he played five sports, excelling at football and basketball. Although he considered himself a better football player than a baseball player, professional football wasn't as established as major league baseball at the time, so he signed with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1924. Holla! P-Town in the house!

After just one season in the minor leagues, Cochrane was promoted to the Majors, making his debut with the Athletics on April 14, 1925 at the age of 22. He made an immediate impact by becoming Connie Mack's starting catcher in place of Cy Perkins, who was considered one of the best catchers in the Major Leagues at the time. A left-handed batter, he ran well enough that Mack would occasionally have him bat leadoff. He hit third more often, but whatever his place in the order his primary role was to get on base so that hard-hitting Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx could drive him in. In May, he tied a twentieth-century major league record by hitting three home runs in a game. He ended his rookie season with a .331 batting average and a .397 on base percentage, helping the Athletics to a second place finish. Cochrane would finish in 10^th place for the American League MVP that season, and probably would have won the Rookie of the Year award had it existed.

By the start of the 1926 season, Cochrane was already considered the best catcher in the major leagues. He won the 1928 AL MVP, mostly for his leadership and defensive skills, when he led the American League in putouts and hit .293 along with 10 home runs and 58 runs batted in. He was a catalyst in the Athletics' pennant-winning years of 1929-1931 when he hit .331, .357 and .349 respectively. He played in those three World Series, winning the first two, but was sometimes blamed for the loss of the 1931 World Series, when the St. Louis Cardinals, led by Pepper Martin, stole eight bases and the Series, although, in his book, The Life of a Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher, author Charlie Bevis cites the Philadelphia pitching staff's carelessness in holding runners as a contributing factor. But notwithstanding this, the blame for the 1931 World Series loss would dog Cochrane for the rest of his life.

1933 would ultimately be Cochrane’s last year with the Athletics as he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers at the end of the season where he went on to win his second AL MVP award as well as make two consecutive All-Star Game appearances in his first years. The first All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park in 1933 and was the main reason why Cochrane never made it with the Athletics.

For his career Cochrane hit .320 with 1652 total hits, 119 home runs and 832 RBI despite only playing for 13 total years. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947 on his sixth ballot.

Cochrane was also a player I really should have written about during my Stars and Stripes Memorial Day articles, so having blown that opportunity, I’ll make it up now. Cochrane joined the Navy in 1942. He was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Station where he coached their formidable baseball team until 1944. On July 7, 1942, Cochrane managed an All-Service team that played against an American League all-star squad at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Before 62,059 fans, the American League beat the servicemen, 5-0.

Tragedy struck Cochrane in 1944, his only son, Gordon Jr, was killed at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Former major league pitcher, Elden Auker, wrote in his autobiography, Sleeper Cards and Flannel Uniforms: “The bullet that killed him [Gordon, Jr] had some kind of range. It traveled all the way across the Atlantic, lodged itself into the spirit of Gordon's father, the great Mickey Cochrane, and slowly killed him. Mickey's gravestone shows he died June 28, 1962, but he started dying June 6, 1944. Consider this another life claimed by World War II.”

#3- James Emory Foxx was born in Sudlersville, Maryland on October 22, 1907 to Dell and Mattie Foxx who were farmers. Dell Foxx had played baseball for a town team when he was younger and he instilled a love for the game in young Jimmie. Foxx did well in school but truly excelled in sports, particularly soccer, track and baseball of which he played all three in high school. He dropped out of high school early to join a minor league team managed by former Athletics great Frank "Home Run" Baker. Foxx had hoped to pitch or play third base, but since the team was short on catchers, Foxx moved behind the plate. He immediately drew interest from the Athletics and New York Yankees. Foxx signed with the A's and made his major league debut in 1925 at age 17.

The A's catching duties were already filled by Cochrane, so by 1927, Foxx was splitting time between catching, first base, and the outfield. In 1929, installed as the A's regular first baseman, Foxx had a breakthrough year, batting .354 and hitting 33 home runs.

In 1932, Foxx hit .364, with 58 home runs with 169 RBI, missing the Triple Crown by just three points in batting average. Boston Red Sox first baseman Dale Alexander hit .367, but in just 454 plate appearances; he would not have won the batting title under current rules, which are based upon 3.1 plate appearances per team games played. Foxx did win the Triple Crown the following season, with a batting average of .356, 163 RBIs, and 48 home runs. He won back-to-back AL MVP honors in 1932 and 1933, the first player to ever pull off this accomplishment.

Foxx was one of the three or four most feared sluggers of his era. The great Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez once said of him, "He has muscles in his hair."

In 1937, Foxx hit a ball into the third deck of the left-field stands at Yankee Stadium, a very rare feat because of the distance and the angle of the stands. Gomez was the pitcher who gave it up, and when asked how far it went, he said, "I don't know, but I do know it took somebody 45 minutes to go up there and get it back."

When the Great Depression fully hit in the early 1930s, Connie Mack was unable to pay the salaries of his highly paid stars, and was obliged to sell off a number of them. In 1936, Mack sold Foxx's contract to the Boston Red Sox for $150,000, following a contract dispute.

Foxx’s Athletics career only lasted 11 seasons, ad the majority of his accomplishment occurred during this time frame. He made the All-Star Game every year in its first three years (1933-1935) and made six more over the next six years of his career in Boston. He won two World Series rings (1929 and 1930), both of which came in an Athletics uniform. 302 of his 534 career home runs were hit with the A’s, same with 1492 of his 2646 career hits and 1075 of his 1922 RBI. He won a third AL MVP award in 1938 with the Red Sox, led the league in home runs three times and twice in RBI with the Athletics and hit .339 for them as well. His career average was .325. But despite playing more years, winning championships and more MVPs with the Athletics, Foxx was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1951 on his first ballot… as a member of the Red Sox. Ridiculous.

#10- Arguably one of the Top-three greatest left-handed pitchers of all-time, Robert Moses Grove (Lefty) was born in Lonaconing, Maryland in 1900 and made his MLB debut on April 14, 1925. That’s right, the same day as Cochrane. Grove battled injuries as a rookie and posted a 10-13 mark (which would prove his only losing record in 17 major league seasons), despite leading the league in strikeouts. Grove then settled down in 1926 and won the first of a record nine earned run average (ERA) titles with a mark of 2.51. In 1927, Grove won 20 games for the first time, and a year later he led the league in wins with 24.

On August 23, 1928 Grover struck out the side in the second inning of a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Indians to become the third American League pitcher and seventh pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat. On September 27, he did it again in the seventh inning of a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat twice in a career; since then, only Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan, both Hall of Famers, have joined him. Grove, however, remains the only pitcher to do it twice in the same season. The sportswriter Arthur "Bugs" Baer wrote, "Lefty Grove could throw a lamb chop past a wolf."

During the Athletics' championship run (1929-1931), Grove led the way as the league's top pitcher, posting records of 20-6, 28-5 and 31-4. In 1930, Grove led the league in wins, ERA (2.06), strikeouts (175), winning percentage, complete games, and shutouts. His 2.06 ERA was 2.32 runs below the league average. He was also chosen as the AL MVP in 1931, making him one of only a handful of pitchers to achieve this honor. His MVP award is the only one not enshrined in Cooperstown, instead being housed at the Georges Creek Library in Lonaconing.

In 1933, Grove became the first player in MLB history to strike out five times in a nine-inning game. On December 12, 1933, team owner Connie Mack traded Grove, along with Max Bishop and Rube Walberg, to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler and $125,000. Basically, as great as Mack was for the Athletics, he was an even bigger prick in the same regard. Grove’s career in Boston wasn’t as fortunate.

Grove was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947 on his third ballot, believe it or not. He led the league in strikeouts seven years in a row from 1925-1931. He led the league in wins four times in his career, all with the Athletics.