July 18- Oakland Athletics

Two-and-a-half months of staring at a television; day-in and day-out, watching EVERY Major League Baseball game during that stretch. Sounds easy, right?  Well, imagine doing that with the same eight people for all of those days. Then try to imagine that a few of those people will “befriend” you and backstab you until you’re sent home. Not going to lie, I had a lot of really amazing moments during my time in the MLB Fan Cave, but none of it compared to when I took to the road and started catching games in person. I idea of being a celebrity never appealed to me, not so much as just relaxing in the sun, drinking a beer and talking shop in every town or city that houses a professional baseball team. Yesterday I touched on my first game at the Coliseum in Oakland since being let go from the Fan Cave. No matter how many games I went to prior or after, the game between the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics on July 17, 2012 is by far the most memorable.

I picked this Athletics cap up through the Lids Web site well before I ventured to New York; however, I did it under the guise that the Athletics had worn it some time during the 1970s. Not too long after I got it the mail I realized I had made an egregious error. I suppose it was an easy mistake to make. After all, the Athletics wore a variety of uniforms throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but the hat was the same no matter what they wore; this one to be exact. Outside of the Pittsburgh Pirates there has yet to be another team to wear a cap with yellow panels, so as far as a collection perspective I decided to hang onto it. Plus, I think it looks pretty cool.

I think during my time in New York I may have worn it once, twice at the most due to the fact that I flip-flopped between the home and road caps regularly. When the time came for me to hit the road I found that my habit of not wearing the cap stayed pretty much the same. I wore it once during Game 2 of the Super Regional’s between the University of Oregon Ducks and the Kent State Golden Flashes, which ended with a Ducks victory.

And I also wore it up in Seattle for the second game in the Athletics series at Safeco Field against the Seattle Mariners which I caught with 2013 Fan Cave hopeful Tom Bentley (@RealTomBentley) on the first leg of my Major League Baseball tour. 

The old school Vida Blue jersey really tied the outfit together. Actually, from what I recall this photo came from the Athletics Tumblr page. But alas, I just never felt compelled to put it on at any other point in time.

When the time came for me to hit the road down south I ended up packing it along with the home cap which I ended up getting a lot of mileage out of all last year. The Athletics had arranged to have me throw out the ceremonial first pitch on July 18^th which I ended up writing about on April 1st along with my home cap. I had gotten to the Bay Area a few days prior as I was meeting up with some friends of mine and taking them to a San Francisco Giants game on July 16^th. Yes, I realize I betrayed some of you for writing that; however, my friends as Giants fans and I was treating them to the game for being so kind as to give me a place to crash while I was in town. Even though the tickets I bought were ridiculously priced, it was still cheaper than paying for one night in a decent hotel. Anyway, July 17th… Everyone in the right field bleachers knew I was coming to the game on the 18^th, but I made sure not to tell a soul about going to the first game of the series. So… decked out in some jeans, my grey “Swingin’ A’s” shirt and this yellow Athletics cap I sojourned across the Bay Bridge all the way to my home away from home, the Coliseum. I arrived a little bit early as I had a 40 ouncer of Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor to put down before going inside, but I’ll admit that it was a little bit sad to crush that all by myself as to not blow my cover. With a slight buzz and stumble in my step, I walked up to the ticket kiosk at the base of the team store, made my purchase and found my way to section 149 in right field.

Prior to my visit to the Coliseum I had been spotted by a few fans and players at the other eight MLB stadiums I went to who had recognized me from the Fan Cave. What I didn’t expect was that almost every single person walking from one side of the stadium to the other knew who I was. Having been kept away from the outside world for so long, you tend to lose touch with everything else that’s going on around you. Namely I really didn’t know how well most Athletics fans knew about the Fan Cave, let alone who the hell I am besides the regular folks I talk to on Twitter. That day I shook hands, took photos with and swapped stories with dozens of fans who only knew me as “Shakabrodie.” As flattering as the experience was there is also something to be said about how unusual it is to be known by your twitter handle as opposed to your real name. This little bit still continues to this day, which I guess goes to show just how influential a fake name can be.

When I finally approached section 149 my heart was racing. In some weird way all of these people I had befriended online were turning into some weird blind date. Yah we always talked about the Athletics, and we always swapped videos and shoutouts back and forth to one another, but who knows how well actually meeting in person was going to work out? After all, I’m pretty sure from the moment that I was selected to go to the Fan Cave every single one of them was thinking, “Who the hell is Benjamin Christensen?” Due to the sun setting behind third base I was blinded as I walked through the tunnel and down to the seats. I had my video recorder rolling on my phone, but I was too blinded to actually see what I was capturing. Not to sound arrogant, but for a moment I thought I was going to get some kind of ovation; however, I was more than relieved with the “Hey Ben” reaction that I got from everyone. It honestly felt like I had known everybody in the crowd all my life. Yes there were some handshakes, hugs and “great to finally meet you’s,” but overall it was just another game. 

Everyone who had a question about my time, I answered. Anyone who wanted a photo, I took. Anytime we tried to get inside Nelson Cruz’s head, we failed. Sadly that night the Rangers won by the final score of 6-1, but we didn’t let that spoil any of our fun. Before we all retreated out to the parking lot for more beers and chatter I had this photo taken.

Most of you might recognize this photo from my Twitter profile. I could have swapped the photo up to something more current, especially in beard length, but I have yet to come up with a valid reason to. I like this photo too much. It tells more of a story than just me at a game; it tells the story of where I’d like to be when all the troubles of the world are falling down upon me. When I got let go from my dream job I never wanted to be anywhere else but the Coliseum. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart I can’t thank the Athletics, my supporters and especially my friends out in right field enough for your friendship and making me feel like I’m part of the gang. Everything I have ever done to promote or support the Athletics has all been done with y’all in mind:

Anson (@AnsonCasanares), Will (@RFWill149), Tony (@TonyTwo_Tone), Ross (@roscoe), Omar Gonzalez (@OmarInTheOF), Omar G (@omar01), Dennis (@Denny149), Quintona (@Wiggi_Marley), Drew (@DrewMartin6), Justin (@the_toots), James (@EastBay_Sports), Erica (@MissOakland), Taylor (@Taylorfernandez), Ralliney (@Ralliney), Andy (@RFDrummer149), Kara (@Karashotcorner), Spencer (@OakFoSho), Amanda (CheerBabyGrl410), Jorge (@Jorgeleon17), Charlie (@CharliesTheorys), Jennifer (@KiddoYoung), Adam (@ItsOpeningDay), Vanessa (@vdemske), Matt (@Norcalbowler), Sam (@Samligosky), Jess (@JessBeNotorious), Alex (@AlexEspinosaIV), Casey (@CaseyPrattCSN), Tyler (@RF_BLCHRS_No34), Bridgett (@Bridgett_Haney), Chris (@MrChris80), Kevin (@kjmendez3), Michael (@Dehlman1), Tom (@PandaYeung), Sniff (@Sniff009), Eddie (@Eddie_S510), Liza (@HilmLiza_) and everyone else who I may have forgotten. I did this all off of memory as best as I could. Thank you all very much.

72-73-74: Due to the fact that I had originally thought that this was a cap worn in the 1970s I marked it up as so. If there’s one thing that frustrates me most about being an Athletics fan is that the franchise is never really given its due. The forgotten dynasty, as it has been called, is all you really need to know. The Athletics won three consecutive World Series titles from 1972-1974, merely five years after then-owner Charlie Finely moved the team from Kansas City to Oakland. This of course was also after he bought the team from Arnold Johnson in 1960 after Johnson had bough the franchise in 1954 and moved them to Kansas City.

Prior to 1972 the Athletics had won five World Series titles during their time in Philadelphia; however, the last one came in 1930. In 1971 and 1975 the Athletics made but lost in the American League Championship Series, losing to the Baltimore Orioles the first time and the Boston Red Sox the second. In order the Athletics took out the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds would go on to win it in 1975, the Mets had won just four years prior in 1969 and the Dodgers would go on to win it in 1981. Actually, the case of both the Dodgers and Reds they would both go on to get their revenge on the Athletics in 1988 and 1990 respectively (Jerks!).

The reality in all of this is that it would be fair to say that the Athletics OWNED the 1970s. Having won the AL West title in five (in a row) of the 10 years as well as winning the most World Series titles that decade, it’s hard to argue that anyone else dominated like they did. One could make a case that the Reds or the New York Yankees were close having won two times each; however, the Athletics obviously beat the Reds and the Yankees only triumphed after having acquired two of the Athletics’ best players, Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Reggie Jackson. All I’m saying is that the Athletics deserve their due.

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 2- Oakland Athletics

It’s kind of crazy to think that I’ve been in hot pursuit of this hat for the last three years, but I finally got it. This, in my opinion, is one of the two Holy Grails of Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics caps. It was first brought to my attention almost a decade ago by my friend Jason Cobb (@MrCobbyCobb), an avid collector of sports memorabilia like myself. At the time I wasn’t as into collecting New Era Caps as I’ve become over the last few years. I’ve always been a big of the product, but for some reason I always felt that New Era Caps looked weird on my head so I never really actively pursued it as a hobby; even though deep down I’ve always wanted to buy them.

Back in 2010 when the collection started I had a skimpy beard growth. I could have easily gotten into full “player” status like it is today, but back in those days I was sporting a Mohawk and felt that a bushy beard made me look more like a crystal meth dealer, so I decided against it. When the summer of 2011 came around I kissed the Mohawk goodbye and began actively growing out my hair into the shaggy mess that it is today, much like Athletics players of the 1960s and 1970s like my dad used to watch as he was growing up. This was also the point in time when I was dared to grow my beard out like Brian Wilson for Halloween, and since I never really liked the early stages of my hair growing out I decided to finally show off the New Era collection I had been building. I don’t know what it was, but New Era Caps have never looked better on me than when I look like a hobo. From there, the rest is history as they say.

My original collection consisted primarily of one hat per team; however, the only exception I intended on making was for the Athletics because they’ve been my team for the last 26 years. Anytime I saw a cap from their past I made an effort to scoop it up, including Minor League caps from my youth up through today’s affiliates. This white cap; however, had always eluded me month-after-month, to the point where I had given up hope on it for a solid seven months at the end of the 2012 season through February of this year. In fact, the one person I need to thank the most for reviving my interest in it is my fellow right field bleacher chum Omar Gonzalez (@OmarInTheOF). During a daily perusing of Facebook I came across a post by Majestic Athletic (@MajesticOnField), the suppliers of everything and anything MLB apparel related. If I remember correctly they were asking a question about what uniform from their team’s history would we mostly want to wear. I merely liked the post while Omar commented on it citing the old sleeveless jerseys from the 1970s paired with the white manager/coaches cap. At the moment when I saw that my lust for the cap was reborn.

It would take me another month of daily monitoring through my go to hat Web sites before I had a hit. On March 28, three days before the start of the 2013 season, my quest finally came to an end. One of my favorite sites, MickeyPlace.com, had completely overhauled their display pages and apparently restocked most of their inventory. My eyes lit up and my mouth frothed at its beauty. Yes, I realize I’m talking about a hat here, but there’s no reason to judge me. Anyway, I had been to the actual store in Cooperstown, New York this last August with my friend Dave Kaufman (@TheKaufmanShow) and picked up a score of hats at the time, but didn’t see any sign of this cap. I had always just assumed it wasn’t one they would ever carry. Perhaps this helps better explain my jubilance. There was; however, a bit of hesitation on my part. Mickey’s Place isn’t like Lids or Hat Club, and by that I mean they don’t have a discount card or program set up to aid hat collectors like myself. Every now-and-then they would run 20% off deals; the last of which had come in December of 2012. Being the patient buyer that I am I sat and waited… and waited… and waited for two weeks. Come to think of it, I really didn’t wait that long. That’s right, two weeks into the season Mickey’s Place sent me an email for a 20% off sale which I promptly took advantage of. I texted my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) and had it, my 1957 Chicago Cubs and 1940-1955 St. Louis Cardinals hats shipped to her place so that they would arrive the same time I did to her place in Florida. Also, shipping from New York to Florida takes way less time. But alas! After so many years of waiting and shady go-betweens, it’s resting snug on my shaggy dome.

This hat was introduced in 1968, the first year the Athletics took the field in Oakland, and was worn by every manager and coach from then until the end of the 1981 season. What’s most interesting about the hat that I bought is the label of it being a 1982 Athletics manager cap; however, I have yet to come across a photo beyond 1981 of anyone in a coaching role wearing it. I had to consult Paul Lukas’s Web site UniWatch.com and a slew of Topps baseball cards to confirm a few of the bits in pieces of history. But even at that Lukas still has the A’s only wearing this hat through the 1970s, but I’ll get to that later. Longtime A’s owner Charlie Finley originally came up with the concept of having the managers and coaches wear a different cap than the players; one of many innovations Finley brought to the game including the idea of the designated hitter. Obviously in the case of the DH his ideas weren’t all winners. This particular style was worn from 1971-1977, then it was  forgotten for a few years until making a resurgence in 1980-1981, but only for a handful of games. Like the uniforms of today the hat had to match the uniform.

Another interesting facet of this time period is a story I picked up on a few years ago and may be one of the biggest reasons why Finley decided to have the hat made. Back in 1967, the Athletics’ final year in Kansas City, Finley had all ready had his team rocking white shoes, because let’s face it, the A’s are kind of badass like that. That season also marked one of the most questionable of rivalry moves in sports history. Back in the old Philadelphia Athletics days their biggest rival was actually the Washington Senators. The Athletics only played the New York Giants in the World Series and there has never really been any known bitterness toward the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox; however, with the Senators there was, but I’ll go into greater detail in a post down the road. Even though the A’s had moved out of Philly at the end of the 1954 season this did not necessarily mean that old habits died hard. This is baseball after all. Senators general manager George Selkirk hated the white shoes the A’s had been wearing and as a sign of rebellion he had his players wear white socks and white caps on the road in Kansas City as well as during both ends of a doubleheader back in DC and again in Kansas City for another doubleheader. I kid you not, this actually made headlines in the Washington Post.

Now, back to brass tax. As cool as this style was back in the day, I just can’t see Bob Melvin sporting something like this in the dugout, and it really makes me question why a guy like Dick Williams did back in the 70s. Williams and Melvin both had/have a lot of respect for their players, and as much as one would think a change in a uniform accessory would mean much I have to disagree. Williams and Melvin are both managers who defend their players and get the best out of them. In their eyes everyone is equal, down to the coaching staff. A difference in appearance my cause a rift amongst the team. I realize this seems a bit absurd, but you’re also forgetting that baseball players are incredibly superstitious, like myself. Any change in the game plan could spell doom, just like the Senators found out back in the 60s. One of the other reasons why Selkirk opted for the white hats was to serve as a “slumpbuster” of sorts for his constantly losing ball club. It didn’t help. If there’s anything that I’ve learned over time that seems to remain consistent it’s that only the A’s can be successful in making extreme uniform changes.

The numbers were an easy choice; however, I did screw up on one of them. By that I mean I added one extra number by accident, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

#23- From 1971-1973 Dick Williams was THE premier manager in the Majors, and for those three wonderful years he was the skipper for the Athletics in Oakland. During his tenure he amassed a record of 288-190 and won back-to-back World Series in 1972 and 1973. He would have been the manager in 1974 had it not been for Finley’s cheapness when it comes to talent. His shrewdness led to Reggie Jackson moving on to the Baltimore Orioles and Jim “Catfish” Hunter to the New York Yankees. Williams was intolerant of this and tendered his resignation, if you will, and signed on to manage the team’s divisional rival, the California Angels, at the tail end of the 1974 season. Williams was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as manager in 2008 and is actually the only known member of the Hall of Fame to be a registered sex offender. This is an unfortunate, sad truth. I won’t go into much detail, you’ll have to look it up yourself to see how bogus it is.

#5- Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio never looked better in an Athletics uniform. When I wrote his number on my cap I did it without clearly thinking. By that I mean I totally spaced out. I had no intention of adding it on because of the fact that the white cap that he wore was not the same as the one that Williams, the next name and I are wearing. But, since I’m on the subject, here’s how DiMaggio became a member of the A’s.

As I mentioned above the A’s had moved to Oakland at the end of the 1967 season. For a while Finley had been hounding DiMaggio to join the front office, but DiMaggio originally wanted no part of it. Finely knew the name along would be a draw ever though the position Finley wanted to hire him for was Executive Vice President and consultant. Consultant meaning hitting coach. The main reason DiMaggio agreed was…

1.The A’s were close enough to his home in San Francisco.

2. The biggest reason: DiMaggio needed two more full years in baseball to receive the maximum pension. It was a win-win for him.

From 1968-1970 he wore the white cap, shoes and uniform. Classy.

#1- From 1980-1982 the Athletics hired Billy Martin as their skipper in between his second and third stint as manager of the Yankees. E went 215-218 in his three year stint and gave Martin and extra excuse to vent some anger-related issues brought on after his second firing by George Steinbrenner. His best year with the A’s (1981), was stymied by the Yankees in the American League Championship Series as the A’s were swept three games to none. 1981 was an interesting year that was shortened by the fourth players strike since 1972 and divided the season up into two halves, ushering in the first unintentional American League Division Series as the winners of each half of the season squared off against one another to see who would be playing in the ALCS. The Athletics won the first half while the Kansas City Royals won the second half, which then led to a three games to none sweep of the Royals.

The hat now serves as a reminder of the early years in Athletics baseball in Oakland and how a team can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. The A's owned the early part of the 1970s, becoming the first, and only West Coast dynasty. After that, the team faded into obscurity for a short period of time before developing more of their draft picks before sending them away. It's a cycle I've never particularly been a fan of, but one I've grown accustomed to. While the current owner and general manager work almost identically to the Finley era, I suppose this is truly what Athletics baseball is all about. The players will give their all year-after-year and a manager will eventually become tired of the system and opt out. I can only hope that the BoMel era is here to stay.