Oakland Athletics
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On September 26th, 1998, Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson swiped second and third off Steve Sparks and Phil Nevin in the bottom the third inning of the A’s 4-3 victory over the Angels. 39 year-old Rickey became the oldest player ever to steal over 50 bases and lead the league in stolen bases. Let’s face it, Read more
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On September 24th, 1988, Dave Stewart won his 20th game of the season and the A’s win their 100th, 5 – 2, over Milwaukee Dave Stewart is one of my favorite pitchers of all time. From 1987-1990 he won at least 20 games a year for the Oakland Athletics. In each of those years, he led the League in Read more
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On August 31st, 1990, Dennis Eckersley saved his 40th game of the season in Oakland’s 4 – 2 win over the Texas Rangers. He joined Dan Quisenberry and Jeff Reardon as the only pitchers to save 40 games twice. On Opening Day this year, I was as at the Oakland Coliseum to see the Oakland Athletics lose to the Cleveland Guardians. I entered the Read more
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On August 15th, 1991, New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly was benched and fined $250 for refusing to cut his shoulder-length hair, but the Yankees still beat Kansas City, 5 – 1. He would get a haircut two days later, and the hair will eventually be auctioned off for $3,000 to benefit a children’s charity. Mattingly is not Read more
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Dave Kingman’s home run, a monstrous blast estimated to have travelled 515 feet, was, and will now always remain, the longest round-tripper ever hit at old Shea Stadium. “Kong’s” tape-measure home run, a solo shot over the left-center wall, came in the fourth inning off Larry Christenson in the Mets’ 8-4 loss to Philadelphia. For Read more
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On July 20th, 1925, Brooklyn’s Dazzy Vance struck out 17 Cubs’ batters. The Dodgers beat Chicago 4-3 in 10 innings. What has happened to all the great baseball nicknames players used to have? Names like Dizzy, Dazzy, or Babe? My childhood team, the Oakland A’s, had an owner who loved nicknames, thought it was good for business Read more
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It is customary at All-Star Break time for front offices, sports writers, and fans alike to take some time to assess their clubs. At a little over half-way through the 162-game schedule, what do we know about our teams’ strengths and weakness? What pieces could be added (if the team is still in the playoff Read more
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On June 29th, 1990, Oakland’s Dave Stewart and the Dodgers’s Fernando Valenzuela both threw no-hitters. Stewart blanked the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0, and a few hours later Valenzuela did the same thing to the Saint Louis Cardinals with a final score of 6-0. The rareness of this event was possible because Stewart and Valenzuela were such absolute studs at their profession. Read more
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Though I have lived in the Twin Cities now for almost 40 years, I did live in a number of places before that: Northern California, Eastern Washington, Western Montana, Western Minnesota, Chicago, Houston, and Saginaw, Michigan. Beginning when I was 21 and first moved to Chicago, I picked up the habit of rooting for local Read more
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This March 28th (Opening Day 2024), I made my first visit to Oakland Coliseum, the soon-to-be-former home now of two of my childhood teams. I say soon-to-be-former, because at the end of this baseball season, the Oakland Athletics– like my beloved Oakland Raiders before them– will cease to be anything but a memory. When Al Read more
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