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The first dynasty ended in 1916, when the Athletics began a tradition of finishing in last place until 1922. From 1927 to 1933, the Athletics were again among baseball’s elite teams, finishing with three more pennants and two more World Series titles.
The Athletics developed into a dominant team early in their history. The Athletics, behind the talents of first baseman John McInnis, second baseman Eddie Collins, shortstop Jack Barry, third baseman Frank Baker, and pitchers Eddie Plank, Charles Bender, and Rube Waddell, won six AL Pennants and three World Series in their first 15 seasons. The team also won 100 games in 1911 and 1912, coming close in 1914 with 99 wins.
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The first dynasty ended in 1916, when the Athletics began a tradition of finishing in last place until 1922. From 1927 to 1933, the Athletics were again among baseball’s elite teams, finishing with three more pennants and tow more World Series titles.
The Athletics then fell into the dredges of the league for almost 40 years. The bad years encompassed the clubs remaining time in Philadelphia, the Kansas City years, and the beginning of the new start in Oakland.
A third dominant period finally came in the early ‘70s. Pitchers Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, and Vida Blue and batters Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi, and Bert Campaneris led the team to five straight AL West titles, three pennants, and three World Series victories in a row, from 1972 to 1974.
The team disintegrated as free agency gave the players a choice of where to play and a poor relationship between the A’s front office and the players split the team up through free agency or trades.
The A’s tried to rebuild but could not get any traction. Despite have young talent like Rickey Henderson, Mike Norris, Tony Armas, and Dwayne Murphy, the team could not gain traction. The A’s continued to rebuild and built a team with Jose Conseco, Mark McGwire, Walt Weiss, Carney Lansford, and Rickey Henderson and pitchers Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley. Henderson, Conseco, and McGwire became known as the “Bash Brothers” and the A’s won four AL West division titles in five years, three AL Pennants, and a World Series.
Billy Beane ushered in a new way of thinking as general manager that placed more emphasis on on-base percentage and strikeout/walk ratios. The team built around an amazing pitching staff (Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito) and three big name offensive power houses (Eric Chavez, Jason Giambi, and Miguel Tejada). The team made four straight playoff appearances, each time failing to win the first round series in the playoffs.
The team has stayed with the trend of young cheap talent and continues to find success.
The Oakland Athletics began rebuilding in 2007 after making the post season five straight times. The team gutted much of its roster and walked away with 76 wins. Many of the 86 losses can be attributed to a plague of injuries that landed 22 players on the disabled list. The team still had the sixth best ERA in the American League, but had only the 11th best offense.
The pitching has been overhauled and only really returns Joe Blanton and Chad Gaudin. The rest of the starting rotation will include youngsters Rich Harden; Justin Duscherer, who did not start a game last year; and Lenny DiNardo, who will complete the rotation. The bullpen brings the close by committee team of Huston Street and Alan Embree. They will be setup by Kiko Calero. Calero will need to improve his ERA to keep his job this year.
The offense will be dominated by players returning from injuries and new faces. Eric Chavez is the biggest question mark. Will his numbers improve this year or continue their downhill slide? Shortstop Bobby Crosby, rightfielder Chris Denorfia, and designated hitter Jack Cust all will return from various injuries and surgeries from 2007. Daric Barton is a promising player who performed very well after being called up late last year
McAfee Coliseum will find a different type of ball club in the 2008 season, one that is looking to rebuild rather than trying to win a World Series. The season and its grueling schedule will reveal what management intends to do with the remaining veterans after the fire sale last season.