The Boston Athletics: Part Two

By Jacob Kelly

“The Greatest of All Time”… and Some Other Guys (‘80s-‘90s)

Tonight we take a look at three of the guys that helped define the second era of great baseball in Oakland, particularly the three back to back pennant winning years of '88 to '90 (although one of yesterday's guys, Carney Lansford, can just as easily slip in with this group as well).  In my mind this is the "Rickey" era for the A's, but there are some great pieces of Red Sox history here too, particularly when it comes to that other Henderson guy that played for both teams and his postseason heroics.  The fact that two of the players below made the Hall of Fame makes this a short but sweet list.  Let's get started.

Outfield: Rickey Henderson

He’s the greatest of all time!  Well… except when he was in a Red Sox uniform, which was really a blip on the radar of his massive career, but one that makes him eligible for this team.  Rickey played 72 games in Boston in 2002, his second to last season in the big leagues, hitting just .223/.369/.352.  That Henderson managed an OPS over .700 in his age 43 season is nothing short of impressive, despite the numbers not being up to the high standards he set earlier in his career.  He also hit a career milestone in stolen bases that year, swiping his 1,400^th bag of his career.  But it’s his credentials from his time in Oakland, the team he made his Major League debut with, that make him the best outfielder on this team.  Rickey spent parts of 14 seasons with the Athletics (he was thrice involved in trades with Oakland; twice away from them and once to them), winning the MVP award with them in 1989, three straight pennants (’88-’90), setting the single season stolen base record in ’82 (130 SB), and 867 career stolen bases there.  Despite being known primarily for his speed, he even slugged 297 homers.  Yeah, you could say he could play some baseball.

Outfield: Dave Henderson

“I hang out when the clock’s ticking out,” Henderson was once quoted as saying by the Boston Globe, in reference to his absolutely torrid play in postseason games.  While he was a very solid regular season contributor early in his career with Seattle, “Hendu” became known for his hot October bat after being acquired by Boston in the Summer of ’86.  In the World Series now more famous for the “Buckner Play” than anything else, Henderson raked, hitting .400/.448/.760 across 29 PA.  But before The Series, he had a big impact on the preceding ALCS; with Boston down to their last strike and facing elimination down 3-1 in the series, Henderson knocked a game tying solo shot to send it into extras.  His postseason heroics would continue in his time with the Athletics after signing with them through free agency in ‘87, and by the end of his career he’d hit .298/.376/.570 with 7 HRs and 20 RBI in October.  He’d play for 3 straight AL Champion Athletics’ squads from ’88-’90, helping them to win it all in the Bay Series in ’89.  In a strange twist, Hendu barely missed out on playing in 5 straight postseasons when he reported a day late to the Giants after being traded away by Boston in 1987.  He was ineligible for the postseason roster, as the deal wasn’t completed before the August 31^st trade waiver deadline.  Aside from his postseason heroics, Henderson managed a respectable .258/.320/.436 line with 197 long balls and some very strong center field defense (a 3.4 career dWAR, per baseball-reference).

Starting Pitcher/ Closer: Dennis Eckersley

Such suave.  So wow.

So I’m stretching the rules a bit here, but they’re my own rules… so whatever.  Eckersley really had two careers, one of which was very solid and what most guys would dream of having, and the other was simply dominant.  The first half of Eckersley’s MLB journey started with his debut in 1975 with Cleveland as a starting pitcher, and he came over to Boston in ’78 where he would spend 6 and a half seasons (and later close out his career there in ’98 as a part of their bullpen).  He’d make one All-Star appearance with the Red Sox in ’82, and finish 4^th and 7^th in the Cy Young voting in ’78 and ’79, respectively.  He totaled 2,496IP as a starter, notching 1,627 strikeouts, throwing 20 shutouts and posting an ERA of 3.67 in his time with the Indians, Red Sox, and Cubs.  But in the offseason of ’86-’87, when “Eck” was traded to Oakland, his career would take a different course. 

At first things were the same, briefly.  He started his first two games of the season for the A’s, but wasn’t very effective.  Then the Athletics’ closer, Jay Howell, hit the DL, and Hall of Fame Manager Tony La Russa moved Eckersley to the ‘pen where he would become a 9^th inning specialist.  Prior to La Russa’s years managing in Oakland, the “closer”, “fireman”, or general saves guy would pitch two and sometimes three innings to finish out a game, but he had a new strategy that would catch on like wildfire around the MLB.  It allowed Eckersley to stay fresh from appearance to appearance, and as La Russa put it: “we had a real good club, so we knew that we'd be ahead a large number of games every week, trying to hold leads and getting the win to the clubhouse. That's a lot of work for somebody throwing more than one inning.” Eck ended up with 390 career saves (good for 6^th all time), 320 of which came in his nine full seasons with the A’s.  He became and still is one of three relief pitchers to ever win both an MVP and a Cy Young award in the same year (’92), won a World Series (’89) and made 4 All-Star appearances in his time in the East Bay.  Eckersley made sure that he’d be remembered for more than his giving up a dramatic walk off homerun to Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series.  

Check back tomorrow night when we move into the New Millennium (does anyone say that anymore?).

Photo Credits: BaseballBacks (Rickey Henderson jersey) and  Rubenstein (Dennis Eckersley)

The Boston Athletics: Part One

By Jacob Kelly

This year's trade deadline swap of Jon Lester and Yoenis Cespedes got me thinking on all of the great players that have passed through both the Oakland Athletic and Boston Red Sox home clubhouses.  So much so, that I decided to try and construct a semi complete roster of the all-time Oakland/Boston team, with background information on each guy.  Since there are so many players that I wanted to cover, I'm breaking this into a four part series that will carry through the week, as I take a look at each "era" of great players, until finally coming to some time warping amalgamation of a team at the end.

First, here are the rules that I am using to construct this roster:
- The player must have played at least one Major League game for each franchise.
- The player must have played for the Oakland Athletics.  Both Kansas City and Philadelphia are DQ'd here.  Sorry, Lefty Grove.
- Bonus points for having been good for both franchises.
- Bonus points for not having been a jerk.

The roster will include all 8 fielding positions, 3 starting pitchers, 3 bullpen pieces, a designated hitter, and a manager.

With that, here's the first group of the Boston Athletics.

Swappin’ Power for Speed (‘70s- ‘80s)

3^rd Base: Carney Lansford

Lansford played for the Red Sox in ’81 and ’82, posting batting averages above .300 both years and netting himself a Silver Slugger award.  His incredibly high OBPs counter balanced a fairly pedestrian slugging percentage, leading him to OPS .828 and .803 in his years in Beantown.  The following offseason, Lansford was traded to the A’s in a package that included Garry Hancock and minor leaguer Jerry King for Tony Armas and Jeff Newman.  Armas brought a ton of power with him to Boston (slugging .480 over the course of his 4 seasons there, including a 43 HR season), but never the consistency that Lansford gave Oakland in defense or getting on base.  Over parts of 10 seasons with Oakland he would put up a triple slash line of .288/.343/.404 while belting 94 homers and swiping 146 bags, making him one of if not the best 3^rd basemen to ever wear the green and gold.  Arguably, Lansford could just as easily fit in with the next group of guys for the mid '80s to '90s era, but given when he played for Boston, and that they were a couple of great years, his inclusion with this group makes a bit more sense to me.

Outfield: Tony Armas

Armas began his career with the Pirates, playing in just four Major League games with Pittsburgh in ‘76 before coming over to Oakland as part of a 9 player deal the following year.  He quickly established himself as a solid offensive outfielder, mainly playing right, over his six seasons with the A’s (’77-’82).  Armas slashed .250/.286/.434 with Oakland, hitting 111 of his 251 career home runs, earning an All-Star selection in the strike shortened season of ’81, and finishing 4^th in MVP voting that same year.  When he came to Boston in a deal including teammate Jeff Newman for (among others) Carney Lansford, he continued to put up offensive numbers while healthy.  He led the league in RBI (123) and HR (43) in ’84, but finished 4^th in MVP voting despite the offensive production, another All-Star nod and a Silver Slugger.  Leg injuries stalled his output in his Boston years after that, however, and the acquisition of Dave Henderson from Seattle helped dwindle his playing time, particularly in his only postseason trip with Boston.  After regular playing time and mediocre production in the ALCS, Armas got just 1 at bat in the Fall Classic, striking out in the 7^th inning of game 7.  To his credit, Armas was a homerun slugging machine from 1980 to 1985, belting more home runs (187) than any other AL player over that time frame.  

Outfield: Joe Rudi

Rudi made his Major League debut way back in 1967 for the Kansas City Athletics, the year before the team moved out west for the Bay Area.  Rudi was one of the centerpieces of the A’s dynasty, and was a huge force on all three consecutive World Series Champion teams.  From ’68 to ’78 with Oakland he hit .276/.321/.437, played a solid left field (collecting three straight Gold Gloves from ’74-’76), and swatting 111 homers with 521 driven in.  He was a three time All-Star in Oakland, finishing runner up in the AL MVP voting both in ’72 and ’74.  His exit from the Bay Area was a bit less illustrious, however; in 1976, team owner Charlie Finley was attempting to teardown what had been the core of his World Champion teams with the first ever player class of free agency impending.  After being unable to, as Finley claimed, trade or sign players such as Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, and Rudi, he attempted to sell them.  Rudi and Fingers were to be sold to the Red Sox for $1M each, but MLB Commissioner Charles O. Finley and newly appointed Executive Director of the MLB Players Association Marvin Miller put the kibosh on Finley’s plans.  Rudi would sign with the California Angels that offseason, but struggle to play regularly due to injury.  The left fielder (and by ’81 DH and 1^st basemen) was apparently intent on getting into a Boston uniform someday though, as he was traded to the Red Sox by the Angels in January of ’81.  He got into limited action with the Sox in his lone season with the club, playing in just 49 games and slashing an anemic .180/.239/.352.

Catcher: Jeff Newman

The player pool for catchers in this little experiment isn’t very deep, and Newman gets the nod here based more on his one decent season with Oakland than anything else.  In 1979 Newman would make his first and only all-star team, when he belted 16 homers to go along with a line of .228/.258/.410 leading up to the break.  He’d end the ’79 season with 22 long balls and a line of .231/.267/.399, a season that across MLB had seen more homers than any other year up to that point than 1977 (3,644 were hit in ’77, while 3,433 balls found the seats in ’79, the two highest totals ever up to that point).  Newman would slug 15 the next year, but largely fell into a backup/split role with Mike Heath in ’81, and by the ’82 offseason he was traded to Boston, where his playing time further diminished.  In two seasons with the Red Sox he hit just .200/.262/.292 with 4 HR over 83 games.  He gets bonus points for helping make the trade involving Carney Lansford and Tony Armas possible, allowing for this strange mutant of a team.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the mid '80s to '90s players.  Feel free to sound off in the comments below if I've missed one of the great Boston Athletics from this era.

Photo credit: StephenGllmer (Fenway Park) and Bay Area Bias (O.Co Coliseum)