Friday, March 29

Members of Athletics’ ’72 World Series champs recall their triumph, speculate on baseball’s future in Oakland


OAKLAND — The Athletics threw a nice party Saturday for a handful of team members from their first World Series championship team of 1972 and Gene Tenace wasn’t expecting an overwhelming turnout from the fan base.

“People who saw us play are probably gone or in a home somewhere,” said the Most Valuable Player of the 1972 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. “Their kids were munchkins in those days so they probably don’t remember.”

It’s true that most fans who turned out were too young to remember the “Mustache Gang,” a nickname that arose from owner Charles O. Finley’s offer to pay each player $300 that defied the conservative baseball establishment and grew facial hair.

But the memories were thick during a pregame meet and greet with season ticket holders and some members of the media at the Coliseum’s East Side Club before the A’s faced the Boston Red Sox.

Players were driven onto the field in vintage Thunderbirds and introduced to the crowd. Reggie Jackson was there, although he didn’t attend the pregame function. So were Tenace, Rollie Fingers, Vida Blue, Mike Epstein and others.

The ’72 A’s, who lost Jackson to a torn hamstring while sliding home with the winning run in the Amercan League Championship Series win over Detroit, beat the heavily-favored Reds in seven games.

It was the first of three straight World Series championships, something that hasn’t been done since. And the way the A’s did it flies in the face of contemporary baseball and professional sports in general in that there was daily turmoil and drama, most of which originated with the ubiquitous and penny-pinching Finley.

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OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - MAY 31: Former Oakland Athletics player and member of the 1972 World Series Championship team, Reggie Jackson, points at the Boston Red Sox dugout as he leaves in a convertible before an MLB game against the A's at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, June 4, 2022. Jackson and teammates from the 1972 World Series Championship were honored during a special ceremony marking their 50th anniversary. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Reggie Jackson is driven on to the field in a vintage Thunderbirds Saturday at the Coliseum as part of a celebration of the 1972 championship team. Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group

“There was a distraction every day,” Fingers said.

In essence, there were two Finleys. There was the man who assembled a talent base that fueled those three World Championships and five straight A.L. West titles between 1971 and 1975. And there was also the man who wouldn’t pay players once their worth, once gave his championship team a World Series ring with no diamonds and was often the center of attention as opposed to his team.

Blue, coming off a 1971 season in which he was the American League’s MVP and Cy Young award winner, was a contract holdout after going 24-8 with a 1.82 earned run average, eight shutouts and 312 strikeouts. He got $63,000 on a one-year deal for his troubles.

“He was a combination of Ted Turner, George Steinbrenner, Donald Trump and Al Davis,” Blue said. “He was all of those guys . . . I hate to speak ill of the dead, but he was a pain in the tush for most of us despite all the good stuff he did for the game of baseball.”

Said Fingers; “We had one person to hate and it was Charlie.”

For all the clubhouse sparring, Epstein remembers a clubhouse where players were close enough get on each other verbally — sometimes going a step too far.

“We could poke fun at one another,” Epstein said. “Things that you couldn’t get by with saying today. There were no barriers.Blue Moon Odom would get in a fight with Reggie. Other people would get in fights, and it was just OK. That’s the way it was.”

It was a special environment that Epstein called it one of the saddest days of his career when he was traded after the 1972 season to the Texas Rangers.

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In the days before free agency, there wasn’t a transient nature to team-building, and much of the 1972 core had been together before joining forces in Oakland.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - MAY 31: Former Oakland Athletics pitcher and member of the 1972 World Series Championship team, Rollie Fingers is interviewed before an MLB game between the A's and the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, June 4, 2022. Blue and teammates from the 1972 World Series Championship were honored during a special ceremony marking their 50th anniversary. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
A’s relief pitcher Rollie Fingers acknowledged issues with former owner Charlie Finley but credited him with building a championship team. Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group

“We all knew each other. Guys didn’t come from different ballclubs,” Fingers said. “We came up through the minor leagues. I played with Reggie in Modesto and Birmingham. Same with Joe Rudi and Dave Duncan. We came up in 1968 and 1969, started playing together, and it took a couple of years, but it all came together.

“And the thing about Charlie is he put together a pretty good team.”

Tenace, who hit four home runs and drive in nine against the Reds, was the subject of death threats from Cincinnati fans.

“It’s just like in life. It’s all about adjusting,” Tenace said. “You’ve got to adjust on the field, off the field or to whatever Charlie was throwing at us or you’re not going to go far.”

 

Former A’s aren’t thrilled with the possibility of the franchise leaving town should a ballpark at Howard Terminal fail to materialize.

“They have no business leaving this area,” Tenace said. “That would hurt me. They lost a football team, a basketball team and now you’re going to lose a baseball team? Three major sports? That’s unacceptable. Some cities have built three stadiums in 50 years and we can’t even get one.”

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - MAY 31: Former Oakland Athletics players and member of the 1972 World Series Championship team, Tim Cullen, left, Dick Green and Bert
Tim Cullen (left) talks with Dick Green (center) and Bert Campaneris as the A’s celebrated their 1972 World Series Championshp team. Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group photo

With regard to losing the A’s, along with the Raiders and Warriors, Blue said, “I’m not sure that’s something you want to brag about, but it could happen. But here’s the thing. You can’t blame a guy for moving. Someone says they’re going to build me a million dollar house, I’m moving out of Tracy tomorrow. I’m gone. Franchises do the same thing.”

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