Monday, October 20, 2014

The Swingin' A's

Last Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the Oakland Athletics celebration over the Los Angeles Dodgers for their third consecutive World Series title.  At the time, I was just graduating from diapers and probably wasn't a fan of them for at least another year or so.

But that's not going to stop me from celebrating their history.  The A's have been my favorite team longer than any other franchise in any other sport.  And since I grew up in the 70's, one of my favorite things to collect is cardboard of The Swingin' A's.

Luckily for me, card companies have been very helpful in producing cards of most of the key players from those World Series teams.

Let's start with their starting rotation, which had three 17-game winners:


And if the big three weren't enough... the A's also had one of the best closers in the game and World Series MVP:


In terms of run support, they had the American League stolen base leader running around the bases:


But North wasn't alone... he had some historical company:


Mr. Washington is the first and last player to ever have "pinch runner" listed as their official position

They also had four guys who hit twenty-two or more home runs:



Rounding out my collection of old school Athletics is the lesser known "Campy":


Bert Campaneris is the franchise's all-time leader in hits and games played.  He also has the second most stolen bases in franchise history.  I'm sure you can figure out who's first.

Well that's it for today.  I can't believe it's already the start of the work week.  Ugh.  At least the World Series starts tomorrow.  Congratulations Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants fans!

Happy Monday and sayonara!

14 comments:

Dennis said...

That's a bunch of awesome cards, Fuji! I should try to do that with the '68 or '84 Tigers...

Tony L. said...

Great cards, Fuji!

Mark Hoyle said...

I loved the A's back in the early 70's. What's not to love with the uniforms, the moustaches, Reggie, Blue Moon, Catfish, Rollie. Even Charlie O. They were a blast to watch. Great cards there Fuji.

Eric Bracke said...

Great cards!

The Lost Collector said...

Dannnng Fuji!

Hackenbush said...

I collect the Swingin' A's as well. I'm still Reggie-less however.

BobWalkthePlank said...

Great cards! That Rollie Fingers is sweet.

Man said...

One of the collies cards from the early 80s is A Donruss (?) card that had the title "Black & Blue" with Bud Black and Vida Blue. Great cards-

Fuji said...

Those two made quite a pair. They were part of the Fleer Super Star Special subsets of the mid 80's. You can check out the other ones the made here:

http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2014/06/cheap-cool-cards-26-fleer-super-star.html

Fuji said...

I wish I could have seen them play. Actually... I might have seen them play, but I don't remember since I was just a baby.

Fuji said...

That would be fun. Now I'm thinking I should attempted it with the '89 Athletics... or even the '84 Padres (since they've never actually won a title).

defgav said...

You forgot HOF manager Dick Williams!

Fuji said...

You're totally right. I forgot that I own his 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game autograph.

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