Baseball is back, but it's a good thing that I'm not an MLB player... because I'd be starting the 2022 season on the Day-to-Day list. Last week, I had a wicked gum infection... which resulted in my dentist extracting a tooth yesterday. The actual trip to the dentist wasn't too bad. However after the local anesthetic wore off, there was some serious pain.
A few people warned me about this, so I took today and tomorrow off. After a solid nap this morning, I woke up and decided to hammer out an Opening Day post. My first idea was to target some Opening Day records, but then I started thinking about how many of last year's Opening Day starters would be starting for the A's tomorrow. Sadly, according to Draft Kings there only looks to be three: Sean Murphy, Elvis Andrus, and Jed Lowrie.
Considering there's only so much you can squeeze out of three guys most of my readers could care less about, I decided to dig deeper and list the Oakland A's players with the most Opening Day starts at each position.
Okay. This might not interest many of you either, but as a fan of the Green & Gold, I was curious. Now before I reveal the All-Time Opening Day roster, I'll preface things by stating I didn't count any starts that took place during the Philadelphia or Kansas City Athletics eras. This team includes starts from 1968 to present. Since the A's might be leaving town in the near future, I want to celebrate their legacy in Oakland as much as possible. So here we go...
Catcher: Terry Steinbach (9 Opening Day Starts)
1996 Score #95
1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
Steinbach spent eleven seasons in Oakland and during that time was a 3x All-Star. He had a monster season in 1996 when he career high 35 home runs and drove in 100 runs. Exactly twenty-six years ago... he was part of a weird triple play against the Detroit Tigers.
First Base: Mark McGwire (9 Opening Day Starts)
1991 Fleer #17
1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997
No surprise here. McGwire is one of the most popular players in Oakland A's history. He spent twelve of his sixteen seasons with the team and represented them nine times at the MLB All-Star Game. He's also the franchises all-time home run leader with 363 home runs. Only one of those home runs occurred on Opening Day.
Second Base: Mark Ellis (8 Opening Day Starts)
2002 Topps Total #116
2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
I'm sure some of you are surprised that Dick Green isn't here. He actually started at second base ten times for the A's, but four of those times he was playing in Kansas City. As for Ellis, he was known for his glove by A's fans, but his name actually shows up in a couple of record books as well.
There was a time when he held the record for most home runs by a player born in South Dakota. And he's also the last Oakland A's player to hit for the cycle.
Shortstop: Bert Campaneris (8 Opening Day Starts)
1971 Topps #440
1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976
It's nice to finally see one of the Swingin' A's make the list. You might notice that Campy wasn't the Opening Day starter in 1973. That's because he was suspended for throwing his bat at Lerrin LaGrow during the 1972 ALCS against the Detroit Tigers.
Like Green, Campaneris started on Opening Day for the Kansas City Athletics (in 1965 and 1967).
Third Base: Eric Chavez (10 Opening Day Starts)
2003 EX #52
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Chavez narrowly edged out Carney Lansford (9) for the most Opening Day starts at the hot corner. Like Ellis, he was mostly known for his defense by fans. He's also one of six Oakland Athletics to hit for the cycle.
Unlike Ellis, he won six Gold Glove Awards... which is the most in franchise history. Actually... he shares this record with someone else on this list.
Left Field: Rickey Henderson (12 Opening Day Starts)
1991 Fleer Ultra #248
1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998
Rickey holds the record for most Opening Day starts in franchise history (including Philadelphia and Kansas City). Over the course of his twenty-five season career, he was an Opening Day starter twenty times.
Center Field: Dwayne Murphy (8 Opening Day Starts)
1983 O-Pee-Chee #184
1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987
I grew up watching Murphy patrolling the Oakland A's outfield with Rickey and Tony Armas. During that time he won six Gold Glove Awards which puts him in elite company with Chavez.
Right Field: Reggie Jackson (8 Opening Day Starts)
1974 Topps #130
1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Reggie Jackson started on Opening Day fifteen times during his twenty-one season career. In addition to the eight starts in right field with the A's, he was also the team's Opening Day starter in 1987 at the DH spot. He was also the Opening Day starter with the New York Yankees in 1977, 1978, and 1980... and with the California Angels in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986.
By the way, out of Reggie's 563 career home runs, 3 of them came on Opening Day (1968, 1974, and 1986).
Starting Pitcher: Dave Stewart (6 Opening Day Starts)
1995 Flair #297
1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995
Stew won 20 games or more with the A's from 1987 to 1991... landing him as a member of Mudcat Grant's Black Aces. Three of those seasons, he earned wins on Opening Day. Out of his six Opening Day starts for the A's, he went 4-1. The lone loss came in the final season of his career and it was pretty ugly.
Designated Hitter: Khris Davis, Erubiel Durazo, and Geronimo Berroa (3 Opening Day Starts)
Berroa went 4 for 12 in his three Opening Day starts at DH for the A's. Two of those hits were home runs. Durazo was 4 for 11 in his three starts. In 2003, he hit a home run and drove in all five runs for the A's. And Khrush went 3 for 11 with two home runs and six RBI's in his three starts.
1996 Stadium Club #358
1995, 1996, 1997
2004 Upper Deck #40
2003, 2004, 2005
2018 Topps Opening Day #75
2018, 2019, 2020
The A's never won on Opening Day when Berroa started at the DH spot, but they went 2-1 when Durazo and Khrush did. Overall, I'd say all three of these guys found success at the plate for the A's on Opening Day.
Well there you have it. The All-time Opening Day roster for the Oakland A's. Hope you enjoyed this post, because I invested a little over four hours researching and writing it. Time to pop a few more Tylenol and relax.
Happy Opening Day and sayonara!
13 comments:
That's some list, and surprising that Canseco isn't among the starters.
Looking forward to the official start of Opening Day, my 56th as a Tigers fan.
Get well soon!
That's a good team.
Hope you feel better soon.
Feel better!
I would not have pegged Mark Ellis as being the 2B in Oakland that long.
Hope you feel better soon!
That's a fun list. It made me look up the Red Sox Opening Day rosters (Thank God for Baseball-refernece.com!) Hope you feel better!
It's been my experience that tooth related pain is always the worst. Hopefully things are starting to get better.
dwayne murphy was a favorite of mine from the billy ball era a's, along with rickey and davey lopes (of course). lopes had two opening day starts for the a's and hit a big 9th inning home run for them his third opening day with the club.
if the a's do bail for vegas, at least that's a town you get to fairly often.
If you get tired of the pain meds, table salt and baking soda works great, taste nasty, but works. Feel better bud.
This was a neat history lesson, and I appreciate your hours of research on the Opening Day starters for the Oakland-era A's. That's a terrific team right there. If only the current roster had a little bit of that talent :/
It's awful what the billionaire owner is doing to that team. Longtime fans like yourself deserve better. I hope they get that long-awaited ballpark and stay local.
Echoing the calls that you feel better soon.
Fun post! Thanks for the research!
thanks for the kind words. after a week, the sutures have been removed, the gum is starting to heel, and the palate is still pretty sensitive near the extracted tooth. the craziest part is chewing on only one side of my mouth, since i have a gaping hole on the other side.
john sharp - i'm kind of surprised about canseco too. then again reggie is blocking his way
the lost collector - although i do remember him holding down 2nd base for a long time, i was surprised that dick green wasn't in that spot. i'm even more surprised that i don't have a lot of ellis cards
matt - baseball-reference is one of the biggest resources for my blog posts. love that site
jon - definitely the most pain in recent years. i'll take back pain over tooth pain any day of the week
gcrl - i'm really hoping they stay in oakland. although i'd still root for the a's if they moved, i doubt i'd be as passionate of a fan
johnnys trading spot - i used the salt mouthwash for a week and i think it helped speed up the healing. my dentist said it also helps reduce the chance of infection
chris - thanks chris! until he sells the team, it's something we just have to accept (or move on from). at the very least, i hope they stay in oakland.
jafronius - thanks. it seemed like the never ending post. can't imagine i'll invest that much time in a single post anytime soon.
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