All-time Oakland Athletics team

[Knick9]

What's your all time Oakland Athletics team? This excludes Philladelphia and Kansas City, so you can choose from the time of 1968-present for who you think were the best players to wear an Oakland uni for the majority of their careers.

Feel free to comment on my team below:

1B:-None at the moment (Mark McGwire is DQ'd in my mind)
2B: Gene Tenace
3B: Sal Bando
SS: Bert Campaneris
C: Terry Steinbach
LF: Rickey Henderson (excellent base stealer)
CF: Joe Rudi
RF: Reggie Jackson
Util: Matt Stairs (OF)
Carney Lansford (3B)
Miguel Tejada (SS)
Geronimo Berroa (OF)
Dwayne Murphy (OF)
Billy North (OF)


SP: Chuck Dobson
Dave Stewart
Vida Blue
James "Catfish" Hunter
Johnny Odom

RP/CP: Dennis Eckersley
Paul Lindbland
Mark Mulder
Rollie Fingers
Tim Hudson

(Gee wiz Butterbean, that's some solid pitching! )

Manager:Tony LaRussa

[Catfish27]

You have a few surprising picks there, Knick9.

There seems to be some confusion as to who played what position. Joe Rudi was a 3-time Gold Glove winner in LEFT field. In nearly 1200 games played in the outfield he only played in center field twice. If you want to try to have both Rickey Henderson and Joe Rudi in your outfield, I'd put Rickey in center. In 2041 games played in the outfield he played 57 times in center field. Reggie played more games in center than either one of them, but both Henderson and Rudi had weak throwing arms so you wouldn't want them in right...or center, either, for that matter.

Gene Tenace split his time between catcher (892 games) and first base (625 games). The only reason he has appearances at second base (6 games) is because of Charlie Finley's crazy rotating second baseman scheme.

Chuck Dobson and John "Blue Moon" Odom both had a few good seasons but Dobson's career ended prematurely due to injuries, and I believe Odom had both arm problems and drug problems. In any case there are several better pitchers to select over those two.

My picks are as follows:

C Terry Steinbach
1B Mark McGwire
2B Dick Green
3B Eric Chavez
SS Miguel Tejada
LF Rickey Henderson
CF Dave Henderson
RF Reggie Jackson

SP Catfish Hunter
SP Dave Stewart
SP Vida Blue
SP Tim Hudson

RP Rollie Fingers
RP Dennis Eckersley

Honorable Mention:
C/1B Gene Tenance
2B Mike Gallego
3B Sal Bando
3B Carney Lansford
SS Campy Campaneris
LF Joe Rudi
CF Dwayne Murphy
LF/RF Jose Canseco
SP Ken Holtzman
SP Bob Welch

Comments:

In some cases it's a bit difficult to decide, particularly if you factor in the number of seasons the players actually performed in Oakland; I tried to balance the two. For example, Holtzman performed superbly for the A's, but his stay in Oakland was a bit short for me to select him in the first four starters.

If I were to add a left-handed reliever, it would be between Paul Lindblad, Darold Knowles, Bob Lacey, and Rick Honeycutt.

I didn't pick a DH, but you can put one of the players from the honorable mention in that slot.

I picked the team based on performance, therefore Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco both made the list. I do not endorse the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs.

[Bucketfoot Al]

A's Best

I am in almost complete agreement with you Catfish. Great calls!! I would probably put Dwayne Murphy in there instead of Dave Henderson, just because I liked the way he played CF. Maybe Campy over Tejada because of all the stolen bases and he has the majority of A's records.

In addition:

Best Attitude: Dave Henderson

Best Batboy: MC Hammer

Best Coach: Irv Noren

Best Manager: Dick Williams

[Zito75]

C: Steiny
1B: Big Mac (sentimental reasons only, major disappoinment)
2B: Tenace
SS: Tejada
3B: Chavez
LF: Rickey Henderson
CF: Dave Henderson
RF: Reggie Jackson
DH: Canseco (I know, I know, but it's the Bash Brothers)
P: Stewart
P: Blue
P: Welch
P: Hunter
P: Hudson
RP: Eck
RP: Fingers
Bench: Lansford
Bench: Berroa
Bench: Polonia
Bench: Giambi (I doubt he did 'roids the whole time)
Bench: Hatteberg (clutch in the playoffs)
Bench: Murphy
Bench: Bando
Bench: Campy
Bench: Jaha
Bench: Zito
Bench: Mike Moore

[Catfish27]

I am in almost complete agreement with you Catfish. Great calls!! I would probably put Dwayne Murphy in there instead of Dave Henderson, just because I liked the way he played CF. Maybe Campy over Tejada because of all the stolen bases and he has the majority of A's records.

You and I are of similar mind. It was a tough pick between Hendu and Murph, but went with Hendu because he was a better overall player and such a delightful guy. Hard to argue with Murph's 6 Gold Gloves, leadership (he was team captain), and his longer tenure with the A's.

Campy and Tejada was another tough choice. Tejada was definitely the more talented of the two, but his tenure was shorter. If the years spent with the KC A's were included I probably would have gone with Campy.

Green and Gallego was the other tough choice. Both were superb fielders but light hitters.

Bench: Mike Moore

Mike Moore! *CRINGE* My wife still talks about how slowly he worked and how long the games were when he pitched. He had some good seasons with the A's but his games sure were hard to sit through.


Another guy I thought of was Mike Bordick. He'd be a pretty good utility infielder for our All-time Oakland A's team.

[Bucketfoot Al]

Dick Green

I would pick Dick Green at 2B based on the 1974 World Series against the Dodgers alone. Although he was often injured during his Oakland years, he was always Dick Williams go to guy at 2B and played his entire career with the Athletics.

He was voted the Babe Ruth Award for MVP in the '74 Series even though he didn't get one base hit (0-13). His glove is in the Hall of Fame. Whenever I see that painful replay of Kirk Gibson's 1988 WS home run, I think of Greenie throwing out the Dodger runner at 3rd in Game 5 and smile!! What a way to end a career.

[Zito75]

Yeah, Mike Moore. I HATED him when I was a little kid (M's fan) since he was just rotten. But he did have some good years with us- 1989. There are a few other guys I liked, such as Joe Morgan, Dave Parker and Don Baylor but they weren't really with us long.

[Catfish27]

His glove is in the Hall of Fame.

I've seen it!

My wife took a two-week trip to New York in August of 1995, and visited Cooperstown while we were there. I expected the museum to be great, and it was even better than I expected. What an amazing place!

[Chisox73]

Here is my All-time Oakland team;

C- Terry Steinbach
1B- Mark McGwire
2B- Dick Green
SS- Miguel Tejada
3B- Eric Chavez
LF- Rickey Henderson
CF- Dave Henderson
RF- Reggie Jackson
DH- Carney Lansford
SP- Jim "Catfish" Hunter
SP- Dave Stewart
SP- Barry Zito
SP- Vida Blue
SP- Tim Hudson
RP- Rick Honeycutt
RP- Paul Lindblad
CL- Rollie Fingers
CL- Dennis Eckersley

Honoralbe mention;
C- Gene Tenace
1B- Jason Giambi
2B- Mike Gallego
SS- Bert Campaneris
3B- Sal Bando
LF- Joe Rudi
CF- Dwayne Murphy
RF- Jose Canseco
SP- Bob Welch
SP- Mark Mulder
SP- Blue Moon Odom
SP- Mike Norris
SP- Ken Holtzman

Mgr;Tony LaRussa

[Zito75]

Nice banner, ChiSox73. Kudos!

[Chisox73]

Thanks Zito. :gt Had to put it here.

[Mariano_Rivera]

Can a mod who is knowledgabke about Athletics history add a poll to this thread? If somebody does please include the A's entire history.

I want the results for the All-Time position by position battle. I have a thread about it in the history forum if you're interested.