The 1972-74 A's are very underrated IMO. The one knock against them is that they did not have dominant regular season records. What is often forgotten is that the A's actually won five straight A.L. West titles 1971-75. The 1971 team (101 wins) and the 1975 team (98 wins, best record in the AL) had far better regular season records than the three World Series teams.
1972 A's
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I loved it when the Cubs were rained out when I was a kid and WGN would show WS highlights instead of the game...they would show the early '70s A's quite often and I became fans of many of that team's players as a result. Joe Rudi was a particular favorite, seemed like kind of an ordinary guy who happened to also be a fine ballplayer."If I drink whiskey, I'll never get worms!" - Hack Wilson
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The A's of the first half of the 70's had some very good teams. It helped that they played in an extremely weak division, I couldn't see them winning 5 times or even 3 times in a row if the AL was still a 10 team league. But because they had outstanding pitching they were a tough team to beat in a short series.It Might Be? It Could Be?? It Is!
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FYI
Code:[B]Year RS RA RD W-L exp W-L [/B] 1971 691 564 +127 101-60 95-66 1972 604 457 +147 93-62 97-58 1973 758 615 +143 94-68 96-66 1974 689 551 +138 90-72 97-65 1975 758 606 +152 98-64 97-68
Last edited by Honus Wagner Rules; 02-22-2013, 12:27 PM.Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.-Crash Davis
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Twice Sports Illustrated had A's players on the cover in 1972.
Vida Blue 03-27-1972.JPG
Catfish Hunter 10-23-1972.JPGStrikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.-Crash Davis
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Apparently, the 1972 A's had ball girls sit along the foul lines during games! :hyper:
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Athletics Ballgirl 5.JPGLast edited by Honus Wagner Rules; 02-22-2013, 12:48 PM.Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.-Crash Davis
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Originally posted by PVNICK View PostTheir former batboy circa 1979ish. Birth certificate name forgotten. I understand his music hit so hard it made you say oh my godStrikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.-Crash Davis
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Last edited by Honus Wagner Rules; 02-22-2013, 03:44 PM.Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.-Crash Davis
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Originally posted by 9RoyHobbsRF View PostI have fond memories of seeing the first Bay Area World Champion, although I was a bigger Giants fan by far. I thought they were a scrappy bunch that over achieved, but did took another look at them the other day and was surprised by a few things. First a quick recap:
The 1971 A's had a great year with Vida Blue sweeping the AL MVP and Cy Young Awards but were swept by the Baltimore Orioles who then were beaten by The Pirates in the World Series.
Vida Blue held out in the spring of 1972 and never really regained his form that year, going from 24-8 to 6-10. The A's had traded one of their better players, Rick Monday, to the Cubs and got a very reliable starter in Ken Holtzman. Reggie Jackson had an ok year, but Bando had a poor year, as did the catching combo of Duncan and Tenace (compared to previous years). Campaneris had a average year at best and they were weak at 2B as well. Not much of a CF either but Joe Rudi had an excellent year in LF and Mike Epstein delivered some power at 1B. The pitching was very very good.
Overall, I would rate them a not very good offensive team but was surprised to see them #1 in the league in HR and second in runs scored, not bad for a team playing in a pitchers park. They also were second in the league in runs alowed and ERA in a pitching dominated year for the AL. I checked WAR and found 4 of the top 10 position players were A's including Bando who hit .236 with 15 HR? They did not have a P among the top 10 in WAR for pitchers except for Hunter at #5. I would have thought their pitching was the better strength than their hitting that year?
They beat the older veteran Tigers (under Billy Martin) in a tense playoff and were forced to play the series without their best player, Reggie Jackson. Somehow, with the help of Tenace and a propensity to win close games, they downed the favored Reds to win the series.
Were they lucky? Just able to win close games? Better than we thought at the time? Managed above expectations by Dick Williams?
Of course, they won the next two series as well and were in the midst of a 5 year run of division titles.
Thoughts?
And the following year they had to play the postseason without Billy North-one of their main cogs-and still won the WS
This gave Angel mangual some post season AB's both years
looking at his career stats-amazing he got so much playing time with a dynastic team with such paultry offensive production
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