1973 Oakland Athletics season

The 1973 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's winning their third consecutive American League West title with a record of 94 wins and 68 losses. The A's went on to defeat the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS for their second straight AL Championship, and won the World Series in seven games over the New York Mets to take their second consecutive World Championship.

1973 Oakland Athletics
1973 AL West Champions
1973 AL Champions
1973 World Series Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record94–68 (.580)
Other information
Owner(s)Charles O. Finley
Manager(s)Dick Williams
Local televisionKTVU
Local radioKEEN
(Monte Moore, Jim Woods, Bill Rigney)
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Offseason
Round 1: Mike Norris (24th pick).[5]
Secondary Phase
Round 1: Warren Cromartie (10th pick) (did not sign).[6]

Regular season

The 1973 A's had three 20-game winners in Jim (Catfish) Hunter, Ken Holtzman and Vida Blue.[10]

The A's were on the receiving end of some milestones as well. On July 3, Nolan Ryan struck out Sal Bando of the Athletics for the 1000th strikeout in his career.[11] On July 30, Jim Bibby threw the first no-hitter in Texas Rangers history as he no-hit the Athletics.[12] The Rangers won the game 6–0.

Opening Day starters

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 9468 0.580 — 50–31 44–37
Kansas City Royals 8874 0.543 6 48–33 40–41
Minnesota Twins 8181 0.500 13 37–44 44–37
California Angels 7983 0.488 15 43–38 36–45
Chicago White Sox 7785 0.475 17 40–41 37–44
Texas Rangers 57105 0.352 37 35–46 22–59

Record vs. opponents
1973 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore —7–116–68–412–69–98–415–38–49–95–710–2
Boston 11–7—7–56–69–93–158–412–66–614–44–89–3
California 6–65–7—8–105–77–510–85–710–86–66–1211–7
Chicago 4–86–610–8—7–55–76–123–99–98–46–1213–5
Cleveland 6–129–97–55–7—9–92–109–97–57–113–97–5
Detroit 9–915–35–77–59–9—4–812–65–77–117–55–7
Kansas City 4–84–88–1012–610–28–4—8–49–96–68–1011–7
Milwaukee 3–156–127–59–39–96–124–8—8–410–84–88–4
Minnesota 4–86–68–109–95–77–59–94–8—3–914–412–6
New York 9–94–146–64–811–711–76–68–109–3—4–88–4
Oakland 7–58–412–612–69–35–710–88–44–148–4—11–7
Texas 2–103–97–115–135–77–57–114–86–124–87–11—

Notable transactions

Draft picks
  • June 5, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball Draft

Roster
1973 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
CRay Fosse14349237126.2567522
1BGene Tenace16051083132.25924842
2BDick Green1333323387.2623420
3BSal Bando16259297170.28729984
SSBert Campaneris15160189150.25044634
LFJoe Rudi12043753118.27012660
CFBilly North14655498158.28553453
RFReggie Jackson15153999158.2933211722
DHDeron Johnson13146461114.24619810

[24]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
Ángel Mangual741922043.2243131
Ted Kubiak1061821540.2203171
Billy Conigliaro48110522.2000141
Jesús Alou361081033.3061110
Mike Hegan7571813.183150
Rich McKinney4865916.246170
Vic Davalillo3864512.188040
Pat Bourque234288.190290
Jay Johnstone232813.107030
Gonzalo Márquez232516.240020
Mike Andrews182114.190000
Dal Maxvill291904.211010
Tim Hosley131433.214020
José Morales61404.286010
Manny Trillo171203.250030
Rico Carty7812.250110
Phil Garner9500.000000
Larry Haney2201.500000
Allan Lewis350160----007

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA BB SO
Ken Holtzman40297.121132.9766157
Vida Blue37263.22093.28105158
Catfish Hunter36256.12153.3469124
Blue Moon Odom30150.15124.496783
Dave Hamilton1669.2644.392434
Chuck Dobson12.1017.7123

[24]

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA BB SO
Glenn Abbott518.2103.8676

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA BB SO
Rollie Fingers62126.278221.9239110
Darold Knowles52996893.094946
Horacio Piña47886382.763441
Paul Lindblad36781523.692833
Rob Gardner37.10004.9124

Postseason

ALCS
Main article: 1973 American League Championship Series

Game 1

October 6, 1973, at Memorial Stadium

In Game 1, the Orioles jumped on Oakland starter Vida Blue and reliever Horacio Piña for four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Jim Palmer pitched a 5-hit shutout as the Orioles won, 6–0.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 000 000 000 051
Baltimore 400 000 11X 6120
W: Jim Palmer (1–0)   L: Vida Blue (0–1)   
HR: None

Game 2

October 7, 1973, at Memorial Stadium

In Game 2, the Athletics hit three home runs off Baltimore starter Dave McNally, and won 6–3 behind Catfish Hunter.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 100 002 021 690
Baltimore 100 001 010 380
W: Catfish Hunter (1–0)   L: Dave McNally (0–1)   S: Rollie Fingers (1)
HR: OAK – Bert Campaneris (1), Joe Rudi (1), Sal Bando 2 (2)

Game 3

October 9, 1973, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

In Game 3, the Athletics won 2–1 when shortstop Bert Campaneris homered to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Baltimore 010 000 000 00 130
Oakland 000 000 010 01 243
W: Ken Holtzman (1–0)   L: Mike Cuellar (0–1)
HR: OAK – Bert Campaneris (2) BAL – Earl Williams (1)

Game 4

October 10, 1973, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

In Game 4, the Athletics held a 4–0 lead after six innings, but the Orioles scored four in the seventh off Blue to tie the game; the key blow was a three-run home run by catcher Andy Etchebarren. Baltimore second baseman Bobby Grich broke the tie with a solo home run in the 8th inning, and the Orioles went on to win, 5–4.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 000 000 410 580
Oakland 030 001 000 470
W: Grant Jackson (1–0)   L: Rollie Fingers (0–1)
HR: BAL – Andy Etchebarren (1), Bobby Grich (1)

Game 5

October 11, 1973, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

In Game 5, Hunter pitched a 5-hit shutout as the Athletics won, 3–0, and took the series 3 games to 2.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 000 000 000 052
Oakland 001 200 00X 370
W: Catfish Hunter (2–0)   L: Doyle Alexander (0–1)
HR: None

World Series
Main article: 1973 World Series

The Athletics' victory over the New York Mets in the 1973 Series was marred by Charlie O. Finley's antics. Finley forced Mike Andrews to sign a false affidavit saying he was injured after the reserve second baseman committed two consecutive errors in the 12th inning of the A's Game Two loss to the Mets. This would allow Manny Trillo, ineligible because he was not a member of the team on Sep 1, to be activated.[25]

By demeaning Mike Andrews, Finley brought on open rebellion, the logical progression for a team that has never deluded itself about being a happy ship. The A's worked out at Shea with Andrews' No. 17 taped to their uniforms as a sign of sympathy with him. By then he was back home in Peabody, Massachusetts.[25] When other team members, manager Dick Williams, and virtually the entire viewing public rallied to Andrews' defense, commissioner Bowie Kuhn forced Finley to back down. Andrews entered Game 4 in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter. As he walked to the on-deck circle the crowd of 54,817 at Shea Stadium spotted his No. 17 and commenced cheering.[25] He promptly grounded out, and Finley ordered him benched for the remainder of the Series.

Andrews never played another major league game. Williams was so disgusted by the affair that he announced his resignation as Manager while the Series was still being played.[26] Finley retaliated by vetoing Williams' attempt to become manager of the Yankees. Finley claimed that since Williams still owed Oakland the last year of his contract, he could not manage anywhere else. Finley relented later in 1974 and allowed Williams to take over as manager of the California Angels.

The A's won the World Series in seven games after rallying from a three games to two deficit.

Summary

AL Oakland Athletics (4) vs. NL New York Mets (3)

Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1Mets – 1, A's – 2October 13Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum46,0212:26
2Mets – 10, A's – 7 (12 inns)October 14Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum55,9894:13
3A's – 3, Mets – 2 (11 inns)October 16Shea Stadium54,8173:15
4A's – 1, Mets – 6October 17Shea Stadium54,8172:41
5A's – 0, Mets – 2October 18Shea Stadium54,8172:39
6Mets – 1, A's – 3October 20Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum49,3332:07
7Mets – 2, A's – 5October 21Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum49,3332:37

Awards and honors

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tucson Toros Pacific Coast League Sherm Lollar
AA Birmingham A's Southern League Harry Bright
A Burlington Bees Midwest League Rene Lachemann
A-Short Season Lewiston Broncos Northwest League Mike Sgobba

References
  1. Rich McKinney page at Baseball Reference
  2. Horacio Piña page at Baseball Reference
  3. Orlando Cepeda page on Baseball Reference
  4. 1973 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft
  5. Mike Norris page at Baseball Reference
  6. Warren Cromartie page on Baseball Reference
  7. Jerry McNertney page at Baseball Reference
  8. Ray Fosse page at Baseball Reference
  9. Jay Johnstone page at Baseball Reference
  10. "Sporting News: Baseball History of the World Series". Archived from the original on June 11, 2010. Retrieved July 4, 2008.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 144, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  13. Tim Hosley page at Baseball Reference
  14. Mark Budaska page at Baseball Reference
  15. Steve McCatty page at Baseball Reference
  16. Dal Maxvill page at Baseball Reference
  17. Jesus Alou page at Baseball Reference
  18. Pat Bourque page at Baseball Reference
  19. Rico Carty page at Baseball Reference
  20. Floyd Bannister page at Baseball Reference
  21. Matt Keough page at Baseball Reference
  22. Derek Bryant page at Baseball Reference
  23. Craig Mitchell page at Baseball Reference
  24. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/1973.shtml
  25. CNN/SI – 1998 MLB Postseason – 1973 World Series
  26. Williams to resign from Oakland job
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