1975 Oakland Athletics season

The Oakland Athletics' 1975 season involved the A's finishing first in the American League West with a record of 98 wins and 64 losses. They went on to play the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 American League Championship Series, losing in three straight games.

1975 Oakland Athletics
1975 AL West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record98–64 (.605)
Other information
Owner(s)Charles O. Finley
Manager(s)Alvin Dark
Local televisionKPIX-TV
Local radioKEEN
(Monte Moore, Bob Waller)
< Previous season     Next season >

Offseason

After the Athletics' victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1974 World Series under Alvin Dark, pitcher Catfish Hunter filed a grievance. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 1974 with a record of 25–12 and a league-leading 2.49 earned run average. Hunter uncovered a violation of his contract with A's owner Charlie Finley and the team that allowed him to become a free agent. The A's were to send half of Hunter's $100,000 annual salary to a North Carolina bank as payment on an annuity, but Finley did not comply.[1]

On December 13, 1974, arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in Hunter's favor. As a result, Hunter became a free agent, and signed a contract with the New York Yankees for the 1975 season.[2] Despite the loss of Hunter, the A's repeated as A.L. West champions in 1975, but lost the ALCS to Boston in a 3-game sweep.

The Athletics led the league in arbitration filings with 13.[3] Seven players settled before their hearings.

Notable transactions

Regular season
  • At the All-Star Break, there were discussions of Bowie Kuhn's reappointment. Finley, New York owner George Steinbrenner and Baltimore owner Jerry Hoffberger were part of a group that wanted him gone.[10] Finley was trying to convince the new owner of the Texas Rangers Brad Corbett that MLB needed a more dynamic commissioner.[11] During the vote, Baltimore and New York decided to vote in favour of the commissioner's reappointment.
  • By July 14, the Athletics had won 55 games, compared to 32 losses.[12] Seven Athletics had been named to the All-Star Game.[13]
  • August 18, 1975: Charlie Finley was on the cover of Time magazine.[14] It would be his last major profile in a national publication.[15]

Relocation plans
  • Finley received numerous offers for the Athletics. Horse owner Marge Everett wanted to purchase the team and relocate them to Seattle. Former San Francisco Giants manager Herman Franks led a group of 15 investors who had offered more than $15 million.[16]
  • Finley openly criticized fans for the lack of attendance. There were rumours of possible relocation to New Orleans, Seattle, and Toronto.[16] In addition, there was talk of an ownership group relocating the San Francisco Giants to Toronto, with the possibility that Oakland would have the entire Bay Area to itself.[14]
  • In 1975, fed up with poor attendance in Oakland during the team's championship years, Finley pondered relocating the team. When Seattle filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball over the move of the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee, Finley and others came up with an elaborate shuffle which would move the ailing Chicago White Sox to Seattle. White Sox owner John Allyn was broke and placed under enormous pressure from fellow owners to sell his club to Seattle interests and undercut a lawsuit which Seattle had against them.[17] As Charlie Finley had business interests in Chicago, he was prepared to move the Athletics to Chicago and be closer to his home in LaPorte, Indiana.[18] Due to his 20-year lease with the city of Oakland (to expire in 1987), Finley was blocked. The scheme fell through when Arthur Allyn sold the White Sox to another colorful owner, Bill Veeck, who was not interested in leaving Chicago.[14]

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 9864 0.605 — 54–27 44–37
Kansas City Royals 9171 0.562 7 51–30 40–41
Texas Rangers 7983 0.488 19 39–41 40–42
Minnesota Twins 7683 0.478 20½ 39–43 37–40
Chicago White Sox 7586 0.466 22½ 42–39 33–47
California Angels 7289 0.447 25½ 35–46 37–43

Record vs. opponents
1975 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore —9–96–67–410–812–47–514–46–68–104–87–5
Boston 9–9—6–68–47–1113–57–510–810–211–56–68–4
California 6–66–6—9–93–96–54–147–58–107–57–119–9
Chicago 4–74–89–9—7–55–79–98–49–96–69–95–13
Cleveland 8–1011–79–35–7—12–66–69–93–69–92–105–7
Detroit 4–125–135–67–56–12—6–67–114–86–126–61–11
Kansas City 5–75–714–49–96–66–6—7–511–77–511–714–4
Milwaukee 4–148–105–74–89–911–75–7—2–109–95–76–6
Minnesota 6–62–1010–89–96–38–47–1110–2—4–86–128–10
New York 10–85–115–76–69–912–65–79–98–4—6–68–4
Oakland 8–46–611–79–910–26–611–77–512–66–6—12–6
Texas 5–74–89–913–57–511–14–146–610–84–86–12—

Notable transactions

Roster
1975 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

  • 28 Billy Williams
 Outfielders

Other batters

Designated runner

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CGene Tenace158498127.2552987
1BJoe Rudi126468130.2782175
2BPhil Garner160488120.246654
3BSal Bando160562129.2301578
SSBert Campaneris137509135.265446
LFClaudell Washington148590182.3081077
CFBilly North140524143.273143
RFReggie Jackson157593150.25336104
DHBilly Williams155520127.2442381

[24]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ray Fosse8213619.140012
Jim Holt10212327.220216
Ángel Mangual6210924.22016
Ted Martínez868715.17203
Tommy Harper346922.31927
Ted Kubiak20287.25004
Larry Haney47265.19212
César Tovar19266.23103
Matt Alexander63101.10000
Dal Maxvill20102.20000
Denny Walling681.12502
Rich McKinney871.14302
Don Hopkins8261.16700
Charlie Chant550.00000
Gaylen Pitts1031.33301
Charlie Sands321.50000
Billy Grabarkewitz620.00000
Herb Washington1300.---00
Tommy Sandt200.---00

[24]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Vida Blue3927822113.01189
Ken Holtzman39266.118143.14122
Dick Bosman22122.21143.5242
Stan Bahnsen21100673.2449
Sonny Siebert1761443.6944
Mike Norris416.2100.005
Craig Mitchell13.20112.272

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Glenn Abbott30114.1554.2551
Jim Perry1567.2344.6633
Dave Hamilton1135.2124.0420
Blue Moon Odom7110212.274

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Rollie Fingers75106242.98115
Paul Lindblad689172.7258
Jim Todd5883122.2950

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tucson Toros Pacific Coast League Hank Aguirre
AA Birmingham A's Southern League Harry Malmberg
A Modesto A's California League Rene Lachemann
A-Short Season Boise A's Northwest League Tom Trebelhorn

References
  1. Catfish Hunter, Who Pitched in 6 World Series for A's and Yankees, Dies at 53 – New York Times
  2. Catfish Hunter page at Baseball Reference
  3. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.219, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  4. Manny Trillo page at Baseball Reference
  5. Dan Ford page at Baseball Reference
  6. Dal Maxvill page at Baseball Reference
  7. Tim Hosley page at Baseball Reference
  8. Rob Picciolo page at Baseball Reference
  9. Jesús Alou page at Baseball Reference
  10. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.226, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  11. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.227, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  12. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.225, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  13. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, pp.225–6, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  14. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.229, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  15. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.230, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  16. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.222, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  17. WSI's FLYINGSOCK.COM. Chicago White Sox coverage with totally biased attitude!
  18. K.C. A's – why did Finley almost move to Dallas? – Baseball Fever
  19. Champ Summers page at Baseball Reference
  20. Blue Moon Odom page at Baseball Reference
  21. Denny Walling page at Baseball Reference
  22. Brian Kingman page at Baseball Reference
  23. Mark Williams page at Baseball Reference
  24. 1975 Oakland Athletics Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.