1998 Oakland Athletics season

The Oakland Athletics' 1998 season saw the A's finish with a record of 74 wins and 88 losses. The campaign was the first of the Billy Beane era. While the Athletics finished a distant fourth in the AL West, they improved upon the prior year's dismal output of 65-97.

1998 Oakland Athletics
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record74–88 (.457)
Other information
Owner(s)Stephen Schott
Ken Hofmann
General manager(s)Billy Beane
Manager(s)Art Howe
Local televisionKRON-TV
Fox Sports Bay Area
(Ray Fosse, Greg Papa, Ken Wilson)
Local radioKNEW
(Bill King, Ken Korach, Ray Fosse)
< Previous season     Next season >

The strong play of Jason Giambi, Matt Stairs and Kenny Rogers highlighted an otherwise forgettable campaign. Rogers' performance was particularly impressive; in arguably the finest season of his career, he won 16 games and posted a 3.17 earned run average (both were the best full-season marks by an Athletics starter since 1992). Additionally, the 1998 season marked Rickey Henderson's fourth (and final) stint with the Athletics. Henderson, at the age of 39, stole a total 66 bases; this total lead the league in that category. Lastly, rookie Ben Grieve collected a Rookie of the Year (ROY) award for his solid debut season. The award was the Athletics' first since Walt Weiss received one in 1988.

The Athletics posted a winning record in 1999. The organization, under Beane, would not post another losing season until 2007.

Offseason

Regular season

Opening Day starters
  • Rafael Bournigal
  • Tom Candiotti
  • Jason Giambi
  • Ben Grieve
  • Rickey Henderson
  • A. J. Hinch
  • Dave Magadan
  • Jason McDonald
  • Scott Spiezio
  • Matt Stairs[14]

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Texas Rangers 8874 0.543 — 48–33 40–41
Anaheim Angels 8577 0.525 3 42–39 43–38
Seattle Mariners 7685 0.472 11½ 42–39 34–46
Oakland Athletics 7488 0.457 14 39–42 35–46

Record vs. opponents
1998 American League Records

Sources:
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim —5–66–55–64–78–36–56–56–55–79–36–55–74–710–6
Baltimore 6–5—6–62–95–610–15–67–33–98–36–55–76–55–75–11
Boston 5–66–6—5–68–35–58–35–65–79–27–49–36–55–79–7
Chicago 6–59–26–5—6–66–68–46–64–74–74–75–65–64–6–17–9
Cleveland 7–46–53–86–6—9–38–46–64–73–89–27–34–77–410–6
Detroit 3–81–105–56–63–9—6–68–43–87–43–85–63–85–67–9
Kansas City 5–66–53–84–84–86–6—7–50–107–44–68–33–86–59–7
Minnesota 5–63–76–56–66–64–85–7—4–74–72–97–47–44–77–9
New York 5–69–37–57–47–48–310–07–4—8–38–311–18–36–613–3
Oakland 7–53–82–97–48–34–74–77–43–8—5–75–66–65–68–8
Seattle 3–95–64–77–42–98–36–49–23–87–5—6–55–74–77–9
Tampa Bay 5–67–53–96–53–76–53–84–71–116–55–6—4–75–75–11
Texas 7–55–65–66–57–48–38–34–73–86–67–57–4—7–48–8
Toronto 7–47–57–56–4–14–76–55–67–46–66–57–47–54–7—9–7

Notable transactions

Roster
1998 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers
  • 33 T.J. Mathews
 Catchers

Infielders

  •  8 Ed Sprague
 Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; R = Runs; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In; Avg. = Batting average; Slg. = Slugging average; SB = Stolen Bases

Pos. Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. Slg. SB
CA. J. Hinch1203373478935.231.3413
1BJason Giambi1535629216627110.295.4892
2BScott Spiezio11440654105950.259.3771
3BMike Blowers12940956971171.237.3861
SSMiguel Tejada10536553851145.233.3845
LFRicky Henderson1525421011281457.236.34766
CFRyan Christenson1173705695550.257.3685
RFBen Grieve155583941681889.288.4582
DHMatt Stairs1495238815426106.294.5118

[18]

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
Ed Sprague278713.14937
Jack Voigt577210.139110

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
Kenny Rogers34238.21683.17138
Tom Candiotti3320111164.8498

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

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

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Edmonton Trappers Pacific Coast League Mike Quade
AA Huntsville Stars Southern League Jeffrey Leonard
A Modesto A's California League Juan Navarrette
A Visalia Oaks California League Tony DeFrancesco
A-Short Season Southern Oregon Timberjacks Northwest League Greg Sparks
Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League John Kuehl

References
  1. Dane Johnson at Baseball-Reference
  2. Scott Brosius at Baseball-Reference
  3. Tony Batista at Baseball-Reference
  4. Jorge Velandia at Baseball-Reference
  5. Damon Berryhill at Baseball-Reference
  6. Mark Acre at Baseball-Reference
  7. Jack Voigt at Baseball-Reference
  8. Mike Blowers at Baseball-Reference
  9. Izzy Molina at Baseball-Reference
  10. Ricky Henderson at Baseball-Reference
  11. Kevin Mitchell at Baseball-Reference
  12. Ernie Young at Baseball-Reference
  13. Doug Bochtler at Baseball-Reference
  14. http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1998&t=OAK
  15. Mark Mulder at Baseball-Reference
  16. Eric Byrnes at Baseball-Reference
  17. Aaron Small at Baseball-Reference
  18. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/1998.shtml
  • 1998 Oakland Athletics team at Baseball-Reference
  • 1998 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.
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