Revisiting A More Memorable Oakland A's Season In 1973
After a forgettable 2022, today's newsletter takes us back to a time when the A's gave us quite a bit more worth remembering.
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Pregame Pepper - Turn Back The Clock To 1973
Leading Off
1973 Oakland A’s Season Review
By Rich Campbell
Last month in this space a recap of the 2022 Oakland Athletics season was offered, and it was depressing.
To move on from that negative vibe, let’s take a look back at the 1973 Oakland team, as the A’s recently announced they will be gathering next season for a 50th Reunion celebration on Sunday, April 16 versus the team they defeated in the Fall Classic that year, the New York Mets.
The A’s were looking for their second straight World Series title in 1973, having vanquished the Big Red Machine in 1972 in seven games. The ‘73 squad was loaded and healthy, as evidenced by nine players having over 480 plate appearances: with Ray Fosse catching, Gene Tenace at first, Campy Campenaris at short, Sal Bando at third, an outfield of Joe Rudi in left, Bill North in center and Reggie Jackson in right, with Deron Johnson as DH in the first year of the new rule in the AL. The only position that was a platoon was second base, shared by Dick Green and Ted Kubiak. By contrast, the 2022 A’s had just three players with more than 390 plate appearances (Sean Murphy, Seth Brown, and Tony Kemp).
The rotation was equally stout, with a four-man rotation (all 28 or younger) of Catfish Hunter (21-5, 3.34 ERA), Vida Blue (20-9, 3.28), Ken Holtzman (21-13, 2.97) and Blue Moon Odom (5-12, 4.49) accounting for 142 starts. The bullpen was led by Rollie Fingers (7-8, 22 saves, 1.92) who tossed 126.2 innings and was backed up by Darold Knowles, Horacio Pina, and Paul Lindblad, each of whom threw between 78 and 99 innings.
In terms of individual accolades that year, Jackson won the MVP. Other A’s receiving votes were: Bando (T-4th), Hunter (T-10th), Johnson (T-21st), Campaneris (T-26th), Blue (T-29th), and North (T-29th). For the Cy Young, Hunter finished third behind Jim Palmer and Nolan Ryan and Blue finished seventh.
At the 1973 All Star Game, Jackson, Campaneris, and Hunter were starters, and Bando, Holtzman and Fingers were reserves.
The All-Star Team and the A’s that year were led by Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams. Other Hall of Famers from the 1973 team are Jackson, Hunter, and Fingers. Two other players from the team are top 25 players at their positions (bWAR) and certainly deserve HOF consideration: Sal Bando and Bert Campaneris.
Bando accumulated 61.5 bWAR in his career and finished fourth in MVP voting in 1973, when he led the AL in total bases, and finished second in 1971 and fourth in 1974. He amassed four All Star appearances in his career and ranks 16th in bWAR among third baseman. Campenaris was a six-time All-Star and his 53.0 bWAR ranks 22nd among shortstops all time. He is 14th all-time with 649 career steals. Campaneris also famously played all nine positions in a 1965 game.
Record Recap: The A’s finished with a 94-68 mark to top the Kansas City Royals by 6 games in the AL West. In the ALCS they topped the favored Baltimore Orioles (97-65) in five games, winning the finale 3-0 behind a Catfish Hunter shutout.
In the World Series, the A’s defeated the New York Mets in the seventh game 5-2 to capture their second consecutive title. Reggie Jackson was the series MVP slashing .310/.355/.586 with three doubles, a triple, a homer, and a team-leading 6 RBIs. A fitting performance for Mr. October after he missed the 1972 World Series with a torn hamstring.
Bet You Forgot These Guys: A 22-year-old Manny Trillo had 12 plate appearances and 24-year-old Phil Garner had nine. They both went on to create World Series memories for other franchises. Billy Conigliaro - brother of Tony - had 124 plate appearances for the team in his age 25 season and hit .200, never playing in the big leagues again. And another famous brother, Jesus Alou, had 111 plate appearances and hit .306 for the A’s in 1973.
Final Note: Game Seven of the World Series marked the end of Willie Mays’ career. I was a seven-year-old in the last row of Section 317 with my dad at that game.
Coming Up: The 1974 season. Spoiler alert: another World Series title, this time over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rich Campbell is a Marketing Professor at Sonoma State University by day and A’s fan by night. He has previously been a sports business contributor at Forbes.com and his academic writing has appeared in Sport Marketing Quarterly. You can find him on Twitter @RichCampbellPhD.