1976 Oakland A’s: Fading Greatness

For the first half of the 1970s, the Oakland A’s were the pre-eminent franchise in Major League Baseball. Starting in 1971, the A’s had won five straight AL West titles. The middle three seasons of that run, from 1972 through 1974, saw Oakland win three consecutive World Series championships. But the embryonic age of free agency started to chip away at the small-market franchise in 1975. While they still won the division, the World Series run ended. In 1976, there were a few more chips that led to the end of the AL West dynasty.

FINLEY CONTINUES THE SELL-OFF

The loss of ace starting pitcher Catfish Hunter held the A’s back in 1975. The next big move came just a week prior to the start of the 1976 season. Reggie Jackson’s free agency was impending. Owner Charlie Finley, desperate to recoup something, traded Reggie along with another reliable starting pitcher in Ken Holtzman to the Baltimore Orioles. The return wasn’t negligible—Oakland got a young Don Baylor back, along with a steady starter in Mike Torrez. But it was still a downgrade.

QUALITY ARMS STILL ON HAND

The cupboard was far from bare for first-year manager Chuck Tanner. Vida Blue led the starting rotation, going to the post 37 times and finishing with 18 wins and a 2.35 ERA. Torrez started 39 games, finished 16-12 and had a 2.50 ERA. The great Rollie Fingers was in the bullpen, where he saved 20 games, won 13 more, logged 134 innings and posted a 2.47 ERA.

Fingers led up a steady bullpen that included workhorses in Stan Bahnsen and Paul Lindblad, who each had ERAs in the low 3s. Depth in the rotation was an issue, with a mix of veteran Paul Mitchell, spot starter Dick Bosman and 21-year-old Mike Norris all filling in behind Blue and Torrez. But overall, the A’s pitching staff still finished third in the American League for composite ERA.

POWER AND SPEED

Offensively, Oakland didn’t hit for average and they didn’t hit the ball in the gaps very well. They still managed to finish fifth in the 12-team American League for runs scored. How? Well, they could hit home runs, where they were fourth in the AL. Third baseman Sal Bando hit 27 homers, and first baseman Gene Tenace hit 20 more. Baylor popped 15 while playing different outfield spots.

But above all, these A’s could run. As a team they stole 341 bases. Saying that led the league doesn’t do it justice—Oakland stole 123 bases more than the next-fastest team. Leadoff hitter and centerfielder Billy North swiped 75. Shortstop Bert Campaneris stole 54 more. Baylor stole 52. Claudell Washington in rightfield and Phil Garner at second base combined to steal 72 more.

All of which enabled leftfielder Joe Rudi, with otherwise pedestrian offensive numbers, to drive in 94 runs. The A’s didn’t get a lot of hits, but between the homers and the steals, they made the most of the ones they got.

A ROUGH START

After sweeping the lowly Angels to start the season, Oakland was immediately swept right back in Texas. That set the tone for a middling April, which gave way to a poor May. The A’s lost seven straight early in the month to AL West rivals. By the time Memorial Day arrived, Oakland was in fifth place and seven games off the pace being set by the up-and-coming Kansas City Royals.

It bears reminding younger readers that in this era, there was only an East and West division in each league and only first-place teams qualified for the postseason, going directly to the League Championship Series. Thus, while a 20-25 record, fifth-place standing and seven-game deficit would be worrisome in any era, it was a full-scale alarm in the world of 1976.

SLOW REVIVAL

Coming out of Memorial Day, things promptly got a bit worse, as the A’s dropped a home series to the Royals. But a trip East started to bring some sunlight in. Oakland swept the eventual pennant-winning New York Yankees in the Bronx. The A’s went to Fenway Park and won two of three in Boston.

They also beat the Red Sox two of three when Boston made the return trip west, although that mid-June series is remembered for something else.

ABORTED FIRE SALE

Owner Charlie Finley, still desperate to get something for his remaining stars before they all left in the offseason, attempted a major fire sale. He sold Rudi and Fingers to the Red Sox, and Blue to the Yankees. Rudi and Fingers actually reported to the Boston clubhouse during this series even though they never suited up. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn put a pause on the sales, and three days later invoked “the best interests of baseball” to void the deals entirely.

Fingers, Rudi and Blue would finish the season in Oakland and the A’s were starting to play better baseball. But it was another reminder of what was looming.

By the All-Star break, Oakland had moved over .500 to 44-41. They were up to third in the AL West. But they were 8 ½ back of Kansas City.

THE LAST PUSH BEGINS

The veterans of the dynasty weren’t going to roll over quietly. The A’s won nine of fifteen coming out of the break, including a series over the Royals. In early August, Oakland enjoyed a dominating a ten-game homestand where they won nine times. By Labor Day, they extended their record to 72-63. They hadn’t yet made a notable dent in Kansas City’s lead, still seven games off. But the A’s were up to second place and had six head-to-head games with the frontrunner in September. They weren’t dead yet.

NOT QUITE ENOUGH

Another 9-6 stretch had Oakland within six games with two weeks to play when the head-to-head battles started. They went to Kansas City on September 21.

Tuesday night’s opener was a missed opportunity in more ways than one. The A’s went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and dropped a 3-1 decision. With the pennant bid looking bleak, they came out swinging on Wednesday night. Tenace, Garner and Rudi all homered. North stole two bases. Blue went the distance and Oakland stayed alive with an 11-1 rout.

It was more of the same on Thursday night—North and Baylor each stole two bags, everyone hit and Torrez tossed a complete-game. A comfortable 8-1 win chipped the lead down to five games. After splitting two games in Chicago, the margin was 4 ½ when Kansas City came west to begin the final week.

There was no slack left. Oakland needed to sweep to even have a chance going into the weekend and they were ready to go on Monday night. Blue again came up with a complete game in a must-win spot. Campaneris drove in three runs without getting a hit, and the A’s coasted to an 8-3 win.

On Tuesday night, Torrez was brilliant, tossing a two-hitter. Bando broke a scoreless tie with a home run in the seventh. With a 1-0 win, Oakland was making Kansas City sweat as they came back for Wednesday afternoon’s getaway finale.

Alas, the bats fell silent. The A’s mustered just four hits in a 4-0 loss. They had played consistently well over September, and over the final four months of the season in general. But the early hole proved too much, and Oakland just no longer had the firepower to deliver the kind of sustained blow needed to overcome it.

Their final record was still 87-74, fourth-best in the American League and eighth-best in the Majors overall. By the more lenient standards of today, they were still clearly playoff-caliber. But in 1976, the dynasty was over.

THE DYNASTY DISSOLVES

The final death blow to the dynasty came in the offseason. Bando, Baylor, Campaneris, Rollie, Rudi, and Tenace all left via free agency. Finley even traded his manager to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Even in today’s era where we’re accustomed to a lot of player movement, this is an incredible amount of carnage to a roster. Unsurprisingly, Oakland did not survive it and they fell to irrelevance for a few years before enjoying a brief resurgence in 1981.