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1975 Oakland Athletics season

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1975 Oakland Athletics
American League West Champions
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkOakland-Alameda County Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record98–64 (.605)
Divisional place1st
OwnersCharles O. Finley
ManagersAlvin Dark
TelevisionKPIX-TV
RadioKEEN
(Monte Moore, Bob Waller)
← 1974 Seasons 1976 →

Entering the season as the three-time defending World Series champions, the Oakland Athletics' 1975 season involved the A's winning their fifth consecutive American League West title 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.

Offseason

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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

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Regular season

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  • 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 favor 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

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  • 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

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 98 64 .605 — 54‍–‍27 44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals 91 71 .562 7 51‍–‍30 40‍–‍41
Texas Rangers 79 83 .488 19 39‍–‍41 40‍–‍42
Minnesota Twins 76 83 .478 20½ 39‍–‍43 37‍–‍40
Chicago White Sox 75 86 .466 22½ 42‍–‍39 33‍–‍47
California Angels 72 89 .447 25½ 35‍–‍46 37‍–‍43

Record vs. opponents

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1975 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore — 9–9 6–6 7–4 10–8 12–4 7–5 14–4 6–6 8–10 4–8 7–5
Boston 9–9 — 6–6 8–4 7–11 13–5 7–5 10–8 10–2 11–5 6–6 8–4
California 6–6 6–6 — 9–9 3–9 6–5 4–14 7–5 8–10 7–5 7–11 9–9
Chicago 4–7 4–8 9–9 — 7–5 5–7 9–9 8–4 9–9 6–6 9–9 5–13
Cleveland 8–10 11–7 9–3 5–7 — 12–6 6–6 9–9 3–6 9–9 2–10 5–7
Detroit 4–12 5–13 5–6 7–5 6–12 — 6–6 7–11 4–8 6–12 6–6 1–11
Kansas City 5–7 5–7 14–4 9–9 6–6 6–6 — 7–5 11–7 7–5 11–7 14–4
Milwaukee 4–14 8–10 5–7 4–8 9–9 11–7 5–7 — 2–10 9–9 5–7 6–6
Minnesota 6–6 2–10 10–8 9–9 6–3 8–4 7–11 10–2 — 4–8 6–12 8–10
New York 10–8 5–11 5–7 6–6 9–9 12–6 5–7 9–9 8–4 — 6–6 8–4
Oakland 8–4 6–6 11–7 9–9 10–2 6–6 11–7 7–5 12–6 6–6 — 12–6
Texas 5–7 4–8 9–9 13–5 7–5 11–1 4–14 6–6 10–8 4–8 6–12 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1975 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Designated runner

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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
C Gene Tenace 158 498 127 .255 29 87
1B Joe Rudi 126 468 130 .278 21 75
2B Phil Garner 160 488 120 .246 6 54
3B Sal Bando 160 562 129 .230 15 78
SS Bert Campaneris 137 509 135 .265 4 46
LF Claudell Washington 148 590 182 .308 10 77
CF Billy North 140 524 143 .273 1 43
RF Reggie Jackson 157 593 150 .253 36 104
DH Billy Williams 155 520 127 .244 23 81

[24]

Other batters

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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 Fosse 82 136 19 .140 0 12
Jim Holt 102 123 27 .220 2 16
Ángel Mangual 62 109 24 .220 1 6
Ted Martínez 86 87 15 .172 0 3
Tommy Harper 34 69 22 .319 2 7
Ted Kubiak 20 28 7 .250 0 4
Larry Haney 47 26 5 .192 1 2
César Tovar 19 26 6 .231 0 3
Matt Alexander 63 10 1 .100 0 0
Dal Maxvill 20 10 2 .200 0 0
Denny Walling 6 8 1 .125 0 2
Rich McKinney 8 7 1 .143 0 2
Don Hopkins 82 6 1 .167 0 0
Charlie Chant 5 5 0 .000 0 0
Gaylen Pitts 10 3 1 .333 0 1
Charlie Sands 3 2 1 .500 0 0
Billy Grabarkewitz 6 2 0 .000 0 0
Herb Washington 13 0 0 ---- 0 0
Tommy Sandt 2 0 0 ---- 0 0

[24]

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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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 Blue 39 278.0 22 11 3.01 189
Ken Holtzman 39 266.1 18 14 3.14 122
Dick Bosman 22 122.2 11 4 3.52 42
Stan Bahnsen 21 100.0 6 7 3.24 49
Sonny Siebert 17 61.0 4 4 3.69 44
Mike Norris 4 16.2 1 0 0.00 5
Craig Mitchell 1 3.2 0 1 12.27 2

Other pitchers

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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 Abbott 30 114.1 5 5 4.25 51
Jim Perry 15 67.2 3 4 4.66 33
Dave Hamilton 11 35.2 1 2 4.04 20
Blue Moon Odom 7 11.0 0 2 12.27 4

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Rollie Fingers 75 10 6 24 2.98 115
Paul Lindblad 68 9 1 7 2.72 58
Jim Todd 58 8 3 12 2.29 50

Farm system

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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

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  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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b 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!". Archived from the original on December 22, 2018. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  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. ^ a b 1975 Oakland Athletics Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com
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