1972 Oakland Athletics season

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record93–62 (.600)
OwnersCharles O. Finley
ManagersDick Williams
TelevisionKBHK-TV
RadioKEEN
(Monte Moore, Jim Woods)
← 1971 Seasons 1973 →

The 1972 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's winning the American League West with a record of 93 wins and 62 losses. In the playoffs, they defeated the Detroit Tigers in a five-game ALCS, followed by a seven-game World Series, in which they defeated the Cincinnati Reds for their sixth overall World Championship and first since 1930, when the club was in Philadelphia.

Offseason

Round 9: Rich Dauer (did not sign)
Round 10: Bob Lacey

Regular season

In 1972, the A's began wearing solid green or solid gold jerseys, with contrasting white pants, at a time when most other teams wore all-white uniforms at home and all-grey ones on the road. Similar to more colorful amateur softball uniforms, they were considered a radical departure for their time.

Furthermore, in conjunction with a Moustache Day promotion, Finley offered $300 to any player who grew a moustache by Father's Day, at a time when every other team traditionally forbade facial hair. When Father's Day arrived on Sunday, June 18, every player on the 25-man roster collected a bonus.[6][7]

Changing the nickname

The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers wanted a way to shorten the name. Starting in 1972, the team nickname was officially "Oakland A's." The

Commissioner's Trophy, given out annually to the winner of baseball's World Series, still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise. According to Bill Libby's Book, Charlie O and the Angry A's, owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with himself. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league Oakland Oaks
, which were alternatively called the "Acorns".

Season standings

  • AL West
W
L
 Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 93 62 0.600 — 48–29 45–33
Chicago White Sox 87 67 0.565 5½ 55–23 32–44
Minnesota Twins 77 77 0.500 15½ 42–32 35–45
Kansas City Royals 76 78 0.494 16½ 44–33 32–45
California Angels 75 80 0.484 18 44–36 31–44
Texas Rangers 54 100 0.351 38½ 31–46 23–54

Record vs. opponents

1972 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 — 7–11 6–6 8–4 8–10 10–8 6–6 10–5 6–6 7–6 6–6 6–6
Boston 11–7 — 8–4 6–6 8–7 5–9 6–6 11–7 4–8 9–9 9–3 8–4
California 6–6 4–8 — 7–11 8–4 5–7 9–6 7–5 7–8 4–8 8–10 10–7
Chicago 4–8 6–6 11–7 — 8–4 5–7 8–9 9–3 8–6 7–5 7–8 14–4
Cleveland 10–8 7–8 4–8 4–8 — 10–8 6–6 5–10 8–4 7–11 2–10 9–3
Detroit 8–10 9–5 7–5 7–5 8–10 — 7–5 10–8 9–3 7–9 4–8 10–2
Kansas City 6–6 6–6 6–9 9–8 6–6 5–7 — 7–5 9–9 7–5 7–11 8–6
Milwaukee 5–10 7–11 5–7 3–9 10–5 8–10 5–7 — 4–8 9–9 4–8 5–7
Minnesota 6–6 8–4 8–7 6–8 4–8 3–9 9–9 8–4 — 6–6 8–9 11–7
New York 6–7 9–9 8–4 5–7 11–7 9–7 5–7 9–9 6–6 — 3–9 8–4
Oakland 6–6 3–9 10–8 8–7 10–2 8–4 11–7 8–4 9–8 9–3 — 11–4
Texas 6–6 4–8 7–10 4–14 3–9 2–10 6–8 7–5 7–11 4–8 4–11 —


Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters
# Name Position
19 Bert Campaneris SS
26 Joe Rudi LF
9 Reggie Jackson RF
6 Sal Bando 3B
5 Mike Epstein 1B
15 Bobby Brooks CF
10 Dave Duncan C
22 Dick Green 2B
30 Ken Holtzman P

[8]

Notable transactions

Round 1: Chet Lemon
Round 9: Dennis Littlejohn (did not sign)[13]
Round 12: Chris Batton[14]
Round 15: Bob Pate (did not play)

Roster

1972 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

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
C Dave Duncan 121 403 88 .218 19 59
1B Mike Epstein 138 455 123 .270 26 70
2B Tim Cullen 72 142 37 .261 0 15
3B Sal Bando 152 535 126 .236 15 77
SS Bert Campaneris 149 625 150 .240 8 32
LF Joe Rudi 147 593 181 .305 19 75
CF Reggie Jackson 135 499 132 .265 25 75
RF Ángel Mangual 91 272 67 .246 5 32

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
Gene Tenace 82 227 51 .225 5 32
Larry Brown 47 142 26 .183 0 4
Matty Alou 32 121 34 .281 1 16
George Hendrick 58 121 22 .182 4 15
Bill Voss 40 97 22 .227 1 5
Ted Kubiak 51 94 17 .181 0 8
Mike Hegan 98 79 26 .329 1 5
Don Mincher 47 54 8 .148 0 5
Ollie Brown 20 54 13 .241 1 4
Dick Green 26 42 12 .286 0 3
Marty Martínez 22 40 5 .125 0 1
Bobby Brooks 15 39 7 .179 0 5
Dal Maxvill 27 36 9 .250 0 1
Brant Alyea 20 31 6 .194 1 2
Gonzalo Márquez 23 21 8 .381 0 4
Ron Clark 14 15 4 .267 0 1
Curt Blefary 8 11 5 .455 0 1
Adrian Garrett 14 11 0 .000 0 0
Allan Lewis 24 10 2 .200 0 2
Bill McNulty 4 10 1 .100 0 0
Art Shamsky 8 7 0 .000 0 0
Dwain Anderson 3 7 0 .000 0 0
Larry Haney 5 4 0 .000 0 0
Orlando Cepeda 3 3 0 .000 0 0

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
Catfish Hunter 38 295.1 21 7 2.04 191
Ken Holtzman 39 265.1 19 11 2.51 134
Blue Moon Odom 31 194.1 15 6 2.50 86
Vida Blue 25 151.0 6 10 2.80 111
Denny McLain 5 22.1 1 2 6.04 8

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
Dave Hamilton 25 101.1 6 6 2.93 55
Joe Horlen 32 84.0 3 4 3.00 58
Diego Seguí 7 22.2 0 1 3.57 11

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 Fingers 65 11 9 21 2.51 113
Bob Locker 56 6 1 10 2.65 47
Darold Knowles 54 5 1 11 1.37 36
Gary Waslewski 8 0 3 0 2.04 8
Don Shaw 3 0 1 0 16.88 4
Jim Roland 2 0 0 0 3.86 0
Mike Kilkenny 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Postseason

ALCS

Main article: 1972 American League Championship Series

Game 1

October 7, 1972, at

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Detroit 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 2
Oakland 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 10 1
W: Rollie Fingers (1–0)   L: Mickey Lolich (0–1)   
HR: DET – Norm Cash (1), Al Kaline (1)

Game 2

October 8, 1972, at

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Oakland 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 X 5 8 0
W: Blue Moon Odom (1–0)   L: Woodie Fryman (0–1)   
HR: None

Game 3

October 10, 1972, at Tiger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Detroit 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 X 3 8 1
W:
Joe Coleman (1–0)   L: Ken Holtzman
(0–1)   
HR: DET – Bill Freehan (1)

Game 4

October 11, 1972, at Tiger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Oakland 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 3 9 2
Detroit 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 10 1
W: John Hiller (1–0)   L: Bob Locker (0–1)  
HR: OAK – Mike Epstein (1) DET – Dick McAuliffe (1)

Game 5

October 12, 1972, at Tiger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0
Detroit 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 2
W: Blue Moon Odom (2–0)   L: Woodie Fryman (0–2)   S: Vida Blue (1)
HR: None

World Series

Main article: 1972 World Series

In 1972, the A's won their first league pennant since 1931 and faced the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. The A's seven-game victory over the heavily favored Reds gave the team its first World Series Championship since 1930.

Of the four wins against the Reds, three of them occurred in Cincinnati, and all four Series victories were by a single run. Gene Tenace hit four home runs and drove in nine runs to power the A's offense, and was named the series Most Valuable Player.

Composite Box

1972 World Series (4–3): Oakland Athletics (A.L.) over Cincinnati Reds (N.L.)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland Athletics 1 6 1 1 3 2 0 0 2 16 46 9
Cincinnati Reds 1 1 0 3 3 1 6 4 2 21 46 5
Total Attendance: 363,149   Average Attendance: 51,878
Winning Player's Share: – $20,705,   Losing Player's Share– $15,080 *Includes Playoffs and World Series

Awards and honors

League leaders

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Oaks
American Association
 Sherm Lollar
AA Birmingham A's
Southern League
 Phil Cavarretta
A
 Burlington Bees Midwest League Harry Bright
A-Short Season
 Coos Bay-North Bend A's Northwest League Grover Resinger

References

  1. ^ Rick Monday page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ a b c Brant Alyea page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Steve Hovley page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ 1972 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft
  5. ^ a b Denny McLain page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ "Oakland A's shut out Cleveland Indians 9-0". Lodi News-Sentinel. (California). UPI. June 19, 1972. p. 11.
  7. ^ Bock, Hal (June 19, 1972). "Blue given bat support in first win". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. p. 22.
  8. ^ 1972 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ Tim Cullen page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Don Shaw page at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Curt Blefary page at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ 1972 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
  13. ^ Dennis Littlejohn page at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Chris Batton page at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Diego Segui page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ Vic Harris page at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ Dal Maxvill page at Baseball Reference
  18. ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

External links
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