| 
|
Oakland A's championships --Nancy Finley and Chris De Benedetti |
Charlie Finley built a baseball dynasty by possessing a skill rare for a sports owner: he knew the game and had an uncanny eye for talent. "Finley could look into the soul of a ball player and tell if he was a winner or not," said former Oakland Tribune beat writer Ron Bergman.
So perhaps it's not surprising that Finley, the Oakland A's owner from 1960 to 1980, was able to sign a nucleus of raw but talented players.
Charlie led a front office that was managed by his cousin Carl Finley, who did the work of 10 people in the threadbare organization.
The Finleys started in the mid-1960s by signing Catfish Hunter and, later, future Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers. Charlie then added several other very good players to the A's farm system: Vida Blue, Sal Bando, John "Blue Moon" Odom, Gene Tenace and Joe Rudi, just to name a few.
These young Finley-era players, of course, later led the Oakland A's to a World Series dynasty that won three consecutive titles from 1972 to '74.
But there is another crucial part of Charlie's secret to success.
Every great team has stars, but Charlie Finley really excelled at adding the "little guys" - the role players who do the small things that become the glue of championship teams. Each year Charlie added to the A's roster, making tweaks here, addressing needs there, and he shored up depth with trades big and small. Perhaps Charlie Finley's best deal came before the '72 season and it kick-started the franchise's World Series run. The A's had won the AL West in 1971, making the postseason for the first time in four decades. But Charlie recognized that even with Blue and Hunter the A's needed more quality starting pitching. So, he traded one of his heralded young outfielders, Rick Monday, to the Cubs for pitcher Ken Holtzman. The trade had its critics - Monday had been pegged as a "can't miss" prospect ever since he'd starred at Arizona State, and Holtzman was coming off his worst season as a pro, finishing 9-14 with an ugly 4.48 ERA.
But Charlie, ever the riverboat gambler, rolled the dice on Holtzman and won. The new A's hurler won 19 games in '72 and notched a World Series victory as Oakland beat Cincinnati to become world champs. Holtzman went on to win 77 games in his first four seasons in Oakland, joining Blue and Hunter as the Athletics' three aces.
But Charlie wasn't done. After winning the '72 World Series, Charlie recognized that the team needed a speedy center fielder-leadoff man. He filled both needs with one player, turning again to his adopted hometown, Chicago. Charlie knew the Cubs were disappointed in young Billy North, who hit just .181 in his rookie year. So he offered the Cubs a steady middle reliever named Bob Locker, who was coming off a career year.
Locker was out of baseball by '75 but North was exactly what the A's needed, roaming the Coliseum's spacious outfield with quick feet and a smooth glove. He also hit for average and drew plenty of walks, letting sluggers like Jackson, Bando and Rudi knock him in. North became a major cog for the A's lineup as they won World Series rings again in '73 and '74.
Charlie excelled with small moves, too. He stayed loyal to unspectacular but solid contributors like outfielder Angel Mangual and reliever Paul Lindblad, who often came up big in postseason games. Charlie also gave up very little to "rent" older players with one or two years left to give. He continually bolstered the roster with guys like Deron Johnson, Jesus Alou, Ted Kubiak and Dal Maxvill, reliable players who don't make the highlight reels but contributed mightily to the dynasty years.
I remember them, though, because I was there. I am Nancy Finley, Carl Finley's daughter, and I was there for so many A's games at the Oakland Coliseum during those heady years. Each October I can't help remembering those great Finley-led A's championship teams and all the big moments and nerve-racking games that the Green and Gold won.
I've come to realize that an underrated part of the Finley legacy was Charlie's ability to shore up the team's weaknesses in deals that bolstered the roster for pennant runs while keeping the core nucleus together until free agency hit. And it's one of many reasons why Finley's Oakland A's became one of Major League Baseball's greatest and most memorable teams.
Nancy Finley and Oakland journalist Chris De Benedetti are writing "The Green and the Gold,"
a book about Nancy's days growing up around the Athletics front office in the 1960s and '70s. For more information, visit her website at www.OaklandAthleticsHistory.com.
Send us your Memorable Sports Moment and we will share them with our readers. Write [email protected].
