Fellow Oakland Fans....I'm close to 30 now and was thinking of the good ol days in the late eighties and early nineties.....I can still remember the starting lineup in the 89 season.......
Henderson LF
Lansford 3B
Canseco RF
Paker DH
McGwire 1B
Henderson CF
Steinbach C
Gallego/Phillips 2B
Weiss SS
If your my age then your idol was either Jose, Mark, Eck, Ricky or maybe a couple of others, but for the masses you idolized the bash brothers....How do you feel that your childhood idol was a cheater? If you think about it our beloved Oakland A's of the late 80's was probably the true start of the "steriod era." I'm sure players on other teams were using at that time as well, but it is widely accepted that Canseco more or less help start it all...I don't feel lied too or anything, but it does kinda take away the awe I had when I remember back....just curious how other fan's feel about the era when thinking back....
Funny how, depending on our age, we refer to "back in the day," or in Lidane's case, "The Golden Years." I am in my 40s and when I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it referred to the A's championship teams of the '70s.
Regardless, nice memory for listing the lineup. Do you remember the pitching staff?... it was pretty awesome, too!
Dave Stewart (won 21, typical Stew)
Bob Welsh (17 wins in '89 before he blew up with 27 in '90!)
Mike Moore (he won 19 in '89!)
Storm Davis (can you believe another 19-game winner!)
and of course The Eck in the pen (1.56 ERA with 33 saves... hmmm, seems like a low number compared to today) along with Honeycutt (who saved 12 himself!)
I'll always remember the early/mid-70s A's though... I was an impressionable kid and those teams made a huge impression on me! I mean, Bando (my fav), Jackson, Rudi, Tenace and Campaneris formed a nice nucleus around the likes of Billy North, Dave Duncan, Mike Epstein, Dick Green, Ray Fosse, Angel Mangual, et al. And the pitching was huge with Catfish Hunter, Kenny Holtzman, Vida Blue, Blue Moon Odom, Rollie Fingers, Darold Knowles, et. al.
Ohhhh yeah who couldn't foget that staff, but don't forget the Bullpen...Honeycutt to set up the Eck...Todd Burns and Gene Nelson for solid middle relief. Eric Plunk to get the needed one out and who could forget Jim Corsi to pitch in blowouts...Greg Cadaret deserves honorable mention as well(remember we sent him in the Canseco deal with Texas)
It's funny to hear Reggie Jackson's name mentioned as one of the A's players since he figured prominently during my formative years as an A's fan as a rival rather than an hero. I guess it all depends on when you first started going to games.
For me, apart from a game in '83 that I barely remember, I started going to A's games in 1986. I can still remember my first game, hat day, and seeing Jackson hit at least one HR as a member of the California Angels. He was the chief villain of my early baseball memories.
But man those juggernaut teams of the late '80s were fun to watch!
wow i remember those days. Carney was and still is my fav player of all time. He is the reason i hate wade boggs. Do you remember that yerar when carney and kirby puckett fought for the batting title? kirby won it with two games left in the season i was upset. and i must admit something.......in '87 i shed tears when gibson hit the homerun yes i admited it.
I was 5 when the A's won in '89, but I still remember idolizing those guys. I really loved the Bash Bros. (my and my bros, at 5, 4 and 2 would try to emulate their forearm bash... lol), and Eck was amazing... but honestly I think Ricky was the one who got me more than anyone else. I played OF mostly at the start of my Little League career, and even flipped the ball from my glove to my hand like Ricky did... until my coaches saw and corrected me. "Your hand goes into the glove EVERY time!"
Likely, Jose Canseco was using at that point... but do you really think Mark Macguire was way back in '88/'89, just after he'd had his breakout 49 HR rookie season? He was still pretty young and though he was big, he wasn't quite "steroid big". (At least, not to my memory.) It wasn't until late in his Athletics' career that he really seemed to "bulk" up, and even moreso with the Cardinals.
For the longest time after I heard he refused to testify to the congressional commitee I wanted to believe he was innocent... but as more and more names have come up, I have resigned myself to the fact that he most likely did use. I still think Mac should go in the Hall of Fame... He's getting a raw deal just because he was the first one who came up for induction immediately after the scandal broke... but as forJose, he shouldn't get anywhere near it. Jose will have to be content with living on in infamy, both for his "Homerun header" and "Juiced".
I lived in Fremont when I was in 5th grade for about six months. My parents took me on a surprise outing to the Coliseum on Mother's day. I'll never forget how excited I was when we hit the offramp. Billy Martin was the manager and I think Rickey was in his 2nd season. The A's got pounded by the Indians that sunny day like 14-2. But I got to see Crazy George up close and Billy was thrown out of the game after kicking dirt on the umpire. I had my "Billy Ball" t-shirt on.
That was probably the day I became a serious A's fan.
Howlzonies, thank you for sharing that great story. I wish I had been around to see the days of Billy Ball. I suppose now we're in another "Billy Ball" era... except it's Beane instead of Martin!
That could be the A's all-time greatest lineup, dont forget the great pitchers and bullepin, highlighted by Stew, Honeycut, and Eck. With guest apperances by Gene Nelson, Bob Welch, and Mike Moore. No one on the A's current roster could be though of an Oakland all-time great. with all respect to chavez.
I have to laugh.. you said golden years and I thoguht oh 67 - 74....... It is all realtive.
I remeber Joe Rudy, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Camp Campaneris ....... I Remember chanting in 76 for Rollie Fingers in the 7th after Finley had destroyed the A's. There must have been all of 2000 people there and half were cubscouts like me.
The main reason I would say 70-75 was the Golden Age of A's baseball in Oakland is bvecasue of 3 championships back to back to back.
I was only 7-8 years old when the A's were in their back-to-back-to-back world series. '89 was of course the highlight. I love all of the memories of these names.
Can't forget and have to give love to Ron Hassey (C) and Glenn Hubbard (2B), two more unsung heroes of the late 80's.
And what about Dave Parker's trademark fingers-pointing HR trot? Good stuff.
And let's be honest, no closer since has truly been "automatic" the way Eck was (yeah, yeah, except for Game 1 of the '88 WS). Guaranteed first pitch strike.
This is going to be a trying season but I can't wait until our next dynasty begins!
