BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…October 17, 1974, 50 years ago today:
In the first all-California World Series, the Oakland A’s beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in Game 5 to win their third straight world championship under two different managers. Alvin Dark had taken over for Dick Williams, who guided Oakland to titles in 1972 and 1973. Reliever Rollie Fingers—he of the famous handlebar mustache—was the Series MVP. Fingers had a hand (no pun intended) in three of the A’s victories, recording a win and two saves.
It was the first time a team had won three consecutive titles since the New York Yankees took five in a row from 1949-53. This was the peak of the formidable A’s franchise, six years after moving to Oakland from Kansas City. The team was laden with stars, but there was constant internal strife with club owner Charlie Finley. The first big-name departure was pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter, who had uncovered a violation of his contract after the 1974 season. An arbitrator ruled in Hunter’s favor, and he signed with the New York Yankees.
Then baseball’s free agent rules changed, and Finley didn’t want to participate. He traded Reggie Jackson to the Baltimore Orioles in 1976 before Jackson’s contract would expire. (Reggie, of course, ended up as a Yankee the following year.) Finley tried to sell Fingers, Joe Rudi and Vida Blue to other teams, but commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the deals. Nevertheless, those three players, along with Sal Bando, Gene Tenace and Bert “Campy” Campaneris were all gone before the dawn of the 1977 season, one that would see Oakland finish last.
It was exactly 15 years after that 1974 A’s victory that the Loma Prieta earthquake interrupted the 1989 Fall Classic between Oakland and the San Francisco Giants. The series would resume 10 days later, with the A’s completing its Bay Bridge sweep in Games 3 and 4. That was sandwiched in between appearances—and losses—in the 1988 and 1990 World Series. The A’s haven’t been back since, and sadly, if it ever happens again, it won’t be in Oakland.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
