1973 market the midpoint in the A's dynastic run during the early 1970's. Simply put, Oakland was the team of the early part of the decade and to many the team of the decade. How can you argue with 5 straight division titles and 3 straight World Championships? The A's didn't dominate the division until late in the season when KC faltered and they got their mojo. Reggie Jackson won the MVP and Catfish won 25. The big 3 (Catfish, Vida Blue & Kenny Holtzman) all won 20. Fingers was stellar out of the pen. Campy was an All-Star SS and Rudi was the backbone. Manager Dick Williams knew how to press all the right buttons. The only thing that could derail this juggernaut was the man who owned the team, who just couldn't stop meddling. Thankfully for the boys in Yellow and Green their talents could always overcome his inability to leave well enough alone. One of the reasons Finley kept sticking his 2 cents in was the team's inability to draw fans. There is no reason why a dynastic team like this, with all of the characters you could want should finish 8th in the league in attendance and barely scrape past the 1 million mark. The lack of gate pushed Finley to look for attention. Still the team had enough fortitude to muscle past the Orioles in the ALCS, despite the fact that the boys from Charm City took Oakland to the brink. Next up the upstart NY Mets, who to that point in baseball history had to be considered the worst team to ever win a pennant. Well that "worst team" was up 3 games to 2 as the series headed back to Oakland for games 6 and 7, which the A's were able to win and capture their second consecutive championship.
I created 26 cards to complete the A's 1973 set. Many cards were updated due to some interesting photographs that I was able to find online.
Allan Lewis was Charlie Finlay's Designated Pinch Runner. Most people remember Herb Washington, but forget about Lewis, who was also a regular ball player and not just a runner. Lewis had a legitimate minor league career on the AA level. The AAA level was his talent ceiling for 4 of the tools. Speed, the 5th tool, was major league caliber. Lewis' final shot in baseball was in 1973. He hit .273 in double A and didn't have an AB for the A's. He did get into 35 games as a PR and scored 16 runs and stole 7 bases in 11 attempts.
Billy C got his nickname, because he was the kid brother of Tony C. Bill had a couple of years for Boston where he showed flashes of greatness. Still Boston decided to move him to Milwaukee where he hit just .230. In 48 games for the A's in 1973 he hit an even .200 with 0 homers. Billy C had attitude problems and a big mouth for a guy who wasn't mega talented. He went AWOL during the '72 season with Milwaukee and retired. His old manager Dick Williams brought him back and gave him a shot with Oakland. Out of the gate he hit .300, but after he injured his knee and missed months due to surgery, Billy was not the same player. He was used as a key defensive replacement during the post season and actually stole an ALCS for Oakland vs Baltimore. Oakland released him after it looked like his knee wouldn't respond. He tried a comeback with Boston in 1975 along with his brother and that didn't work out. He had a great Spring Training in 1977 with Oakland, but refused to except an assignment to AAA-San Jose.
The A's virtually stole north from the Cubs for aging vet Bob Locker at the end of the '72 season. North hit .181 for the Cubs in '72, so he was viewed by them as a failed prospect. Most don't realize that he wasn't even the team's starting CF'er until Billy C went down. North hit .285 and had an OBP for .376, which helped him steal 53 bases. North led the AL twice in SB's, but he also led the league 4 times in caught stealing. His 11 year career would end across the bay in San Fran with the Giants in 1981.
What's left to say about Catfish that hasn't already been said? The A's ace, who reached the majors at the age of 19, was in the middle of 5 straight 20+ win seasons. In 1973 he went 21-5, 3.34 and had 11 CG's in 36 starts. After 3 rings in Oakland he won 2 more in the Bronx. When it was all over for him he was rightfully elected to the HOF.
Dobson started off so strong with the A's back in their last few seasons in KC, then continued on to Oakland. He looked poised to be their #3 or 4 starter for a long time, except for the fact that arm injuries began to take a toll on him. After missing all of '72 he gave it a go in '73 and was only able to log 2+ innings in 1 game during the '73 season. He spent the full season in AAA-Tucson and went 9-13, 5.23, but just couldn't make it back. The Angels picked him up and hoped he could get healthy, but after a few seasons of shuttling between AAA-SLC and Anaheim it just didn't work out. “I didn’t retire, I just quit,” said Dobson about the end of his playing career in 1976. In his nine-year big-league career he won 74 games, lost 69, logged 1,258⅓ innings , and posted a 3.78 ERA. He won 38 times in the minor leagues.
Johnson filled the role of DH for the '73 A's quite well hitting .246 with 19 homers after arriving from the Phillies on May 3rd for a minor leaguer. After a really slow start in '74 he was off to Milwaukee. His signature season was 1965 with Cincy. It was a year that he hit .287 with 32 homers and a league leading 130 RBI's. Johnson was a .300 hitter (3-10) in 6 games during the '73 World Series.
Thanks to the constant meddling and outrageous actions from owner Charlie Findley, Williams quit after winning his 2nd consecutive championship with the A's. Williams had himself a great 3 year run in Oakland, but he just couldn't operated in Findley's freak show world. In 3 seasons he went 288-190 with 3 first place finishes and 2 World Championships.
Abbott (1-0, 3.86) was promoted to the big club of a 5 game cup of Joe. The following season saw him promoted to the rotation (5-7, 3.00 in 17 starts). After 2 more seasons in Oakland he moved to Seattle via the expansion draft and became a staple in the Mariners rotation for 6 seasons. He finished his career in Detroit in 1984 and got to play for another World Champion.
After playing for close to a decade in his native Venezuela Marquez
"burst" on the scene with the 1972 A's hitting .281 in 23 games and
hitting .625 (5-8) in the post season as the A's one their first of 3
straight championships. On August 29th he was traded to the Cubs for
Pat Bourque. In 19 games he hit just .224. The following season he
went 0-11 after hitting .282 in Wichita. Not seeing much of a path to
stardom as a 35 year old he played 2 seasons in Mexico and then returned
to Venezuela and played 2 more years. Tragically he died in a car
crash while driving to a game.
Pina had a great '72 season with a horrible last place Texas Ranger in 1972, where he saved 15 games. The's A's obtained him by sending Mike Epstein to Texas. In his one season in Oakland he ws 6-3, 2.76 with 8 saves. Oakland dealt him to the Cubs for Bob Locker after the World Series ended. In 3 post season games for the A's he pitched 5 innings and did not yield a run. He was the first Mexican born player to earn a World Series ring. His sidearm style kept righties at bay, but he typically threw overhand to lefties.
Johnstone's career ran from the mid 1960's through the mid 80's encompassing 20 seasons and 8 different teams. The longest he ever spent in one place was the 5 years he began his career with in Anaheim. His most successful run had to be his 4 year run in Philly where he pretty much played regularly and hit .303. 1973 was a strange year for him. After hitting .188 for the Chisox in '72 the A's to a chance that he had something left and sent him to AAA-Tucson for most of the season whee he hit .347. When he hit just .107 in 23 games with the big club he was jettisoned for Philly where he made the post season twice. His brief tenure in the Bronx earned him a ring. His second ring would come in LA in '81. Johnstone finished his career with a .267 average and 1,254 hit.
July 31, 1973 is the day that the A's purchased Alou's contract from Houston. Alou's first taste of LS ball after 10 1/2 seasons in the NL was quite rewarding to the tune of a .306 average and great post season run. He slipped a bit in '74 and hit just .268, but was still rewarded with his 2nd championship ring. After being released by the Mets after the '75 season he returned home to the DR and tried to start a business, but still played winter ball to keep sharp...just in case. Just in case he got a major league offer, which he did by the Astros where he played 2 more seasons along with his added role as batting coach.
Rudi just might have been the most underrated player in the A's dynasty's arsenal. A slick fielder with a clutch stick Rudi had all the intangibles, which included 3 GG's and a knack for making the big play when the team needed it the most. Curiously Topps gave him a horizontal card that included 3 players, none of which were actually him. Rudi was a career .300 hitter in 19 World Series games. He hit .333 in the '73 Fall Classic after hitting .270 in the regular season.
The 28 year old Morales started the season in Oakland and hit .286 in just 6 games as a DH, then was shipped to Montreal on September 18th. He forged a 12 year career as a DH and PH, because of his less than average glove work. At the time he was dealt to Montreal he was crushing the ball in AAA-Tucson (.355 in 76 games)
The A's had a future star on their hands, but were unwilling and unable to let the 22 year old youngster work out the kinks on the major league level in the heat of a pennant race. In just 17 games, while Dick Green was injured, Trillo play 2B and hit .250. He would hit just .152 the following season, which earned him a trip to Wrigley where he finished 3rd in the 1975 ROY voting. The 3 time GG winner also played in 4 All Star games. He was a Silver Slugger winner at 2B for the '80 championship Phillies.
Mike Andrews might be the only road player in the history of the World Series to get a standing ovation on the road. After making some costly errors in the Series Andrews was told by owner Charlie Findley that he had an injury and had to be removed from the team's Series roster. Andrews and his manager Dick Williams refused to play along and MLB Commish Bowie Kuhn reinstated him in time for a game in Shea Stadium. Andrews played in just 18 regular season games for the A's and hit .190 in place of the injured Dick Green. He was 0-3 during his 2 games of active duty a far cry from the .308 he hit in the '67 series for the Bosox.
The smooth fielding Hegan was not able to replicate the .329 he hit the previous season (1972) in Oakland and was dealt to the Yankees on August 18th and missed out on the post season and a chance to earn his second ring. Hegan's one season as an All-Star came in 1969 with the expansion Pilots. At one time Hegan owned the record for most consecutive games at first without an error (178 games). Hegan’s most unusual distinction in baseball came on July 18, 1973, when his playing and post-playing careers coincided. A reserve player for Oakland, he was told by his manager, Dick Williams, just before that day’s game against the Baltimore Orioles that one of the regular announcers was ill. Williams told him to change out of his uniform and report to the broadcast booth. Hegan did. He announced three innings of the game. Then he put his uniform back on and returned to the dugout.
Bourque played in 23 games for the A’s in August and September 1973, frequently as a pinch-hitter. He continued to slump at the plate, hitting .197 with two home runs and nine RBIS for the A’s, who clinched their second consecutive division title on September 22. For the season as a whole, Bourque hit .204 with 9 home runs and 29 RBIs. A’s manager Dick Williams put Bourque on the roster for both the American League Championship Series and the World Series. During the A’s five-game victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS, Bourque went 0-for-1 in three plate appearances. He was walked twice, once intentionally. During the A’s seven-game victory over the Mets in the World Series, Bourque played in two games. In the A’s 3-2 victory in Game Three at Shea Stadium in New York, Bourque pinch-hit for catcher Ray Fosse in the seventh inning and took over for Gene Tenace at first base. In two at-bats, Bourque went 1-for-2, reaching base on a bunt single off Ray Sadecki in the top of the ninth inning. In the Mets’ 2-0 victory in Game Five, Bourque came in as a defensive replacement at first base in the bottom of the eighth inning, but he did not come to the plate. For his role on the A’s 1973 championship team, Bourque received $4,923.52.
Lindblad started with the A's back in those dark salad days in KC. He went west with the team, then wound up getting traded to the Senators just as the A's were emerging as a dynasty. So, on the outside looking in he had to watch the 1972 World series from afar after suffering through a season with the historically horrible Texas Rangers. Then Christmas came early in the form of a trade that sent him back to the A's. Father Christmas presented Lindblad with the chance to cash in on 2 world championships in Oakland. In 73 he was 1-5, 3.69, but he did eat up 78 innings out of the pen. '74 was a return to a "Lindblad type year" (4-4, 2.06, 6sv). As the A's dynasty began to crumble he was sold back to Texas where he lasted a season and a half. Then came the greatest gift of all...he was traded on August 1, 1978 to the streaking Yankees, who came back from 14 down to win it all. This would be his final season. While Lindblad didn't have a stellar '73 regular season he was 1-0, 0.00 in 3 World Series games to help the A's to the Championship. His 1978 WS #'s weren't quite as good, but he still go himself a ring.
"Ole Scrap Iron" was just a young'en back in 1973, where he got into 9 games and struck out 3 of his 5 AB's. Clearly Garner was over matched on the major league level. 1974 was another year in the minors sans 30 AB's in Oakland. By the time he was ready to replace Dick Green at 2B (1975) the team would be in the midst of their final run. His All-Star season in '76 was not enough to lift them past the surging Royals. After that season he was part of Finley's firesale and wound up in Pittsburgh where he won a championship in '79. After 4 1/2 years in Steel-town it was on to Houston for 6 years before two stop offs in LA and SF before retirement. Garner played 16 seasons and hit .260 with 109 HR's and 225 SB's to go along with 3 All-Star appearances. After that came a 15 year managerial career, which culminated in winning the 2005 NL pennant with the Astros.
There's no getting around it...Fosse will always be remembered as Pete Rose's victim in the 1970 All Star game collision. Fosse was a 2x GG catcher with the Indians before he was traded to Oakland during Spring Training of 1973. He hit .256 and caught 143 games for the A's during the regular season, but had a horrible post seasons (4-30). 1974 saw his playing time reduced to platoon status and his BA reflected it (.196). It got even worse in '75 where he hit just .140 in 82 games. A trip back to Cleveland saw him rebound nicely (.301 in 90 games). Stops in Seattle and Milwaukee would round out a career cut short by injury.
McKinney was the unofficial winner of the worst air brushed card in the 1973 Topps set. For that reason alone I had to create a new card and included it here. Coming off a subpar season in the Bronx he arrived in Oakland and improved to mediocre (.246 in 48 games). Believe it or not his AAA-Tucon numbers were actually worse (.24). 1974 say him hit .285 in 116 games in Tucson with only a brief 5 game appearance in Oakland. 1975 was a clone of the previous season. All of '76 was spent in Tucson wher he hit .317 with 22 home runs as a 29 year old feasting on inexperienced or over the hill pitching. The A's, who were desperate for bodies in '77 promoted him to the big club where he hit a woeful .1787 in almost 200AB's. After being farmed out to San Jose (AAA) where he hit .239 the end of the road was reached.
The "Beeg Boy's" 3red and final stop during the 1973 season was Oakland where he hit .250 in 7 games, but did not qualify for the post season since he was not on the roster before September 1st. Oakland fans did not see the last of him. He would make a brief cameo (41 games) in green, white and yellow in 1978 before his final season in Toronto in 1979.
The well traveled Gardner's 2nd stint with Oakland lasted all of 3 games (0-0, 4.91) during the '73 season before his contract was sold to the Brewers in May. Gardner had a career year in the Bronx the year before. The Yankees though so highly of him that they included him as the "player to be named later" in the previously consummated Matty Alou deal. Not to be discouraged he spent 2 seasons in AAA (1974-75) trying to work his way back to the show. Gardner put up good numbers, but didn't play much due to injury. During that season Bobby Cox, then an unknown AAA manager made him his pitching coach. After off season surgery Gardner attempted a comeback in 1976, but fate would not allow it. His elbow surgery wasn't quite successful and as a result he completely blew it out. After baseball he became a paramedic and firefighter in his hometown on Binghamton, NY.
Hosley hit .214 in 13 games for the A's as their 4th string catcher. During his 9 year career he hit just .215 and never appeared in more than 62 games (1975 with CHC). Hosley had 3 tours with the A's (1973-74 & 1976-78, & 1981). This was all sandwiched around 14 seasons in the minor leagues where he was a career .273 hitting with 205 homers. His best season was in 1980 at AAA-Ogden (OAK) where he hit .301 with 26 homers and 102 RBI's. That facilitated his final promotion to the A's in '81 where he hit a miserable .095 i9n 18 games.
Davalillo split his season between Pittsburgh and Oakland and fared poorly at both locales (.181 and .188 respectively). After not faring better (.174) in 1979 the 37 year old was considered done and the A's released him. After 3 season of "raking" in the Mexican league he resurfaced in LA to become the lefty part of the Dodgers supreme pinch hitting tandem (Manny Mota was the righty). Dav' would spend the next 4 seasons working on his game in Albuquerque (AAA) then coming up to the big club for the pennant drive and post season. He was a huge asset to the Dodgers. After that role was completed he spent 2 final seasons in the Mexican league before retiring at the age of 44. Davalillo hit .625 for the A's in the ALCS vs Baltimore as a DH/PH, but slumped to .091 vs the Mets in the World Series.
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