www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Editor Chrös McDougall Copy Editor Nicholas Cafarelli Interior Design and Production Kazuko Collins Cover Design Kazuko Collins Photo Credits Photo by G Newman Lowrance AP Images cover Photo by Ronald C Modra Sports Imagery Getty Images 1 Photo by Herb Scharfman Sports Imagery Getty Images 4 9 AP Images 7 10 13 15 17 21 22 25 26 28 42 43 top Photo by Mark Rucker Transcendental Graphics Getty Images 18 Bob Galbraith AP Images 30 Eric Risberg AP Images 33 36 43 middle John Froschauer AP Images 34 Ben Margot AP Images 39 Marcio Jose Sanchez AP Images 41 43 bottom Ben Margot AP Images 44 47 Library of Congress Control Number 2014933083 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Howell Brian 1974 Oakland Athletics by Brian Howell p cm Inside MLB Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62403-479-4 1 Oakland Athletics Baseball team History Juvenile literature I Title GV875 O24H69 2015 796 357’640979466 dc23 2014933083
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Team of the 70s 4 Chapter 2 Building a Winner 10 Chapter 3 Falling on Hard Times 18 Chapter 4 Back to Winning 26 Chapter 5 Moneyball 34 Timeline 42 Quick Stats 44 Quotes and Anecdotes 45 Glossary 46 For More Information 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER 1 TEAM OF THE 70S
J oe Rudi stepped to the plate He and the Oakland Athletics were tied 2 2 with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth game of the 1974 World Series Rudi was a star for the A’s But the Dodgers pitcher Mike Marshall was no slouch He would go on to win the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the National League NL that season On this night Rudi got the best of Marshall Rudi blasted a pitch over the fence to give the A’s a 3 2 lead It was the only run Marshall ever gave up in a postseason game It also hap pened to be the run that gave the World Series champion ship to the A’s Rudi’s home run helped the A’s claim the World Series title for the third year in a row This is the greatest one yet A’s owner Charlie Fin ley said Every one feels better than the last Winning three World Series championships in a row is not an easy feat The New Oakland Athletics players celebrate after winning the 1974 World Series Oakland Athletics players celebrate after winning the 1974 World Series It was the team’s eighth World Series title It was the team’s eighth World Series title TEAM OF THE 70S 5
