In Cleveland, Rickey gets four steals after reaching on walks: two in the
sixth and two in the seventh. Both times he scores on sac flies by Canseco.
I realize it’s easy to go on and on about Henderson’s ability to create runs by himself, but still, four steals within two innings does make an
impression. The [...]
Archive for the ‘Players’ Category
September 20: Birth of the Rickey Rally?
Posted in Players, The Season, tagged Rickey Henderson, Rickey Rally on September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Mark McGwire’s 1989
Posted in Players, The Season, tagged Mark McGwire, Tony La Russa on September 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
At the end of the ‘89 season David Bush, an S.F. Chronicle writer, wrote up a summary of Mark McGwire’s season. What’s at least somewhat interesting about this story, aside from the picture of one slice of McGwire’s ballplaying days, is how it reflects the current attitude toward sabermetrics-type analysis by McGwire, La Russa, and [...]
Rickey on His Impact on the 1989 A’s
Posted in Players, tagged Rickey Henderson on September 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Before the ALCS with Toronto started, Rickey Henderson said: “I can say I was the final piece of the puzzle. They were missing a leadoff hitter, they were missing a left fielder. When I used to look at the Oakland team, I’d think about what was holding them back from being a great team. Maybe [...]
Rickey Henderson Coming Back to Oakland
Posted in Players, The Season, tagged 1989 Oakland A's, Rickey Henderson trade on June 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Rickey said this about being traded from the Yankees to the A’s on June 22: “It was in my best interest to approve the deal. Oakland was the only place I would accept a trade. My wife wanted to be in Oakland, but I wanted to stay in New York.
”I felt it was time. There [...]
1-900-234-JOSE
Posted in Players, The Season, tagged 1-900-234-JOSE, Jose Canseco, Jose Canseco hotline on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I don’t know how many people remember 1-900-234-JOSE, but it’s obvious now that Jose Canseco was probably the first pioneer in the effort by pro sports players to forget the media and talk directly to fans with blogs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. The difference is that Canseco actually made money from his communications: it cost [...]
$150 for Jose Canseco’s Dirty Socks
Posted in Players, The Season, tagged Jose Canseco, sports memorabilia on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It was a sign of the escalation of the baseball card and memorabilia bubble in early September 1989 when the San Francisco Chronicle sent Steve Rubinstein to the All-American Sports Memorabilia Show at the Moscone Center and he came back with this report:
A pair of dirty socks was selling for $150 in San Francisco last [...]
Chris Bando, Part II
Posted in Players, tagged 1989 Oakland A's players, Chris Bando, Sal Bando on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
He is the much younger brother of Sal Bando, although a casual glance shows that he entered the bigs in 1981, the same year as Sal’s last, so you’d think it was a father/son relationship. Chris’ career with Oakland lasted for just a day (1-2 with a single), and you have to wonder whether the A’s [...]
Dick Scott, Part II
Posted in Players, tagged 1989 A's, Dick Scott on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Scott could well be the least-known member of this team: a shortstop with three pinch-hit at-bats in May, including a run-scoring groundout in his first game, against Boston. That 0-3 is it for his career: he never made it back to the majors. So, it seems important to note that he managed the Modesto A’s to a 96-40 [...]
Bill Dawley, Part II
Posted in Players, The Season, tagged A's relievers, Bill Dawley on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dawley joined Brian Snyder in helping fill out the Oakland bullpen in later June and early July of ‘89, when Eckersley was still out with an injury and Greg Cadaret and Eric Plunk were with the Yankees. Certainly his best performance of the season was a 4 1/3rd inning outing on June 23 against Toronto: [...]
Ron Hassey, Part II
Posted in Players, tagged 1989 A's, catchers, perfect games, Ron Hassey on May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Hassey caught a perfect game for Len Barker with Cleveland in 1981 and left Oakland just in time to join the Expos and catch a perfect game for Dennis Martinez in 1991 before retiring: Hassey’s the only guy to catch two perfect games. Which brings up the question: how much credit does a catcher deserve [...]
