1969 Oakland Athletics season

The 1969 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's compiling a record of 88 wins and 74 losses. With its expansion to 12 teams in 1969, the American League had been divided into two 6-team divisions. In their first year in the newly established American League West, the Athletics finished second, nine games behind the Minnesota Twins. It was the first time they had finished in the first place in a division since 1952 Philadelphia Athletics season. Paid attendance for the season was 778,232.[1]

1969 Oakland Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkOakland-Alameda County Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record88–74 (.543)
OwnersCharles O. Finley
ManagersHank Bauer, John McNamara
TelevisionKBHK-TV
RadioKNBR
(Monte Moore, Al Helfer)
← 1968 Seasons 1970 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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  • Reggie Jackson hit 47 home runs in 1969, and was briefly ahead of the pace that Roger Maris set when he broke the single-season record for home runs with 61 in 1961, and that of Babe Ruth when he set the previous record of 60 in 1927.
  • The club ranked second in the American League Western division. With 13 games left in the season, Hank Bauer was replaced as Field Manager by John McNamara. McNamara compiled a won loss record of 8–5 to help the A's finish with 88 wins and 74 losses, an improvement of six wins compared to the previous season.

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Minnesota Twins 97 65 .599 57‍–‍24 40‍–‍41
Oakland Athletics 88 74 .543 9 49‍–‍32 39‍–‍42
California Angels 71 91 .438 26 43‍–‍38 28‍–‍53
Kansas City Royals 69 93 .426 28 36‍–‍45 33‍–‍48
Chicago White Sox 68 94 .420 29 41‍–‍40 27‍–‍54
Seattle Pilots 64 98 .395 33 34‍–‍47 30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEP WSH
Baltimore 10–8 6–6 9–3 13–5 11–7 11–1 8–4 11–7 8–4 9–3 13–5
Boston 8–10 8–4 5–7 12–6 10–8 10–2 7–5 11–7 4–8 6–6 6–12
California 6–6 4–8 9–9 8–4 5–7 9–9 7–11 3–9 6–12 9–9–1 5–7
Chicago 3–9 7–5 9–9 8–4 3–9 8–10 5–13 3–9 8–10 10–8 4–8
Cleveland 5–13 6–12 4–8 4–8 7–11 7–5 5–7 9–8 5–7 7–5 3–15
Detroit 7–11 8–10 7–5 9–3 11–7 8–4 6–6 10–8 7–5 10–2 7–11
Kansas City 1–11 2–10 9–9 10–8 5–7 4–8 8–10 5–7–1 8–10 10–8 7–5
Minnesota 4–8 5–7 11–7 13–5 7–5 6–6 10–8 10–2 13–5 12–6 6–6
New York 7–11 7–11 9–3 9–3 8–9 8–10 7–5–1 2–10 6–6 7–5 10–8
Oakland 4–8 8–4 12–6 10–8 7–5 5–7 10–8 5–13 6–6 13–5 8–4
Seattle 3–9 6–6 9–9–1 8–10 5–7 2–10 8–10 6–12 5–7 5–13 7–5
Washington 5–13 12–6 7–5 8–4 15–3 11–7 5–7 6–6 8–10 4–8 5–7


Opening Day starters

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Notable transactions

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Round 1: Don Stanhouse (9th pick).[6]
Round 2: Tommy Sandt
Round 3: Steve Lawson
Round 6: Jim Sundberg (did not sign)[7]
Round 8: Glenn Abbott
Round 13: John Stearns (did not sign)
Round 19: Charlie Chant

Reggie Jackson

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In the offseason, Jackson demanded a salary increase from $10,000 to $25,000. Jackson would settle at $20,000. Reggie Jackson hit two home runs versus the Washington Senators, with President Richard Nixon in the crowd.[9] By July 1, the A's had played in 71 games and Jackson had hit 30 home runs, 62 RBI, .287 batting average and a 1.145 OPS.[10] On July 2, Reggie Jackson would hit three home runs versus the Seattle Pilots to raise his season total to 34 home runs. He was on pace to break the home run record set by Roger Maris eight years earlier. By the end of July, Jackson had 40 home runs but he only hit 5 home runs in August. In September, Jackson was hospitalized with a skin rash and was only able to hit 2 home runs.[11] Jackson still managed to lead the American League with 123 runs scored.[12]

Roster

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1969 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Phil Roof 106 247 58 .235 2 19
1B Danny Cater 152 584 153 .262 10 76
2B Dick Green 136 483 133 .275 12 64
3B Sal Bando 162 609 171 .281 31 113
SS Bert Campaneris 135 547 142 .260 2 25
LF Tommie Reynolds 107 315 81 .257 2 20
CF Rick Monday 122 399 108 .271 12 54
RF Reggie Jackson 152 549 151 .275 47 118

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ted Kubiak 92 305 76 .249 2 27
José Tartabull 75 266 71 .267 0 11
Mike Hershberger 51 129 26 .202 1 10
Dave Duncan 58 127 16 .126 3 22
Joe Rudi 35 122 23 .189 2 6
Larry Haney 53 86 13 .151 2 12
Tito Francona 32 85 29 .341 3 20
Bobby Brooks 29 79 19 .241 3 10
Ray Webster 64 77 20 .260 1 13
Bob Johnson 51 67 23 .343 1 9
Gene Tenace 16 38 6 .158 1 2
Jim Pagliaroni 14 27 4 .148 1 2
Bill McNulty 5 17 0 .000 0 0
John Donaldson 12 13 1 .077 0 0
Tony La Russa 8 8 0 .000 0 0
Joe Nossek 13 6 0 .000 0 0
Allan Lewis 12 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Catfish Hunter 38 247.0 12 15 3.35 150
Chuck Dobson 35 235.1 15 13 3.86 137
Blue Moon Odom 32 231.1 15 6 2.92 150
Jim Nash 26 115.1 8 8 3.67 75

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Lew Krausse Jr. 43 140.0 7 7 4.44 85
George Lauzerique 19 61.1 3 4 4.70 39
Vida Blue 12 42.0 1 1 6.64 24
Fred Talbot 12 19.0 1 2 5.21 9

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Rollie Fingers 60 6 7 12 3.71 61
Paul Lindblad 60 9 6 9 4.14 64
Jim Roland 39 5 1 1 2.19 48
Marcel Lachemann 28 4 1 2 3.95 16
Ed Sprague 27 1 1 2 4.47 20
John Wyatt 4 0 1 0 5.40 5
Juan Pizarro 3 1 1 1 2.35 4

[13]

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Oaks American Association Jimmy Williams
AA Birmingham A's Southern League Gus Niarhos
A Lodi Crushers California League Billy Klaus and Eli Grba
A Burlington Bees Midwest League Roy Sievers
A-Short Season Tri-City A's Northwest League Billy Herman

References

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  1. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.126, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  2. ^ Joe Keough page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Darrell Evans page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ "1969 Oakland Athletics Roster by Baseball Almanac".
  5. ^ 1969 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
  6. ^ Don Stanhouse page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Jim Sundberg page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ John Donaldson page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.129, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  10. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.129, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  11. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.130, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  12. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.131, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  13. ^ "1969 Oakland Athletics Statistics".
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