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Major League Baseball season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1972 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's winning the American League West with a record of 93 wins and 62 losses. In the playoffs, they defeated the Detroit Tigers in a five-game ALCS, followed by a seven-game World Series, in which they defeated the Cincinnati Reds for their sixth overall World Championship and first since 1930, when the club was in Philadelphia.
1972 Oakland Athletics | ||
---|---|---|
World Series Champions American League Champions American League West Champions | ||
League | American League | |
Division | West | |
Ballpark | Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum | |
City | Oakland, California | |
Record | 93–62 (.600) | |
Owners | Charles O. Finley | |
Managers | Dick Williams | |
Television | KBHK-TV | |
Radio | KEEN (Monte Moore, Jim Woods) | |
|
In 1972, the A's began wearing solid green or solid gold jerseys, with contrasting white pants, at a time when most other teams wore all-white uniforms at home and all-grey ones on the road. Similar to more colorful amateur softball uniforms, they were considered a radical departure for their time.
Furthermore, in conjunction with a Moustache Day promotion, Finley offered $300 to any player who grew a moustache by Father's Day, at a time when every other team traditionally forbade facial hair. When Father's Day arrived on Sunday, June 18, every player on the 25-man roster collected a bonus.[6][7]
The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers wanted a way to shorten the name. Starting in 1972, the team nickname was officially "Oakland A's." The Commissioner's Trophy, given out annually to the winner of baseball's World Series, still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise. According to Bill Libby's Book, Charlie O and the Angry A's, owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with himself. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league Oakland Oaks, which were alternatively called the "Acorns".
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oakland Athletics | 93 | 62 | .600 | — | 48–29 | 45–33 |
Chicago White Sox | 87 | 67 | .565 | 5½ | 55–23 | 32–44 |
Minnesota Twins | 77 | 77 | .500 | 15½ | 42–32 | 35–45 |
Kansas City Royals | 76 | 78 | .494 | 16½ | 44–33 | 32–45 |
California Angels | 75 | 80 | .484 | 18 | 44–36 | 31–44 |
Texas Rangers | 54 | 100 | .351 | 38½ | 31–46 | 23–54 |
Sources: | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | TEX | |
Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 10–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | |
Boston | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 8–7 | 5–9 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 9–3 | 8–4 | |
California | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 9–6 | 7–5 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 10–7 | |
Chicago | 4–8 | 6–6 | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 8–9 | 9–3 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 7–8 | 14–4 | |
Cleveland | 10–8 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 10–8 | 6–6 | 5–10 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 2–10 | 9–3 | |
Detroit | 8–10 | 9–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 8–10 | — | 7–5 | 10–8 | 9–3 | 7–9 | 4–8 | 10–2 | |
Kansas City | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–9 | 9–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 7–5 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 8–6 | |
Milwaukee | 5–10 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 10–5 | 8–10 | 5–7 | — | 4–8 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 5–7 | |
Minnesota | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–7 | 6–8 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 9–9 | 8–4 | — | 6–6 | 8–9 | 11–7 | |
New York | 6–7 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 9–7 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 6–6 | — | 3–9 | 8–4 | |
Oakland | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 8–7 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 9–8 | 9–3 | — | 11–4 | |
Texas | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–10 | 4–14 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 6–8 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 4–11 | — |
Opening Day Starters | ||
---|---|---|
# | Name | Position |
19 | Bert Campaneris | SS |
26 | Joe Rudi | LF |
9 | Reggie Jackson | RF |
6 | Sal Bando | 3B |
5 | Mike Epstein | 1B |
15 | Bobby Brooks | CF |
10 | Dave Duncan | C |
22 | Dick Green | 2B |
30 | Ken Holtzman | P |
1972 Oakland Athletics | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
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= Indicates team leader |
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 | Dave Duncan | 121 | 403 | 88 | .218 | 19 | 59 |
1B | Mike Epstein | 138 | 455 | 123 | .270 | 26 | 70 |
2B | Tim Cullen | 72 | 142 | 37 | .261 | 0 | 15 |
3B | Sal Bando | 152 | 535 | 126 | .236 | 15 | 77 |
SS | Bert Campaneris | 149 | 625 | 150 | .240 | 8 | 32 |
LF | Joe Rudi | 147 | 593 | 181 | .305 | 19 | 75 |
CF | Reggie Jackson | 135 | 499 | 132 | .265 | 25 | 75 |
RF | Ángel Mangual | 91 | 272 | 67 | .246 | 5 | 32 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gene Tenace | 82 | 227 | 51 | .225 | 5 | 32 |
Larry Brown | 47 | 142 | 26 | .183 | 0 | 4 |
Matty Alou | 32 | 121 | 34 | .281 | 1 | 16 |
George Hendrick | 58 | 121 | 22 | .182 | 4 | 15 |
Bill Voss | 40 | 97 | 22 | .227 | 1 | 5 |
Ted Kubiak | 51 | 94 | 17 | .181 | 0 | 8 |
Mike Hegan | 98 | 79 | 26 | .329 | 1 | 5 |
Don Mincher | 47 | 54 | 8 | .148 | 0 | 5 |
Ollie Brown | 20 | 54 | 13 | .241 | 1 | 4 |
Dick Green | 26 | 42 | 12 | .286 | 0 | 3 |
Marty Martínez | 22 | 40 | 5 | .125 | 0 | 1 |
Bobby Brooks | 15 | 39 | 7 | .179 | 0 | 5 |
Dal Maxvill | 27 | 36 | 9 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
Brant Alyea | 20 | 31 | 6 | .194 | 1 | 2 |
Gonzalo Márquez | 23 | 21 | 8 | .381 | 0 | 4 |
Ron Clark | 14 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 0 | 1 |
Curt Blefary | 8 | 11 | 5 | .455 | 0 | 1 |
Adrian Garrett | 14 | 11 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Allan Lewis | 24 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
Bill McNulty | 4 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 0 |
Art Shamsky | 8 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Dwain Anderson | 3 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Larry Haney | 5 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Orlando Cepeda | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
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 | 295.1 | 21 | 7 | 2.04 | 191 |
Ken Holtzman | 39 | 265.1 | 19 | 11 | 2.51 | 134 |
Blue Moon Odom | 31 | 194.1 | 15 | 6 | 2.50 | 86 |
Vida Blue | 25 | 151.0 | 6 | 10 | 2.80 | 111 |
Denny McLain | 5 | 22.1 | 1 | 2 | 6.04 | 8 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dave Hamilton | 25 | 101.1 | 6 | 6 | 2.93 | 55 |
Joe Horlen | 32 | 84.0 | 3 | 4 | 3.00 | 58 |
Diego Seguí | 7 | 22.2 | 0 | 1 | 3.57 | 11 |
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 | 65 | 11 | 9 | 21 | 2.51 | 113 |
Bob Locker | 56 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 2.65 | 47 |
Darold Knowles | 54 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 1.37 | 36 |
Gary Waslewski | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2.04 | 8 |
Don Shaw | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16.88 | 4 |
Jim Roland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 0 |
Mike Kilkenny | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
October 7, 1972, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Detroit | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | |
Oakland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 1 | |
W: Rollie Fingers (1–0) L: Mickey Lolich (0–1) | |||||||||||||||
HR: DET – Norm Cash (1), Al Kaline (1) |
October 8, 1972, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Detroit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Oakland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 8 | 0 |
W: Blue Moon Odom (1–0) L: Woodie Fryman (0–1) | ||||||||||||
HR: None |
October 10, 1972, at Tiger Stadium
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oakland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Detroit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 3 | 8 | 1 |
W: Joe Coleman (1–0) L: Ken Holtzman (0–1) | ||||||||||||
HR: DET – Bill Freehan (1) |
October 11, 1972, at Tiger Stadium
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oakland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
Detroit | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
W: John Hiller (1–0) L: Bob Locker (0–1) | |||||||||||||
HR: OAK – Mike Epstein (1) DET – Dick McAuliffe (1) |
October 12, 1972, at Tiger Stadium
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oakland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Detroit | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
W: Blue Moon Odom (2–0) L: Woodie Fryman (0–2) S: Vida Blue (1) | ||||||||||||
HR: None |
In 1972, the A's won their first league pennant since 1931 and faced the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. The A's seven-game victory over the heavily favored Reds gave the team its first World Series Championship since 1930.
Of the four wins against the Reds, three of them occurred in Cincinnati, and all four Series victories were by a single run. Gene Tenace hit four home runs and drove in nine runs to power the A's offense, and was named the series Most Valuable Player.
1972 World Series (4–3): Oakland Athletics (A.L.) over Cincinnati Reds (N.L.)
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oakland Athletics | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 46 | 9 | |
Cincinnati Reds | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 46 | 5 | |
Total Attendance: 363,149 Average Attendance: 51,878 | |||||||||||||
Winning Player's Share: – $20,705, Losing Player's Share– $15,080 *Includes Playoffs and World Series |
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