MLB76 Update: Tim Hosley is an A again, and here's the cartoon that The Oakland Tribune published today in 1976 (Thursday, April 22) after the Tigers won the series finale yesterday. I'm not sure that I totally understand it--"Curtains For the A's," maybe? But they're 6-5 and only a half game out of first in the American League West.
22 Apr 1976, Thu Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Newspapers.com
N.L. East
ReplyDeletePirates 6-3
Phillies 5-3, 0.5
Mets 6-6, 1.5
Cubs 4-5, 2
Cardinals 4-6, 2.5
Expos 3-5, 2.5
N.L. West
Astros 8-5
Reds 6-4, 0.5
Braves 6-4, 0.5
Giants 5-5, 1.5
Padres 5-6, 2
Dodgers 2-8, 4.5
Gene Tenace got hurt in the loss to Detroit last night, and that's why our old friend from Spartanburg, Tim Hosley, is back with the A's after a season and change with the Cubs. Oakland and Chicago have a special relationship in this era. Bill North, Billy Williams and Matt Alexander are other former Cubs on the April 22, 1976, Oakland roster. Ken Holtzman is gone now, but he's also a former Cub.
ReplyDelete"Paid $93,000 in 1975 and one of nine Oakland players refusing to sign 1976 contracts, Holtzman sought a three-year $460,000 pact. With free agency imminent after the season and the expectations of higher salaries for which Athletics owner (Charlie) Finley was unwilling to pay, he was acquired along with Reggie Jackson and minor-league right-handed pitcher Bill Van Bommel by the Orioles for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez, and Paul Mitchell on April 2, 1976."
ReplyDeleteThat's the biggest change from the 1975 to the '76 A's--Reggie Jackson (and Holtzman) out, Don Baylor (and Mike Torrez) in. Jackson still hasn't reported to Baltimore and is still getting himself into The Oakland Tribune. The top baseball story on the sports front on April 22 is not the game story from the loss to the Tigers yesterday; it's another column about Reggie, this one by Ed Levitt: "The words came pouring over the long-distance line from Tempe, Arizona. ‘I had to phone you,’ said Reggie. ‘I’m getting bad publicity, because people are reading outrageous stories. I want to tell you the facts.’"
ReplyDelete(He says that the Orioles are offering a one-year deal and that he wants three years. He says that he wants to be among the game's highest-paid players but that he feels Hank Aaron and maybe even Jim Hunter should be paid more.)
Anyway, Jackson's not an A, which breaks my heart. But I did always like Baylor, and he did have the game-winning hit two nights ago.
The next biggest change from the '75 to the '76 A's is at manager. Wikipedia: "The team won the AL West by seven games over the runner-up Kansas City Royals; however, they were swept in the ALCS by the Boston Red Sox. Though they made the playoffs both years under (Alvin) Dark, he was not re-hired as the Athletics manager in 1976. During a church talk that September, Dark had said, 'To God, Charlie Finley is just a very little, bitty thing. If he doesn't accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior, he's going to hell.' When Finley announced Dark would not return for 1976, he stated that the manager was 'too busy with church activities.'"
ReplyDeleteThe new guy is Chuck Tanner, who managed the White Sox to a close second to the A's in MLB72. After going 401-414 in five seasons in Chicago, Bill Veeck fired Tanner as manager and offered him another job in the organization. Tanner declined and was snatched up by Finley one day later. "With speedy players such as Bert Campaneris, Bill North, Claudell Washington, and Don Baylor, Tanner made the A's into a running team, stealing an AL league-record 341 bases. Eight players had 20 or more steals, including 51 by pinch runners Matt Alexander (who only came to the plate 30 times) and Larry Lintz (who had one at-bat all season)."
ReplyDeleteIt is cool how often the A's run on the BackToBaseball.com animation. Tanner seems to run North pretty much any time that gets on base, and I've already seen Lintz come in as a pinch-runner twice for Sal Bando. That website does a good job of building the suspense, too. It backs the batter off the plate, and you see the runner going down the basepath, and then there's a little delay before they tell you whether he's safe or out. I'm so glad to have rediscovered BackToBaseball.com.
ReplyDeleteThe A's have no game today in 1976, however, so I won't be on BackToBaseball.com before going to bed tonight. Instead, I'm enjoying a relaxing fake Thursday catching up on yesterday's episode of A Musical Offering:
ReplyDeleteFrom a series of radio programs titled "A Musical Offering," originally broadcast on WNCN-FM, New York, and hosted by David Dubal with assistance from WNCN-FM staff announcer Matt Edwards. This program focuses on works of Liszt, to include:
S.215, Valses oubliées [4 pieces] (1881--84)
S.212, Petite valse favorite (1842/3)
S.213, Valse-impromptu (1850?)
Pianists discussed include Edith Farnadi, Arthur Rubinstein, John Ogdon, Daniel Ericourt, and Gunnar Johansen. The program was broadcast on or around April 21, 1976.
This show is always entertaining when Dubal and Edwards get a little chippy with one another. Earlier in yesterday's show, there was a little dustup on clavier performances of Bach.
ReplyDeleteI, of course, didn't know anything about him until discovering these posts by YouTube user "noochinator1," but it turns out that David Dubal is a very big deal. I appreciate his (and noochinator1's) ushering me through all of this great music and context.
ReplyDeleteI also plan today to spend some time learning about the 1976 Houston Astros, who are the biggest pleasant surprise so far of the young season.
ReplyDeleteHere’s the Baseball Reference top-12 Astros for MLB76:
ReplyDelete1. Cesar Cedeno 5.9 Wins Above Replacement (WAR)
2. Jose Cruz 4.3
3. J.R. Richard 3.4
4. Enos Cabell 3.0
5. Bob Watson 3.0
6. Greg Gross 3.0
7. Ken Forsch 2.4
8. Rob Andrews 1.8
9. Jerry DaVanon 1.4
10. Juaquin Andujar 1.2
11. Leon Roberts 1.2
12. Dan Larson 1.1
Baseball Reference has mug shots of those 12 players on their 1976 Astros page, but you have to hover over each of the pictures to get the names. This sets up the fun of trying to guess the 12 players—a game I started playing in learning about the NBA teams earlier this (real) year. Anyway, I got the first 10 of these Astros, but I was wrong on Roberts and Larson. Roberts is wearing a Mariners hat, and all I could think of was Rick Honeycutt (though I knew this wasn’t right). And I mistook Larson for Doug Rader (who I forgot had been traded to San Diego).