Oakland Athletics Tickets

THEY MAY HAVE BEEN A CHAMPIONSHIP ball club, but the Oakland Athletics' clubhouse in 1972 resembled nothing so much as a nursery full of whining and fighting four-year-olds. Hairy ones, nineteen of the 25 Athletics had some type of facial hair, and most of them also had some sort of Oakland Athletics Tickets and dislike for someone else on the team. Shortstop Bert Campaneris threw his bat at Tigers pitcher Lerrin LaGrow in the playoffs. Colorful pitchers Vida Blue and Blue Moon Odom brawled in the Oakland clubhouse after the A's polished off the Tigers in five games. Blue was also battling with owner Charlie O. Finley. He accused Finley of "trying to destroy my career" by ordering him into the bullpen for the post-season. Manager Dick Williams and first baseman Mike Epstein got into a drunken shouting match on the team plane after Game 2 of the World Series. There were rumors that Williams was on his way out as manager, and other rumors spread that the A's, whose attendance in Oakland was remarkably poor, were planning a move to New Orleans.

After defeating Pittsburgh in the playoffs, the Cincinnati Reds were favored to win the World Series, too, mostly because they hailed from the National League, considered the superior circuit. Not only that, but Oakland would be playing the Series without the injured Reggie Jackson, who was not yet Mr. October, but was already one of the best power hitters in the American League. We are the number one source of Oakland Athletics Tickets. The Cincinnati players were confident-so confident that they unwittingly gave Oakland some good bulletin-board material. 'The real World Series was between the Reds and the Pirates," Pete Rose scoffed. As it turned out, the real World Series was remarkably well-played and evenly matched, with an unprecedented six one-run games.

Backup catcher Gene Tenace won the first game for Oakland Athletics virtually single handedly, homering in the first two World Series at-bats of his career to give Oakland a 3-2 victory. The A's also won Game 2, as Jim Catfish" Hunter pitched eight scoreless innings and Joe Rudi made a sensational leaping catch against the left field wall to rob Denis Menke of a ninth-inning double. The catch saved the game, as the Reds scored one run before Rollie Fingers came in to put the lid on a 2-1 Oakland win. Rudi downplayed his vital catch, saying it was a play he had practiced hundreds of times before. "I put my hand out, concentrating on the ball and just feeling where the wall was," he said. "I never would have made that catch without all that practice."

California governor Ronald Reagan threw out the first ball before Game 3 as the Series moved to Oakland. Perhaps fore-shadowing his presidential career, the pitch sailed over Tenace's head. Television dictated that the game start at twilight, which made things tough for Oakland Athletics Tickets sellers and hitters. Thus, Odom and Jack Billingham combined to strike out seventeen over the first six innings of a scoreless duel. Cesar Geronimo singled in the seventh for what looked like the first run of the game, but Tony Perez slipped on the wet grass between third and home and fell flat on his face. Remarkably, he was still able to get up and scamper home safely with what turned out to be the only run in a 1-0 Reds victory. The cleverest play of the game belonged to Oakland Athletics Baseball, however, and occurred when Cincinnati threatened in the eighth, and Rollie Fingers entered the game. He pretended he was going to intentionally walk Johnny Bench, but instead fired a called strike three past the unsuspecting Bench to stifle the rally.

Tenace hit his third home run of the Series in Game 4, but the Athletics still trailed 2-1 entering the ninth inning. They came back to win it in the bottom of the ninth, 3-2, on three fortuitous pinch hits by Gonzalo Marquez, Don Mincher, and Angel Mangual, a trio that had only 83 hits between them all season. "Within a week I've learned everything in baseball that you need to know," the now-less-cocky Pete Rose said as his Reds trailed 3-1 in the Series. View Oakland Athletics Tickets on our website. "One week ago I was the happiest I had ever been...and I never felt so rotten, so low as I did after losing the game last night." Rose's sorrow didn't last long, though, as he hit Hunter's first pitch of Game 5 over the fence to give the Reds a quick lead. Despite Tenace's fourth home run of the Series  trying a record shared by the likes of Ruth and Gehrig-the Reds scored twice in the late innings when Joe Morgan and Rose each manufactured a run, and won the game 5-4. Oakland threatened to tie it in the ninth, but pitcher Odom, pinch run¬ning, ended the game when he was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a short foul fly.

The sixth game was the only blowout of the Series, as the Reds forced a rubber match by clubbing Blue and three relievers. 8-1. Game 7 would be a match-up between Odom and Billingham, who had dueled so magnificently in Game 3. It was tied 1-1 in the sixth inning when Tenace hit a go-ahead double for Oakland (Oakland Athletics Tickets are available). The next batter, Sal Bando, also hit a run-scoring double. That was enough for the win, as Rollie Fingers and his neatly trimmed handlebar moustache nailed the door shut in the last two innings. The Athletics were world champions for the first time since 1930. When they played in Philadelphia, in the clubhouse afterward, the buck naked Vida Blue, with a champagne bottle in his hand, led his hirsute teammates in a stirring rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Connie Mack would have been proud.