New York Mets tickets

THE A's FOUGHT TOGETHER and won together again in 1973, capturing the pennant despite owner Charlie Finley, who more than ever resembled an evil hybrid of Henry VIII and Bill Veeck. The only team member Finley treated like a human being, it seemed, was the mule that served as the I A's mascot. But like Charles I Comiskey before him, Finley's shortcomings as a person did not affect the quality of his team's play. "We've been arguing all year long," manager Dick Williams said. "You can't live together all year without having some friction."

The A's faced the New York Mets, who had won the pennant in their second year under manager Yogi Berra, but bore little resemblance to the miracle squad of 1969. The Mets were barely an average team with their 82-79 regular season record, but they were inspired by relief pitcher Tug McGraw's philosophy "You Gotta Believe" and came out on top of the weak National League East. The Mets then beat the Reds in the playoffs and replaced the 1959 Dodgers as the worst team ever to appear in a World Series. It's a title they still hold. Finley gave the Mets' wives the worst seats in the upper deck of the Oakland Coliseum for the first game, while watching the games from a front-row box himself. His pulse had to be taken by a doctor between innings-ostensibly because he had heart trouble, but really, cynics said, to determine whether he had a heart at all. The game was a pitcher's duel, as the Oakland tandem of Ken Holtzman and Rollie Fingers defeated the equally tough Mets duo of Jon Matlack and Tug McGraw.

The second game was a 12-inning marathon. It must have seemed even longer was a 12 inning marathon. It must have seemed even longer to 43 years old Willie Mays, who probably cost the Mets a run when he missed second base in the top of the ninth and also failed to catch a fly ball that went for a double in
the bottom of that inning. It was yet another indication that it was time for Mays to retire. "Willie had seen all his splendid triumphs worn away to bare competence," Roger Angell had written two years earlier. "I began-for the first time in my life, and with enormous sadness-not to want him to come up to the plate...Hang them up, Willie, please. Retire." The venerable Mays came to the plate in the top of the twelfth looking to redeem himself with runners on first and third and two outs. I knew he was going to hit it," teammate Bud Harrelson said. "I could see it in his eves." Mays did get a hit to drive in the tying run, and the Mets followed with three more runs. Oakland loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning, but the Mets escaped with the win.

Finley was furious at second baseman Mike Andrews after the game. Andrews' two errors in the twelfth inning had contributed to the Oakland loss, so Finley forced Andrews to sign a false affidavit that he was injured so he could replace him on the World Series roster with another player. The Oakland platers threatened to boycott the third game ordered Andrews reinstated. Immediately afterward, Williams resigned as manager, effective at the end of the Series.