1969 Oakland Athletics season

The 1969 Oakland Athletics season was the 69th season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 2nd season in Oakland. The Athletics finished the season with 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
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
City	Oakland, California
Record	88–74 (.543)
Owners	Charles O. Finley
Managers	Hank Bauer, John McNamara
Television	KBHK-TV
Radio	KNBR (Monte Moore, Al Helfer)
← 1968 Seasons 1970 →

Offseason

• October 15, 1968: Joe Keough was drafted from the Athletics by the Kansas City Royals as the 8th pick in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.^[2]
• December 2, 1968: Darrell Evans was drafted from the Athletics by the Atlanta Braves in the 1968 rule 5 draft.^[3]

Regular season

• 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

• v
• t
• e

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

1969 American League records v t e Sources:
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

• Sal Bando
• Bert Campaneris
• Danny Cater
• Dave Duncan
• Dick Green
• Mike Hershberger
• Reggie Jackson
• Rick Monday
• Blue Moon Odom^[4]

Notable transactions

• June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball draft (June Draft) notable picks:^[5]

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

• June 14, 1969: John Donaldson was traded by the Athletics to the Seattle Pilots for Larry Haney.^[8]

Reggie Jackson

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

1969 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 21 Vida Blue 29 Chuck Dobson 34 Rollie Fingers 27 Catfish Hunter 20 Lew Krausse Jr. 16,24 Marcel Lachemann 28 George Lauzerique 25 Paul Lindblad 30 Jim Nash 13 Blue Moon Odom 42 Juan Pizarro 33 Jim Roland 22 Ed Sprague 17 Fred Talbot 11 John Wyatt		Catchers 10 Dave Duncan 12 Larry Haney 17 Jim Pagliaroni  4 Phil Roof 24 Gene Tenace Infielders  6 Sal Bando 19 Bert Campaneris  2 Danny Cater 12 John Donaldson 36 Tito Francona  1 Dick Green 32 Bob Johnson 14 Ted Kubiak 23,31 Ray Webster		Outfielders 15 Bobby Brooks  3 Mike Hershberger  9 Reggie Jackson 37 Bill McNulty  7 Rick Monday 24 Joe Nossek 35 Tommie Reynolds 36,26 Joe Rudi 31 José Tartabull Other batters 11 Tony La Russa 8,36 Allan Lewis		Manager 42 Hank Bauer 41 John McNamara Coaches  5 Joe DiMaggio (Hitting) 43 Bobby Hofman (First base) 44 Vern Hoscheit (Bullpen) 41 John McNamara (Third base) 40 Bill Posedel (Pitching)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

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

Starting pitchers

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

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

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

See also: Minor League Baseball

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