Former Oakland A’s centerfielder Tony Armas was part of the 1979 A’s (photo from sportsmemorbilia.com)

A’s 2022: 1979 All Over Again

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

They say ‘history repeats itself’ and such is the case with this 2022 Oakland A’s team who lost their 100th game as they got swept in Anaheim by the Angels on Thursday night. However, with six games remaining in the season they will not match the 108 losses of the1979 A’s (the worst year since they play in Oakland in 1968).

I remember 1979 because I was broadcasting all weekend games and other selected games for Spanish radio, I covered them. And if you saw these guys play, you remember also; the outfield was Rickey Henderson (rookie) in left field, Dwayne Murphy in center, and Tony Armas in right, also Miguel Dilone, Mitchell (The Rage) Page, and Glenn Burke.

You might remember these guys also, Mike Heath and Jim Essian, Jeff Newman, sharing the catching position, and others around the infield like Mario Guerrero, Rob Picciolo, and Mickey Klutts. And let us not forget the pitching staff with Mike Norris, Matt Keough, Brian Kingman, Mike Morgan, Rick Langford, and others.

Jeff Newman led the A’s power in 1979 hitting .231 with 22 home runs and 71 runs batted in. Rick Langford was the work-horse of the rotation starting 29 games with a record of 12-16 and 4.28 ERA, pitched 218 2/3 innings struck out 101, and walked 57.

That 21-year rookie playing left field that made it to the Hall of Fame, after playing for 25 years, was Rickey Henderson who that season played 89 games, stole 33 bases and went on to steal a major league record 1,406 bases.

Unlike today where the A’s (as the majority of teams televise all their games) in ’79 the team only televised selected games. As a matter of fact owner Charlie O Finley didn’t even signed a regular radio station as their English flagship to broadcast the games. He sold the rights for $1 to the University of California (Berkeley) campus radio station, with just a few watts of power, the signal was “very limited”.

In 1979 the Oakland Alameda-County Coliseum was a lonely place. Only 306,763 paid during the whole season to see the A’s, 3,984 fans at home, the worst attendance since leaving Philadelphia. Their attendance that year was doomed from the very beginning. On April 17, when they played the Seattle Mariners at the Coliseum 250 people showed up to see that game.

The 1979 Oakland A’s finished in 7th Place (cellar) with 54-108 and 34 games out of the first place California Angels.

A year later, 1980 Charlie O Finley agreed to sell the Oakland A’s to Walter A. Haas, Jr., president of Levi Strauss & Co, a local historic company with headquarters in the Bay Area. Finley sold the team for $12.7 million. The deal was finalized before the 1981 season.

The future of the Athletics hangs in the balance. In the next few months, this coming winter if they cannot come to a final agreement with the City of Oakland to build the proposed new ballpark at Howard Terminal, Oakland, chances are they are gone for good.

Regardless of the final decision, they will still have to play at the Oakland Coliseum in 2023 and maybe (maybe) 2024 when their lease expires. It is also possible the team could announce early next year, that they are leaving because they could not come to an agreement with the city. In that case, then 2024 could be played in another park, while the new park at location X, not in Oakland, is under construction.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play voice for the Oakland A’s Spanish radio at LeGrande 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com