Category: That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

Former Oakland A’s outfielder Jose Canseco participates on Juice Night Promotion in Las Vegas had an amazing 1988 season for the A’s (file photo Las Vegas Review Journal)

Memories of Oakland  1988 — — No.5 in Series

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–1988 was the best-ever season at Oakland that did not produce a World Series title. The Athletics ended the regular season with a 104-58 .642 record, their best since (and to date) since their first season at Oakland in 1968.

Cuban-born slugger José Canseco unanimously won the American League Most Valuable Player, becoming the first ever to steal over 40 bases and hit over 40 home runs (42 home runs and 40 stolen bases), hit for .307 average, and also drove a major league-leading 124 runs. José Canseco was born in Regla, a small fishing town on the other side of Havana harbor.

He came to the United States very young and his Spanish (when I first talked with him) was not good or clear, but he understood more than he speak and has learned since. He was much more tuned in to the American culture than Cuban. During one of my interviews, we spoke about other stuff aside from baseball; he told me his favorite musical group was ‘Foreigner’ a popular American-British rock band.

After he won the Rookie of the Year in 1986, I covered him at the Houston Astrodome for the All-Star Game. I met and spoke to his late father, Jose Canseco Sr., a sales executive in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, for AMOCO Oil Company. As most fathers are, he was a proud papa.

The 1988 World Series matched the AL Champion A’s against the NL Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers beat the New York Mets in seven games during the NLCS to advance to the Fall Classic. Tommy LaSorda’s team won 94 games during the regular season, but in this World Series, the Oakland A’s were heavy favorites.

One of the many reporters that came to California to cover this series was Manolo Alvarez of WQBA radio in Miami; he was doing interviews, and he asked me if the A’s would sweep the series, I told him that was impossible to predict. However, such was the national sports media concept of the A’s as a much more superior team of that of the Dodgers.

The 1988 World Series began at Dodger Stadium, but Game #1 was the most memorable. The A’s took the lead in the second inning with a blast by José Canseco to straight-away center field, which hit one of the NBC cameras for a home run; it looked like the A’s with their ace Dave Stewart on the mound could do no wrong. Stew pitched eight complete innings and allowed three runs. But the whole story of this classic was settled in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Manager Tony LaRussa brought in Dennis Eckersley to close the game, but a pinch-hit home run by Kirk Gibson, who could not start the game because of injuries, provided for one of the most improbable and iconic moments in World Series history, as Eck threw one slider after another, and at the end, one landed in the right field seats for a walk-off home run and a come-from-behind thrilling victory by the underdog Dodgers by 5-4.

We were talking how “lay back” are Dodger fans, but after than Gibson home run it felt like Dodger Stadium went 1,000 feet up in the air. This World Series went five games, and the Dodgers won it, one of the big upsets in the history of World Series. Oral Hershiser won 2 games and was declared the MVP.

He was celebrating during that decisive game five at the Oakland Coliseum. Previously for game No.3 at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, Mark McGwire hit a walk-off home run from reliever Jay Howell and won 2-1.

The only game won by the A’s. 1988 was the first year of the three consecutive trips to the Fall Classic for Tony LaRussa’s Athletics; they would have to wait for next year and during an Earthquake to beat via sweep their Bay Area rival, San Francisco Giants in 1989.

Unfortunately for A’s fans Kirk Gibson is a name that will live in infamy, Gibson is to A’s fans, what Yankee Bucky Dent is to Red Sox fans.

While the A’s still have five years to play in their new ballpark in Las Vegas, which they hope to inaugurate for the 2028 season, José Canseco beat the A’s to Las Vegas. For a few years now, José owns and runs a Car Wash and Mini-Mart a couple of blocks from the strip in Sin City, sometimes he is there to sign autographs and to meet with fans. To read more on the car wash: https://sportsradioservice2013.wordpress.com/tag/jose-canseco/

Amaury Pi Gonzalez calling the play by play of Oakland A’s baseball on Spanish flagship station KBRG 105 FM San Francisco in 1977 (photo from Amaury Pi Gonzalez)

Memories of Oakland 1977– –No. 4 in a Series–

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–Three years after the A’s dynasty of winning three consecutive World Series, 1972,73-74 Charlie Finley’s Oakland A’s missed the playoffs, ending with a record of 63-98 (.391) and in seventh place in the American League West.

Finley went through two managers, Jack McKeon (26-27) and Bobby Winkles (37-71) players like Dick Allen, Tony Armas. Rob Picciolo, Mitchell Page, Wayne Gross, and other characters plus a hard working starting pitching staff of Mike Norris, Rick Langford, Matt Keogh, Steve McCatty and Brian Kingman, all who would grace the cover of Sports Illustrated a few years later.

Only two Spanish speaking players, which I got to know and lots of interviews from were catcher Manny Sanguillen, born in Panamá and pitcher Pablo Torrealba, from Venezuela. Sanguillen, whom I interviewed a few years ago for an article published on this site, resides in Florida, Torrealba lives in Venezuela.

I remember when Sanguillen told me the story about his good friend Roberto Clemente, they were close teammates in Pittsburgh, and he, Sanguillen, was supposed to fly on that chartered DC 3 plane with Roberto to Nicaragua filled with help for the people of the terrible earthquake in 1972, but eventually he could not make it. As fate had it.

The first Spanish radio broadcasts were on KBRG 105.3 FM. The first Spanish FM radio station in San Francisco, with a music format. My good friend Al Dougherty was the Sales Manager and a huge baseball fan, a transplant to San Francisco from New York City.

We talked baseball a lot and as a sports reporter that is where I cut my teeth. I started broadcasting baseball games in Spanish for the Bay Area. I was located at what was then Box 19 almost aligned with the third-base side of the infield and from the press box.

It worked perfectly for me as I had a regular day job from Monday to Friday at a financial company in San Francisco. The games were mostly weekend games for Charlie Finley A’s, under the direction of Carl Finley who as I remember was in charge of just about everything that had to do with the A’s, except play on the field, however he was very gracious with me and gave me anything I needed as far as notes and team related news. The A’s front office was only a handful of people.

The studios of KBRG 105.3 FM were located at Market Square, 1355 Market Street in San Francisco. Today that is the building-headquarters for one of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk’s Twitter. About Al Dougherty, I learned a lot about radio, from the sales side to what used to be called the “log” with all advertisers for each program, including baseball.

In 1977 the final tally for the Oakland A’s home attendance at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was 495,599, an average of 6,157 per game. Across the bay in Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants who finished in 4th place, ended with a 700,056 attendance, an average of 8,643 per game.

Although the A’s were not drawing lot of fans those years, the Giants were also drawing in the low numbers. The early success of the A’s winning three consecutive World Series did not translated to huge crowds, since by 1977 Charlie Finley let a lot of his star players become free agents and eventually signed multi-million dollar contracts with other teams.

Jim ‘Catfish’ Hunter left in 1974 after they won their third World Series and got a very lucrative contract with the New York Yankees for which he finished his great career, later elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown in 1987.

1977 was a year to remember in the history of the Oakland As and for me, one year I will never forget.

Join Amaury Pi Gonzalez for That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcasts heard Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s manager Mark Kotsay looks out of the A’s dugout at the Oakland Coliseum the A’s who are in Seattle dropped the first game of a four game series on Mon May 22, 2023. Kotsay he beats himself up everyday about the struggles of the A’s. (San Francisco Chronicle file photo)

On the Oakland A’s podcast:

#1 How practical is it for the Nevada tax payers to front the A’s some $200 million to 75 million to cover the existing gap to cover the $395 million to pay towards the $1.5 billion A’s new ballpark at the Tropicana site in Las Vegas. Some people interviewed in Las Vegas are against paying for a ball club that’s deliberately not trying to win and bringing them to Vegas.

#2 The A’s currently have a $59 million payroll while most of the other MLB clubs have a $100 million which keeps most of them somewhat competitive. If the A’s are in Vegas and fans are only showing up to see Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge will the A’s be able to sustain business as usual?

#3 The A’s manager Mark Kotsay said that losing is 100% his responsibility. That Kotsay beats himself up everyday about it and he doesn’t know how to hide it. It’s a constant struggle. It’s not going to change much at this point because A’s Money Ball genius Billy Beane and general manager David Forst are not going on the free agency market anytime soon.

#4 The A’s as it turned out could have pushed during their times of trying to move to San Jose that the San Francisco Giants no longer had territorial rights because those territorial rights that the A’s gave them so they could have moved to San Jose were used so they could try and build a stadium in the South Bay and once they had built their own stadium in the City they should no longer have those territorial rights anymore and the A’s should have had a chance at trying to get a ballpark in San Jose which they are being blocked by the Giants.

#5 Taxpayers in Las Vegas are skeptical about spending the $395 million of public money for the stadium tax credits towards the Tropicana Ballpark when they see how A’s owner John Fisher is not putting any money into trying to be competitive. Most likely Fisher and the A’s will be competitive after they get the new ballpark at Tropicana but on the face of it the taxpayers in Vegas are wondering if the A’s come will they continue compete with a low payroll.

#6 Do you see any outside chance that the A’s Tropicana deal could fail and Fisher would go back to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and try to iron out a deal at Howard Terminal?

#7 The NBC Bay Area Sports fired TV broadcaster Glen Kuiper for using the N word on a pre game broadcast during a series in Kansas City. Kuiper joined the A’s broadcast team in the early 90s. Some critics say you don’t use that word unless you use that word.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is taking this week off and Jerry Feitelberg is filling in for That’s Amaury News and Commentary heard Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com