Beatles ticket from concert scheduled Thursday September 17, 1964 8:00pm at Municipal Stadium Kanas City (photo from Nancy Finley)
When the A’s brought The Beatles –Interview with Nancy Finley–
That’s Amaury News and Commentary–
By Amaury Pi Gonzalez
When most baseball fans think about Charlie O. Finley, owner of the Kansas City and then the Oakland A’s, they return to the three consecutive World Series he won for the Swinging A’s in 1972,73,74. By winning three consecutive World Series, Finley’s A’s became only the second team to date that accomplished such a feat. During their dynasties, the New York Yankees were the only other team.
Reggie Jackson, the centerpiece for those winning teams, said of Charlie O. Finley, “He was great for baseball, years ahead of his time,” Reginaldo Martínez Jackson, a Hall of Fame outfielder, played for the A’s from 1967 to 1975. Charlie O.
Finley’s innovations in baseball are legendary, from Charlie O, the mascot Mule of the team, to pioneering the idea of night games in the Postseason play/World Series to many other ideas that baseball adopted, innovations, including all sorts of promotions.
During the Kansas City years, Mr.Finley had one of the most significant music bands in history, The Beatles, who performed in Kansas City as part of one of many Charlie O.Finley promotions. Time Magazine included the Beatles in its list of 100 most influential people in the 20th century.
I interviewed Nancy Finley who tells me that Charlie (her uncle) sent her the 45 LP “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, while her mother repeatedly played that song in the house. She tells me, “Dad (Carl Finley), the minority owner and General Manager, and Charlie were sitting with the group in a conference room waiting for performance time.
Dad said they were “a group of polite young men.” Spoken like a High School Principal. Charlie O.Finley left his mark in baseball and in American history, truly an innovator who brought the A’s the Gold and Green uniforms, the first team to let the players have facial hair, the Ball Girls, he was strong proponent of Inter league Play, decades before MLB adopted it in 1997.
Also, there is Night Playoff baseball, plus the Designated Hitter and Runner. He suggested the “alert ball,” also called the orange ball, to make it easier for the fans to follow the baseball because white was not that easy to see, and although that was never adopted, it was talked about.
I do not believe Mr.Finley would like any clock ruling in the game, the “free runner” at second base when a game spins into extra-innings, and some other radical changes during the last few years. Undoubtedly, when A’s Charlie O. Finley brought The Beatles, he left his mark on US pop culture forever. He was a visionary a showman and a man for the ages.
Quote: Dagoberto Blanco (Campy) Campaneris, who played more games than any other Athletics player, (1,795 games) a great shortstop born in Cuba, told me years ago talking about Charlie O. Finley ” Charlie no era solo dueño del equipo, pero hablaba y conocía de baseball” -Trans: “Charlie was not only the owner of the team, but he could talk and was knowledgable of the game of baseball”.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play announcer on the Oakland A’s Spanish radio network at 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD Pittsburg and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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