Winning a World Series is tough...repeating right away is harder...and you can imagine the difficulty in winning three in a row. That being said, the Yankees have the most famous sets of consecutive championships; the 5 in a row from 1949-1953, the 4 in a row from 1936-1939, and the most recent set of trio titles from 1998-2000...but there was one other team in the long history of Major League Baseball that climbed the mountain three straight seasons without being based in the Bronx.
The Athletics were entering their 5th season in Oakland as 1972 began. Their first season was less than inspiring, but season by season they had built themselves into serious contenders. In '71 they won the AL West, but stumbled in the ALCS. Expectations were in place as the Swingin' A's entered play. Owner Charlie O. Finley made sure to make his team stand out. He insisted the team be known just as the A's to distinguish them from their Philadelphia Athletics days. He famously gave a bonus to whoever grew a handlebar mustache. Instead of all white for home and all gray for away uniforms, he dressed his team in green and yellow variants.
The positive trend continued as Manager Dick Williams was able to guide the A's to another AL West title with a 93-62 record, 5.5 games better than the 2nd place White Sox. The ALCS this year was against the Detroit Tigers, where in Game 2 things would get heated. In the 7th inning of the 5-0 A's victory, Bert Campaneris would step up to hit in the midst of a good day offensively. Detroit pitcher Lerrin LeGrow would hit him with the first pitch right in the ankle. Campaneris would take issue with that and fling his bat at LeGrow in retaliation. LeGrow would duck under the flying lumber and the benches would clear. Campaneris would be ejected from the game along with LeGrow and both would be suspended for the rest of the series, as well as the beginning of the 1973 season (but not the World Series).
Winning the pennant wouldn't get much easier for Oakland as the series shifted to Detroit. The Tigers won game 3, then Game 4 went to extra innings. Oakland would score 2 runs in the top of the 10th to take a 3-1 lead, but poor pitching and defense allowed the Tigers to rally and steal the game 4-3 to force a Game 5. The A's would squeak by in Game 5 for the pennant, but in the process lose slugger Reggie Jackson to injury, putting them two men down for the remainder of their run.
Two emerging dynasties met in the World Series as the A's opposed the Cincinnati Reds. The Big Red Machine was in their 2nd World Series in 3 years and favored to win it this time with Reggie Jackson hurt. The Hairs vs the Squares series (The A's sported their famous mustache look while the Reds had a very strict policy against facial hair) went the full 7 games, with most games decided by just one run. In the end it was the Athletics who prevailed, stalling the Reds' dynasty while starting their own. It marked the 6th title in franchise history, and the first one since 1930, further helping the team to stand apart from their Philadelphia days, just as Charlie O wanted.
Dick Allen of the 2nd place White Sox ran away with the AL MVP in 1972, but for what it's worth, Joe Rudi held down the 2nd place spot. He led the American League with 181 Hits and tied with 9 Triples. The all star also led the team with his .308 Batting Average.
Scoring on a double steal during the ALCS, Jackson proved vital in the 2-1 pennant clinching victory, but the play came with a heavy cost, injuring his hamstring and keeping him from the World Series. The future Hall of Famer would get plenty of future chances to steal the show on baseballs biggest stage, but for now he was just one of Oaklands most prolific players, slugging 25 Home Runs and driving in 75 runs.
Leading all the AL with 52 Stolen Bases, Bert Campaneris was a bit of a hot head in '72, and not just because of what happened in the ALCS. He was selected for the all star game as a reserve. When the starter, Luis Aparicio, was unable to play, AL manager Earl Weaver chose a different reserve player, Toby Harrah, to start. When the reserve player got injured, he then selected his own Shortstop from the Orioles to not only replace Harrah but to start and ultimately play in the entire 11 inning all star game, leaving Campaneris livid. Keep that in mind for 1973 when Campaneris and the A's would go up against Weaver's Orioles in the ALCS...
The other common starters in the '72 lineup. Epstein would beat Reggie Jackson 26-25 for the teams lead in Home Runs. Likewise, Sal Bando would just barely lead the team with 77 RBI, while Jackson and Rudi would fall just short with 75 each. Bando would also join Jackson, Campaneris and Rudi as all star selections.
The vast array of reserves available for the Swingin' A's. Management was not afraid to make trades and acquisitions in the name of a pennant as evident from the number of cards here with the trade deadline or pennant run markers. And while many of these guys didn't make a huge impact, others played major roles. Ted Kubiak for example was picked up in a trade with Texas and was the starting 2nd Baseman in the playoffs...and the only guy who could start at Shortstop when Campaneris was suspended for the majority of the ALCS.
Catfish already had a
perfect game on his resume, but now is when his Hall of Fame credentials were really beginning to show. His team leading 21 Wins, 2.04 ERA, 191 Strikeouts and 295.1 Innings were standout enough to net him Cy Young votes, and award he'd win in a few more years. He'd add a couple more wins in the World Series, including the Game 7 clincher.
Ken Holtzman would join Hunter as pitching all stars and won 19 games of his own during the season. He'd make it 20 overall in the World Series with the victory in Game 1.
The other Starters in the rotation. Blue Moon won 15 games and stepped up big against the Tigers, getting 2 Wins including the win-or-go-home Game 5.
Fingers got 21 Saves for the A's in '72 as he began to set the standard for the modern big time Closer. The Hall of Famer also even set a career high with his 11 Wins out of the bullpen. He got the Win in Game 1 of the ALCS, and added a Win against the Reds in the World Series along with 2 Saves.
Bullpen and other role players for the pitching staff. Note that Knowles has the Closer distinction with his 11 Saves, but no one was expecting him to pitch with Fingers around. Some of these guys are also part of the wheeling and dealing during the season. Mike Kilkenny for example was brought in from Detroit and later shipped out to San Diego...and before the season ended he was moved *again* to close things out in Cleveland. His single inning pitched while with the A's does make for a fun broken card, though.
Gene Tenace began 1972 as a no-big-deal backup Catcher. He'd pick up time in the outfield as well, but as the season winded down, Dick Williams began to platoon him with Dave Duncan, leading to him getting regular playing time behind the plate in October. When Bert Campanderis was suspended during the ALCS, Ted Kubiak shifted over to Shortstop, and Gene Tenace was sent out to be the emergency 2nd Baseman. He made a costly mistake in Game 4, where the A's had the lead in the bottom of the 10th and attempting a game ending double play, but Tenace dropped the ball and the Tigers survived to eventually walk off with the win. Tenace made up for it in Game 5 by driving in the difference making run (his only hit in the entire series) in the 2-1 pennant clinching win.
His card above shows off a pretty uninspiring regular season and his ALCS was worse, but in the World Series he took total control. Both sides put on pitching clinics, but for some reason the Reds pitchers couldn't figure Tenace out. In Game 1, he stepped up for his first WS at bat and proceeded to homer. He'd do it again in his second at bat, becoming the first player to ever hit a Home Run in each of his first two WS at bats. It was all the offense the A's would need in the 3-2 victory. He'd add 2 more homers to tie the then record of 4 in a single World Series. While other Athletics hitters were lucky to get just 1 RBI off Cincinnati pitching, Tenace racked up 9 of them while hitting .343 with 5 Runs and a Double to take home World Series MVP honors.
