Retired Numbers - Oakland Athletics
The Athletics are the most successful MLB team in 2 different markets. They have a 5-2 lead over the Phillies for the best results in Philadelphia, while they maintain a slim 4-3 lead over the Giants in the San Francisco Bay area. And while 2 of the 3 cities they used to call home have storied A's history, they will be settling into a new home soon in Las Vegas for reasons we are not getting into today. Despite the numerous homes the A's have enjoyed, Oakland has the full majority of the retired number representation. Technically a couple of their retired number players also played with the team when they were briefly in Kansas City, but their contributions were clearly felt while on the west coast.
#9 - Reggie Jackson
The Athletics were a long way from their glory days when Jackson came up while the team still called Kansas City home in 1967. The next season they moved to Oakland, and a year after that Jackson's Hall of Fame career began to show off with his first all star selection. He would add more trips to the midsummer classic from 1971-75 while leading the league in homers twice. He'd claim the AL MVP in 1973 and lead the A's to a World Series 3-pete from 1972-74, with a World Series MVP coming with the '73 title. Jackson's superstar status was ill fated for the Athletics at the onset of the free agency era, and they traded him off in 1976 before he left to the big money, but the superstar found his way back in 1987 to end his career with the team he broke out with.
#24 - Rickey Henderson
You'd be hard pressed and probably wrong if you had to name a better leadoff hitter in baseball history over Rickey Henderson. He debuted with the A's in 1979 and stole 33 bases, which would be pretty good for most men, but Rickey was just getting started. 867 of his MLB record 1,406 Stolen Bases came with the Athletics, where he'd also wear green to 8 all star games. He is also baseball's all time Run scoring champion, with 2,295 Runs; 1,270 coming with Oakland. He would lead the league 9 times in Stolen Bases with the A's (he began 1989 with the Yankees, but get traded back to Oakland, so I won't argue if you wanna say 8.5 times with Oakland) including his single season record of 130 Stolen Bases in 1982. His other A's accomplishments includes a 1981 Gold Glove as well as Silver Slugger awards in 1981 and 1990. In 1989 he helped the A's win the World Series where he was the ALCS MVP, while in 1990 he won the AL MVP while leading Oakland to the pennant.
#27 - Catfish Hunter
The Kansas City Athletics don't have too much to hold up for history, but being the team that Jim "Catfish" Hunter played for for his first 2 all star nominations is clearly on that short list. When the A's went to Oakland, Hunter would add four more all star trips and when the team put together some winning lineups, his talent would finally start reflecting in his Win stat where he'd rattle off four straight 20 Win seasons in Oakland from 1971-74. The first notable accomplishment in Oakland Athletics history also belongs to Hunter, when he pitched a Perfect Game in their inaugural season in California. Catfish would be the heart of an Oakland rotation that won three straight titles in 1972, '73 and '74, where in 1974 he'd also lead baseball in Wins and take home the Cy Young award. Free agency in baseball as we know it would begin with Catfish Hunter, where a contract dispute with owner Charles O. Finley went to arbitration and Hunter was granted free agency. 23 of the 24 teams in baseball began a bidding war, making Hunter the highest paid player in the game and beginning a new era of baseball.
#34 - Rollie Fingers
The granddaddy of modern Closers, Rollie broke into baseball the same 1968 season the Athletics started in Oakland. With the A's he'd make his first 4 trips to the all star game and establish his credentials that would lead him to the Hall of Fame. The face of the "Mustache Gang" was the bullpen anchor that Oakland would take advantage of to win their 3 straight titles in '72 '73 and '74, including his World Series MVP effort in 1974.
#34 - Dave Stewart
The turbulent career of Dave Stewart seemed to be over in 1986 before the Athletics signed him. He responded by fulfilling his immense potential and win 20 or more games in each of the next four full seasons that included three straight pennants in 1988, '89 and '90. In 1989 he'd make his only all star team while winning the World Series in a sweep over the Bay area rival San Francisco Giants where he'd take home World Series MVP honors. He added a No-Hitter to his credentials in 1990 where he'd win ALCS MVP while bringing Oakland back to the fall classic. Like Rollie Fingers, Stewart wore #34, and the team did not retire it for Fingers until Stewart's time in Oakland was over in 1993. In 2022, the Athletics saw fit to also honor Stewart's time with the number as well.
#43 - Dennis Eckersley
One of baseball's rare accomplishments, Dennis Eckersley would have a Hall of Fame career resume that would contain both a 20 Win season and a 50 Save season. The 50 Save portion of that would come with the Athletics, where in his 1987-1995 career with the A's he'd make 4 of his 6 all star teams. He was the 9th inning option for 3 straight AL pennants from 1988-90, where he'd win the ALCS MVP in '88. Eck's 1992 season was an all time great among Relievers, where he'd win both the Cy Young and the MVP award.
Walter A. Haas Jr
For a franchise that went from Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland and now to Vegas, the concept that the team stays put is a foreign one. But there was a chance that the A's would leave Oakland much sooner than they did. At the end of the 1970s, Charlie Finley was going to sell the franchise to a new owner who planned to relocate them to Denver, Colorado (well before the expansion Rockies in 1993). Walter Haas stepped in and bought the team with the explicit purpose that they weren't going anywhere. Under his ownership, the team would win 5 AL West titles, 3 pennants and the 1989 World Series. Upon his death in 1995, the team honored him by immortalizing his name with their greats.
