MLB Showdown Obsession

 The are many examples of players in MLB Showdown who had careers that lasted just long enough to be included in the initial set in 2000, but while many of them were improperly represented by their showing, Tony Phillips was given a more or less accurate showing of what Tony Phillips was all about: a Utility player who was vastly underrated. Phillips was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1977, but did not sign. The following year the Montreal Expos drafted him instead, who would trade him to the San Diego Padres in 1980, who then traded him to the Oakland Athletics in '81, who finally gave him the big callup in 1982. 1983 would see the beginning of the position flexibility that Phillips would become known for, though not so well for this year with that +0 at 2nd Base. Defense evened out a bit for Tony in '84 as he continued on as Oakland's starting middle infielder. Injury limited Phillips to the back end of the '85 season, so... No, that is not a mistake, ...

  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 st...

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 bonu...