First Rollie Fingers Slide: No player benefited more from the mustache trend than Rollie Fingers

• In this 1971 photo, Rollie is seen clean-shaven. He looks unrecognizable compared to the Fingers we have come to know.

Second Rollie Fingers Slide: In this 1972 photograph, we see the beginnings of Rollie’s handlebar mustache.

• The handlebar would become his trademark, making him one of the game’s most recognizable players and leading to endorsement opportunities.

Sal Bando Slide:

While Fingers loved his new look, other players balked at Finley’s request to grow mustaches.

• Captain Sal Bando became one of three mustache “holdouts,” along with backup infielders Larry Brown and Mike Hegan.

Mike Hegan Slide

Hegan, who resisted facial hair at first because of his wife’s dislike of a mustache, and the other two players eventually gave in, tempted by Finley’s promise of a $300.00 bonus to each player who grew a mustache by Father’s Day.

Dave Duncan Slide

On Sunday, June 18, the A’s held “Mustache Day” at the Oakland Coliseum.

• All fans wearing a mustache to the game received free admission.
• Each player received his $300.00 bonus after the game
• A’s players started to add long hair and beards and officially became known as the “Mustache Gang.” This would set a major trend, as other teams followed suit. By the mid-1970s, many players wore mustaches, beards, and long hair.
• Later in 1972, the A’s would advance to the World Series, creating a matchup against the Cincinnati Reds, which some writers dubbed “The Hairs” vs. “The Squares.”

Part Two:

Denny McLain Slide

The ’72 A’s also made news on fronts other than the issues of facial hair and hair length.

• Star pitcher Vida Blue, the Cy Young and MVP Award winner in 1971, held out of spring training, dissatisfied with Finley’s contract offer.
• The holdout forced the A’s to make a move for a starting pitcher, someone who could follow Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Ken Holtzman in the rotation.
• On March 4, the A’s sent two minor leaguers, Jim Panther and Don Stanhouse, to the Texas Rangers for Denny McLain.
• McLain, a two-time Cy Young Award winner and a onetime MVP, had won 31 games in 1968.
• By 1972, McLain was a shell of his former self.
• After five mostly ineffective starts with the A’s, he was sent to the Birmingham A’s, Oakland’s Class-AA affiliate in the Southern League.

Tommy Davis Slide

On March 30, the A’s made another player move related to the Blue holdout.

• They released Tommy Davis, their best bench player in 1971; he had batted .324 as a part-time player in ’71.
• Why did the A’s release Davis, receiving nothing in return? Davis, who was Blue’s roommate, had introduced Blue to his agent, Bob Gerst. In a sense, Finley blamed Davis for his contract problems with Blue, whose holdout had been orchestrated by Gerst.

Curt Blefary Slide

The moves continued during the regular season.

• Useful backup catcher, infielder, and outfielder Curt Blefary was traded to the San Diego Padres on May 17.

Ollie Brown Slide

As part of the four-player deal with the Padres, the A’s acquired slugging Ollie Brown.

• Long a favorite of Finley, Brown had hit .292 with 23 HR and 89 RBIs in 1970.
• The A’s needed a third outfielder to go along with Joe Rudi and Reggie Jackson and hoped that Brown would fill the bill.
• ”Downtown” didn’t work out. He struggled in adjusting to American League pitching, struck out too much, didn’t hit, and was soon shipped off to the Milwaukee Brewers in a waiver deal.

  Art Shamsky Slide

  The veteran outfielder-first baseman was acquired on June 28 from the Chicago Cubs in a cash deal.

  • In 1969, Shamsky was a key part of the “Miracle Mets’ championship season, batting an even .300 with 14 HR as a platoon right fielder.
• In trying to fill the pinch-hitting role left vacant by the trade of Curt Blefary, Shamsky batted seven times for the A’s without a hit and was released; he never played in the majors again.

Denny McLain Slide: On June 29, the A’s parted ways with McLain, who was pitching ineffectively at Double-A Birmingham.

• Plagued by an expanding waistline and a shrinking fastball, McLain went to the Atlanta Braves, who were desperate for pitching.

Orlando Cepeda Slide:

In exchange for McLain, A’s acquired slugging first baseman Orlando Cepeda, who was scheduled to platoon with Mike Epstein.

• The 1967 NL MVP showed up with bad knees, lasted all of three at-bats with Oakland, and then underwent season-ending knee surgery. He never played for the A’s again.

Don Mincher Slide The A’s acquired another veteran first baseman on July 20, picking up Don Mincher from the Texas Rangers.

• In 1965, Mincher hit a home run against Hall of Famer Don Drysdale in the World Series

• The A’s needed a left-handed bat to replace Curt Blefary and hoped Mincher could fill the need where Art Shamsky had failed.

• Mincher did little as a part-time player during the regular season, but then came up with a crucial pinch-hit in the ninth inning of Game Four of the World Series. His pinch-hit helped give the A’s a lead of three games to one in the Series.

Matty Alou Slide

On June 7, the A’s had sold Diego Segui, the 1970 American League ERA champion, to the St. Louis Cardinals.

• No one knew it at the time, but the A’s would eventually acquire a onetime National League batting champion as compensation for Segui.

• On August 27, the A’s completed the Segui deal by acquiring Matty Alou from St. Louis.

• In 1966, Alou won the NL batting title with a .342 batting average.

• Although past his prime in 1972, Alou would deliver a number of timely hits for the A’s and satisfy their need for a third outfielder. He drove in 16 runs during the final month of the season, helping the A’s win the AL West by five and a half games.

Dal Maxvill Slide

On August 30, the A’s made another deal with the Cardinals, acquiring infielder Dal Maxvill, who had played on pennant-winning teams in 1967 and ’68.

• Maxvill gave the A’s another second baseman—one of 12 they would use throughout the season. Under Finley’s orders, Dick Williams had started pinch-hitting for his second basemen every time they were scheduled to come to bat. Maxvill became a part of the revolving door at second base.

• Generally a light hitter, Maxvill came through in the clutch on September 27 against the Minnesota Twins. In the bottom of the ninth, he cracked a double which scored Sal Bando with the winning run, clinching the AL West over the Chicago White Sox.

Part Three: Post-Season Slide:

The A’s had to overcome a great deal of adversity throughout both the Championship Series and the World Series.

• In Game Two of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers, Bert “Campy” Campaneris responded to being bit with a pitch by firing his bat at Tiger reliever Lerrin LaGrow. The bat missed LaGrow, but Campaneris was ejected from the game and banned for the remainder of the playoff series. The suspension left the A’s without their starting shortstop and leadoff man.

• In a controversial decision, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned Campy for the first seven games of the 1973 season, but allowed him to play in the 1972 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

• In Game Five of the ALCS, Reggie Jackson completely tore his hamstring while stealing home plate. The stolen base gave the A’s a 1-0 lead in a game they would eventually win, but the injury would force the A’s to play the entire World Series without their best everyday player.

• The A’s also had to play both the Championship Series and the World Series without their top left-handed reliever, Darold Knowles, who broke his thumb in late September.

• In spite of the injuries and the suspension, the A’s managed to persevere. In playing the maximum of 12 post-season games, they played nine one-run decisions. Of those nine games, the A’s won six of them, including one-run games in the fifth game of the ALCS and the seventh game of the World Series. From 1969 to 1994, no other team stretched to the maximum number of games in the Championship Series and World Series has won as many one-run games as the ’72 A’s.

by Bruce Markusen