A few months ago I saw a sell sheet for 2023-24 Skybox Metal Universe hockey. I've never been a fan of the Fleer/Skybox Metal Universe sets (though I do have a couple in my collection)... but...
...one of the inserts caught my eye. Can you guess which one?
Yup, it's that 1990-91 Skybox basketball design - on a hockey card! I couldn't wait for these to hit the market. For those of you who don't collect hockey cards (and therefore haven't bought UD product in over a decade) all you need to know is that they love to recycle.
You get the idea. Very few Upper Deck products are released without some kind of retro/tribute insert set. But using a basketball card design is a new twist.
I have fond memories of buying 1990-91 Skybox basketball packs (primarily at Walgreens) and made myself an actual note to gobble up these hockey inserts once 2023-24 Skybox Metal Universe hit stores. Which they did, earlier this week - just in time for the start of the 2024-25 season!
And now that they have, I can pretty much guarantee I won't be buying a single one. For two reasons.
One) they're a case hit. $30 per card (unless maybe they hit ePack next year and I can get them for $5)
Two) they look like this:
Umm... no. They took a cool design, turned it into an Uno card, and inserted these cards into an overpriced product at extremely long odds? Hard pass.
In other news... I made a trade with my collecting friend in CA. I sent him an SI For Kids card panel:
And I requested these cards that had been sitting in his eBay store:
These will be accompanied by a pile of Packers cards he picked out for me at a recent card show. I'll show those off when they arrive.
The all-time leader in games played for the Athletics franchise is Bert Campaneris, with 1,795. Rickey Henderson is second. Sal Bando is fourth.
Eric Chavez ranks 13th in franchise history with 1,320 games played*. The six year, $66-million contract extension he signed in 2004 ranks first in team history. It is the lowest amount of any MLB team's most lucrative contracts by far; only one other team has yet to award a $100+ million deal. It is also the oldest of any MLB team's most lucrative contracts; every other franchise-topping amount has been signed since 2012.
*the only other top-30 player to suit up for the A's in
the 21st century is second baseman Mark Ellis, whose 1,056 games with
the club ranks him 30th in team annals.
At the conclusion of that contract, Chavez did what Nick Swisher and Jason Giambi and Scott Brosius and Ruben Sierra and Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman and Catfish Hunter and Roger Maris and Hector Lopez and Bud Daley and Ralph Terry and Bobby Shantz and Harry Byrd and Joe Dugan and Bob Shawkey and Herb Pennock and Frank "Home Run" Baker did before him.
After reaching their first ALCS in 14 years, the A's missed the playoffs and failed to finish above .500 in each of the next five seasons from 2007 to 2011. The other 29 teams had caught on to Billy Beane's use of sabermetrics and market inefficiencies - and applied them to their rosters, using far bigger budgets than Beane had at his disposal under owner John Fisher.
By this time Oakland had already begun a pattern of rebuilding with young, controllable prospects, then trading those players as they approached free agency for more young, cheap talent. However, the front office still took big swings when the opportunity arose. In an effort to improve on back-to-back 86-loss seasons, the A's traded closer Huston Street** and a rookie outfielder in exchange for a veteran All-Star:
Matt Holliday had trouble adjusting to the lower altitude and more equitable dimensions of Oakland's Coliseum, hitting just seven balls out of his new home park in 2009. The pending free agent was flipped to the Cardinals at the trade deadline and immediately rediscovered his power stroke.
**Street was the A.L. Rookie of the Year in 2005, but Billy Beane saw no reason to pay closers top dollar as they were largely interchangeable. He was right; Street's successor Andrew Bailey won the 2009 A.L. ROY for Oakland with an even better season than Street.
None of the three prospects Oakland acquired for Holliday panned out. What's worse, the rookie outfielder they shipped to the Rockies for half a season of Holliday... finished third in NL MVP voting and won a batting title two years later.
"CarGo" would take over for Todd Helton as the Rockies' top slugger in the 2010s. Matt Holiday would help the Cardinals win two National League pennants and the 2011 World Series.
Oakland needed to find a slugger of their own to rejuvenate the franchise. In the 2010 draft, the A's selected a 6' 7" outfielder from California in the 31st round.
"The thought creeps into your mind any time you get drafted," he
said. "That's your dream, to play professional baseball. When you get
the opportunity like that, getting drafted -- especially by Oakland, a
California team, pretty close to home -- it was tempting. At the time, I
just didn't think I was ready or mature enough mentally or physically
to start pro ball."
Yep, Aaron Judge skipped the formality of actually playing for the A's before ending up in pinstripes.
⚾
Attendance at the 45 year-old Coliseum was at or near the bottom of the American League, dropping below 20,000 per game for the fourth consecutive season in 2011. The team had attempted to find a new home in the Oakland area on and off for a decade; nothing concrete had developed.
The A's couldn't keep their own stars and couldn't outbid other teams for top tier talent. But Billy Beane had one more market inefficiency maneuver up his sleeve.
“There’s at least half a billion dollars of baseball players in Cuba
right now and probably a lot more,” says Joe Kehoskie, an agent who has
represented a number of Cuban big-league players.
Beane secured the services of Yoenis Cespedes with the second-largest contract in franchise history: four years, $36 million. This was seen as a bargain price for the prime seasons of a potential superstar.
His immediate impact helped Oakland win the West with a 94-68 record in 2012. The A's faced the Tigers in the ALDS, where the defending AL MVP Justin Verlander would win both of his starts, allowing just one run over 16 innings including a complete game shutout in the deciding Game 5. The only Athletic to even reach scoring position in that game was Cespedes, who finished runner up in Rookie of the Year voting to ... some guy from Jersey.
Oakland won the AL West again in 2013, improving to 96-66 and returning to the ALDS for a rematch with the Tigers. The A's once again boasted young, talented pitchers on pre-arbitration contracts: A.J. Griffin, Sonny Gray, Jarrod Parker, Tom Milone, and Dan Straily all made less than $500,000 in 2013. The ace of the staff was earning all of $3 million, made the All-Star team, and finished sixth in Cy Young voting after an 18-6 season in which he walked just 29 batters over 190+ innings, led the majors in shutouts, and finished second in the AL with a 2.65 ERA - at age 40.
We love Big Sexy, don't we folks? Just forget about that 50-game PED suspension he served the year before.
Oakland's lineup was more potent with "La Potencia" receiving support from Brandon Moss (career high 30 HR), Coco Crisp (career high 22 HR), and Josh Donaldson - a catcher-turned- third baseman who broke out with a 7.2-WAR season and 4th place MVP finish in his first full season as a starter.
Unfortunately for Oakland, the Tigers had also improved - adding Torii Hunter to a lineup that already boasted Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez, and AL MVP Miguel Cabrera. Detroit's death star rotation included past, present, and future Cy Young winners Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Rick Porcello - plus AL ERA leader Anibal Sanchez. The A's again pushed the LDS to the full five games, where Verlander once again ended their season.
The 2014 A's allowed fewer runs than any Oakland squad since 1990; their 3.22 team ERA was second in the AL. Offensively, the team regressed somewhat: Donaldson's on-base % dropped nearly 50 points and Cespedes finished eighth among Athletics with a .301 OBP.
On deadline day, Cespedes was traded to the Red Sox for reserve outfielder Jonny Gomes and starting pitcher Jon Lester. The three-time All-Star and free agent-to-be was in the midst of his best season in which he would post a 2.48 ERA (good for a 158 ERA+), 220 whiffs, and a 1.102 WHIP. Oakland finished second in the AL West with an 88-74 record and traveled to Kansas City for the Wild Card game.
Bob Melvin gave his rent-an-ace the ball and the A's offense gave Lester seven runs of support, but the bullpen couldn't hold a four-run eighth-inning lead. Oakland lost 9-8 in 12 innings.
Jon Lester signed a free-agent contract with the Cubs in the off-season, a couple weeks after Beane traded Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays for four young/cheap players including pitcher Kendall Graveman and swing-at-everything infielder Brett Lawrie. On-base percentage was no longer a priority.
Oakland's contending window was closed again. Another year, another crop of prospects who might be half as good as the veterans they're replacing.
However this would be a much shorter rebuild, at least compared to prior efforts. Billy Beane was promoted to Vice President at the end of the 2015 season. Assistant GM David Forst took over in November; his first free agent signing was veteran lefty Rich Hill.
Oakland finished last in their division three consecutive seasons from 2015-17, but in that time the A's were developing a treasure trove of talented position players:
Infielder Marcus Semien arrived via trade in the 2014-15 off-season and led the 2016 A's in WAR.
Infielder/outfielder Mark Canha debuted in 2015, along with another versatile utility man, Max Muncy. (Muncy would be released after the 2017 season. Whoops.)
Matt Olson got a cup of coffee at first base in 2016, then finished fourth in AL ROY voting a season later after smashing an absurd 24 home runs (and just 2 doubles!) in 59 games. 2017 was also third baseman Matt Chapman's rookie season; he hit a more reasonable - but still impressive - 14 homers and 23 doubles in 84 games.
Anchoring this young lineup was the most consistent slugger of the 2010s: outfielder/DH Khris Davis.
"Khrush" was the first A's slugger to lead the major leagues in long balls since Mark McGwire in 1996. He finished eighth in AL MVP voting after leading Oakland back to the postseason.
The 2018 A's had a loaded lineup, a lights-out closer, and a suspect starting rotation. 97 wins wasn't enough to win the AL West that year, nor was it enough to host the Wild Card game. Oakland would have to travel cross-country to...
Bob Melvin deployed reliever Liam Hendriks as an "opener"; he allowed a two-run homer to that Judge guy in the first inning and took the loss.
Hendriks was Oakland's closer in 2019, when the A's once again finished second to the Astros in the AL West with a 97-65 record and matched up against an AL East team in the Wild card game.
But this time they were the home team -- and their opponent was the equally thrifty Tampa Bay Rays. No problem, right?
No.
Problem.
Oakland lost the Wild Card game for the second year in a row and the third time in six years.
Aside from #2 starter Brett Anderson, there were no significant departures for the A's after 2019. 22 year-old lefty Jesus Luzardo was ready to compete for Anderson's spot in the rotation. Rookie catcher Sean Murphy emerged as a potential starter in Spring Training.
And then Covid halted daily life as we knew it.
The 2020 baseball season was condensed into a 60-game sprint. Postseason play was expanded - eight teams in each league made the dance. Oakland won the AL West and earned the #2 seed in the playoffs. To cut down on travel, every game in the Wild Card series was played at the higher seed's home park.
Chicago won the opener, but Oakland defeated the White Sox in Games 2 and 3, earning an ALDS date with the most hated team in baseball.
No, not these jerks. (NY lost to Tampa in the Division Series)
These jerks. The defending World Series champion Astros traveled to California for the ALDS. Though the Athletics were ostensibly the "home" team, every game was played at Dodger Stadium in front of cardboard cutouts representing would-be fans.
Houston won the series, 3 games to 1. It would be the final postseason series in Oakland Athletics history.
Lost revenue from the 2020 season and dire economic conditions under TFG were the latest excuses for A's owner John Fisher to slash payroll. The franchise had made varying degrees of effort to build a new stadium for nearly two decades. Nothing had come to fruition, and the Coliseum was quickly decaying into an unplayable wildlife habitat while sitting vacant.
The A's desperately needed a new home. When pre-Covid normalcy gradually returned in 2021, Oakland finished dead last in attendance. The American economy recovered by 2022, and MLB attendance across the board resembled 2019 levels -- except in Oakland.
After an 86-76 finish in '21, manager Bob Melvin left Oakland to manage the San Diego Padres. Billy Beane and David Forst were forced to slash payroll once again, dealing Matts Olson and Chapman - as well as pitchers Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt - in separate trades during 2022 Spring Training.
Under new manager (and former A's outfielder) Mark Kotsay, the team finished last in the AL West with a 60-102 record in '22, 46 games back of the World Champion Astros. It got worse in 2023:
Their current winning percentage is .227, which would equate to a 38-124 record over a 162-game season. That would be the worst in the 162-game era (since 1961), a couple of games worse than the 1962 Mets, who are often held up as the gold standard of bad teams over the last 60 or so years.
Somehow the A's pulled it together and "only" lost 112 games in a season played entirely under the dark cloud of relocation.
The 2023 squad was notable for a few things: the breakout success of Brent Rooker, throwing free agent pitcher Shintaro Fujinami to the wolves, and the debuts of yet more intriguing young prospects: first baseman Tyler Soderstrom, outfielder Lawrence Butler, and closer Mason Miller - who got the last out of the last game at the Coliseum a couple weeks ago.
For over 120 years, in three different cities, one constant has remained through the history of the Athletics franchise: notoriously cheap ownership. The great professor Connie Mack, the maverick firebrand Charlie O. Finley, and the most hated man in baseball today John Fisher.
In 2025, the A's will begin a temporary residence in a minor league park in Sacramento. Personally, I'm not sure why this couldn't have been explored as a permanent home for the team. California's capital is already home to a major pro sports franchise -- and I would assume Oakland fans would be far less bitter about a move less than 90 minutes away as opposed to where they plan to play starting in 2028.
What's the long-term outlook for a team that could be the fourth-most popular franchise in their city if the NBA expands to Sin City as planned?
San Diego had a similar standoff with a similarly slimy billionaire,
refusing to fund a new football stadium with taxpayer dollars. The
Chargers franchise has struggled to build a fan base in a crowded Los Angeles
market.
Like most baseball fans, I'm saddened by the latest pro sports franchise relocation. It's always tough to watch a fan base lose its team, especially a franchise with so much tradition and history like this one. It isn't always the economics of the area,
or the lack of fan support (or corporate sponsorship) that forces a
move. Sometimes the owner is just an unrepentant asshole hell-bent on destroying his reputation for the potential to make slightly more money.
The fans suffer. The community loses a part of its identity. The cycle repeats.
I needed a Dennis Rodman RC for my 1988-89 Fleer set build, and I was tired of searching for the perfect example of a card I didn't really want to spend $25-30 on in the first place. So I searched eBay and came across one that was in decent enough shape at a decent enough price.
The seller was running a promotion: 20% off two or more items. I was at work and couldn't spend too much time scrolling through all 8,000+ cards he was selling, so I stuck a few interesting ones in my cart along with the Rodman.
Six other people were watching the Worm and I doubted the card would still be available eight hours later when I finally got home. So I ducked out into the lobby of my office building and quickly placed my order.
And that's how I ended up with all of these.
All serial numbered except the Levens - which was the most expensive at $3. Total for all seven cards came to about $36. I had no room for the MCW in my basketball box but I squeezed it in because I love color matching parallels.
I only need the Michael Jordan base card to finish the '88-89 Fleer set; I'll have to get a graded copy because the MJ market is so insane that people would probably counterfeit a “third year” card.
On August 17, 1999 the Oakland Athletics walloped the Boston Red Sox 12-1, moving them one game back of Boston for the AL Wild Card lead. Ah the good old days when there was just one wild card team per league.
The next day, Kevin Appier took the mound for Oakland. GM Billy Beane had acquired the 31 year-old ace three weeks earlier in a risky trade deadline deal. Beane had shipped out veteran starter Kenny Rogers days prior, seemingly giving up on their postseason chances. Rogers was the highest-paid player on the A's, taking up nearly 20% of the team's payroll. Appier was a few years younger and about a million dollars cheaper. However, Rogers was a free agent at the end of '99 whereas Appier was under contract for 2000.
I was at my girlfriend's house checking my fantasy team on Yahoo around the time of the trade. Huh, Appier's on Oakland now? I thought to myself.
Oakland lost to Boston on August 18th and played barely above .500 the rest of the way. The Red Sox were the best team in the AL from that day forward and won the Wild Card by seven games over the A's.
There was no prize for being the 5th-best team but it was an impressive finish for a roster with the 5th-lowest payroll in the majors. Billy Beane was building the best bang-for-your-buck ball club possible, supplementing his young stars with undervalued veterans. Walks and on-base percentage were emphasized; stealing bases was practically outlawed.
In the 2000 season, 41 year-old Rickey Henderson swiped 36 bags for the Mets and Mariners - placing him in the major league's top ten for the 18th time in his legendary career.
That same season, the Athletics finished dead last among all 30 major league teams with 40 stolen bases. Total. The team leader was 37 year-old infielder Randy Velarde with nine. This wild bunch of beefy sluggers was anything but athletic.
The archetype for Oakland's resurgent squad was first baseman Jason Giambi.
Giambi was the leader of a young Oakland squad teeming with talent - shortstop Miguel Tejada kicked off a three-year streak of 30 home run, 110-plus RBI seasons, culminating in an MVP campaign two years later. Eric Chavez earned the starting third base job at age 21 and would post 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons of his own in '01 and '02. Ben Grieve, the 1998 AL Rookie of the Year, had his best season in 2000.
No one drew more walks or reached base at a higher clip than Giambi, who led the majors in both categories and was named American League MVP.
Oakland's 91-71 record in '00 was a modest improvement but it was enough to win the division for the first time since 1994 realignment left the AL West with just four teams. Young hurlers Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito were emerging around veterans Kevin Appier and Gil Heredia. After eleven playoff-less seasons Appier would make his first postseason start against... aww hell.
Gil Heredia out-dueled Roger Clemens in Game 1. Appier lost his first postseason start in Game 2. Tim Hudson did the same in Game 3. The A's teed off on Clemens and Dwight Gooden in Game 4. And then the Yanks hung a six-pack on Heredia in the first inning of the clincher. (Games 1 and 5 were the only two times Heredia was handed the ball in a playoff game over his ten-year career.)
The A's present a problem. If they can win on a paltry payroll in a
second-tier city with a third-tier building with fourth-tier attendance,
then what's wrong with everybody else?
Entering the 2001 season, half of MLB's 30 teams played in stadiums that were brand new or opened in the previous dozen years. Oakland's home was over 35 years old - and attendance had barely budged since the 1994 strike.
"Sometimes I look out there and
think, I had bigger crowds in Pony League," Giambi says of the
atmosphere in Oakland. "Honestly, if we can't draw this year, we need to
get out of Oakland. There's no reason people shouldn't come out and
watch the A's this year."
Oakland's attendance did improve in 2001, breaking 2 million for the first time since 1993. Yearly attendance stayed above that mark until 2006, when the A's drew 1,976,625. Not coincidentally, the team finished first or second in the West each of those six seasons.
In '01 the A's had the second-best record in all of baseball at 102-60. Unfortunately the league's best team was also in their division. As a result, Oakland didn't even have home field advantage in the first round. They had to travel across the country for their Wild-Card matchup against... oh, come on.
This time was going to be different. No more Gil Heredia garbage. The A's have aces now.
Their lineup was equal or better than the Bronx Bombers, and they even had a genuine lead-off man. Billy Beane, sensing he needed someone who could run, shipped out out Ben Grieve (at peak value) in a three-team swap that netted him pitcher Cory Lidle, second baseman Mark Ellis, and speedy center fielder Johnny Damon.
On paper, this team could beat the Yankees. This team should beat the Yankees. And they did..
In Game 2, Tim Hudson pitched eight shutout innings and Jason Isringhausen closed the door.
In Game 3, Barry Zito held the Bronx Bombers to one run on two hits over eight innings. Sweep.
Except... we know the A's didn't win that game. We know the A's didn't win that series. And we know why -- because Billy Beane had one too many Giambis on his roster and not enough athletic players who could f*cking run.
This is where Moneyball begins. This is the play, the series, the season that begins to illustrate how impressive Beane's work has been. Despite the enormous payroll disparity, the A's have now come within a run or two of eliminating the mighty Yankees in consecutive postseasons.
2002 will be the breakthrough for sure. Ain't that right, Jason?
Uhhhh... Jason?
Welp, that does it. The Yankees are definitely more than two runs better than the A's now. Might as well crown 'em champs again.
This is the year that made Beane a legend. This is why Michael Lewis wrote a book about him and why Brad Pitt played him in the big-screen adaptation of said book.
This team lost Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen... and they got better. One win better, but still - good enough to win the West, and good enough to host(!) the ALDS. No home field advantage for you Yanks this time... Game Five's gonna be in Oakland!!
Uh, Yanks? ...You coming?
....
They lost?!?! To the Angels??!? Oh man, this is definitely Oakland's year!!
The A's last best chance to win a title was squashed by a team the commissioner wanted to eliminate from existence. A team that wouldn't win another postseason series for 21 years.
"you can have it back when you win a playoff game"
Oakland climbed back to the top of the AL West in 2003. They had home-field advantage in the ALDS, and got out to a 2-0 series lead against the Red Sox. Game 3 went to extra innings, with Boston winning in 11. [I'm glad they did, cause my friend and I had tickets to Game 4.]
Games 4 and 5 were one-run nail-biters. Boston won 'em both.
Four straight years the A's made it to the playoffs. Four straight years they pushed the ALDS to Game 5. Four straight years they lost the deciding game by one or two runs. At home, on the road, with Giambi, without Giambi. Against the greatest franchise in pro sports, against a team that was nearly contracted, against a team that was infamously cursed. Didn't matter.
Oakland was never going to win a playoff series under such imbalanced economic conditions.
Hahahahaha take that, Twinkies.
The A's finally reached the ALCS again in 2006. First time since '92. Bring on the Yankees.
The Tigers?!? Didn't they just lose like a thousand games in a season?
The 2006 A's had just a couple players remaining from the early aughts. Hudson, Mulder, and Tejada were gone. Eric Chavez was still around; Beane had identified him as the most irreplaceable player for his middle-of-the-order bat and Gold Glove defense at a premium position. Chavez signed a six-year, $66 million extension that would keep him in Oakland through 2010. To this day it's the most expensive contract in Athletics history.
Oakland's most productive hitter in '06 was a 38 year-old DH who had missed large chunks of the '04 and '05 seasons with injury and was therefore available at a bargain price that new owners Lew Wolff and John Fisher could live with.
Frank Thomas had a comeback season for the ages, leading the A's with 39 home runs, 114 RBI, and a .545 slugging percentage. The "Big Hurt" finished fourth in AL MVP voting, a remarkably high ranking for a DH.
Thomas, Chavez, and left fielder/goofball Nick Swisher were no match for Detroit's sterling pitching staff which featured 23 year-olds Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman - along with 41 year-old Kenny Rogers. The Tigers boasted a balanced lineup with stars such as Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, and Ivan Rodriguez. Detroit won all four games, none of which were particularly close.
Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland handed the ball to Bonderman - whom the A's had drafted in 2001 - for Game 4, a bit of delicious irony considering Billy Beane was so furious with his scouts for selecting the :gasp: high school pitcher that he threw a chair against a wall and traded him the first chance he got. Whoops.
As mentioned in the Moneyball movie, Beane saw managers as fairly disposable. He fired Art Howe after an exceptional 103-win season, replaced him with Ken Macha, and fired Macha after reaching the ALCS.
Bob Geren took over as skipper for the 2007 season, lasting longer than Macha despite the A's failing to finish above .500 in any of his five seasons at the helm. During the 2011 season, Geren was fired and replaced by another Bob (and I thought we were running out of Bobs...)
TIL Bob Melvin - not Tony LaRussa - has managed the most games, earned the most wins, and reached the playoffs more times than any manager in Oakland Athletics history (Connie Mack owns all the franchise records.) Considering what he had to work with -- and who he had to work for -- he might be the most underrated manager in the 21st century.
We'll say hello to this guy...
and this guy...
and these guys...
...before we say goodbye to the Athletics when Saturdays with the A's concludes in October.
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