The Collector: Moneyball

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 won 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, 1 Mark Mulder outdueled Roger Clemens (who never beat the Athletics in the postseason)

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 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...