The Collector: Records, Rebuilds, & 'Roids

After winning the 1989 World Series, the Oakland Athletics entered the 1990 amateur draft with four of the first 36 picks. They were awarded Milwaukee's #14 overall pick and the #36 pick as compensation for 38 year-old DH Dave Parker signing with the Brewers.

Atlanta had the #1 overall pick, and they were considering Todd Van Poppel, a high school phenom regarded as the best pitching prospect available. Van Poppel's agent was just starting to assert himself. His client did not have to go to a team that had lost 92+ games in four of the previous five seasons. His client did not have to accept a paltry signing bonus or accept a minor-league assignment. This upstart firebrand agent insisted that Van Poppel receive a record signing bonus and a major-league contract.

Atlanta balked at Scott Boras's demands and chose a shortstop instead. Some guy named Larry. The Athletics agreed to pay top dollar for Todd Van Poppel, who fell to them at #14. Boras landed his client the best contract, with the best team in baseball. Oakland drafted pitchers with every one of those four first round/compensation round picks. They were arming themselves for a dynasty.

The A's aging roster needed an infusion of young talent. Jose Canseco couldn't stay out of trouble and Mark McGwire couldn't stay healthy. GM Sandy Alderson was suddenly losing his touch; only one of Oakland's 263 draft picks from 1989 to 1993 compiled over 10 WAR in the major leagues. Had any one of these pitchers panned out, the A's might have extended their contending window well into the 1990s.

It wasn't just Van Poppel, Kirk Dressendorfer, Don Peters, and Dave Zancanaro that failed to develop. But it is notable that, once upon a time, Oakland acquired a top-tier client of Boras Corp. when other teams balked at their asking price.

Oh, and that one draft pick over that half-decade who hit? He was a California kid who had a lot in common with the Bash Brothers he would eventually succeed...

Earlier this week, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani became the first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season. In fact Ohtani is just the sixth player ever to accomplish a 40/40 season. Ronald Acuna did it last year after the introduction of pizza box bases. Alfonso Soriano did it in 2006 without any notable advantage. Two guys broke 40/40 in the 1990s - Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. No one had suspected either star was using PEDs at the time. But that first guy who did it... well,

There had always been some suspicion that Canseco was using steroids. Not so for Mark McGwire, at least not in Oakland. When he obliterated the rookie record with 49 home runs in 1987 - the highest single season total for any player in the '80s - no one accused him of juicing.

When injuries cost him nearly two seasons in the middle of his career, no one accused him of juicing.

When he bounced back in the second half of his career with unprecedented power, it was seen as proof that he wasn't cheating. This power didn't come out of nowhere like Brady Anderson or Sammy Sosa. Mac had 49 homers as a rookie! He was always this good, he just needed to find ways to stay healthy.

He wasn't so good in 1991, however. While Canseco continued to mash, tying the Tigers' Cecil Fielder with a major league-leading 44 long balls, Mark managed just half that. His 22 homers and .201 batting average were career lows. Mac's struggles, along with the pitching staff's collective 4.57 ERA (second-worst in MLB) were among the reasons Oakland finished fourth in the A.L. West with an 84-78 record.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the otherwise disappointing 1991 season was their legendary leadoff man Rickey Henderson stealing a record-breaking base against his former team:

Over 36,000 fans attended a Wednesday afternoon game at the Coliseum to witness history; only an estimated 4,500 had witnessed his first major league stolen base a dozen years prior. Attendance at Athletics games totaled over 2.7 million in 1991, the second-highest total in franchise history. In fact the five highest single-season attendance totals in Athletics annals were all within this era - topping out at just over 2.9 million in 1990.

The peak years of the Rickey Henderson/Bash Brothers reign ended in 1992, after one more A.L. West crown. McGwire rebounded with 42 homers and an A.L. leading .585 slugging percentage. However it was his teammate who took home league MVP honors.

Nope, not him.

Not Jose, either. In fact, the Bash Brothers were broken up in a blockbuster trade that sent Canseco to the Texas Rangers for fireball reliever Jeff Russell, starting pitcher Bobby Witt (Sr.), and right fielder Ruben Sierra.

The AL MVP and Cy Young awards went to closer Dennis Eckersley, who ended the '92 season with a major league-leading 51 saves to go with his 7-1 record and 1.91 ERA. Two years prior, Eck had earned 48 saves and allowed just five earned runs all season for an absurd 0.61 ERA [and ERA+ of 603]. He finished fifth in Cy Young voting that year - second among A.L. closers and third among pitchers on his own team.

The Canseco trade was stunning, but understandable. Wiit and Russell instantly became two of Oakland's youngest pitchers while Sierra was seen as a better all-around player and (hopefully) less of an off-the-field distraction than this guy.

Considering the history of this team, one might assume that this was a cost-cutting move. Surely Jose must have made much more money than the three players combined.. right? Surprisingly (to me at least) it was Sierra's salary that was higher; the Puerto Rican star earned $5 million in 1992 - $700,000 more than Canseco, and more than any MLB player not employed by a New York-based team. [Hold that thought.]

Athletics owner Walter Haas - who bought the team from Charlie Finley in 1980 - did what no owner of this team has been willing to do before or since. The A's took on more salary in trades, offered more money to secure the rights to top draft prospects, and kept the rest of their core intact. As proof that the A's had no plans to shed payroll, Haas and Alderson rewarded their remaining Bash Brother with a 5-year contract on Christmas Day 1992.

However, their opponent in that year's ALCS, the Toronto Blue Jays, had even more resources thanks to record-shattering attendance at their state-of-the-art home, the SkyDome. The Blue Jays bested Oakland in six games and went on to win their first of back-to-back World Series titles. They even borrowed Rickey Henderson for their '93 run, as the A's dropped all the way to last place in the West with a 68-94 record.

Rickey would return for the 1994 season, but it wasn't enough. McGwire's body was breaking down as he missed most of 1993 and half of 1994 with injuries. Eckersley followed up his MVP season with a below-average '93 campaign. Veteran starters Ron Darling and Bob Welch posted an ERA over 5.00, as did 21 year-old rookie Van Poppel, who walked more batters than he struck out in both '93 and '94.

The A's were one game back of the A.L. West lead on August 12,1994, albeit with a 51-63 record. Total attendance was about half of the nearly 2.5 million the team enjoyed just two seasons prior - not bad considering the team was playing sub-.500 ball for the second year in a row and lost 25 home dates to the strike.

When the players returned in 1995, attendance dipped all around the league. Oakland failed to draw 1.2 million fans in '95 and '96, their lowest yearly figures since 1980. The offense was still headlined by Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson, and Terry Steinbach - along with 30 year-old OF/DH Gerronimo Berroa. Jason Giambi was called up in May and split time between first base and third.

With the team languishing in last place as the '95 trade deadline approached, Oakland sent Sierra to their old friends the Yankees for slumping slugger Danny Tartabull.

The pitching was falling off a cliff. Ron Darling and Dave Stewart both called it a career after finishing the '95 season with ERAs north of 6.00; Stewart's was nearly 7.00. Oakland selected 25 year-old Cuban Ariel Prieto fifth overall in the June draft - then rushed him right to the big leagues in July.

Van Poppel was second among A's pitchers with 122 strikeouts over 138 1/3 innings. His control improved somewhat, with a 1.308 WHIP that led all Oakland starters. But his 1996 season was atrocious and the A's cut bait on the former top prospect.

Near the end of the '95 season, Walter Haas passed away. At a time when fans and management were still bitter toward the players, losing an owner who was willing to keep up with top-spending teams was a knockout blow. The financial disparity between "rich" clubs and "poor" clubs only worsened post-strike. Oakland, under new ownership, slid into the latter category.

In 1995, the Athletics had the seventh-highest team payroll in the majors at nearly $36 million.
In 1996, Oakland's team payroll was third lowest, behind only the Royals and Expos, at $19.4 million.

Rickey Henderson signed with San Diego. Newly-acquired Tartabull was flipped to the White Sox. Manager Tony LaRussa left for the Cardinals. So did Dennis Eckersley.

The '96 A's were younger, cheaper, and... better. New manager Art Howe got career years out of third baseman Scott Brosius (.304 avg, 22 HR), DH Berroa (36 HR, .876 OPS), 34 year-old catcher Steinbach (35 HR, .871 OPS), and that McGwire guy.

Big Mac set new career highs with a .312 batting average, 116 walks, and 104 runs scored. He also led the majors in on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, and home runs with 52 - the highest single-season total since 1977. McGwire finished seventh in A.L. MVP voting. (What can I say, It's the '90s.)

The A.L. West was becoming a battle royale in the second half of the 1990s, with the talent-rich Mariners and Rangers taking turns at the top. Anaheim finished second three times.

Oakland was falling behind. Changes needed to be made.

Terry Steinbach left for his hometown team the Twins as a free agent, but the A's reacquired Canseco in a trade with the Red Sox. The starting rotation was still butt. But the scouting department was getting its mojo back. Prospects were on the way, including outfielder Ben Grieve - the 2nd overall pick in 1994.

Sandy Alderson ceded GM duties to his assistant Billy Beane, but not before making one more massive move.

Entering the 1997 season the talk around Oakland revolved around Mark McGwire's pursuit of the single-season home run record held by Roger Maris. Big Mac launched 52 bombs in 130 games the year prior; if he could stay on the field for 25 more games or so... he could do it. 62 was possible.

On July 31st the A's were 42-68 - dead last in the American League. McGwire would turn 34 at the end of the season and, more significantly, he would be a free agent. Oakland already had his successor in house - a guy who, while taken under McGwire's wing, had bulked up too much to play third base or left field.

Rather than lose him for nothing, Alderson and the A's traded Mark McGwire to St. Louis for.. practically nothing. He did indeed break Roger Maris's single-season home run record.

He became the biggest draw in baseball, packing stadiums all across the league. St. Louis was the epicenter of baseball's revival. Oakland wasn't even a stop on the tour.

Billy Beane was tasked with the job of building the post-McGwire Oakland Athletics on a shoestring budget. Under Alderson, the team had emphasized an analytics-based approach to scouting called sabermetrics. As a new millennium neared, Beane would use this ethos to extract maximum production out of a young, talented roster making minimal salaries.

We'll check in with this guy...