Posts Tagged ‘New York’
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Justin Duchscherer, A’s star pitcher…but is he an All Star?June 19th, 2008
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The Oakland A’s are known for the pitchers they develop. In the past, the A’s have drafted (or traded for) and developed some of the top young pitchers in baseball. Among those are Tim Hudson (All Star and 20 game winner), Mark Mulder (All Star and 20 game winner), Barry Zito (All Star, 20 game winner, CY Young winner), Danny Haren (All Star), Rich Harden, and Joe Blanton.
Of those starters, the only one not drafted by the A’s was Danny Haren. Haren was acquired in a trade with the St Louis Cardinals in exchange for Mulder. That deal turned into another one of Billy Beane’s mastererful fleecings. Read more
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Does playing for the A’s lead to the Hall of Fame?May 27th, 2008
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What is it about the Athletics franchise and the Hall of Fame? I was thinking about this the other day when Mike Piazza announced his retirement. What I wanted to know was how many players in baseball history played for the A’s franchise and were also enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame. What I came across was outstanding.
In the A’s 41 year history in Oakland, 11 players, coaches, or managers have passed through the green and gold before going on to the Hall of Fame. In addition to them, at least five (Mark McGwire, Tony La Russa, Rickey Henderson, Frank Thomas, and Piazza) more have made stops that are not eligible yet or are on the ballot but have yet to be selected.
Some of those players spent long portions of their career in Oakland (Reggie Jackson, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter and Dick Willliams) while others were here for anywhere from a season to few months to a couple of games (Joe Morgan, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Don Sutton, Goose Gossage and even Joe Dimaggio). These players are not all there is though. This is just the Oakland side of it. DiMaggio was a coach with the A’s after he retired and Williams was a manager for the A’s.