1974 WORLD SERIES

Oakland Athletics (4) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (1) | Baseball Almanac

The Oakland A's had emerged as one of baseball premiere dynasties in the 1970s but friction between the front office and the clubhouse threatened to tear the 2x defending World Champions apart. Catfish Hunter had openly stated his desire to declare himself a free-agent unless owner Charles Finley paid him a back salary that the four time twenty game winner felt owed to him. Mike Andrews also announced that he was filing a libel-and-slander suit against Finley for his unjust "firing" after a costly error in the '73 Series. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn had ordered the Oakland owner to reinstate the player, but the damage had already been done. To make matters worse, teammates Rollie Fingers and Blue Moon Odom had been involved in a pre-Series fist fight that destroyed any camaraderie in the bullpen. Despite the political overtones, Oakland maintained its hold on the American League and prepared to meet the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the first all-West Coast Classic.

Reggie Jackson continued to earn his reputation as Mr. October and hammered the first homer of the Series off of Andy Messersmith at Dodger Stadium. Ken Holtzman added a two base hit of his own in the fifth and eventually scored on Bert Campaneris' squeeze bunt. After a devastating throwing error on Ron Cey's part in the eighth, Oakland finished the opener with a 3-2 victory. Rollie Fingers, who had been a clutch-closer in the previous Classic, continued to deliver in relief of Holtzman and yielded only four hits. However, Walter Alston's Dodgers came back in Game 2 for a 3-2 triumph on Joe Ferguson's two run homer in the sixth. The ever-resilient A's threatened to comeback in the ninth, but Los Angeles reliever Mike Marshall picked off Herb Washington at a time when Oakland's designated runner represented his club's potential tying run.

Hunter returned for Game 3 and stretched his Series record to 4-0 with close support from Fingers. After Oakland notched two unearned runs in the third, the "Catfish" and "Mustache" cruised to a 3-2, Series-leading victory. Holtzman, who had defied the odds at the plate, maintained his consecutive Series hitting streak with a bases-empty home run off of his adversary (Messersmith) in the third. Even more impressive was the fact that the designated-hitter rule had just been introduced during the regular season in '73 and the Oakland ace had made very few appearances in the batter's box (two-years later the substitution rule would be inducted into post-season play.) The Dodgers answered back with Bill Russell's two run triple in the fourth, but rookie manager Alvin Dark's A's went on a four run "killing spree" in the sixth, as pinch-hitter Jim Holt broke through the 2-2 deadlock with a two run single. The result was a 5-2 victory that put the American Leaguers one win away from their third consecutive title.

Los Angeles threw everything they had at the Athletics in Game 5 and managed to hold on for a 2-2 tie entering the bottom of the seventh. Mike Marshall (a fifteen game winner who had just finished a record-breaking season in which he made one-hundred six appearances) was sent in to close the deal, but surrendered a devastating home run to Joe Rudi. Bill Buckner attempted to get his team back on track with a valiant effort that unfortunately backfired (it was a sign of what was to come). After leading off the eighth with a single, a desperate Buckner tried to stretch the bases on a Bill North error. However, a textbook relay from Jackson-to-Dick Green-to-Sal Bando nailed the daring base runner just short of third and it was all over from there. The A's emerged 3-2 victors with a "back-to-back-to-back" title that reinstated their place among baseball's elite.