The Greatest Oakland A's Players in the Last 50 Years

I am continuing my list for the greatest players at each position for every team in the last 50 years for each team. Today’s team is the Oakland A’s.

The criteria are as follows:

- Player must have played a full 5 seasons for the team.

-1 player will be selected for each position, 1 right handed starting pitcher, 1 left handed starting pitcher, and 1 relief pitcher. I will include a DH for both leagues (considering interleague play now).

 Below is my list of greatest players by position for the A’s the last 50 years (since the 1970 season).

First Base- Mark McGwire

Second Base- Dick Green

Shortstop-   Miguel Tejada

Third Base-   Sal Bando

Left Field-    Rickey Henderson

Centerfield-   Dwayne Murphy

Right Field- Reggie Jackson

Catcher- Terry Steinbech

Designated Hitter-   Jose Canseco

Right-Handed starting pitcher- Catfish Hunter

Left-Handed starting pitcher- Vida Blue

Relief pitcher- Rollie Fingers



A couple of notes. The A’s have had many great players in their history. A couple of positions were more challenging than others to select. Second base was a position that the A’s never had any All-Star players. Green and Mark Ellis were both good field/no hit players. Green got the nod by playing flawless defense contributing to the A’s 3 straight World Championships in the early 70s. I gave the edge to Tejada over Bert Campaneris at shortstop due to his MVP campaign. Centerfield was another tough position to choose from. I picked Murphy over Dave Henderson due to his 6 gold gloves. The hardest selection was relief pitcher. The A’s have 2 of the greatest relief pitchers in history with Fingers and Denis Eckersley. Both were MVPs and Cy Young award winners. I took Fingers due to his excellent post season numbers. He had a 1.35 ERA in 16 World Series games and won a World Series MVP.



Next up is the Seattle Mariners.