The 1968 Oakland A’s season was the franchise's 68th season and its first in Oakland, California. The team finished sixth in the American League with a record of 82 wins and 80 losses, placing them 21 games behind the eventual World Series champion Detroit Tigers. The Athletics' paid attendance for the season was 837,466. The 1968 season represented a tremendous breakthrough for the Athletics organization. The campaign resulted in their first winning record since 1952, when they were still located in Philadelphia. Moreover, the Athletics' 82 wins marked a 20-win increase over the prior year's 62–99 mark. The team's young core of Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Joe Rudi, Bert Campaneris, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace, and Rick Monday began to gel; all of these young players would power the Athletics' forthcoming 1970's dynasty.
Offseason
Relocation to Oakland
On October 18, 1967, American League owners at last gave Charles O. Finley permission to move the Athletics from Kansas City, Missouri to Oakland for the 1968 season. According to some reports, AL President Joe Cronin promised Finley that he could move the team after the 1967 season as an incentive to sign the new lease with Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. The move came in spite of approval by voters in Jackson County, Missouri of a bond issue for a brand new baseball stadium to be completed in 1973. During their 13-year stay in Kansas City, the Athletics were arguably one of the worst teams in baseball history, finishing last or next-to-last place in 10 of those years. Their overall record was 829–1,224, for a winning percentage of.404.
October 22, 1967: Charlie Finley arrived at the Oakland Airport and was greeted by 400 fans. Finley had signed a 20-year lease to bring the A's to Oakland.
Front office
Finley had persuaded Joe DiMaggio to take a position as Executive Vice President and consultant. DiMaggio needed two more years of baseball service to qualify for the league's maximum pension allowance. In addition, Finley signed Phil Seghi to run the A's farm system.
On May 8 against the Minnesota Twins, Hunter pitched the first regular season perfect game in the American League since 1922, but the paid attendance in Oakland was only 6,298 on a Wednesday night. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh when Hunter squeezed the first run in. In the eighth, he drove in two more with a bases-loaded single, and ended with three hits and three RBI. Hunter was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987 and was the first to have his number retired by the franchise, in 1991.
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Player
G
AB
H
Avg.
HR
RBI
99
246
67
.272
5
32
76
202
47
.233
6
18
66
199
49
.246
6
20
66
196
42
.214
3
23
88
150
27
.180
0
5
48
120
30
.250
0
8
34
98
21
.214
2
18
53
81
20
.247
1
14
34
64
12
.188
1
2
19
60
9
.150
0
4
26
4
1
.250
0
0
5
3
1
.333
0
0
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player
G
IP
W
L
ERA
SO
36
234
13
13
3.35
173
32
231.1
16
10
2.45
143
34
228.2
13
13
2.28
169
35
225.1
12
14
3.00
168
36
185
10
11
3.11
105
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player
G
IP
W
L
ERA
SO
17
32.2
1
2
3.86
16
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player
G
W
L
SV
ERA
SO
54
4
4
11
4.10
44
52
6
5
6
2.39
72
47
3
4
4
3.28
34
47
4
3
2
2.40
42
16
0
0
0
4.30
26
7
0
1
0
3.38
6
1
0
0
0
27.00
0
1
0
0
0
0.00
0
Farm system
Life Magazine had declared the A's to have the best minor league system in professional baseball. Finley had spent $2.5 million on bonus contracts as a way of getting prospects to sign with his club.
