A Decade of A's Trades: The 1970s
In the first decade after the A’s moved to Oakland from Kansas City, the A’s blossomed into a powerhouse.
Much of that was the result of a series of quality drafts and signings that brought the likes of Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue into the fold.
To augment that group, then-franchise owner Charlie Finley didn’t make many blockbuster trades, content to pick his spots
In this time of baseball being shutdown during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, it seems like a good moment to look back. at the A’s trades of the 1970s, a list of the best trades for each year of the decade. (Trade breakdowns of more recent decades will come later).
1970
The deal: On Sept. 14, the A’s traded Mudcat Grant to the Pirates. The player to be named later in the deal, Angel Mangual, came to Oakland on Oct. 20, 1970.
The result: A part-time outfielder and pinch-hitter, Mangual would have his moment of glory in Game 4 of the 1972 World Series when his pinch-hit single gave the A’s a 3-2 come-from-behind walkoff win against the Reds, giving Oakland a 3-1 lead in the series the A’s would go on to win.
1971
The deal: On Nov. 29, the A’s traded outfielder Rick Monday to the Cubs, receiving left-handed starter Ken Holtzman.
The result: A two-time 17-game winner with the Cubs, Holtzman came to the A’s and won 77 games over the next four seasons with a 2.92 ERA, giving the A’s a great 1-2-3 punch in the rotation with Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue.
1972
The deal: On Nov. 21, 1972, the A’s hit up the Cubs again, getting outfielder Bill North in exchange for reliever Bob Locker.
The result: The A’s got a steal on this one. Locker basically was out of baseball after one more season in Chicago, but North became a staple in center fielder for the rest of the A’s championship run. He won two stolen base titles as the leadoff hitter. And on June 5, 1974, he got into one of the most famous fights in A’s history, taking on Reggie Jackson in the Tiger Stadium clubhouse. Both he and Jackson were hurt, but the real loser was catcher Ray Fosse, who lost seven weeks with a herniated disc after trying to break up the fight. North who had missed with 1973 World Series with a sprained ankle, was on the field in 1974 for the last of the A’s three consecutive World Series titles.
1973
The deal: On March 23, Oakland traded catcher Dave Duncan and outfielder George Hendrick to the Indians in exchange for catcher Ray Fosse and infielder Jack Heidemann.
The result: Fosse, a two-time All-Star perhaps best known at the time for being plowed over by Pete Rose in the All-Star Game of 1970, would become the A’s regular catcher for two World Series teams in 1973 and 1974, and three American League championship teams. He’s now an A’s broadcaster.
1974
The deal: On Oct. 24, the A’s got outfielder Billy Williams from the Cubs in exchange for pitchers Darold Knowles and Bob Locker and second baseman Manny Trillo.
The result: Williams had played a decade and a half with the Cubs without seeing the World Series, and was hoping that would change by joining the A’s, then the three-time defending champs. The longtime left fielder moved to first base and served as DH for the A’s and had a nice year with 23 homers and 81 RBI. But the A’s stalled in the playoffs, and Williams never made it to the World Series. He’d have to settle for a berth in the Hall of Fame.
1975
The deal: On May 20, the A’s deal starter Blue Moon Odom to the Indians in exchange for a pair of starters, Dick Bosman and Jim Perry.
The result: Bosman was an immediate hit with the A’s, going 11-4 over the final four months of the season, leading to a fifth consecutive American League West title. Bosman’s arrival made up in a small way for the loss Catfish Hunter to free agency. In the ALCS loss to the Red Sox, he pitched in relief. Perry, 39 and on his final MLB stop, went 3-4 in 15 games, 11 starts., and didn’t pitch in the playoffs.
1976
The deal: On April 2, the A’s traded right fielder Reggie Jackson, starter Ken Holtzman and minor league pitcher Bill VanBommel to the Orioles in exchange for outfielder Don Baylor and pitchers Paul Mitchell and Mike Torrez.
The result: The dual loss of Jackson and Holtzman was a shock to the system coming as it did just a week before the season began. Baylor would only stay with the A’s one season, going .247/.329/.368, not great considering his career numbers of .260/.342/.436. He did, however, steal a career-best 52 bases for a running A’s team that combined to steal 341 bases, which stands as the record for modern baseball. Torrez lasted a little more than a year with the A’s before moving on to Boston, where he would be the starting pitcher in the Bucky Dent homer playoff game in 1978. For the 1976 A’s he had a 10-game stretch from early August to the middle of September in which he almost single-handedly kept the A’s in the pennant race, going 9-1 with a 1.13 ERA, including three consecutive complete-game shutouts.
And as a 1976 bicentennial bonus:
The deal: On Nov. 5, the A’s traded Chuck Tanner to the Pirates for Manny Sanguillen and $100.000
The result: What made this a big deal was that, for the first time, a manager (Tanner) was traded for a player (Sanguillen). The only other managerial swap in baseball history had been in 1960 when the Indians traded their manager, Joe Gordon, to the Tigers for their manager, Jimmy Dykes.
1977
The deal: On March 15, the A’s traded pitcher Chris Batton and infielders Tommy Helms and Phil Garner to the Pirates in exchange for outfielders Tony Armas and Mitchell Page and pitchers Doug Bair, Dave Guisti, Rick Langford and Doc Medich.
The result: This was a deal to replenish a savagely depleted A’s system after the first rounds of free agency, at that point a new concept. Langford would lose 19 games his first season with the A’s, but he won 19 in 1980, and as part of the A’s five aces – Langford, Matt Keough, Mike Norris, Steve McCatty and Brian Kingman – led the AL in complete games in 1980 (28) and 1981 (18). Page wound up as runner-up for Rookie of the Year to Baltimore’s Eddie Murray with a .307 with 21 homers and 42 steals, but he never played back to that level. Armas got off to a slower start with Oakland, but by 1980 he was a star, hitting .35 homers with 109 RBI. A year later he would be an All-Star, leading the AL in the strike-shortened season with 22 homers.
1978
The deal: On March 15, the A’s traded Vida Blue to the Giants, receiving in exchange catcher Gary Alexander, pitchers Dave Heaverlo, Phil Huffman, John Henry Johnson, Alan Wirth, outfielder Gary Thomasson and infielder Mario Guerrero.
The result: Like the trade of exactly one year early, this was done to build up a depleted system. Guerrero had a decent first season, hitting .285 as the shortstop batting in the middle of the lineup. Alexander played one year (.207) and was gone. Thomasson played half a season (.201) before being dealt to the Yankees. Johnson won 11 games for the A’s in 1978, then was traded mid-1979. Wirth went 5-6 in 1978, but only had one more win the next three seasons. Heaverlo saved 10 games in 1978, nine more in 1979 and was out of baseball by 1981. Huffman never pitched for the A’s and went 6-18 in his only full season in the big leagues for Toronto in 1979.
1979
The deal: On June 15, the A’s traded John Henry Johnson to the Rangers for infielder Dave Chalk and catcher Mike Heath.
The result: Badly in need of stability behind the plate, the A’s were able to have Heath as a regular for most of the next six years, during which time he put up a slash line of .251/.296/.364. Chalk, a utility infielder, played just one year with the A’s before moving on to Kansas City for the final two seasons of his career.