A'S HISTORY: '89 SEASON

by Maty McNeil
A's History Series

	PLAYER	AVG	HR	RBI	OPS
C	Terry Steinbach	.273	7	42	.671
1B	Mark McGwire	.231	33	95	.806
2B	Tony Phillips	.262	4	47	.693
3B	Carney Lansford	.336	2	52	.803
SS	Mike Gallego	.252	3	30	.654
LF	Rickey Henderson	.294	9	35	.863
CF	Dave Henderson	.250	15	80	.695
RF	Stan Javier	.248	1	28	.633
DH	Dave Parker	.264	22	97	.741
	PLAYER	W	L	S	ERA
SP	Dave Stewart	21	9	0	3.32
SP	Mike Moore	19	11	0	2.61
SP	Bob Welch	17	8	0	3.00
SP	Storm Davis	19	7	0	4.36
SP	Curt Young	5	9	0	3.73
CL	Dennis Eckersley	4	0	33	1.56

They're one of the finest teams everyone seems to forget.  The 1989 Oakland A's simply dominated.  With an incredible rotation, phenomenal defense, and the game's best closer, they won the A.L. West by 7 games over California and then easily skated through the playoffs.  In the Division Series they beat Toronto 4-1 and in the World Series against the cross-town Giants, Oakland swept. 

Their success can largely be attributed to their dominant pitching, which ranked 1st in the American League.  Dave Stewart, World Series MVP, and fellow starter Mike Moore finished second and third respectively in the Cy Young race that year.  Stewart finished the year 21-9 and Moore was 19-11 with a 2.61 ERA.  Closer Dennis Eckersley was superb: 33 saves, 1.56 ERA, .162 batting average against.  He walked just 3 batters the entire season.

They scored just 712 runs that year, an unremarkable total.  McGwire had a tough season offensively, despite hitting 33 jacks.  Jose Canseco missed much of the year with a broken wrist.  But they were bailed out with sheer base-running speed: Rickey Henderson and Carney Lansford combined to steal 89 bases.  Lansford had a career year that season, finishing 6th in the MVP race and winning the Silver Slugger.

Henderson Returns to the Bay

Rickey Henderson played 65 games with the New York Yankees that season before being traded back to the team that drafted him.  He was traded June 21 for three players.  Henderson played remarkable defense down the stretch for Oakland and racked up a very impressive .425 OBP as the lead-off hitter.  He led the majors in runs-scored and stolen bases that year and was electrifying in the post-season.  Rickey hit .400 (6-for-15) in the Division series, smacking two home runs in the five game series, and he hit .474 (9-19) in the World Series.

World Series Earthquake

The A's won the first two games of the World Series handily, beating the Giants 5-0 and 5-1.  The series moved to San Francisco where the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred, interrupting the series for ten days!  When the series resumed, the A's were able to throw MVP Dave Stewart back on the mound.  The A's won games 3 and 4.  25-year-old Jose Canseco hit .357 in the series and Rickey Henderson hit 3 home runs in the last two games.

One of the Best Teams of The '80s

Despite the fact that they didn't put up earth-shattering numbers (especially offensively), the 1989 A's rank among the best teams of the '80s.  They were the first team since 1976 to sweep a World Series.  Perhaps the '84 Tigers and '86 Mets might have been better, but as the sunset fell on the decade, there was no finer team than the '89 Athletics.  They spent 133 days in first place and shutout their opponents 20 times!  When leading after 8 innings, the team was 90-4!  The 1989 Championship gave them their 9th World Series title as the Athletics franchise (stretching back to the Philadelphia days).  Only the Yankees own more World Series titles.