Swingin' A's

The Swingin' A's refers to the Oakland Athletics teams that ruled the American League between 1971 and 1975. During that stretch, they won three straight World Series titles (1972, 1973, 1974) and are considered one of baseball’s all-time great clubs. They captured five consecutive AL West division crowns and three American League pennants. No team had won three World Series in a row since the New York Yankees’ five-peat from 1949 to 1953; only the Yankees and the A’s have ever completed a three-peat, and no other team would do so until the Yankees repeated the feat from 1998 to 2000. The Athletics made three World Series appearances in the 1970s, trailing only the Cincinnati Reds among all decade participants. Of the six teams that reached the Series multiple times in the 1970s, the A’s and the Pittsburgh Pirates were the only ones never to lose. Over that five-year span, they averaged 95 wins per season and won their division by at least five games each time. Their hallmark was a deep pitching staff that held narrow leads; they scored just 16, 21, and 16 total runs across their three World Series runs, yet won every one. In the divisional era, they remain the only franchise to win the AL West in five straight seasons.

The Athletics organization had earlier found success in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, reaching the World Series five times in nine years before owner Connie Mack broke up and rebuilt the team in the late 1920s, leading to three more Series appearances. But after a third-place finish in 1933, the club never finished higher for more than three decades, becoming a league and city doormat. Mack’s retirement in 1950 accelerated the decline, and the team moved to Kansas City, Missouri after the 1954 season. The sale from the Mack family to Arnold Johnson did little to change their also-ran status. Johnson’s death in 1960 led to a sale to insurance salesman Charlie O. Finley. Finley tried to field a competitive team while secretly planning to move the franchise. He became his own general manager the next year and changed the team colors from blue to Kelly Green, “Fort Knox” Gold, and “Wedding Gown” White. He slowly built a young core through the farm system in the mid-1960s, though the Athletics never had a winning season in Kansas City. Finley cycled through managers, none lasting more than two seasons.