April 17, 1968: Athletics’ Oakland debut spoiled by the Orioles

The A’s on the field for the first game at the Oakland Coliseum, April 17, 1968. Over 50,000 fans came to see them play. (Courtesy of the Athletics.)

On October 18, 1967, after six years of trying to escape from Kansas City, American League owners, in a 7-to-3 vote, finally granted Athletics owner Charlie Finley permission to move his franchise to Oakland, thus bringing a second major-league team to Northern California. Finley announced that the Athletics would play in the 50,000-seat Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which was also the home of the AFL’s Oakland Raiders.

The Athletics opened the 1968 season on the East Coast, playing the Orioles, Senators, and Yankees. Their debut as the newly-christened Oakland Athletics was supposed to occur on April 8, but the game was postponed in deference to the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King. The A’s finished their first road trip with a 3-2 record. There was a palpable excitement about the Athletics, and “around 3,000 turned out at the airport to greet the team on April 16 when the A’s arrived in Oakland after sweeping a two-game series in New York.”1 As expected, a festive throng of 50,164 filled the Coliseum on Wednesday evening, April 17, as the Athletics met the Baltimore Orioles in their first home game in Oakland.

In what would be a portent to the A’s tenure in Oakland, controversy reared its ugly head on Opening Night. Difficulties with Musicians Union No. 6 left the Coliseum without music for the evening. Tennessee Ernie Ford and the University of California marching band were to provide the music for that evening’s rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” The union wanted more live music at the ballpark, but Finley couldn’t come to an agreement with them. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “A restraining court order removed the pickets of the musicians’ union, thereby allowing the first major league ball game in Oakland to proceed with hot dogs, beer, and other necessities on the National Pastime’s menu. Had the pickets remained, other unions were prepared to stay away.”2 The fans also had to do without Finley’s “million-dollar scoreboard,” which wouldn’t be ready until June.

California Governor Ronald Reagan was given the honor of throwing out the first ball. When Reagan was introduced to the crowd, he was booed loudly; “[T]he deep throaty roar was unmistakable and it lasted for more than three minutes,” reported the Chronicle.3 One of the reasons for the crowd’s reaction was that it was only two days after the deadline for paying the new, increased income taxes. The governor told the crowd, “One thing I’m sure of is that a lot of you paid your taxes. Up to a few minutes ago, I was very happy to be here.”4 He added, more seriously, “Ours is a big-league state and Oakland is a big-league city. I’m looking forward to a ‘Subway Series’ if they get that tunnel built under the bay.”5 Reagan proceeded to throw the first pitch to Coliseum Commission president Robert Hahas.

The A’s mascot Charlie O. the mule made an appearance. He entered the Coliseum with a police escort and bowed at each base. Other dignitaries present that night included Commissioner William Eckert, American League President Joe Cronin, Baltimore Orioles President Jerry Hoffberger, and of course Finley himself. A’s outfielder Rick Monday escorted Miss California Karen Pursell across the diamond during the pregame ceremonies.

The players were introduced, and the biggest ovation was given to A’s coach and executive vice president Joe DiMaggio, who lifted his hat to the crowd. Interestingly, Joe’s brother Vince, who spent 10 seasons in the major leagues, was a carpenter who worked on the construction of the Coliseum in 1964 and 1965. Similar to their road uniforms, the A’s featured the name OAKLAND on their home jerseys in 1968. Finley added the more familiar “A’s” to the jerseys in 1969, and the city’s name never again appeared on the home uniforms. The Athletics coaches wore white caps with a green “A,” while the players wore green caps with a white “A.”

Without music due to the labor-union issue, the “Star-Spangled Banner” was still performed, but played on a phonograph. “All the lights in the Coliseum were turned off except for a spotlight on the American flag carried by a Shrine color guard. The fans illuminated the stands by lighting matches. Fireworks exploded,” reported The Sporting News.6

The Athletics starter was Lew Krausse, who suffered through a 7-17 season with Kansas City in 1967. The Orioles got to Krausse in the second inning when, with one out, Boog Powell hit a 390-foot homer to right field, giving the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Powell seemed to like hitting in the Coliseum. “The ball seems to carry well,” he said. “It’s not like the old Kansas City park where the A’s played last year. It was tough to get the ball out of there.”7 The Coliseum was considered a park that favored pitchers; however, four home runs were hit in the game. The original field dimensions in 1968 were 330 feet down the lines, 385 feet in the power alleys, and 410 feet to straightaway center field. (They were eventually shortened to 330-375-400, and remained that way through the 1995 season.)

The Orioles scored again in the third inning when shortstop Mark Belanger led off with a homer to left field. They added a run in the fourth inning on a single by Dave Johnson that drove home Frank Robinson. The Orioles added a fourth and final run in the sixth on a homer by Brooks Robinson. Krausse ended his evening charged with all four runs on five hits in 5⅓ innings of work.

Meanwhile, Orioles starter Dave McNally, making his 1968 debut, was masterful. He did not allow a hit through five innings. The only baserunner up to that point was Krausse, who walked in the third inning. In the Oakland sixth, Monday led off with a 410-foot homer to center field, making the score 4-1. Joe DiMaggio said it was “the longest homer I’ve seen in ages.”8 McNally would allow only one more baserunner after that – a ninth-inning pinch single by Tony La Russa, who was erased on a double play. McNally fanned Reggie Jackson for the third time to end the game. Orioles manager Hank Bauer had praise for McNally and catcher Curt Blefary: “I didn’t call a single pitch from the bench. … The idea (for McNally) was for him to go five or six innings, or whatever he could, and then we’d get him out of there – but he kept going along okay.”9

There were a few minor issues with the field. A’s manager Bob Kennedy, along with McNally and Krausse, had problems with the mound, which was built over a steel shell that could be easily removed for the pro soccer games that were played at the Coliseum. “They didn’t put enough dirt on it or didn’t pack it down hard enough,” said A’s pitching coach Bill Posedel.10 The mound required lots of work between innings.

A’s third baseman Sal Bando complained about the batter’s box: “The batter’s box is real bad. You just step in it and you just sink. It’s too soft.”11 DiMaggio said the crowd, the largest ever to watch baseball in the Bay Area to that point, was the real culprit for the A’s Opening Night loss: “Our boys never played before so many people. They were bound to tighten up. I believe it made a difference.”12

The Athletics finished their first season in Oakland in sixth place with a final tally of 82-80, and a 44-38 record at the Coliseum.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Retrosheet.org.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1968/B04170OAK1968.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK196804170.shtml

Notes

1 Ron Bergman, “Oakland Park Excellent – But Crowds Aren’t,” The Sporting News, May 4, 1968: 7.

2 Art Rosenbaum. “50,164 See A’s Lose Home Debut,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 18, 1968: 47.

3 Rosenbaum.

4 Bergman. “Oakland Park Excellent – But Crowds Aren’t.”

5 Ron Bergman, “McNally Gives Up Two Hits in Debut,” Oakland Tribune, April 18, 1968: 53.

6 Bergman. “Oakland Park Excellent – But Crowds Aren’t.”

7 Associated Press, “Birds Love Oakland’s New Coliseum,” Salisbury (Maryland) Daily Times, April 18, 1968: 12.

8 Ed Levitt, “DiMag and the Crowd,” Oakland Tribune, April 18, 1968: 50.

9 Walt Dailey, “McNally Forgives A’s Their Mound,” San Francisco Examiner, April 18, 1968: 54.

10 Ed Schoenfeld, “O’s Find Battery that Baffles A’s,” Oakland Tribune, April 18, 1968: 50.

11 “Coliseum Diamond OK, But –,” Oakland Tribune, April 18, 1968: 53.

12 Levitt, “DiMag and the Crowd.”