April 13, 1986: A’s rookie José Canseco homers, drives in 5 runs

About a week into the season, the Oakland Athletics and California Angels faced off at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in front of 17,677 fans.

Though the result was an 11-7 win for the home team, the larger story was rookie José Canseco’s offensive prowess and defense adventures – both of which would be major themes throughout his career.

It was not a day for crisp, efficient baseball. The early-season contest featured 15 walks: 7 to the Angels and 8 to the Athletics.

Oakland took a 4-0 lead in the third inning, due in large part to a wild pitch, walk, and error.

The rally started when Angels starter Mike Witt struck out Athletics shortstop Alfredo Griffin, but strike three was a wild pitch that allowed Griffin to get to second base.

“It was not a pretty sight,” wrote Los Angeles Times beat writer Mike Penner. “Griffin swung at strike three in the dirt, but when the ball skipped past catcher Bob Boone to the screen, Griffin was able to sprint to second base.”1

After Witt walked catcher Mickey Tettleton (hitting .071), a single by second baseman Tony Phillips scored Griffin. First baseman Bruce Bochte reached on an error by Angels second baseman Rob Wilfong, with Tettleton scoring. Witt then walked center fielder Dwayne Murphy and the bases were loaded. Designated hitter Dave Kingman forced Phillips out at the plate. Right fielder Mike Davis then drove in Bochte with a sacrifice fly to Angels left fielder Brian Downing. Third baseman Carney Lansford drove in Murphy with a single.

The Angels scored a run in the top of the fourth inning, on a single by third baseman Doug DeCinces that drove in Downing. The Athletics added to their account in the bottom of the inning, when Phillips scored on a groundout by Bochte.

The Angels scored again in the fifth, when rookie first baseman Wally Joyner drove in catcher Boone with a single to right.

Canseco’s hitting impact was felt in the Athletics half of the fifth. Facing Witt with one out and two on, he launched a line drive over the left-field fence for a three-run home run, his second of the young season, putting the home team ahead 8-2. The ball narrowly missed the second deck.

Los Angeles Times columnist Gene Wojiechowski wrote that the ball “rattled the left-field seats, an estimated 400 feet from the batter’s box.”2

Boone said the pitch was inside and a strike. “It was right where [Canseco] was looking,” he said.3

The sixth inning saw more scoring by both teams – and an adventure in left field.

The Angels scored two runs off three Athletics pitchers – starter Chris Codiroli and relievers Keith Atherton and Steve Ontiveros – on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Gary Pettis and a double by Wilfong.

Wilfong’s double was hit to Canseco, an event described by Wojiechowski:

“Canseco, who runs well for a man built like a Chrysler, appeared confused by the ball’s flight. At the last moment, he lunged for the drive, missed and began chase. Then, for reasons unknown, he took time to throw his cap and flip-up sunglasses to the ground.

“Meanwhile, Wilfong was well on his way to second base and considering a trip to third. Canseco eventually captured the ball and sent it toward the cut-off man. What fun.”4

In the Athletics half, a run scored on a bases-loaded walk to Lansford. Canseco followed with a single to left, scoring two runs.

Mauch later said he was more impressed with how hard Canseco hit the single, calling the earlier home run a “two-strike cookie.”5 The score was now 11-4 in favor of the Athletics.

The Angels scored two runs in the eighth inning and one in the ninth for a final score of 11-7.

Canseco’s line: five at-bats, one run, two hits, and five runs batted in. “These kinds of games get your confidence up,” he said.6

The teams combined to use seven pitchers who gave up 18 runs, 23 hits, and two wild pitches, in addition to the 15 walks. Twenty runners were left stranded.

Athletics manager Jackie Moore was displeased by the number of runs his pitchers gave up.

“Personally, I thought spring training ended a week ago,” Moore said. “It was a typical spring-training-type game. I kept counting on my fingers and I didn’t know if I had enough (pitchers).”7 After the 3½-hour game, Moore said: “I was happy to see that final out.”8

Mauch pulled no punches when discussing Witt’s outing with reporters, particularly his lack of sharpness starting in the third inning.

“When you’ve been in the big leagues five years and you’re earning $700,000 a year, it’s your responsibility not to let anything get to you,” Mauch said.9

Boone described Witt’s outing as a struggle: “He didn’t have real good stuff, but we got him into trouble in the third. We sure didn’t help him much.

“That’s part of baseball. If you don’t get it done, you move on to the next pitch. That’s the difference in the Steve Carltons of the world. Carlton is impervious to that. The next pitch is all that matters to him.”10

Perhaps taking this feedback to heart, Witt rebounded to become the Angels’ best pitcher in 1986, with a record of 18-10 and an ERA of 2.84.

The Angels would go on to win the American League West title in 1986 with a record of 92-70, only to lose to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. Offensively, the team was led by Pettis, Downing, shortstop Dick Schofield, and Joyner. Top pitchers included Witt, Kirk McCaskill, Don Sutton, and John Candelaria. It was Mauch’s next to last season in a 26-year career as a major-league manager.

The Athletics finished the season with a record of 76-86, tied for third, 16 games behind the Angels. In Canseco’s SABR biography, Geoffrey Dunn wrote: “Managed at the start of the season by Jackie Moore, replaced near midseason by interim skipper Jeff Newman, and then finally replaced by Tony La Russa in early July, the 1986 A’s were a lackluster team with little offense (no starter batted over .285 that year) and mediocre pitching (no pitcher won more than 13 games).”

Two years later the Athletics would win the first of three consecutive American League pennants.

The game was perhaps most notable as an early marker in Canseco’s rookie season, when he won the American League Rookie of the Year Award and was named to the American League All-Star team. While he hit just .240, Canseco clubbed 33 home runs, which tied for fourth in the league, and had 117 runs batted in, the league’s second-highest total. He also stole 15 bases.

Dunn noted Canseco’s promise: “In a telling spring-training profile of him appearing in March of 1986, the Associated Press noted, ‘When Oakland A’s rookie outfielder José Canseco talks, people don’t always listen. But when he hits, they fear for their lives.’”

Photo credit

José Canseco, SABR-Rucker Archive.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com for pertinent material and the box scores.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK198604130.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B04130OAK1986.htm

Notes

1 Mike Penner, “Bizarre Plays Spell Witt’s End,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1986.

2 Gene Wojciechowski, “Canseco Dazzles ’Em at the Plate, but Has Troubles in the Field,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1986.

3 Wojciechowski.

4 Wojciechowski.

5 Wojciechowski.

6 Wojciechowski.

7 Kit Stier, “Canseco Gives A’s Power Boost,” Oakland Tribune, April 14, 1986.

8 Stier.

9 Penner, “Bizarre Plays Spell Witt’s End.”

10 Penner.