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Mark Bellhorn

Mark Bellhorn

Mark Christian Bellhorn (born August 23, 1974 in Weymouth, Massachusetts) is a second baseman who currently is a free agent. Previously, Bellhorn has played with the Oakland Athletics (1997-98, 2000-01), Chicago Cubs (2002-03), Colorado Rockies (2003), Boston Red Sox (2004-05), and New York Yankees (2005). He is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed.

Profile

While he is primarily a second baseman, he can also play third base, shortstop, and first base. He can also play any outfield position.

Career

Bellhorn broke in the majors with Oakland in 1997. That year he had a .228 batting average with six home runs and 19 runs batted in. Over the next three seasons with the Athletics he would see only limited playing time, batting .131 with one homer and five RBI. In 2002, Bellhorn would go to the Cubs and hit .258 with 27 home runs and 56 RBI. On June 20, 2003 he was traded to the Rockies, and finished the year hitting .221 with two home runs and 26 RBI. Bellhorn was sent to the Boston Red Sox in 2004. He procceded to have the best batting average of his career hitting .264 with 17 home runs and 82 RBI. Despite leading the league in strikeouts (177), Bellhorn was among the league leaders in walks (88, 3rd), pitches seen per at bat, batting average with runners in scoring position, and on base percentage (.373, first among AL second baseman).

2004 postseason

For the first seven postseason games of his career, Bellhorn had 2 hits in 25 at-bats (.080). But his resurgence started as he hit a three-run homer off Jon Lieber to power Boston to a 4-2 victory over the Yankees in Game 6 of the ALCS. He also homered in Game 7 in the Bronx for a key insurance run. Boston won Game 1 In the World Series, thanks to Bellhorn's eighth-inning two-run home run to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11 to 9. In Game 2, he hit a two-run double to help the Sox pull away to a 4-1 lead in an eventual 6-2 victory. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series in a four game sweep of St. Louis. In 14 post-season games, Bellhorn hit three doubles and three home runs with eight runs and eight RBI. He hit a low .191 batting average (9-for-44). Nevertheless, he provided a good offensive support in on base percentage (.397), slugging average (.447) and OPS (.844).

Milestone


- Bellhorn became the first player in National League history to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same inning, doing so in the Cubs' 10–run 4th inning at Miller Park. Chicago won 13–10 over the Brewers. Bellhorn also tied a team record with five RBI in the inning (August 29, 2002).
- In 2004, Bellhorn became the first player to homer in three consecutive postseason games. He homered in Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS against the Yankees, and clanged one off the Pesky Pole in the 8th inning of Game 1 of the World Series, which proved to be the game winner against the Cardinals.

Trivia


- Bellhorn's father, Ted, is a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Yukon.
- His quiet demeanor, humble behavior, and scrappy play created a small but fiercely loyal fan-base for Bellhorn. Throughout Boston, people were once seen wearing "Who died and made you Bellhorn?" shirts. There is also another once-popular shirt, "Don't blame me, I voted for Bellhorn." The price on these shirts has been marked down severely, and the makers of these shirts (not authorized by the Major League Baseball Players Association) are taking a major-league financial hit.

External links


- [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5831 ESPN] - profile and daily updates
- [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bellhma01.shtml Baseball Reference] - career statistics and analysis
- [http://www.markbellhorn.net/index.htm Unofficial web site]
- [http://www.markbellhorn.cjb.net/ Fan site]
- [http://www.stlukes-oviedo.org/school/markbellhorn.html St. Luke School page] Bellhorn, Mark Bellhorn, Mark Bellhorn, Mark Bellhorn, Mark Bellhorn, Mark Bellhorn, Mark Bellhorn, Mark Bellhorn, Mark

August 23

August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining.

Events


- 1305 - William Wallace is executed.
- 1328 - Battle of Kassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers
- 1328 - King Philip VI of France is crowned.
- 1541 - French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
- 1566 - Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands
- 1614 - The University of Groningen is established
- 1617 - In London, the first one-way street is established
- 1651 - Charles II of England enters Worcester and starts a battle.
- 1784 - Eastern Tennessee declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; the step is rejected by Congress one year later
- 1793 - French Revolution: a levée en masse was decreed by the National Convention.
- 1799 - Napoleon leaves Egypt for France en route to seize power
- 1813 - At the Battle of Grossbeeren,the Prussians under Von Bulow repulse the French army.
- 1821 - Mexico gains its independence from Spain
- 1833 - Slavery abolished in the British colonies
- 1839 - The UK captures Hong Kong
- 1864 - The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico
- 1866 - Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague
- 1889 - First wireless message from a ship to the shore received.
- 1904 - The automobile tire chain is patented.
- 1914 - Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China.
- 1924 - The distance between Earth and Mars is the smallest since the 10th century.
- 1927 - Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1929 - Arabs attack Jews in Israel
- 1939 - World War II: Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, Baltic states, Finland and Poland are divided between the two nations.
- 1940 - World War II: The Germans start bombing London.
- 1942 - World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
- 1943 - World War II: Kharkov liberated.
- 1944 - World War II: Marseille liberated.
- 1944 - World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of General Antonescu. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.
- 1944 - A US Army Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.
- 1944 - World War II: Ion Antonescu, prime minister of Romania, is arrested and a new gouverment is established. Romania exits the war against Russia joining the Allies.
- 1947 - The Maynard Midgets beat Lock Haven 16-7 to win the first-ever Little League World Series championship.
- 1948 - World Council of Churches is formed.
- 1952 - The Arab League goes into effect.
- 1958 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
- 1960 - In Equatorial Guinea, the world's largest frog (3.3 kg) is caught.
- 1962 - First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite.
- 1966 - Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
- 1968 - Ringo Starr temporarily quits The Beatles
- 1973 - The Intelsat communication satellite is launched.
- 1975 - Successful Communist coup in Laos
- 1976 - A major earthquake in China kills thousands of people.
- 1979 - Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
- 1985 - Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.
- 1987 - Heavy rains and floods in Bangladesh kill hundreds of victims.
- 1989 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic way).
- 1989 - All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign after the airlines threaten to sack them and sue them over a dispute.
- 1990 - Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages to try to prevent the Gulf War).
- 1990 - Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1990 - West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3.
- 1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida.
- 1996 - Osama bin Laden issues message entitled 'A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places'
- 2000 - A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143
- 2000 - Nicaragua becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. This essentially deprecated the Buenos Aires Convention treaty, because as of this date, all members of the BA Convention were also signatories to Berne.

Births


- 686 - Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne (d. 741)
- 1486 - Sigismund von Herberstein, Austrian diplomat and historian (d. 1566)
- 1524 - François Hotman, French lawyer and writer (d. 1590)
- 1623 - Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer (d. 1675)
- 1724 - Abraham Yates, American Continental Congressman (d. 1796)
- 1741 - Jean-François de Galaup, count de La Pérouse, French explorer (d. 1788)
- 1754 - King Louis XVI of France (d. 1792)
- 1769 - Georges Cuvier, French biologist and statesman (d. 1832)
- 1783 - William Tierney Clark, English civil engineer (d. 1852)
- 1785 - Oliver Hazard Perry, U.S. naval officer (d.1819)
- 1805 - Anton von Schmerling, Austrian statesman (d. 1893)
- 1829 - Moritz Cantor, German mathematician (d.1920)
- 1847 - Sarah Frances Whiting, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1927)
- 1849 - William Ernest Henley, British poet, critic, and editor (d. 1903)
- 1852 - Arnold Toynbee, English economist and social reformer (d.1883)
- 1864 - Eleftherios Venizalos, Prime Minister of Greece (d.1936)
- 1869 - Edgar Lee Masters, American author (d. 1950)
- 1875 - William Eccles, English radio pioneer (d. 1966)
- 1880 - Alexander Grin, Russian writer (d. 1932)
- 1883 - Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, U.S. general (d. 1953)
- 1884 - Will Cuppy, American humorist (d. 1949)
- 1900 - Ernst Krenek, Austrian-born composer (d. 1991)
- 1901 - John Sherman Cooper, U.S. Senator from Kentucky (d. 1991)
- 1903 - William Primrose, Scottish violist (d. 1982)
- 1905 - Constant Lambert, British composer (d. 1951)
- 1911 - Birger Ruud, Norwegian athelete (d. 1998)
- 1912 - Gene Kelly, American dancer and actor (d. 1996)
- 1917 - Tex Williams, American singer (d. 1985)
- 1921 - Kenneth Arrow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1922 - George Kell, baseball player
- 1923 - Edgar F. Codd, English computer scientist (d. 2003)
- 1924 - Ephraim Kishon, Israeli writer (d. 2005)
- 1924 - Robert Solow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1927 - Dick Bruna, Dutch illustrator
- 1929 - Vera Miles, American actress
- 1930 - Michel Rocard, Prime Minister of France
- 1931 - Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1932 - Houari Boumedienne, President of Algeria (d. 1978)
- 1932 - Mark Russell, American comedian, musician, and political commentator
- 1933 - Robert Curl, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1933 - Pete Wilson, Governor of California
- 1934 - Barbara Eden, American actress
- 1934 - Sonny Jurgensen, American football player
- 1936 - Henry Lee Lucas, American serial killer (d. 2001)
- 1943 - Nelson DeMille, American novelist
- 1947 - Keith Moon, English singer and drummer (The Who) (d. 1978)
- 1947 - David Robb, British actor
- 1949 - Shelley Long, American actress
- 1949 - Rick Springfield, Australian singer and actor
- 1951 - Akhmad Kadyrov, President of Chechnya (d. 2004)
- 1951 - Queen Noor of Jordan
- 1952 - Vicky Leandros, Greek singer
- 1956 - Andreas Floer, German mathematician (d. 1991)
- 1963 - Hans-Henning Fastrich, German field hockey player
- 1963 - Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
- 1966 - Rik Smits, Dutch basketball player
- 1969 - Keith Tyson, Turner prize-winning English artist
- 1970 - Jay Mohr, American actor and comedian
- 1970 - River Phoenix, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1974 - Ray Park, British actor
- 1975 - Eliza Carthy, English singer and fiddler
- 1978 - Kobe Bryant, American basketball player
- 1978 - Julian Casablancas, American musician
- 1982 - Natalie Coughlin, American olympic swimmer
- 1984 - Glen Johnson, English footballer
- 1988 - Niki Leinso, Croatian singer and songwriter

Deaths


- 93 - Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman Governor of Britain (b. 40)
- 634 - Abu Bakr, Arabian caliph
- 1176 - Emperor Rokujo of Japan (b. 1164)
- 1305 - William Wallace, Scottish patriot (executed)
- 1387 - King Olav IV of Norway (b. 1370)
- 1507 - Jean Molinet, French writer (b. 1435)
- 1519 - Philibert Berthelier, Swiss patriot
- 1540 - Guillaume Budé, French scholar
- 1591 - Luis Ponce de León, Spanish poet and mystic (b. 1527)
- 1618 - Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (b. 1585)
- 1628 - George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (b. 1592)
- 1723 - Increase Mather, New England Puritan minister (b. 1639)
- 1618 - Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (b. 1585)
- 1652 - John Byron, 1st Baron Byron, English royalist politician (b. 1600)
- 1806 - Charles Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (b. 1736)
- 1813 - Alexander Wilson, Scottish-born ornithologist (b. 1766)
- 1819 - Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval officer (b. 1785)
- 1866 - Auguste Barthelemy, French poet (b. 1796)
- 1926 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)
- 1927 - Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1891)
- 1927 - Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1888)
- 1937 - Albert Roussel, French composer (b. 1869)
- 1955 - Reginald Tate, British actor (b. 1896)
- 1960 - Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist (b. 1895)
- 1962 - Walter Anderson, German folklorist (b. 1885)
- 1962 - Hoot Gibson, American actor (b. 1892)
- 1966 - Francis X. Bushman, American actor (b. 1883)
- 1982 - Stanford Moore, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- 1997 - John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
- 2001 - Peter Maas, American novelist (b. 1929)
- 2002 - Hoyt Wilhelm, baseball player (b. 1922)
- 2003 - Imperio Argentina, Argentine singer and actress (b. 1906)
- 2003 - Bobby Bonds, baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
- 2003 - Jack Dyer, Australian footballer (b. 1913)
- 2003 - John Geoghan, American Catholic priest
- 2005 - Brock Peters, American actor (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances


- Roman festivals - Vulcanalia
- RC Saints - Saint Rose of Lima
- Romania - Liberation Day (1944)
- Swaziland - Umhlanga Day
- Astrology - First day of sun sign Virgo

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/23 BBC: On This Day] ---- August 22 - August 24 - July 23 - September 23 -- listing of all days ko:8월 23일 ms:23 Ogos ja:8月23日 simple:August 23 th:23 สิงหาคม

1974

1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar).

Events

January-February


- January 5 - Dungeons & Dragons officially released.
- January 6 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
- January 30 - G. Gordon Liddy found guilty of Watergate charges
- February 1 - Fire in Joelman Bank Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil - 177 dead, 293 injured
- February 1 - The Joelma Fire kills 188 in São Paulo.
- February 3 - Prisoners riot in the Bathurst Jail Riots, destroying much of the jail.
- February 4 - Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst
- February 8 - After 84 days in space, the crew of the temporary American space station, Skylab, return to Earth.
- February 12 - US District Court Judge George Boldt rules that Native American tribes in Washington State are entitled to half of the legal salmon and steelhead catches, based on treaties signed by the tribes and the US government.
- February 13 - Nobel Prize winning writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn is expelled from the Soviet Union (he returns May 27 1994)
- February 17 - Soccer stampede in Cairo - 49 dead
- February 20 - Following a visit to his home from a woman wearing a strange pendant, Phillip K Dick begins to receive a series of visions which he refers to as 2-3-74, shorthand for February/March of 1974.
- February 23 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demand $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
- February 27 - People magazine is published for the first time.
- February 28 - United Kingdom general election results in an almost dead-heat. Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister again despite his Labour Party (UK) having received fewer votes than the Conservative Party (UK).
- February 28 - Ethiopian prime minister Tsehafi Aklilu Habte-Wold, who has held the position since 1961, is dismissed by Emperor Haile Selassie and replaced with Endelkachew Makonnen.

March


- March 1 - Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
- March 1 - Pierre Messmer finishes his first term as Prime Minister of France.
- March 3 - A Turkish Airlines DC-10 travelling from Paris to London crashes in a wood near Paris, killing all 346 aboard.
- March 8 - Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.
- March 10 - Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan, Lancashire.
- March 10 - Japanese World War Two soldier, second lieutenant Hiroo Onoda surrenders in the Philippines
- March 18 - Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
- March 20 - Ian Balls fails in his attempt to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
- March 29 - Mariner 10 approaches Mercury.

April-May


- April 1 - the Local Government Act 1972 comes into effect in England and Wales, creating six new metropolitan counties and comprehensively redrawing the administrative map
- April 3 - The Super Outbreak, the largest series of tornadoes in history, hits 13 U.S. states and one Canadian province. By the time the last of 148 tornadoes hit early the following morning, 315 died and over 5,000 were injured.
- April 10 - In Israel, Golda Meir resigns as Prime Minister
- April 17 - Three members of the Symbionese Liberation Army die when their apartment catches fire during a shootuot with the LAPD
- April 25 - Coup in Portugal restores democracy (see Carnation Revolution)
- April 28 - Last Americans evacuated from Saigon
- May 4 - All female Japanese team summits Manaslu and become the first women to climb an 8,000 metre peak.
- May 9 - The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon
- May 17 - Los Angeles, California police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall
- May 17 - Thirty-three people die in the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings in Ireland. Members of the UDR and UVF, allegedly assisted by British intelligence, are behind the blast.
- May 18 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
- May 18 - Completition of Warsaw radio mast. The Warsaw radio mast was the tallest construction ever built. It collapsed on August 8, 1991
- May 19 - In the second round of the presidential elections in France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing wins from François Mitterrand, but by a close margin.

June


- June 1 - Flixborough disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough, UK kills 28 people
- June 6 - A new Instrument of Government is promulgated making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy
- June 15 - The Red Lion Square disorders
- June 16 - First Darwin beer-can boat regatta in Darwin, Australia - 63 crafts made of beer cans participate
- June 17 - A bomb explodes at the Houses of Parliament in London damaging Westminster Hall. The bomb had been planted by the Irish Republican Army
- June 24 - The UPC label is used for the first time to ring up purchases at a supermarket.
- June 29 - Isabel Peron becomes interim president of Argentina when Juan Peron falls seriously ill
- June 30 - Assassination of Alberta Williams King, mother of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., during a church service

July


- July 7 - West Germany defeats Netherlands 2-1 to win the Football World Cup 1974.
- July 14 - Christine Chubbuck, US television presenter for WXLT-TV, draws a revolver and shoots herself in the head during a live broadcast. She dies in a hospital 14 hours later.
- July 15 - Military coup overthrows President Makarios in Cyprus
- July 17- A bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army explodes in the White Tower at the Tower of London, killing one person and injuring 41. Another bomb explodes outside a government building in South London.
- July 20 - Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after Greek Cypriots' attempt at enosis.
- July 22 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Endelkachew Makonnen is replaced with Mikael Imru.
- July 23 - Greek military government collapses
- July 24 - Watergate Scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor
- July 27-July 30 - Watergate Scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment charging President Richard M. Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee.

August-October


- August 3 - Former Scottish Works team Ferranti Thistle joins the Profesional Scottish Leagues and changes its name to Meadowbank Thistle Football Club.
- August 4 - Bomb explodes in Italicus Expressen train between Italy and West Germany. Italian neo-fascist terrorists take responsibility
- August 8 - Watergate scandal: US President Richard Nixon announces his resignation (effective August 9)
- August 9 - Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, an action taken to avoid being removed by impeachment in response to his role in the Watergate scandal. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, takes the oath of office and becomes the 38th president
- September 8 - Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
- September 8 - TWA Flight 841 crashes into the Ionian sea, 18 minutes after take off from Athens, by a bomb exlosion in the cargo hold killing 88 people.
- September 13 - Japanese Red Army members seize the French Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands. They secure the release of member Yatuka Fumiya, $300.000 and a flight to Aden
- September 23 - Ceefax is started by the BBC - one of the first public service information systems
- October 5 - The Guildford Pub Bombings at The Horse and Groom and The Seven Stars kill 5 people, lead to the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of the Guildford Four the next year
- October 10 - the second United Kingdom general election of the year results in a narrow victory for Labour, still led by Harold Wilson.

November


- November 7 - Lord Lucan disappears
- November 7 - An IRA bomb explodes at the Kings Arms, Woolwich
- November 8 - In Salt Lake City, Utah, Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy
- November 10 - Members of the Movement 2 June try to kidnap Günter von Drenkmann, the president of West Germany's Superior Court of Justice, at his home but he is fatally shot during the attempt
- November 14 - Ronald Defeo, Jr. murders his parents four siblings in what would later become known as "The Amityville Horror House"
- November 16 - Arecibo radio telescope sends an interstellar radio message towards M 13 great globular cluster
- November 17 - Irish President Childers dies suddenly of a heart attack in the Republic of Ireland in the middle of a public speech
- November 20 - The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the break up of AT&T and the Bell System.
- November 21 - In Birmingham, England, two pubs are bombed, killing 21 people (the Birmingham Six were later sentenced to life in prison for this)
- November 21 - George W. Bush is discharged from the US Air Force Reserve
- November 22 - The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
- November 24 - A skeleton from the hominid Australopithecus afarensis is discovered and named Lucy.
- November 27 - The Prevention of Terrorism Act is passed in the United Kingdom

December


- December 1 - A Boeing 727 carrying TWA Flight 514 crashes 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Dulles International Airport during bad weather, killing all 92 people on-board
- December 8 - Greek voters reject a proposal to restore the Greek monarchy.
- December 19 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh becomes the fifth President of Ireland, in a state inauguration in Dublin Castle
- December 23 - Former British ex-minister John Stonehouse, who faked his drowning in Florida, is arrested in Melbourne, Australia
- December 24-December 25 - Darwin, Australia almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Tracy

Unknown date


- The Milgram experiment first described by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in his 1974 book Obedience to Authority; An Experimental View.
- Baltimore police strike
- Volkswagen's Golf automobile first enters production. VW will go on to sell 22 million Golfs, and the model is still very popular today.

Births

January-February


- January 2 - Tricia Helfer, Canadian actress and model
- January 11 - The Rosenkowitz sextuplets (Cape Town, South Africa), the first sextuplets known to survive their infancy.
- January 12 - Tor Arne Hetland, Norwegian cross-country skiier
- January 16 - Kate Moss, English model
- January 17 - Ladan and Laleh Bijani, Iranian conjoined twins (d. 2003)
- January 23 - Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
- January 27 - Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan cricketer
- January 28 - Tony Delk, American basketball player
- January 30 - Christian Bale, Welsh actor
- January 31 - Ian Huntley, English murderer
- February 7 - Steve Nash, Canadian basketball player
- February 8 - Seth Green, American actor
- February 11 - D'Angelo, American singer
- February 13 - Robbie Williams, English singer
- February 15 - Seattle Slew, American racehorse (d. 2002)
- February 15 - Ugueth Urbina, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- February 24 - Chad Hugo, American musician and producer (The Neptunes)

March-April


- March 1 - Mark-Paul Gosselaar, American actor
- March 5 - Jens Jeremies, German footballer
- March 7 - Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer and actor
- March 11 - Bobby Abreu, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- March 11 - Russ Haas, American wrestler (d. 2001)
- March 20 - Paula Garces, Colombian actress
- March 20 - Andrzej Pilipiuk, Polish writer
- March 20 - Carsten Ramelow, German footballer
- March 22 - Marcus Camby, American basketball player
- March 24 - Alyson Hannigan, American actress
- March 25 - Lark Voorhies, American actress
- April 4 - Dave Mirra, American athlete
- April 9 - Jenna Jameson, American actress
- April 11 - Trot Nixon, baseball player
- April 14 - Da Brat, American rapper
- April 15 - Josh Todd, musician and singer (Buckcherry)
- April 17 - Victoria Beckham, English singer (Spice Girls)
- April 22 - Shavo Odadjian, Armenian-born bassist (System of a Down)
- April 28 - Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress
- April 28 - Richel Hersisia, Dutch boxer

May-July


- May 8 - Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
- May 17 - Andrea Corr, Irish singer (The Corrs)
- May 23 - Ken Jennings, American long-time winner on Jeopardy!
- May 23 - Jewel, American singer
- May 23 - Monica Naranjo, Spanish singer
- May 24 - Ruslana, Ukrainian singer
- May 26 - Lars Frölander, Swedish swimmer
- May 27 - Danny Wuerffel, American football player
- June 1 - Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer
- June 2 - Gata Kamsky, American chess player
- June 7 - Mahesh Bhupathi, Indian tennis player
- June 10 - James Spix, American author
- June 12 - Hideki Matsui, Japanese baseball player
- June 13 - Brande Roderick, American actress
- June 25 - Karisma Kapoor, Indian actress
- June 26 - Derek Jeter, baseball player
- July 2 - Matthew Reilly, Australian writer
- July 4 - La'Roi Glover, American football player
- July 19 - Preston Wilson, baseball player
- July 22 - Daddy Kev, American record producer
- July 23 - Maurice Greene, American athlete
- July 27 - Eason Chan, Hong Kong singer
- July 31 - Emilia Fox, English actress
- July 31 - Jonathan Ogden, American football player

August-October


- August 2 - Jeremy Castle, American singer and songwriter
- August 5 - Kajol Devgan, Indian actress
- August 9 - Matt Morris, baseball player
- August 15 - Natasha Henstridge, Canadian actress and model
- August 20 - Maxim Vengerov, Russian violinist
- August 23 - Ray Park, Scottish actor
- August 24 - Jennifer Lien, American actress
- August 27 - Jose Vidro, baseball player
- September 2 - Lisa Snowdon, English television presenter
- September 6 - Tim Henman, English tennis player
- September 10 - Ben Wallace, American basketball player
- September 14 - Hicham El Guerrouj, Moroccan athlete
- September 17 - Rasheed Wallace, American basketball player
- September 19 - Jimmy Fallon, American actor and comedian
- September 23 - Matt Hardy, American Professional Wrestler
- October 7 - Allison Munn, American actress
- October 10 - Dale Earnhardt, Jr., American race car driver
- October 11 - Terje Haakonsen, Norwegian snowboarder
- October 16 - Paul Kariya, Canadian hockey player
- October 21 - Lera Auerbach, Russian composer, pianist, and poet
- October 23 - Sander Westerveld, Dutch soccer player
- October 29 - Michael Vaughan, English cricketer

November-December


- November 1 - VVS Laxman, Indian cricketer
- November 4 - Louise Redknapp, English singer
- November 5 - Ryan Adams, American singer and songwriter
- November 5 - Jerry Stackhouse, American basketball player
- November 9 - Uncle Kracker, American singer
- November 11 - Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor
- November 11 - Bettina Goislard, French UN worker (d. 2003)
- November 22 - Ken Mondschein, American writer
- November 22 - David Pelletier, Canadian figure skater
- November 23 - Jamie Sharper, American football player
- November 27 - Zsófia Polgár, Hungarian-born chess player
- December 1 - Costinha, Portuguese footballer
- December 7 - Nicole Appleton, Canadian singer (All Saints)
- December 13 - Nicholas McCarthy, English-born guitarist (Franz Ferdinand (band))
- December 14 - Billy Koch, baseball player
- December 18 - Peter Boulware, American football player
- December 19 - Jake Plummer, American football player
- December 21 - Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
- December 24 - Ryan Seacrest, American television host
- December 29 - Jenny Barker, British radio presenter
- December 29 - Richie Sexson, baseball player

Unknown date


- Ziad Jarrah, Lebanese hijacker (d. 2001)

Deaths

January-July


- January 2 - Tex Ritter, American actor and singer (b. 1905)
- January 12 - Princess Patricia of Connaught (b. 1886)
- January 31 - Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born film studio executive (b. 1879)
- February 11 - Anna Q Nilsson, Swedish actress (b. 1888)
- February 15 - Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (b. 1887)
- February 21 - Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1930)
- February 23 - Harry Ruby, American composer and writer (b. 1895)
- March 1 - Bobby Timmons, American jazz pianist (b. 1935)
- March 5 - Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (b. 1888)
- March 6 - Ernest Becker, American cultural anthropologist
- March 9 - Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr., American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- March 20 - Chet Huntley, American television journalist (b. 1911)
- April 2 - Georges Pompidou, President of France (b. 1911)
- April 15 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (b. 1906)
- April 19 - Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1907)
- April 24 - Bud Abbott, American actor (b. 1897)
- May 24 - Duke Ellington, American jazz pianist and bandleader (b. 1899)
- June 9 - Miguel Angel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
- June 10 - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1900)
- June 22 - Darius Milhaud, French composer (b. 1892)
- June 28 - Frank Sutton, American actor (b. 1923)
- July 1 - Juan Domingo Perón, President of Argentina (b. 1895)
- July 9 - Earl Warren, Governor of California and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1891)
- July 11 - Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
- July 13 - Patrick Blackett, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- July 24 - James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

August-December


- August 6 - Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1925)
- September 3 - Harry Partch, American composer (b. 1901)
- September 4 - Creighton Williams Abrams, American general (b. 1914)
- September 4 - Marcel Achard, French playwright and scriptwriter (b. 1899)
- September 14 - Warren Hull, American actor (b. 1903)
- October 6 - V.K. Krishna Menon, Indian freedom fighter and politician (b. 1897)
- October 24 - David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1908)
- November 11 - Alfonso Leng, Chilean composer (b. 1894)
- November 13 - Vittorio De Sica, Italian film director (b. 1901)
- November 17 - Erskine Hamilton Childers, fourth President of Ireland (b. 1905)
- November 19 - George Brunies, American musician (b. 1902)
- November 21 - John B. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (b. 1897)
- November 21 - Frank Martin, Swiss composer (b. 1890)
- November 24 - Nick Drake, British musician (b. 1948)
- November 24 - Endelkachew Makonnen, Ethiopian politician (b. 1927)
- November 29 - Peng Dehuai, Chinese leader (b. 1898)
- December 2 - Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1897)
- December 18 - Harry Hooper, baseball player (b. 1887)
- December 20 - André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Sir Martin Ryle, Antony Hewish
- Chemistry - Paul J. Flory
- Medicine - Albert Claude, Christian de Duve, George E. Palade
- Literature - Eyvind Johnson, Harry Martinson
- Peace - Séan MacBride, Eisaku Sato
- Economics - Gunnar Myrdal, Friedrich von Hayek

Fields Medalists


- Enrico Bombieri, David Mumford Category:1974

Templeton Prize


- Brother Roger als:1974 ko:1974년 ja:1974年 simple:1974 th:พ.ศ. 2517

Second baseman

:Second base redirects here. For other uses, see Second base (disambiguation). A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base. Also called 2B, or second bagger, the second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must be able to make the pivot on a double play. Second base is also known as the keystone sack. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the second baseman is assigned the number 4. Second basemen must be quick on their feet to hold the runner on base, back up the shortstop on all throws from the catcher, cover first base on bunted balls, and to field the position to either side. In fact, second basemen are required to have the greatest range of any infielder, since they have to field balls closer to the first baseman who is often holding runners on, or moving towards the base to cover. On a batted ball to right field, the second baseman goes out towards the ball for the relay.

List of popular players at second base

right field
- Roberto Alomar
- Beto Avila
- Craig Biggio (began his career as a catcher)
- Rod Carew (later played first base)
- Eddie Collins
- Johnny Evers
- Nellie Fox
- Frankie Frisch
- Charlie Gehringer
- Rogers Hornsby
- Jeff Kent
- Nap Lajoie
- Bobby Lowe (1890s star and the first player to hit 4 HR in a game)
- Bill Mazeroski
- Gil McDougald (also played SS and 3B))
- Joe Morgan
- Bobby Richardson
- Jackie Robinson (began his career at 3B)
- Ryne Sandberg
- Johnny Temple
- Manny Trillo
- José Vidro
- Lou Whitaker
- Frank White
- Fernando Viña Category:Baseball positions
- ja:二塁手

Oakland Athletics

: Philadelphia Athletics redirects to this article, about the baseball team currently active in the American League. For the team that played in the National Association 1871-1875 and in the National League in 1876, see Athletic of Philadelphia. For the team that played in the American Association 1882-1891, see Philadelphia Athletics (American Association). The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. They are in the Western Division of the American League. The team is often called the A's.

Origins: The Name, the Emblem, the Elephant Mascot

Origin of the Team Name

American League The name "Athletic" for Philadelphia's baseball team dates back to 1860 when an amateur team, the Athletic of Philadelphia, was formed. (A famous image from that era, at left, published in Harper's Weekly in 1866, shows the Athletic players dressed in uniforms displaying the familiar Old English "A" on the front.) The team later turned professional and joined the National Association in 1871, winning the first-ever major league pennant that year. The Athletic played in the National Association through 1875, becoming a charter member of the National League in 1876, but were expelled from the N.L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the American Association from 1882-1891. The team name is typically pronounced "Ath-LET-ics", but their long-time team owner/manager Connie Mack called them by the old-fashioned colloquial pronunciation "Ath-uh-LET-ics". Newspaper writers also often referred to the team as the Mackmen during their Philadelphia days, in honor of their patriarch.

Old English “A” Uniform Emblem

Over the seasons, Athletic uniforms have usually paid homage to their amateur forebears to one extent or another. Until 1954, when the uniforms had "Athletics" spelled out in script across the front, the team's name never appeared on either home or road uniforms. Furthermore, not once did "Philadelphia" appear on the uniform, nor did the letter "P" appear on the cap or the uniform. The typical Philadelphia uniform had only an Old-English "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it. Though for a time as a Kansas City team, the A’s wore “Kansas City” on their road jerseys and an interlocking “KC” on the cap, upon moving to Oakland the “A” cap emblem was restored, although in 1970 an “apostrophe-s” was added to the cap and uniform emblem. Currently, though the team wears home uniforms (and alternate home and road uniforms) with "Athletics" spelled out in script writing and road uniforms with "Oakland" spelled out in script writing, the cap and team logo consists of the traditional Old English “A” with “apostrophe-s.”

The A’s Elephant Mascot

After New York Giants manager John McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the new team, had a “white elephant on his hands," Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, though over the years the elephant has appeared in several different colors (currently forest green). The A’s are sometimes, though infrequently, referred to as the Elephants or White Elephants. The elephant was retired as team mascot in 1963 by then-owner Charles O. Finley in favor of a Missouri mule. In 1986, the elephant was restored as the symbol of the Athletics and currently adorns the left sleeve of home and road uniforms.

Franchise History

The Philadelphia Years (1901-1954)

The Beginning

The franchise that would become the modern Athletic team originated as the Indianapolis Indians of the Western League in 1893, a minor league with teams concentrated in the Great Lakes states. The Western league was renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Bancroft (Ban) Johnson, in anticipation of becoming the second major league in 1901. When the American League became a Major League in 1901, Johnson shifted the Indianapolis franchise to Philadelphia to compete with the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies, and recruited former player Connie Mack to run the club. Mack in turn persuaded Ben Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would again be called the Philadelphia Athletics, one of eight charter members of the American League. The other teams included the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Americans, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Washington Senators. The team’s inaugural year saw second baseman Nap Lajoie [la-ZHWAY] lead the league in hitting with a .426 batting average, still a modern Major League record. The new league recruited many of its players---including Lajoie---from the existing National League, persuading them to “jump” to the A.L. in defiance of their N.L. contracts. The Athletics as well as the 7 other A.L. teams received a jolt when, on April 21, 1902, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated Nap Lajoie's contract with the Athletics, and ordered him returned to his former team, the N.L. Philadelphia Phillies. This order, though, was only enforceable in the state of Pennsylvania. Lajoie was traded to the Cleveland Broncos (now the Cleveland Indians) and did not set foot on Pennsylvania soil until the National Agreement was signed between the two leagues in 1903.

The First Dynasty and Aftermath

In the early years, the A’s quickly established themselves as one of the dominant teams in the new American League, winning the A.L. pennant six times (1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914), winning the World Series in 1910, 1911 and 1913. They won over 100 games in 1911 and 1912, and 99 games in 1914. The team was known for its “$100,000 Infield,” consisting of John "Stuffy" McInnis (1b), Eddie Collins (2b), Frank "Home Run" Baker (3b) and Jack Barry (ss), as well as pitchers Eddie Plank and Charles "Chief" Bender. Plank holds the club record for career victories, with 284. After the heavily favored A’s lost the 1914 World Series to the underdog Boston Braves in a 4-game sweep, Connie Mack traded, sold or released most of the team’s star players. In his book To Every Thing a Season, Bruce Kuklick points out that there were suspicions that the A's had thrown the Series, or at least "laid down", perhaps in protest of Mack's notorious thriftiness. Mack himself alluded to that rumor years later, but also debunked it, asserting that factions within the team along with the allure of the Federal League had distracted the team. A third major league, the Federal League, had been formed to begin play in 1914. As the A.L. had done 13 years before, the new league raided existing A.L. and N.L. teams for players. Mack refused to match the offers of the F.L. teams, preferring to let the "prima donnas" go and rebuild with younger (and less expensive) players. As a result, the Athletics went from a 99-53 (.651) won-loss record and 1st place finish in 1914, to a record of 43-109 (.283) and 8th (last) place in 1915, and then to a modern major league low winning percentange of 36-117 (.235) in 1916. The team would finish in last place every year after that until 1922, when it finished 7th.

The Second Dynasty, 1927-1933

Federal League After that, Mack began to build another winner. In 1927 and 1928, the Athletics finished second to the New York Yankees, then won pennants in 1929, 1930 and 1931, winning the World Series in 1929 and 1930. In each of the three years, the A's won over 100 games. There are those who feel the 1929 A’s were the best team in baseball history, even surpassing the 1927 Yankees. After a second-place finish in 1932 and 3rd in 1933, Mack again sold or traded his best players in order to reduce expenses. The Great Depression was well under way, and declining attendance had drastically reduced the team’s revenues. The construction of the "spite fence" at Shibe Park, blocking the view from nearby buildings, only served to irritate potential paying fans.

The Meager Years

The Athletics finished fifth in 1934, then last in 1935. Though he intended to rebuild once more, Mack was already 68 years old when the A’s last won the pennant in 1931, and many felt the game was passing him by. Save for a 5th place finish in 1944, the A’s finished in last or next-to-last place every year from 1935-1946. By now Mack and his immediate family were the team’s controlling stockholders, and he had no intention of firing himself. The 1950 season would be 88-year-old Mack’s 50th and last as A’s manager, a Major League record that will surely never be broken. During that year the team wore uniforms trimmed in blue and gold, in honor of the Golden Jubilee of "The Grand Old Man of Baseball."

The Last Years in Philadelphia

In late 1950, the controlling interest in the A's was purchased by Mack's eldest sons, Roy and Earle Mack, who bought out their stepmother, stepbrother Connie Mack, Jr., and other minority stockholders. In order to do this, the Mack brothers mortgaged the team to Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. It soon became obvious that the cashflow was insufficient to service the new debt. Roy and Earle Mack began feuding with each other. The team continued to slide, attendance plummeted, and revenues continued to dwindle. The only bright spot during the last seasons in Philadelphia were the A.L. batting championships won by Ferris Fain in 1951 (.344) and 1952 (.327). The latter would be the last year in which an Athletic has led the American League in hitting. Though last minute offers were put on the table to buy the Athletics to keep them in Philadelphia (including one made by a group which included Chicago insurance executive Charles O. Finley), the American League owners were determined to "solve the Philadelphia problem" by moving the team elsewhere. On October 12, 1954, the owners voted to approve the sale of the Athletics to another Chicago businessman, Arnold Johnson, so that he could move the team to Kansas City for the 1955 season. Connie Mack once said, “You can’t win them all.” The Philadelphia A’s didn’t come close. Though they won 5 World Series and 9 A.L. pennants, their overall record from 1901-1954 was 3,886 games won and 4,239 games lost, for an overall winning percentage of but .478.

The Kansas City Years (1955-1967)

The Johnson Era: A New Venue, but for How Long?

From the start, it was clear that Johnson was motivated solely by profit, not because of any regard for the baseball fans of Kansas City. He had long been a business associate of Yankee owners Dan Topping and Del Webb. He was the owner of Yankee Stadium, though the American league owners forced Johnson to sell the property before acquiring the Athletics. The lease he signed with Municipal Stadium gave Johnson a three-year escape clause if the team failed to draw one million or more customers per season. The subsequent lease signed in 1960 also contained an escape clause if the team failed to draw 850,000 per season. Rumors abounded that Johnson's real motive was to operate the Athletics in Kansas City for a few years, then move the team to Los Angeles. Whatever Johnson's motives were, the issue soon became moot. The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, thereby precluding any move there by the Athletics. Moreover, on March 10, 1960, Arnold Johnson died at the age of 53. Whatever the concern about the move to Kansas City, fans turned out in record numbers for the era. In 1955, the new Kansas City Athletics drew 1,393,054 to newly renovated and newly renamed Municipal Stadium, a club record easily surpassing the previous record of 945,076 in 1948. (To put this figure in perspective, in 1955 only the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Braves had higher home attendance than did the A's.) What no one realized at the time was that number would remain the club record for attendance until 1982 -- the Athletics’ 15th season in Oakland!

The “Special Relationship” with the Yankees

During the Johnson ownership, any good young players on the Athletics were invariably traded by general manager Parke Carroll to the Yankees for aging veterans and cash. The cash was used to pay the bills, with the veterans perhaps having star appeal that could improve attendance. Though Johnson promised the fans that the trades would soon bring a World Series championship to Kansas City, it didn’t work that way. The team remained mired in the second division. Attendance declined, with fans and even other clubs charging that the A’s were little more than a minor league farm team for the Yankees, as the Kansas City Blues had been before them, citing Johnson's pre-existing cozy relationship with the Yankees' front office, an obvious conflict of interest that was winked at by the rulers of the game at that time. Johnson once gushed to The Sporting News, "I'd pay a million dollars for Mickey Mantle!" Assuming he had a million to give, that was a safe offer, as there was no chance the Yanks were going to trade their superstar to Kansas City. The trade no one ever forgot was the one made after the 1959 season, when the A’s sent young right fielder Roger Maris to New York for his aging counterpart, Hank Bauer, in a seven-player deal. However, there were others. The Yankees brought up a promising young pitcher, Ralph Terry, in 1956, but were reluctant to use him in critical situations. So, in June, 1957 they traded him to the A's in an eight-player deal. After getting nearly two years of experience facing A.L. batters, Terry apparently was ready to return. In May, 1959 the Yankees sent Jerry Lumpe and two washed-up pitchers to the Athletics for Terry. Once "home," Terry became a 20-game winner for New York. (It is perhaps not a coincidence that the "Old" Yankees became less competitive after new owner Charles O. Finley bought the A's and stopped providing talent to the Yankees.)

The Finley Era Commences: The Savior of Kansas City Baseball?

On December 19, 1960, Chicago insurance executive Charles O. Finley purchased a controlling interest in the team from Johnson's estate. He bought out the minority owners a year later. Finley promised the fans a new day. In a highly publicized move, he purchased a bus, pointed it in the direction of New York City, and had it burned, to symbolize the end of the “special relationship” with the Yankees. He called another press conference to burn the existing lease at Municipal Stadium which included the despised "escape clause." He spent over $400,000 of his own money in stadium improvements (though in 1962 the city reimbursed $300,000 of this). He introduced new uniforms which---significantly---had "Kansas City" on the road uniforms and an interlocking "KC" on the cap. He told the fans, "My intentions are to keep the A's permanently in Kansas City and build a winning ballclub. I have no intention of ever moving the franchise." The fans, in turn, regarded Finley as the savior of Major League Baseball in Kansas City. Finley immediately hired Frank Lane, a man with a reputation as a prolific trader, as general manager. Lane began engineering trades with several other teams, including the Yankees, the bus-burning stunt notwithstanding. Lane lasted less than one year, being fired during the 1961 season. He was replaced by Pat Friday, whose sole qualification for the job was that he managed one of Finley's insurance offices. On paper, Friday remained general manager until 1965, when he was replaced by Hank Peters, who held the post for less than a year, after which the team had no formal general manager. In fact, Friday and Peters were mere figureheads. With the firing of Lane in 1961, Finley became his own general manager (in fact if not in name), and would remain so for the duration of his ownership. Finley made further changes to the team’s uniforms. In 1963, he changed the team’s colors to “Kelly Green, Fort Knox Gold and Wedding Gown White” and replaced the traditional elephant mascot with a Missouri mule --- not just a cartoon logo, but a real mule, which he named after himself: “Charlie O, the Mule.” In 1967, he replaced the team’s traditional black cleats with white ones. In 1970 (after the move to Oakland) he added an "apostrophe-s" to the traditional Old English "A" logo, and began phasing out the team name "Athletics" in favor of, simply, "A's." Finley poured resources into the minor league system for the first time in the history of the franchise. He was assisted in this endeavor by the creation of the baseball draft in 1965, which forced young prospects to sign with the team that drafted them – at the price offered by the team – if they wanted to play professional baseball. Thus, Finley was spared from having to compete with wealthier teams for top talent. The Athletics, owners of the worst record in the American League in 1964, had the first pick in the first draft, selecting Rick Monday on June 8, 1965. Under the Mack and Johnson ownerships, the A's minor league system was almost non-existent. By 1966, it was one of the best.

Finley Looks for a Way Out

But, while laying the groundwork for a future championship team, Finley began shopping the Athl