A Press Democrat Blog

Old School

Robert Rubino connects current sports news with the past

Killebrew’s connection with Oakland A’s

Tuesday, at 6:58 by

Harmon Killebrew, the best pure home-run hitter of his generation, who died Tuesday at 74, is naturally remembered as a Minnesota Twins legend. But  older A’s fans may remember Killebrew from his four years with the team after he retired as a player. From 1979-82, Killebrew served as a TV color commentator on Oakland A’s broadcasts. For three of those seasons (1980-82) under manager Billy Martin, for whom Killebrew played in his MVP season of 1969, Killebrew also served as… Read More »

My apologies to Terry Steinbach

Tuesday, at 6:40 by

… and to John Kolsrud. John is die-hard Oakland A’s fan, and I run into him often at Coaches Corner gym in Sebastopol. John correctly pointed out that in my Sunday column, I wrote that no A’s player ever won an All-Star MVP award, but that I’m wrong, A’s catcher Terry Steinbach won it. And John is absolutely correct. Score that one an error on the columnist. In the 1988 All-Star Game at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Steinbach drove in… Read More »

When Catfish was perfect

Tuesday, at 1:26 by

Dallas Braden’s perfect game on Sunday was the second in Oakland Athletics’ history. The first came in the A’s first season in Oakland. On May 8, 1968, in front of 6,298 fans at the Coliseum (the more things change, the more they stay the same), Jim Catfish Hunter threw a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins in a 4-0 victory. In the Twins’ lineup were two future Hall of Famers — Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew — and one should-be… Read More »

No. 1 All-time A’s home opener

Friday, at 9:23 by

In a countdown to the 2010 baseball season, Old School blog is running brief descriptions of the most significant home openers in the history of the Oakland A’s and SF Giants — one a day, a total of five for each team. We already started with the A’s, picking the 1981 opener at No. 5, the 2002 opener at No. 4, this year’s opener at No. 3 and the 1973 opener at No. 2. And now, the No. 1 all-time… Read More »

All-time A’s home openers: No. 2

Thursday, at 9:15 by

In a countdown to the 2010 baseball season, Old School blog is running brief descriptions of the most significant home openers in the history of the Oakland A’s and SF Giants — one a day, a total of five for each team. We already started with the A’s, picking the 1981 opener at No. 5, the 2002 opener at No. 4 and this year’s opener at No. 3. Next up: No. 2. April 6, 1973. Twins at Oakland. Attendance 38,207.… Read More »

Top 5 A’s home openers

Monday, at 6:46 by

In a countdown to the 2010 baseball season, Old School  blog will run brief descriptions of the most significant home openers in the history of the Oakland A’s and SF Giants — one a day, a total of five for each team. Let’s start with the A’s: No. 5. April 17, 1981. Seattle Mariners at Oakland A’s. Paid attendance 50,255. This was the first A’s home game in which the team wasn’t owned by Charlie Finley. It marked the beginning… Read More »