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1980 Oakland Athletics season

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1980 Oakland Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkOakland-Alameda County Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record83–79 (.512)
Divisional place2nd
OwnersCharles O. Finley
ManagersBilly Martin
TelevisionKPIX-TV
(Monte Moore, Wayne Walker)
RadioKDIA
(Ted Robinson, Red Rush, Dom Valentino)
← 1979
1981 →

The 1980 Oakland Athletics season was the team's thirteenth season in Oakland. The A's, under first-year manager Billy Martin, began the season with low expectations following their 1979 campaign. Strong performances from pitchers Mike Norris, Matt Keough, and Rick Langford, along with the brilliant play of breakout star (and future Hall-of-Famer) Rickey Henderson, paved the way for a staggering 29-win increase over the previous year's output. The Athletics, only one year removed from baseball's worst record, swung to a second-place finish behind their 83–79 record.

The season also marked the end of the Charlie Finley ownership era. Finley sold the team to Walter A. Haas, Jr. shortly before the start of the 1981 season. The A's would remain under Haas' ownership until 1995.

Offseason

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Regular season

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In 1980, Charlie O. Finley hired Billy Martin to manage the young team. The club was led by new young stars Rickey Henderson, Mike Norris, Tony Armas, and Dwayne Murphy. The starting pitching staff was also notable in that they completed 94 starts, virtually unheard of in the era of the relief pitcher. Rick Langford finished 28 of his 33 starts, totalling 290 innings, and tallying a 19-12 record. Norris went 22-9 with a 2.53 ERA, completed 24 starts, and was runner-up to Steve Stone in the Cy Young Award balloting that year. Martin made believers of his young charges as "Billyball" (characterized as featuring aggressive base running) was used to market the team, and the Athletics finished second in 1980.

Rickey Henderson broke Ty Cobb's American League record for most stolen bases in one season (96) by recording 100 stolen bases.[3]

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 9765 .599 — 49‍–‍32 48‍–‍33
Oakland Athletics 8379 .512 14 46‍–‍35 37‍–‍44
Minnesota Twins 7784 .478 19½ 44‍–‍36 33‍–‍48
Texas Rangers 7685 .472 20½ 39‍–‍41 37‍–‍44
Chicago White Sox 7090 .438 26 37‍–‍42 33‍–‍48
California Angels 6595 .406 31 30‍–‍51 35‍–‍44
Seattle Mariners 59103 .364 38 36‍–‍45 23‍–‍58

Record vs. opponents

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1980 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —8–510–26–66–710–36–67–610–27–67–56–66–611–2
Boston 5–8—9–36–47–68–55–76–76–63–109–37–55–77–6
California 2–103–9—3–104–65–75–86–67–62–103–1011–211–23–9
Chicago 6–64–610–3—5–72–105–85–75–85–76–76–76–7–25–7
Cleveland 7–66–76–47–5—3–105–73–109–35–86–68–46–68–5
Detroit 3–105–87–510–210–3—2–107–66–65–86–610–2–14–89–4
Kansas City 6–67–58–58–57–510–2—6–65–88–46–77–610–39–3
Milwaukee 6–77–66–67–510–36–76–6—7–55–87–59–35–75–8
Minnesota 2–106–66–78–53–96–68–55–7—4–86–77–69–37–5
New York 6–710–310–27–58–58–54–88–58–4—8–49–37–510–3
Oakland 5–73–910–37–66–66–67–65–77–64–8—8–57–68–4
Seattle 6–65–72–117–64–82–10–16–73–96–73–95–8—4–96–6
Texas 6–67–52–117–6–26–68–43–107–53–95–76–79–4—7–5
Toronto 2–116–79–37–55–84–93–98–55–73–104–86–65–7—

Notable transactions

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Draft picks

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Roster

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1980 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader
= Indicates league leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos. Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB
CJim Essian8728566.2325291
1BDave Revering106376109.29015621
2BJeff Cox5916936.213098
SSMario Guerrero11638191.2392233
3BWayne Gross113366103.28114615
LFRickey Henderson158591179.303953100
CFDwayne Murphy159573157.274136826
RFTony Armas158628175.279351095
DHMitchell Page11034885.244175114

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Jeff Newman127438102.2331556
Mike Heath9230574.243133
Dave McKay12329572.244129
Rob Picciolo9527165.240518
Mickey Klutts7519753.269421
Mike Davis519520.21118
Orlando González257017.24301
Mike Edwards465914.23703
Randy Elliott14395.12801
Ray Cosey991.11100

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Rick Langford35290.019123.26102
Mike Norris33284.12292.53180
Matt Keough34250.016132.92121
Steve McCatty33221.214143.86114
Brian Kingman32211.18203.83116

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Craig Minetto78.0027.885

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Bob Lacey473262.9445
Jeff Jones351352.8434
Dave Hamilton2103011.4023
Dave Beard130113.3812
Ernie Camacho50006.949
Rick Lysander50007.905
Mark Souza50007.712
Alan Wirth20004.501
Rich Bordi10004.500

Awards and honors

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League records

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  • Rickey Henderson, American League record (since broken), Most stolen bases in one season (100)

League leaders

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  • Rickey Henderson, American League leader, stolen bases (100)

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Ogden A's Pacific Coast League José Pagán
AA West Haven Whitecaps Eastern League Ed Nottle
A Modesto A's California League Keith Lieppman
A-Short Season Medford A's Northwest League Brad Fischer

References

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  1. ↑ Jim Todd page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Joe Wallis page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Numbelievable!, p. 46, Michael X. Ferraro and John Venziano, Triumph Books, 2007, Chicago, Illinois, ISBN 978-1-57243-990-0
  4. ↑ Randy Elliott page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Rich Bordi page at Baseball Reference
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