With traditions, records, and team lore, this lively, detailed book explores the personalities, events, and facts every Athletics fan should know. This guide to all things A's covers the team's amazing history including the Connie Mack and Charlie O. Finley dynasties, the "Earthquake Series," and all of their World Series titles. Author Susan Slusser has collected every essential piece of A's knowledge and trivia, including Billy Beane and Moneyball, Catfish Hunter, Stomper, and the "Bash Brothers," as well as must-do activities, and ranks them from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist for fans of all ages. Susan Slusser has been the San Francisco Chronicle ’s Oakland A’s beat writer for 16 seasons. She is an MLB Network correspondent and is a former president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. She lives in San Carlos, California. Billy Beane is the general manager and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics. He was named the Sporting News’ Executive of the Year in 1999 and 2012, and the Baseball America Major League Baseball Executive of the Year in 2002 and 2013. He lives in the Bay Area. 100 Things A's Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die By Susan Slusser Triumph Books Copyright © 2015 Susan Slusser All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-62937-068-2 Contents Foreword by Billy Beane, 1. Rickey Henderson, 2. Charlie Finley, 3. Connie Mack, 4. Billy Beane, 5. The First of Three: 1972, 6. Reggie Jackson, 7. 1989: The Earthquake Series, 8. Rube Waddell, 9. Bash Brothers, 10. Winning Streak, 11. Billyball, 12. Rollie Fingers, 13. Unexpected Fun: 2012, 14. Tony La Russa, 15. The Second of Three: 1973, 16. Jimmie Foxx, 17. Eck, 18. Catfish Hunter, 19. Grow A Handlebar Mustache, 20. Dallas Braden's Perfect Game, 21. And the Third of Three: 1974, 22. The Big Three, 23. Campy Plays All Nine, 24. Lefty Grove, 25. The Jeter Flip, 26. Dick Williams, 27. Travel Overseas With The A's, 28. Yoenis Cespedes' Journey, 29. The White Elephant, 30. Bob Melvin, 31. Stewart vs. Clemens, 32. Sit with the Zany Right-Field Crowd, 33. Gibson's Homer, 34. Moneyball, 35. Captain Sal Bando, 36. Bill King, 37. Finley's Gimmicks, 38. Origins, 39. Do The Wave, 40. Wild-Card Drama, 41. Jason Giambi, 42. Herb Washington, 43. Make an A's Mix Tape, 44. Second Mack Dynasty, 45. Campy Suspended, 46. Out of the First Round: 2006, 47. Velarde's Unassisted Triple Play, 48. Fingers, Rudi Traded, 49. Sean Doolittle, 50. The $100,000 Infield, 51. Go to Ricky's Sports Theater and Grill, 52. Oakland Oaks, 53. Hammer Time, 54. Bobby Shantz, 55. Great A's Nicknames, 56. Too Many Mistakes: The 2003 ALDS, 57. Pie Someone, 58. Joe DiMaggio, 59. Vida Blue, 60. Spot "Moneyball" Liberties, 61. Frank Thomas, 62. The Five Aces, 63. Ride a Skateboard to the Coliseum, 64. Broadcast Business, 65. Chief Bender, 66. Sewage and Sprinklers, 67. Move to Oakland, 68. Great '80s Outfield, 69. Josh Donaldson, 70. See the A's New Spring Home, 71. The Mike Andrews Incident, 72. Satchel Paige, 73. Join Athletics Nation, 74. Charlie O. the Mule, 75. Miguel Tejada, 76. Gus Zernial and Marilyn Monroe, 77. The Swingin' A's, 78. Debbi Fields, 79. The Longest Game, 80. Doc Powers, 81. White Shoes, 82. Stadium Search, 83. Integration, 84. Balfour Rage, 85. Crash Davis, 86. Eric Chavez, 87. Join the Historical Society, 88. Voos and Mickey, 89. Marco Scutaro, 90. Other Hall of Famers, 91. Josh Reddick, 92. Move to K.C., 93. Roy Steele, 94. Visit Stadium Sites, 95. Eric Byrnes, 96. Yankees Farm Club, 97. Brandon McCarthy, 98. Mt. Davis, 99. Nick Swisher, 100. Go to Fanfest, Acknowledgments, Bibliography, CHAPTER 1 Rickey Henderson Leading off, of course: No. 24, Rickey Henderson. On June 24, 1979, the A's dropped a doubleheader to Texas, forgettable enough in a terrible season, except for the fact that one of the greatest baseball players of all time made his debut in left field. In the first game, the 20-year-old went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, a statistic that became synonymous with Henderson. The one-time Oakland Tech football star would soon team with a new A's manager to turn the franchise's fortunes around — saving major-league baseball in the East Bay. From his first moments, Rickey Henderson was in a hurry. He was born in the back seat of an Oldsmobile en route to the hospital in Chicago on Christmas Day, 1958. In Henderson's autobiography with John Shea, Off Base, Confessions of a Thief, he credits his speed to chasing chickens as a small child at his grandmother's home in Alabama; after moving to Oakland, he raced city buses. Baseball wasn't his early passion, though. Football was Henderson's game, and he had to be dragged to the diamond by his brother and by some neighborhood coaches who realized they needed the area's top athlete on their teams, even if they had to bribe him. "I hated