1995 Oakland Athletics season

The Oakland Athletics' 1995 season was the team's 28th in Oakland, California. It was also the 95th season in franchise history. The team finished fourth in the American League West with a record of 67–77.

1995 Oakland Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkOakland–Alameda County Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record67–77 (.465)
Divisional place4th
OwnersStephen Schott
Kenneth Hofmann
General managersSandy Alderson
ManagersTony La Russa
TelevisionKRON-TV/KBHK-TV
(Dick Stockton, Joe Morgan)
Sports Channel Pacific
(Ray Fosse, Greg Papa)
RadioKNEW
(Bill King, Lon Simmons, Ray Fosse)
← 1994 Seasons 1996 →

The Athletics, for a third consecutive year, found themselves mired in mediocrity. As had been the case in both 1993 and 1994, an average-to-poor offense (headlined by Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson, and Rubén Sierra) was sabotaged by one of the league's worst pitching staffs. For a third consecutive season, no Athletics starter posted an earned run average (ERA) of less than 4.50; only one such starter, Todd Stottlemyre, managed to record double-digit wins in the strike-shortened campaign.

The Athletics, despite their weak pitching, managed to contend in the first half of the season. On July 1, a win over the division-leading California Angels brought them within 1.5 games of first place; it also ran their record to a surprising 34–28. As had been the case in 1994, the A's followed their surprising start with a prolonged slump; between July 2 and August 15, the team went only 13–28. The collapse, along with an Angels surge (the Angels went 30–11 over the same span) left the A's 17.5 games out of first place. As had also been the case in 1994, Oakland mounted a dramatic comeback; an Angels collapse, combined with a surge of their own, allowed them to pull within five games of first place on September 20. The September 20th victory would be their last, as Oakland lost each of the regular season's final nine games. They finished the campaign eleven games behind the AL West champion Seattle Mariners.

The Athletics' on-field mediocrity, however, contained a few bright spots. Mark McGwire clubbed 39 home runs in a mere 104 games; he would hit at least 50 in each of the four subsequent seasons. The 1995 season also saw the debut of future superstar Jason Giambi. Giambi, in his first major league season, batted .256 with six home runs in 54 games. Lastly, the season was Tony La Russa's last as Oakland's manager. He, along with most of the Athletics' assistant coaches, would join the St. Louis Cardinals in 1996.

Offseason

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  • November 8, 1994: José Ortiz was signed as an amateur free agent by the Athletics.[1]

Regular season

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Walter A.
Haas

Owner:
1981-95(OAK)

Honored 1995

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Seattle Mariners 79 66 .545 46‍–‍27 33‍–‍39
California Angels 78 67 .538 1 39‍–‍33 39‍–‍34
Texas Rangers 74 70 .514 41‍–‍31 33‍–‍39
Oakland Athletics 67 77 .465 11½ 38‍–‍34 29‍–‍43

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 4–9 9–4 6–1 2–10 8–5 4–5 7–5 3–6 6–7 5–7 6–7 4–1 7–6
Boston 9–4 11–3 5–3 6–7 8–5 3–2 8–4 5–4 5–8 8–4 7–5 3–4 8–5
California 4–9 3–11 10–2 3–2 6–2 5–7 5–2 8–5 7–5 6–7 7–6 6–7 8–2
Chicago 1–6 3–5 2–10 5–8 8–4 8–5 6–7 10–3 3–2–1 7–5 4–9 5–7 6–5
Cleveland 10–2 7–6 2–3 8–5 10–3 11–1 9–4 9–4 6–6 7–0 5–4 6–3 10–3
Detroit 5–8 5–8 2–6 4–8 3–10 3–4 8–5 7–5 5–8 2–3 5–5 4–8 7–6
Kansas City 5–4 2–3 7–5 5–8 1–11 4–3 10–2 6–7 3–7 5–8 7–5 8–6 7–5
Milwaukee 5–7 4–8 2–5 7–6 4–9 5–8 2–10 9–4 5–6 7–2 3–2 5–7 7–5
Minnesota 6–3 4–5 5–8 3–10 4–9 5–7 7–6 4–9 3–4 5–7 4–8 5–8 1–4
New York 7–6 8–5 5–7 2–3–1 6–6 8–5 7–3 6–5 4–3 4–9 4–9 6–3 12–1
Oakland 7–5 4–8 7–6 5–7 0–7 3–2 8–5 2–7 7–5 9–4 7–6 5–8 3–7
Seattle 7–6 5–7 6–7 9–4 4–5 5–5 5–7 2–3 8–4 9–4 6–7 10–3 3–4
Texas 1–4 4–3 7–6 7–5 3–6 8–4 6–8 7–5 8–5 3–6 8–5 3–10 9–3
Toronto 6–7 5–8 2–8 5–6 3–10 6–7 5–7 5–7 4–1 1–12 7–3 4–3 3–9


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1995 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Terry Steinbach 114 406 113 .278 15 65
1B Mark McGwire 104 317 87 .274 39 90
2B Brent Gates 136 524 133 .254 5 56
SS Mike Bordick 126 428 113 .264 8 44
3B Craig Paquette 105 283 64 .226 13 49
LF Rickey Henderson 112 407 122 .300 9 54
CF Stan Javier 130 442 123 .278 8 56
RF Rubén Sierra 70 264 70 .265 12 42
DH Gerónimo Berroa 141 546 152 .278 22 88

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
Scott Brosius 123 389 102 .262 17 46
Jason Giambi 54 176 45 .256 6 25
Mike Aldrete 60 125 34 .272 4 21
Mike Gallego 43 120 28 .233 0 8
Danny Tartabull 24 88 23 .261 2 7
Eric Helfand 38 86 14 .163 0 7
Andy Tomberlin 46 85 18 .212 4 10
George Williams 29 79 23 .291 3 14
José Herrera 33 70 17 .243 0 2
Ernie Young 26 50 10 .200 2 5
Fausto Cruz 8 23 5 .217 0 5
Brian Harper 2 7 0 .000 0 0

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
Todd Stottlemyre 31 209.2 14 7 4.55 205
Steve Ontiveros 22 129.2 9 6 4.37 77
Ron Darling 21 104.0 4 7 6.23 69
Dave Stewart 16 81.0 3 7 6.89 58
Mike Harkey 14 66.0 4 6 6.27 28
Doug Johns 11 54.2 5 3 4.61 25

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
Todd Van Poppel 36 138.1 4 8 4.88 122
Ariel Prieto 14 58.0 2 6 4.97 37
Steve Wojciechowski 14 48.2 2 3 5.18 13
John Wasdin 5 17.1 1 1 4.67 6

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
Dennis Eckersley 52 4 6 29 4.83 40
Rick Honeycutt 49 5 1 2 2.42 21
Mark Acre 43 1 2 0 5.71 47
Carlos Reyes 40 4 6 0 5.09 48
Jim Corsi 38 2 4 2 2.20 26
Mike Mohler 28 1 1 1 3.04 15
Dave Leiper 24 1 1 0 3.57 10
Don Wengert 19 1 1 0 3.34 16
John Briscoe 16 0 1 0 8.35 19
Chris Eddy 6 0 0 0 7.36 2
Scott Baker 1 0 0 0 9.82 3
Steve Phoenix 1 0 0 0 32.40 3
Ramón Fermín 1 0 0 0 13.50 0

Awards and records

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  • Mark McGwire, Major League Record, Most Home Runs in a season in under 350 At-Bats (39)[9]

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Edmonton Trappers Pacific Coast League Gary Jones
AA Huntsville Stars Southern League Dick Scott
A Modesto A's California League Glenn Ezell
A West Michigan Whitecaps Midwest League Jim Colborn
A-Short Season Southern Oregon A's Northwest League Tony DeFrancesco
Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League Juan Navarrette

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: AZL Athletics

References

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  1. ^ José Ortiz at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Dave Stewart at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Todd Stottlemyre at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Mike Gallego at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Brian Harper at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Mark Bellhorn at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Danny Tartabull at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Ron Darling at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.371, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0