Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2012 8:32:38 GMT -5
The Oakland A's of the early 70's got into a lot of locker room brawls. Any A's team owned by Charlie O. Finley, FTW. Take Ted Turner's arrogance & bravado, triple-knot the purse strings, you have good ol' Charlie - regarded as the cheapest man whom ever owned a team. George Steinbrenner without the huge payroll. He stuck his nose in the team's business constantly. Mike Andrews had a bad World Series game that cost the A's the win. Finley decided to put him on the disabled list to prevent him from playing. Baseball said you can't do that; he's not hurt. Charlie then had Mike write a note to baseball saying he was injured. Baseball said no. Charlie then demanded that Mike quit the team. Baseball got involved again, fined and suspended the man. Put it like this: Dick Williams managed the A's to titles in '72 & '73. He quit after '73 because he hated the thought of working for that man one day more. Billy Williams (best remembered as a Cub) won his lone ring in '74 with the A's and said he hated every minute of it. (According to Bill Veeck's book, Charlie was almost part-owner of the White Sox in 1959-60. And in 1975, the White Sox were in danger of moving to Seattle. Charlie threatened to move the A's to Chicago if that ever happened.) Charlie was the one who made it possible for World Series games to be played at night. Charlie also wanted baseball to have a "designated runner". "You have a designated hitter, why not a guy designated to run for somebody?" I miss that crazy guy. Never a dull moment when Charlie O. Finley was around. Made Steinbrenner & Ted Turner look like angels. (Rest in peace, my friend.)
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unc40
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 3,623
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Post by unc40 on Dec 31, 2012 21:04:58 GMT -5
The 1940 "Crybaby" Cleveland Indians tried to get their manager Oscar Vitt fired during the season. He did get fired but only after the Indians lost the American League pennant to the Tigers by one game. In fairness to the Indians players Vitt was known to not get along with players he managed.
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darthalexander
Hank Scorpio
I have a feeling I may end up getting banned soon.
Posts: 7,030
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Post by darthalexander on Jan 1, 2013 1:35:08 GMT -5
Last year's Habs were a gem.
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MolotovMocktail
Grimlock
Home of the 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time 5-time Super Bowl Champion 49ers-and Wrestlemania 31
Posts: 13,953
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Post by MolotovMocktail on Jan 1, 2013 5:06:42 GMT -5
The Oakland A's of the early 70's got into a lot of locker room brawls. The 1919 Chicago White Sox did not get along with one another. I think it was the 1974 team where clubhouse fistfights were a daily occurrence. And pretty much everyone hated Charlie Finley, and were motivated to win because they thought winning the Series would piss him off even more than phoning the season in.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2013 8:04:57 GMT -5
Anybody want to talk dysfunctional, may I present the 1974-76 Spirits of St. Louis of the old ABA?
-One day, Marvin Barnes, the #1 draft pick (and the star they planned to build the team around), just up and disappeared - for a couple of weeks. (He played a grand total of 20 games to that point.) Found him in a pool room in Dayton. Turned out teammate Joe Caldwell established a trust with the guy, and offered for Marvin to see his agent to get a better deal. (Imagine in this day and age of technology that a player can just leave without any trace.)
-Another Marvin story, he would just walk in when he felt like it. He'd miss practices, rarely caught the plane and yet show up for games 10 minutes before tip-off. Wearing a mink coat and carrying a plate of steak, greens, black-eyed peas. The guy lived by his own rules; they called it "Marvin Being Marvin". He'd be all full of that food and go for 40 points. Owners just threw up their hands and said to play the man.
-The team played in San Diego one evening; same night as the Ali-Foreman fight. When it was announced Ali won, the players went crazy and started slapping hands with everybody and danced around. (The Spirits would lose a big lead and the game.)
-Fly Williams was (one of) the poster-child for everything wrong with the team. He'd go on a fast break and have a clear lane for the lay-up or an easy dunk. The guy would try a 360 dunk and spin himself into the floor, and the ball would fly out of his hands and over the backboard. (Marvin would do something just as crazy; he'd be on a fast break, stop and back up 3 steps to launch a 3 pointer.)
It's not that they were even a bad team. They had Maurice Lucas and Moses Malone. (And Bob Costas was their broadcaster in his first professional job.)
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