Newest Oakland A's in the HOF!

On Dec 4, 5:57 pm, "Nic" <nicbeatREM... DeleteThis @mlode.com> wrote:
> Dick Williams will go in with the A's logo. God bless him!
>
> NC


Nic, we disagree. It's all too easy for an old-time A's fan to
remember how Williams and Finley ruined the pitching staff of an
excellent 1971 A's team. (I believe that team still holds the record
for road-game wins, astounding in the American League where clubs are
frequently built around freak ballparks.)

Remember the third and last game of the 1971 ALCS? The A's had to
start their long reliever, because no starters were left. Vida Blue is
on the hook in the record books for "losing" the first game, 5-3, but
it was lost by Williams, who put too great a burden on the rookie--
seeming to demand a shut-out or near shut-out pitching performance and
also requiring a perfect suicide squeeze from Blue, with a slow ice-
truck, Dave Duncan, on third. Who can ever forget the horror of that
second inning in Baltimore when the A's had Dave McNally on the ropes
with three extra-base hits in a row, ready to get into the hittable
Orioles' bullpen, when Williams got ultra-defensive.

Some more horror to think about in future years: LaRussa will almost
certainly follow Williams into the Hall of Fame under the current 3-
board stacking of voters, despite every A's fan's knowledge that
LaRussa's incompetence blew the great Levi Strauss A's dynasty from
the World Series of 1988 (to a weak Dodger team with a much better
manager) and 1990 (to an even weaker Reds team whose manager showed
LaRussa what World Series are about.)

But Williams now and LaRussa then go to the Hall of Fame. Shame.

--as ever, Russ