PROGRAMMING NOTE: NBC Sports California is looking back at the A's 50 Memorable Moments since the franchise relocated to Oakland in 1968. Below are the next two moments you can vote on. Tune into A's Pregame Live today at 3:30 p.m. to watch highlights of the two moments. After the A's and Orioles conclude, tune into A's Postgame Live to see which moment will move on to the next round!
1. A's sweep Giants in 1989 Earthquake World Series (New winner -- Defeated 20th straight win in 2002)
(From 1989 World Series MVP Dave Stewart)
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Fortunate for us, we played the Giants a lot in spring training, and we beat the crap out of them in spring training, so we were real comfortable playing against them.
I knew I was going to be the Game 1 starter, and I wanted to give it my best shot and put my best foot forward. i ended up shutting them out, then Mike Moore comes back the next night and we end up beating them in Game 2. Then we have the 10-day layoff because of the earthquake. We go to Arizona, we find out we're going to start playing again, and Tony (La Russa) gives me the news that we're going to go Game 3 and Game 4 with the same guys we started with, which I was glad to hear.
Game 3, I pitched extremely well again, deep in the game and then we swept them the next game. So to win the MVP, I really had mixed emotions about it because Rickey Henderson played really, really well, putting on an offensive show for the whole World Series. And Rickey and I are best friends and I had said in the postgame interview that i would split the trophy with Rickey because we both played well.
After everything that had happened with the earthquake, I was pretty involved with the rescue missions too. It was one ball of emotions, wininng (the World Series), being from the Bay Area, the earthquake, helping out with the rescue missions, it was just a really, really good feeling.
Oakland Athletics
There was a while lot of crap talking going on before the series. I remember the mayor of San Francisco saying that we weren't even worthy of being in the World Series. That kind of lit the fire.
I think the Giants would say it if they were being honest, they knew we were the better team coming in there, so coming in and beat the Giants, we expected to do it and there was pleasure in doing it because we really showed who was the best team in the Bay Area.
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2. Beating Reds in 1972 World Series for first title in Oakland
(From Ben Ross)
On October 22, 1972, the A's won their first World Series in Oakland, defeating the Reds 3-2 in Game 7 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. It was the A's first World Series title since 1930, when the team was located in Philadelphia.
Gene Tenace led the way, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. He was named World Series MVP, finishing the series 8-for-23 with four home runs and nine RBI. Catfish Hunter earned the win in relief and Rollie Fingers pitched two scoreless innings to record the save, retiring Pete Rose for the final out.
The A's would go on to win the next two World Series as well, joining the New York Yankees as the only teams to ever win three straight World Series titles. The A's have won a total of nine World Series in their history, including four in Oakland.
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