When this card would have come out the A’s were on top of the baseball world, coming off of their third straight championship with a team still intact and seemingly on their way to more success.
With a line-up that featured All-Stars like Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando and Gene Tenace, as well as a pitching staff loaded with arms like Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman and Rollie Fingers, they seemed unstoppable.
However, it was all gone in an instant, with Hunter leaving to sign with the New York Yankees before the 1975 season in the new era of Free Agency, only to be followed by Bando, Rudi, Tenace and Bert Campaneris, and compounded by the blockbuster trade of slugger Reggie Jackson to Baltimore.
Within a couple of seasons Oakland went from baseball’s elite to a last-place team, led by owner Charlie Finley, who tried dealing some of his star players in a fire-sale reminiscent of Connie Mack decades before, only to have Major League leaders nullify the transactions.
What an era of flash, brash and flat-out insanity! Oh, and loads of facial hair!
