Today on the blog I thought it'd be fun to create a 1975 dedicated manager card for Al Dark, who was at the herm of that three-peat Oakland A's team, coming off of a World Championship season in 1974:
Dark
took the team to a 90-72 record that season, and eventually to the
aforementioned third straight championship for the Oakland franchise
since taking over managerial duties after Dick Williams headed South to
manage the California Angels after guiding them to their first two
Series wins.
Funny enough, after the 1975 season that had Oakland win 98 games, Dark
was let go as manager after the team was beaten in the A.L. Championship
series by the Boston Red Sox, and with Free Agency looming, the Oakland
A’s would see themselves go from elite team to cellar-dwellers
overnight.
As a player, Dark cannot be overlooked, as he was a versatile player who played almost every position throughout his 14-year Big League career, winning the 1948 Rookie of the Year Award while finishing third in MVP voting.
He’d end up collecting over 2000 hits, hitting .289 and scoring 1064 runs, all while entering the league at the age of 26 (after 15 games in 1946) because of World War II. If not for the war he had a decent shot at 3000 hits, among other milestones like 1500 runs and 500 doubles.
A true baseball "lifer".
As a player, Dark cannot be overlooked, as he was a versatile player who played almost every position throughout his 14-year Big League career, winning the 1948 Rookie of the Year Award while finishing third in MVP voting.
He’d end up collecting over 2000 hits, hitting .289 and scoring 1064 runs, all while entering the league at the age of 26 (after 15 games in 1946) because of World War II. If not for the war he had a decent shot at 3000 hits, among other milestones like 1500 runs and 500 doubles.
