1991 Oakland Athletics season

March 2026 November 2013 Oakland Athletics 1991 American League West Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Oakland, California 84–78 (.519) Walter A. Haas, Jr. Sandy Alderson Tony La Russa KPIX/KICU-TV(Monte Moore, Ray Fosse)Sports Channel Bay Area(Bill Rigney, Greg Papa, Reggie Jackson) KSFO(Bill King, Lon Simmons, Ray Fosse, Sylvester Jackson) 4th The Oakland Athletics' 1991 season was the team's 24th in Oakland, California. It was also the 91st season in franchise history. The team finished fourth in the American League West with a record of 84–78. The 1991 season saw the Athletics' American League dominance come to an abrupt end. Between 1988 and 1990, the team had won three American League pennants and one World Series title; in the process, they won a combined 306 regular season games. In light of these accomplishments, the Athletics were initially favored to win a fourth consecutive American League pennant. A fourth consecutive World Series appearance, however, was not to be, marking the 1991 Athletics a failed season. In 1991, poor pitching (from both the starting rotation and the bullpen) served to take the Athletics out of contention. From 1988 to 1990, the Athletics had posted a team earned run average (ERA) of roughly 3.24 (easily the American League's best over that span); in 1991, however, they posted a sickly team ERA of 4.57 (the American League's second-worst). Of particular note were the struggles of ace Dave Stewart, whose 1991 ERA (5.18) was more than twice his 1990 ERA (2.56). 1990 Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch fared almost as poorly; his earned run average swelled from 2.95 (1990) to 4.58 (1991). In 1990, he had won a league-high 27 games; in 1991, he won a mere 12. The Athletics' 1991 campaign, as such, is remembered mainly for the record-breaking exploits of Rickey Henderson. On May 1, he stole his 938th career base; in doing so, he succeeded Lou Brock as MLB's career stolen base leader. Henderson would end the 1991 season with 994 stolen bases. Oakland would return to contention in 1992 with a record of 96–66. The 1991 season still, however, marked the end of the Athletics as a dynastic power. The 1992 team failed to dominate the league in the manner that the 1988–90 teams had; following that team's six-game ALCS defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland wouldn't reach the postseason until 2000. Third baseman Carney Lansford missed most of the season with a knee injury suffered over the winter in a snowmobiling accident. Offseason December 3, 1990: Willie Wilson was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Willie Wilson page at Baseball Reference December 4, 1990: Darren Lewis and a player to be named later were traded by the Athletics to the San Francisco Giants for Ernest Riles. The Athletics completed the deal by sending Pedro Pena (minors) to the Giants on December 17.Darren Lewis page at Baseball Reference December 19, 1990: Scott Sanderson was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Scott Sanderson page at Baseball Reference December 20, 1990: Ozzie Canseco was released by the Athletics.Ozzie Canseco page at Baseball Reference December 31, 1990: Scott Sanderson was purchased from the Athletics by the New York Yankees. January 7, 1991: Vance Law was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Vance Law page at Baseball Reference January 14, 1991: Webster Garrison was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Webster Garrison page at Baseball Reference January 15, 1991: Dave Veres was traded by the Athletics to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Kevin Campbell.Kevin Campbell page at Baseball Reference January 16, 1991: Troy Neel was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Larry Arndt. https://www.baseball-reference.com/n/neeltr01.shtml Troy Neel Stats Baseball-Reference.com February 8, 1991: Tony Batista was signed by the Oakland Athletics as an amateur free agent. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/batisto01.shtml Tony Batista Stats Baseball-Reference.com Regular season On May 15, 1991, President George H.W. Bush attended a baseball game in Baltimore with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The two saw the Oakland Athletics play the Baltimore Orioles for two innings.http://www.baseball-almanac.com/prz_cgb.shtml President George Bush Baseball Game Attendance Log Opening Day starters Harold Baines José Canseco Mike Gallego Dave Henderson Rickey Henderson Mark McGwire Ernest Riles Terry Steinbach Dave Stewart Walt Weiss Season standings Oakland Athletics Record vs. opponents OAK Notable transactions May 18, 1991: Andy Hawkins was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Andy Hawkins page at Baseball Reference July 26, 1991: Lee Tinsley and Apolinar Garcia (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the Cleveland Indians for Brook Jacoby.Brook Jacoby page at Baseball Reference July 31, 1991: Matt Grott and Russell Cormier (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the Montreal Expos for Ron Darling.Ron Darling page at Baseball Reference August 5, 1991: Mark Acre was signed by the Oakland Athletics as an amateur free agent. https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/acrema01.shtml Mark Acre Stats Baseball-Reference.com August 20, 1991: Andy Hawkins was released by the Athletics. Draft picks June 3, 1991: Scott Sheldon was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 8th round of the 1991 amateur draft. Player signed June 5, 1991. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sheldsc01.shtml Scott Sheldon Stats Baseball-Reference.com June 3, 1991: Damon Mashore was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 9th round of the 1991 amateur draft. Player signed June 5, 1991. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mashoda01.shtml Damon Mashore Stats Baseball-Reference.com June 3, 1991: George Williams was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 24th round of the 1991 amateur draft. Player signed June 10, 1991. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/willige03.shtml George Williams Stats Baseball-Reference.com Roster 1991 Oakland Athletics Roster Pitchers 38 Dana Allison 53 John Briscoe 54 Todd Burns 55 Kevin Campbell 17 Ron Darling 22 Kirk Dressendorfer 43 Dennis Eckersley 45 Johnny Guzman 32 Reggie Harris 41 Andy Hawkins 40 Rick Honeycutt 58 Joe Klink 21 Mike Moore 19 Gene Nelson 30 Eric Show 37 Joe Slusarski 34 Dave Stewart 59 Todd Van Poppel 50 Bruce Walton 35 Bob Welch 29 Curt Young Catchers 52 Troy Afenir 31 Scott Hemond  6 Jamie Quirk 36 Terry Steinbach Infielders 12 Lance Blankenship 46 Mike Bordick 45 Scott Brosius  9 Mike Gallego 26 Brook Jacoby  4 Carney Lansford  2 Vance Law 14 Fred Manrique 25 Mark McGwire 11 Ernest Riles 22 Walt Weiss 57 Ron Witmeyer Outfielders 33 José Canseco 42 Dave Henderson 24 Rickey Henderson 23 Dann Howitt 13 Doug Jennings 48 Brad Komminsk 16 Willie Wilson Other Batters  3 Harold Baines Manager 10 Tony La Russa Coaches 20 Rick Burleson 18 Dave Duncan  5 Art Kusnyer 15 Rene Lachemann  8 Dave McKay 47 Tommie Reynolds Rickey Henderson's stolen base record On May 1, 1991, Henderson broke one of baseball's most famous records when he stole the 939th base of his career, one more than Lou Brock. However, Henderson's achievement was somewhat overshadowed because Nolan Ryan, at age 44, set a record that same night by throwing a no-hitter against Toronto, the seventh of his career. Two years earlier, Ryan had previously achieved glory at Henderson's expense by making him his 5,000th strikeout victim. Henderson took an odd delight in the occurrence, saying, "If you haven't been struck out by Nolan Ryan, you're nobody."http://www.smackbomb.com/nolanryan/art-imjustaman.html The Nolan Ryan Express Nolan in the News smackbomb.com/nolanryan October 6, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070928042943/http://www.smackbomb.com/nolanryan/art-imjustaman.html September 28, 2007 dead Rickey's speech (at right) after breaking Lou Brock's all-time steals record sounds like the standard victory/award speech. Henderson thanked God and his mother, as well as the people that helped him in baseball. All that is remembered, however, is the "I am the greatest of all time" quote, which has been taken by many to support the notion that Henderson is selfish and arrogant.Meet the Real Rickey Henderson Zingler, David Simply Baseball Notebook September 2002 http://z.lee28.tripod.com/sbnscoverstories/id12.html June 24, 2007 Years later, Henderson revealed that he had gone over his planned remarks ahead of time with Brock, and the Cardinals Hall of Famer "had no problem with it. In fact, he helped me write what I was going to say that day." Catfish Hunter's number retired right OaklandRetired27.PNG Catfish Hunter 27 Oakland Athletics 1991 Jim "Catfish" Hunter's number 27 was retired by the Athletics in a pre-game ceremony on June 9, the first in the franchise's 90 years.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JiZZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-EYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6232,930622 Union Democrat Associated Press Sonora, California 'Catfish' has number retired by Oakland June 10, 1991 2B https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=B2QfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rdQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3447,1082104 Gadsden Times Associated Press photo Catfish's number retired June 10, 1991 B3 Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1987, the right-handed starter won 161 regular season games in ten seasons for the A's, the first three in Kansas City and the last seven in Oakland. He won 20 or more games in each of his last four seasons in Oakland and was 4–0 with one save in seven World Series appearances. Hunter won the Cy Young Award in his final season in Oakland in 1974, as the A's won their third consecutive World Series. His record in the 1974 regular season was 25–12 with 23 complete games; he led the league in wins and earned run average (2.49). Six years earlier in the first season in Oakland in 1968, Hunter threw the first perfect game in franchise history on May 8 at home (and also had three hits and three runs batted in).https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zrNVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6581%2C2257303 Eugene Register-Guard Associated Press 'Catfish' spins first perfect regular AL game in 46 years May 9, 1968 1D Player stats = Indicates team leader Batting Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Terry Steinbach 129 456 125 .274 6 67 1B Mark McGwire 154 483 97 .201 22 75 2B Mike Gallego 159 482 119 .247 12 49 3B Ernest Riles 108 281 60 .214 5 32 SS Mike Bordick 90 235 56 .238 0 21 LF Rickey Henderson 134 470 126 .268 18 57 CF Dave Henderson 150 572 158 .276 25 85 RF José Canseco 154 572 152 .266 44 122 DH Harold Baines 141 488 144 .295 20 90 Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI Willie Wilson 113 294 70 .238 0 28 Jamie Quirk 76 203 53 .261 1 17 Brook Jacoby 56 188 40 .213 0 20 Lance Blankenship 90 185 46 .249 3 21 Vance Law 74 134 28 .209 0 9 Walt Weiss 40 133 30 .226 0 13 Scott Brosius 36 68 16 .235 2 4 Dann Howitt 21 42 7 .167 1 3 Brad Komminsk 24 25 3 .120 0 2 Scott Hemond 23 23 5 .217 0 0 Fred Manrique 9 21 3 .143 0 0 Ron Witmeyer 11 19 1 .053 0 0 Carney Lansford 5 16 1 .063 0 1 Troy Afenir 5 11 1 .091 0 0 Doug Jennings 8 9 1 .111 0 0 Pitching Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched, IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins, L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Dave Stewart 35 226.0 11 11 5.18 144 Bob Welch 35 220.0 12 13 4.58 101 Mike Moore 33 210.0 17 8 2.96 153 Joe Slusarski 20 109.1 5 7 5.27 60 Andy Hawkins 15 77.0 4 4 4.79 40 Ron Darling 12 75.0 3 7 4.08 60 Kirk Dressendorfer 7 34.2 3 3 5.45 17 Todd Van Poppel 1 4.2 0 0 9.64 6 Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Eric Show 23 51.2 1 2 5.92 20 Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Dennis Eckersley 67 5 4 43 2.96 87 Joe Klink 62 10 3 2 4.35 34 Steve Chitren 56 1 4 4 4.33 47 Gene Nelson 44 1 5 0 6.84 23 Rick Honeycutt 43 2 4 0 3.58 26 Curt Young 41 4 2 0 5.00 27 Kevin Campbell 14 1 0 0 2.74 16 Bruce Walton 12 1 0 0 6.23 10 John Briscoe 11 0 0 0 7.07 9 Dana Allison 11 1 1 0 7.36 4 Todd Burns 9 1 0 0 3.38 3 Johnny Guzmán 5 1 0 0 9.00 3 Reggie Harris 2 0 0 0 12.00 2 Vance Law 1 0 0 0 0.00 0 Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Tacoma Tigers Pacific Coast League Jeff Newman AA Huntsville Stars Southern League Casey Parsons A Modesto A's California League Ted Kubiak A Madison Muskies Midwest League Gary Jones A-Short Season Southern Oregon A's Northwest League Grady Fuson Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League Dick Scott LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: AZL Athletics References 2 External links 1991 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1991 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 Category:Oakland Athletics seasons Oak Oakland Category:1990s in Oakland, California