Charles O. Finley ran the Athletics like so many had before him and like only one more would after him. He was an owner-operator. He rolled the duties of owner, presiding officer, and general manager up into one man. When he vacated those GM duties to Billy Martin and then sold the team in the early 1980s, only Calvin Griffith remained to exemplify the one-man-show approach. And then Griffith sold in September of 1984, and that brand of management died.
We are probably better off as fans for the extinguishing of that model, but it did go a long way toward establishing the style, character, and identity of a team. In Finley’s case, it famously lent his Athletics a feisty, fighting spirit that sometimes seemed more like a club of brawlers than a roster of ballplayers. But his A’s won three straight World Series from 1972 to 1974, the last team to accomplish the feat. They played five straight years in the League Championship Series, which no AL team has matched before or since, and which has only been exceed by the Atlanta Braves, who appeared in eight consecutive NLCS from 1991 to 199 (if you skip the strike year).
And then Finley lost the touch, the dawn of free agency led to an exodus of all his starts from the chaos of “Those Swingin’ A’s,” and the team sputtered. Yet the team did rise again to make the playoffs in 1981. Before we see just how Finley did it, a note. For this purpose, I have considered Finley the GM for the seasons 1962 to 1980, from the day in 1961 when Frank Lane resigned until Finley gave player decisions to Billy Martin. In some seasons various sources list a “general manager,” for example Hank Peters in 1965. The reality appears to be, however, that Finley made player decisions, not anyone with the usual title. So Finley gets all the credit and blame.
Team Performance
- RECORD: Won-Loss record while GM was in office
- PCT: Winning percentage
- vs EXP: An adaptation of the expected wins formula Bill James introduced in his managers book. Except we use pythagenpat records instead of actual records to calculate it.
- OCT: Postseason apperances (starting in 1969).
- OCT v EXP: Measures postseason appearances against the basic probability of any random team making it.
- WS APP: World Series appearances
- WS APP v EXP: Similar to OCT v EXP
- WS WINS: Championships won
- WS WINS v EXP: Ditto
- MGR PYTH: This is the team’s variance against its Pythagenpat record as a measure of how much value the GM’s manager brought to the team.
| NAME | RECORD | PCT. | VS EXP | OCT | OCT VS EXP | WS APP | WS APP VS EXP | WS WINS | WS WINS VS EXP | MGR PYTH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BARROW | 2281-1394 | .621 | +160 | N/A | N/A | 14 | +11 | 10 | +8.5 | +72 |
| BAVASI 1 | 2386-2166 | .524 | +54 | 2 | +0.2 | 8 | +5.1 | 4 | +2.5 | +42 |
| BROWN | 1816-1625 | .528 | +48 | 5 | +2.5 | 2 | -0.2 | 2 | +0.9 | -5 |
| CAMPANIS | 1576-1280 | .552 | +44 | 6 | +4.9 | 4 | +2.5 | 1 | +0.2 | +8 |
| CAMPBELL | 1733-1605 | .519 | +40 | 1 | -1.5 | 1 | -0.8 | 1 | +0.1 | +31 |
| CASHEN | 1342-1177 | .533 | +27 | 4 | +1.2 | 1 | -0.3 | 1 | +0.4 | -1 |
| DALTON | 2175-1965 | .525 | +64 | 4 | +1.4 | 5 | +3.0 | 2 | +0.9 | +9 |
| FEENEY | 1956-1655 | .542 | +64 | 0 | -0.2 | 3 | +0.3 | 1 | -0.3 | +14 |
| FINLEY | 1488-1577 | .485 | -17 | 5 | +3.1 | 3 | +1.4 | 3 | +2.2 | -14 |
| GILES | 1136-1165 | .494 | +2 | 0 | N/A | 2 | +0.1 | 1 | +0.1 | +11 |
| GILLICK | 2276-1993 | .533 | +95 | 11 | +5.7 | 3 | +1.0 | 3 | +2.1 | +23 |
| GRIFFITH | 2967-2964 | .500 | +24 | N/A | N/A | 3 | -1.88 | 1 | -1.44 | +35 |
| HOWSAM | 1331-1049 | .559 | +63 | 5 | +3.3 | 4 | +2.8 | 2 | +1.4 | +44 |
| MACPHAIL1 | 904-777 | .538 | +69 | N/A | N/A | 2 | +0.6 | 1 | +0.3 | +6 |
| MACPHAIL2 | 1181-1036 | .526 | +54 | 0 | -0.7 | 0 | -1.4 | 0 | -0.8 | +31 |
| O’CONNELL | 1042-892 | .539 | +58 | 1 | -0.5 | 2 | +1 | 0 | -0.5 | +29 |
| QUINN | 2147-2126 | .502 | +20 | 0 | -0.5 | 3 | -0.1 | 1 | -0.5 | -7 |
| RICKEY | 3265–3015 | .520 | +87 | N/A | N/A | 8 | +2.7 | 4 | +1.5 | +46 |
| SCHUERHOLZ | 2348-1794 | .567 | +140 | 16 | +10.8 | 6 | +3.4 | 2 | +1.1 | +69 |
| WEISS | 1503-1303 | .536 | +28 | N/A | N/A | 10 | +7.9 | 7 | +5.9 | +3 |
| BAVASI 2 | 756-869 | .465 | -41 | 0 | -2.9 | 0 | -0.6 | 0 | -0.3 | -6 |
| ROBINSON | 683-772 | .469 | -6 | 0 | -1.5 | 0 | -0.5 | 0 | -0.3 | -5 |
| SEGHI | 883-989 | .472 | -11 | 0 | -2.0 | 0 | -0.9 | 0 | -0.5 | -4 |
| SMITH | 566-776 | .422 | -49 | 0 | -2.1 | 0 | -0.6 | 0 | -0.3 | -38 |
Finley inherited the awful Arnold Johnson Athletics. The ones that consistently traded away their good players to the Yankees for peanuts and a slap on the back. It took time to build up the talent base, and in the meantime, the team lost 100 games twice, 90 two times, and 85 or more twice. Hard to blame that on Finley, especially since he he was out shopping for amateur talent such as Catfish Hunter. Then the draft came along in 1965, and Charlie got the first pick. He drafted well for a few years and the team developed into a powerhouse. Sadly, Finley’s personality and penuriousness drove away players when free agency arrived, cratering the team until another wave of draftees such as Rickey Henderson came along. So that explains how a guy with six playoff appearances ends up with such a mediocre record. The veteran exodus of 1976 and 1977 also explains why his performance against expected wins is poor. From 1977 to 1979, the A’s were 52 games worse than expected based on the our calculation. That’s what happens when your entire All-Star/HoME-level core defects at once. A lot like Connie Mack’s sell-offs in the 1910s and 1930s, really.
GM Performance
Now let’s look at how the GMs themselves did at constructing competitive clubs.
- BASE: Talent in WAR that a GM inherited
- GM: Talent in WAR that a GM acquired
- CONT GOAL: The amount of talent the GM needed to acquire to field a contender, a .550 team
- med%GOAL: Median seasonal %GOAL
- WS GOAL: The amount of talent the GM needed to acquire to field a typical WS entrant in his era
- med%GOAL: Median seasonal %GOAL
| NAME | BASE | GM | CONT GOAL | med%GOAL | WS GOAL | med%GOAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BARROW | 217 | 923 | 719 | 119% | 959 | 94% |
| BAVASI 1 | 373 | 690 | 791 | 100% | 972 | 88% |
| BROWN | 281 | 552 | 557 | 101% | 696 | 81% |
| CAMPANIS | 342 | 407 | 364 | 119% | 469 | 90% |
| CAMPBELL | 354 | 386 | 493 | 89% | 596 | 68% |
| CASHEN | 255 | 361 | 370 | 85% | 462 | 61% |
| DALTON | 500 | 426 | 337 | 84% | 449 | 68% |
| FEENEY | 185 | 766 | 728 | 101% | 913 | 66% |
| FINLEY | 107 | 485 | 672 | 85% | 766 | 74% |
| GILES | 144 | 320 | 441 | 69% | 591 | 55% |
| GILLICK | 385 | 684 | 671 | 107% | 807 | 91% |
| GRIFFITH | 198 | 1025 | 1313 | 79% | 1703 | 60% |
| HOWSAM | 338 | 229 | 243 | 81% | 350 | 53% |
| MACPHAIL1 | 183 | 193 | 257 | 46% | 356 | 36% |
| MACPHAIL2 | 300 | 185 | 258 | 69% | 346 | 57% |
| O’CONNELL | 197 | 270 | 295 | 91% | 354 | 71% |
| QUINN | 222 | 729 | 824 | 97% | 1066 | 72% |
| RICKEY | 428 | 879 | 1132 | 78% | 1580 | 58% |
| SCHUERHOLZ | 487 | 576 | 539 | 105% | 667 | 88% |
| WEISS | 252 | 358 | 460 | 107% | 615 | 67% |
| BAVASI 2 | 191 | 128 | 234 | 52% | 282 | 47% |
| ROBINSON | 124 | 183 | 260 | 73% | 315 | 60% |
| SEGHI | 115 | 239 | 350 | 72% | 420 | 60% |
| SMITH | 97 | 114 | 247 | 55% | 293 | 47% |
Again, we see how the up-and-down effect of the big rebuild and the great exodus affected Finley’s fortunes. Typically, his moves got his team about 85% of the way to contention and about 74% of the way to the World Series. These right around the group medians as well, so Finley is about average among our pool of good GMs. Actually he’s better than that in terms of contributing to World Series-level teams.
Transactions Detail
OK, let’s see what these guys actually did to build their teams.
- AM FA: Amateur free agent
- PUR: Purchased from another pro team
- FA: Free agent (includes the short-lived free-agent compensation picks of the early 1980s)
- AM DF: Amateur draft (any time of year, only players who signed with the team and played in MLB)
- R5 DF: Rule 5 Draft
- ML DF: Minor League Draft and First Year Draft
- ML XD: Expansion Draft
- TR: Trade
- WV: Waivers
- SLD: Players sold to other teams
- REL: Players released
- NOTE: Unkown transactions not included except in TOT
| NAME | AM FA | PUR | FA | AM DFT | R5 DFT | ML DFT | EX DFT | TR | WV | TOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BARROW | 49 | 45 | 13 | N/A | 4 | 2 | N/A | 74 | 6 | 294 |
| BAVASI 1 | 101 | 42 | 48 | 69 | 6 | 15 | 29 | 135 | 2 | 455 |
| BROWN | 93 | 27 | 20 | 49 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 85 | 3 | 294 |
| CAMPANIS | 40 | 10 | 38 | 79 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 69 | 2 | 247 |
| CAMPBELL | 35 | 30 | 25 | 95 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 92 | 7 | 303 |
| CASHEN | 31 | 8 | 46 | 97 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 116 | 3 | 313 |
| DALTON | 36 | 37 | 91 | 127 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 141 | 7 | 461 |
| FEENEY | 112 | 28 | 20 | 28 | 10 | 21 | 0 | 77 | 15 | 343 |
| FINLEY | 46 | 51 | 41 | 57 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 97 | 7 | 331 |
| GILES | 42 | 40 | 10 | N/A | 11 | 5 | N/A | 45 | 9 | 232 |
| GILLICK | 71 | 40 | 207 | 148 | 19 | 8 | 0 | 130 | 31 | 663 |
| GRIFFITH | 36 | 72 | 18 | N/A | 35 | 2 | N/A | 115 | 23 | 608 |
| HOWSAM | 33 | 23 | 14 | 50 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 95 | 1 | 228 |
| MACPHAIL1 | 45 | 73 | 18 | N/A | 10 | 1 | N/A | 43 | 14 | 246 |
| MACPHAIL2 | 47 | 38 | 18 | 33 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 82 | 7 | 255 |
| O’CONNELL | 19 | 21 | 16 | 59 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 0 | 182 |
| QUINN | 137 | 70 | 33 | 25 | 16 | 15 | 0 | 113 | 8 | 436 |
| RICKEY | 174 | 78 | 32 | N/A | 25 | 11 | N/A | 108 | 24 | 748 |
| SCHUERHOLZ | 62 | 14 | 265 | 142 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 150 | 17 | 659 |
| WEISS | 131 | 66 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 22 | 70 | 9 | 360 |
| BAVASI 2 | 16 | 15 | 157 | 43 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 16 | 322 |
| ROBINSON | 11 | 15 | 130 | 70 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 58 | 15 | 309 |
| SEGHI | 10 | 14 | 33 | 38 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 106 | 5 | 212 |
| SMITH | 11 | 7 | 103 | 34 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 65 | 22 | 254 |
| NAME | SOLD | REL | R5 DFT | ML DFT | EX DFT | TR | WV | TOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BARROW | 65 | 16 | 14 | 2 | N/A | 74 | 13 | 213 |
| BAVASI 1 | 49 | 59 | 27 | 13 | 6 | 135 | 10 | 308 |
| BROWN | 46 | 51 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 85 | 6 | 218 |
| CAMPANIS | 13 | 63 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 69 | 8 | 179 |
| CAMPBELL | 52 | 59 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 92 | 7 | 237 |
| CASHEN | 21 | 45 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 116 | 3 | 208 |
| DALTON | 33 | 89 | 16 | 2 | 11 | 141 | 0 | 300 |
| FEENEY | 62 | 41 | 17 | 23 | 11 | 77 | 13 | 268 |
| FINLEY | 55 | 59 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 97 | 8 | 264 |
| GILES | 52 | 30 | 5 | 3 | N/A | 45 | 9 | 157 |
| GILLICK | 25 | 127 | 22 | 2 | 6 | 130 | 21 | 337 |
| GRIFFITH | 69 | 36 | 3 | 1 | N/A | 115 | 21 | 304 |
| HOWSAM | 22 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 95 | 1 | 164 |
| MACPHAIL1 | 37 | 27 | 3 | 0 | N/A | 43 | 6 | 129 |
| MACPHAIL2 | 28 | 30 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 82 | 3 | 178 |
| O’CONNELL | 21 | 43 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 59 | 0 | 149 |
| QUINN | 82 | 51 | 21 | 15 | 0 | 113 | 5 | 300 |
| RICKEY | 111 | 50 | 36 | 9 | N/A | 108 | 34 | 388 |
| SCHUERHOLZ | 6 | 170 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 150 | 18 | 366 |
| WEISS | 37 | 44 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 70 | 9 | 207 |
| BAVASI 2 | 6 | 83 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 69 | 3 | 169 |
| ROBINSON | 4 | 66 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 58 | 13 | 155 |
| SEGHI | 10 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 1 | 165 |
| SMITH | 4 | 53 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 65 | 15 | 151 |
To his credit, Finley tried a little bit of everything and left no stone unturned. He may not have done all those things well or consistently well, but he did them.
| NAME | AM FA | PUR | FA | AM DFT | R5 DFT | ML DFT | EX DFT | TR | WV | TOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BARROW | 297 | 124 | 154 | N/A | -1 | 0 | N/A | 480 | 7 | 1216 |
| BAVASI 1 | 430 | 70 | 36 | 235 | 1 | 0 | 54 | 257 | -1 | 1106 |
| BROWN | 313 | 2 | 3 | 228 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 216 | -2 | 765 |
| CAMPANIS | 48 | 40 | 2 | 171 | -1 | 1 | 0 | 257 | 0 | 518 |
| CAMPBELL | 9 | 13 | 7 | 352 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 164 | 29 | 580 |
| CASHEN | 56 | 2 | 9 | 251 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 270 | 3 | 590 |
| DALTON | 18 | 47 | 65 | 313 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 285 | 2 | 733 |
| FEENEY | 556 | 6 | 59 | 52 | -1 | 13 | 0 | 189 | 24 | 911 |
| FINLEY | 84 | 20 | -2 | 277 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 190 | 0 | 570 |
| GILES | 178 | 63 | 8 | N/A | -1 | 11 | N/A | 139 | 5 | 452 |
| GILLICK | 132 | 62 | 194 | 295 | 60 | -1 | 0 | 228 | -2 | 978 |
| GRIFFITH | 95 | 233 | 26 | N/A | 39 | -1 | N/A | 416 | 11 | 1087 |
| HOWSAM | 98 | 7 | 2 | 104 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 228 | 0 | 445 |
| MACPHAIL1 | 116 | 100 | 38 | N/A | 19 | 0 | N/A | 219 | 48 | 632 |
| MACPHAIL2 | 244 | 0 | 16 | 113 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 195 | 8 | 632 |
| O’CONNELL | 21 | 4 | 46 | 387 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 91 | 0 | 559 |
| QUINN | 443 | 45 | 183 | 141 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 480 | 1 | 1318 |
| RICKEY | 794 | 116 | 211 | N/A | 122 | 1 | N/A | 262 | 0 | 1898 |
| SCHUERHOLZ | 117 | 9 | 142 | 298 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 246 | 7 | 818 |
| WEISS | 480 | 70 | 5 | 21 | -1 | -1 | 11 | 168 | 7 | 764 |
| BAVASI 2 | 27 | 9 | 96 | 131 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 5 | 290 |
| ROBINSON | 7 | 14 | 69 | 98 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 8 | 264 |
| SEGHI | -4 | 14 | 4 | 32 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 275 | -1 | 323 |
| SMITH | 3 | -2 | 27 | 36 | -2 | 3 | 0 | 140 | 10 | 215 |
| NAME | SOLD | REL | R5 DFT | ML DFT | EX DFT | TR | WV | TOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BARROW | 158 | 3 | 50 | 26 | N/A | 440 | 75 | 794 |
| BAVASI 1 | 15 | 20 | 129 | 20 | 30 | 438 | 19 | 674 |
| BROWN | 18 | 10 | 4 | 29 | 59 | 343 | -2 | 496 |
| CAMPANIS | 22 | 13 | 4 | 23 | 0 | 298 | 17 | 374 |
| CAMPBELL | 39 | 9 | -2 | 0 | 29 | 154 | 1 | 239 |
| CASHEN | -3 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 304 | -1 | 330 |
| DALTON | 18 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 42 | 284 | 0 | 354 |
| FEENEY | 36 | 2 | 27 | 37 | 29 | 415 | 3 | 575 |
| FINLEY | 38 | 25 | 28 | 18 | 16 | 220 | 12 | 385 |
| GILES | 74 | 24 | -2 | 0 | N/A | 147 | 36 | 303 |
| GILLICK | 16 | 20 | 25 | 0 | -2 | 285 | 10 | 357 |
| GRIFFITH | 157 | -2 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 528 | 73 | 832 |
| HOWSAM | 8 | 4 | 27 | -1 | -3 | 251 | 0 | 286 |
| MACPHAIL1 | 45 | 39 | 9 | 0 | N/A | 146 | 4 | 395 |
| MACPHAIL2 | 37 | -2 | 15 | 0 | 95 | 166 | 1 | 332 |
| O’CONNELL | 10 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 12 | 200 | 0 | 253 |
| QUINN | 75 | 38 | 3 | 81 | 0 | 496 | 25 | 711 |
| RICKEY | 337 | 10 | 62 | -4 | N/A | 573 | 8 | 1040 |
| SCHUERHOLZ | 7 | 46 | 2 | -1 | 26 | 246 | 6 | 332 |
| WEISS | 28 | 22 | 13 | 51 | 0 | 326 | 17 | 463 |
| BAVASI 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 147 | 0 | 154 |
| ROBINSON | 3 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 92 | 8 | 129 |
| SEGHI | 2 | 3 | 16 | -2 | 0 | 253 | 0 | 272 |
| SMITH | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 141 | 0 | 144 |
Obviously, the draft, trades, and amateur free agents were Finley’s main sources of inbound talent. Here’s the moves he made that set up the team’s amazing stretch of dominance in the early 1970s. The number in parentheses is the total BBREF WAR the player supplied the A’s during his stay in Oakland:
- 6/8/64: Signed Catfish Hunter as an amateur free agent (32)
- 12/4/64: Signed Rollie Fingers as an amateur free agent (13)
- 6/8/65: Drafted Sal Bando (52), Gene Tenace (24)
- 12/1/65: Received Joe Rudi (22) and Phil Roof (0) for Jim Landis and Jim Rittwage
- 6/7/66: Drafted Reggie Jackson (48)
- 6/6/67: Drafted Vida Blue (29)
- 11/29/71: Received Ken Holtzman (11) for Rick Monday
- 11/21/72: Received Bill North (20) for Bob Locker
Bert Campaneris, by the way, had been signed prior to Finley’s taking over as GM.
You can see here that it took Finley a little while to find top gear. He’d been running the club for two and a half years by June of 1964. But once he got there, he acquired 220 WAR from just 7 players in only four years and seven transactions, then he added two more important contributors right as the team came into its own.
Similarly, Finley built the 1981 ALCS Billyball A’s this way before Martin put the finishing touches on the team:
- 1/10/73: Drafted Mike Norris (8)
- 6/24/73: Signed Steve McCatty as an amateur free agent
- 6/5/73: Drafted Dwayne Murphy (32), Wayne Gross (11), and Matt Keough (6)
- 6/8/76: Drafted Rickey Henderson (34)
- 3/15/77: Received Tony Armas (13), Doug Bair (1), Dave Guisti (1), Rick Langford (12), Doc Medich (0), and Mitchell Page (8) for Chris Batton, Phil Garner, and Tommy Helms
Despite Finley’s eccentricity, iconoclasm, and egomania, he knew how to build a team the old-school way through young players and trades for contributors.
That said, he also had a stains on the resume. Here’s his best and worst trades as well as a few other moves that didn’t work out real well.
TRADES WON
- 12/1/65 (+22): Received Joe Rudi and Phil Roof (22) for Jim Landis and Jim Rittwage (0)
- 3/15/77 (+22): Received Tony Armas, Doug Bair, Dave Guisti, Rick Langford, Doc Medich, and Mitchell Page (35) for Chris Batton, Phil Garner, and Tommy Helms (13)
- 11/21/72 (+18): Received Bill North (20) for Bob Locker (2)
TRADES LOST
- 6/15/75 (-22): Received Stan Bahnsen and Skip Pitlock (3) for Dave Hamilton and Chet Lemon (25)
- 5/25/63 (-17): Received Doc Edwards (-2) and $100,000 for Joe Azcue and Dick Howser (15)
- 3/24/73 (-14): Received Ray Fosse and Jack Heideman (2) for Dave Duncan and George Hendrick (16)
- 12/15/63 (-11): Received Nelson Mathews (-1) for Fred Norman (10)
- 1/15/70 (-11): Received Ron Clark and Don Mincher (3) for Mike Hershberger, Lew Krausse, Phil Roof, and Ken Sanders (14)
This is a pretty typical trade record overall. Finley did a respectable job of keeping losses down on his worst deals, but his best deals were far from steals. At least he didn’t trade away his core players.
BLACK EYES
Finley, did, however, have a few head scratchers worth looking at. The number in parentheses is the outbound WAR
- 12/4/61 (-12): Released Joe Nuxhall
- 11/30/64 (-18): Felix Milan selected away in First Year Draft
- 4/7/67 (-21): Returned Dave Roberts after selecting him in the Rule 5 Draft
- 12/2/68 (-25): Darrell Evans selected away in the Rule 5 Draft
- 12/16/74 (-10): Catfish Hunter declared free agent due to Finley missing an annuity payment
These are the worst moves, the ones that suggest impatience or lack of subtlety or simple mismanagement. Every GM has warts like these, of course, but with Finley everything is magnified due to his personality and his outsider persona. In fact, some of those issues are also suggested by certain patterns in his moves. Every GM has favorite players. We’re researching Bing Devine now, and he has a complete man crush on some bench warmer named Duke Carmel. Acquired him three, four times. Branch Rickey had a thing for Flint Rhem. It happens. Finley frequently reacquired players. He acquired 30 different players at least twice, including seven that he picked up three times each. Is this unusual?
We have complete transaction logs now for 33 GMs with substantially long careers: some good, some great, some stinky, some average. Finley reacquired about 9% of all his players. That leads all 33 GMs. Branch Rickey is second by tenths of a percent. The lowest rate of reacquisition is 2% by Phil Seghi, Warren Giles, and Dick O’Connell. Even more telling for Finley, however, is what I’ll call his stalking percentage. That is, the percentage of his players whom he reacquired at least twice. That raw number of them is seven, which leads all comers twice over, and his stalking percentage of 2.1% is also double the next highest finisher, Randy Smith.
God knows what Charlie Finley was thinking, but his volatile mix of brains, hard work, and belligerence paid off in World Series titles. Until it didn’t work anymore.
Discussion
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