The 1988 Oakland Athletics season was the 88th season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 21st season in Oakland. The Athletics won their first American League West title since 1981, with a record of 104 wins and 58 losses (the best record in the La Russa era). In 1988, the elephant was restored as the symbol of the Athletics and currently adorns the left sleeve of home and road uniforms. The elephant was retired as team mascot in 1963 by then-owner Charles O. Finley in favor of a Missouri mule. The A's defeated the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, but lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, including a dramatic, classic walk-off home run by the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson in game one.

1988 was the first of three straight years the A's would represent the AL in the World Series.

Offseason October 12, 1987: Brian Harper was released by the Athletics. October 12, 1987: Jerry Willard was released by the Athletics. December 6, 1987: Ron Hassey was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. December 7, 1987: Gary Lavelle was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. December 8, 1987: José Rijo and Tim Birtsas were traded by the Athletics to the Cincinnati Reds for Dave Parker. December 11, 1987: Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell were traded by the Athletics to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Kevin Tapani and Wally Whitehurst were traded by the Athletics to the New York Mets as part of a three-team trade. Bob Welch and Matt Young were traded by the Dodgers to the Athletics. Jesse Orosco was traded by the Mets to the Dodgers. Jack Savage was traded by the Dodgers to the Mets. December 21, 1987: Dave Henderson was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. December 21, 1987: Rick Rodriguez was released by the Athletics. January 11, 1988: Glenn Hubbard was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. January 29, 1988: Rich Bordi was signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics. February 9, 1988: Don Baylor was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. March 9, 1988: Tony Phillips was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. March 28, 1988: Mickey Tettleton was released by the Athletics.

Regular season José Canseco led the American League with 42 home runs, 124 RBIs and a .569 slugging percentage. Canseco became the first member of the Athletics to have three straight 100 RBI seasons. He also had 40 stolen bases and became the first major leaguer ever to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.

July 3, 1988: José Canseco had 3 home runs and 6 RBIs in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable Transactions June 1, 1988: Darren Lewis was drafted by the Athletics in the 18th round of the 1988 amateur draft. Player signed June 8, 1988.

Roster 1988 Oakland Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

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 RF José Canseco 158 610 187 .307 42 124 CF Dave Henderson 146 507 154 .304 24 94 3B Carney Lansford 150 556 155 .279 7 57 1B Mark McGwire 155 550 143 .260 32 99 C Ron Hassey 107 323 83 .257 7 45 2B Glenn Hubbard 105 294 75 .255 3 33 SS Walt Weiss 147 452 113 .250 3 39 DH Don Baylor 92 264 58 .220 7 34 LF Luis Polonia 84 288 84 .292 2 27

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 Stan Javier 125 397 102 .257 2 35 Dave Parker 101 377 97 .257 12 55 Terry Steinbach 104 351 93 .265 9 51 Mike Gallego 129 277 58 .209 2 20 Tony Phillips 79 212 43 .203 2 17 Doug Jennings 71 101 21 .208 1 15 Orlando Mercado 16 24 3 .125 1 1 Matt Sinatro 10 9 3 .333 0 5 Félix José 8 6 2 .333 0 1 Lance Blankenship 10 3 0 .000 0 0 Ed Jurak 3 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G GS IP W L ERA SO Dave Stewart 37 37 275.2 21 12 3.23 192 Bob Welch 36 36 244.2 17 9 3.64 158 Storm Davis 33 33 201.2 16 7 3.70 127 Curt Young 26 26 156.1 11 8 4.14 69 Todd Burns 17 14 102.2 8 2 3.16 57 Steve Ontiveros 10 10 54.2 3 4 4.61 30 Rich Bordi 2 2 7.2 0 1 4.70 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 Dave Otto 3 10.0 0 0 1.80 7

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 60 4 2 45 2.35 70 Greg Cadaret 58 5 2 3 2.89 64 Rick Honeycutt 55 3 2 7 3.50 47 Gene Nelson 54 9 6 3 3.06 67 Eric Plunk 49 7 2 5 3.00 79 Jim Corsi 11 0 1 0 3.80 10 Jeff Shaver 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

ALCS

Game 1 October 5, Fenway Park

Team123456789RHEOakland000100100260Boston000000100160W: Rick Honeycutt (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (1)HR: OAK – José Canseco (1)

Game 2 October 6, Fenway Park

Team123456789RHEOakland0000003014101Boston000002100341W: Gene Nelson (1-0)   L: Lee Smith (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (2)HR: OAK – José Canseco (2)   BOS – Rich Gedman (1)

Game 3 October 8, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum

Team123456789RHEBoston3200001006120Oakland04201012X10151W: Gene Nelson (2-0)   L: Mike Boddicker (0-1)  S: Dennis Eckersley (3)HR: OAK – Mark McGwire (1)  Carney Lansford (1)  Ron Hassey (1)  Dave Henderson (1)  BOS – Mike Greenwell (1)

Game 4 October 9, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum

Team123456789RHEBoston000001000140Oakland10100002X4101W: Dave Stewart (1-0)   L: Bruce Hurst (0-2)  S: Dennis Eckersley (4)HR: OAK – José Canseco (3)

World Series

NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL Oakland Athletics (1) GameScoreDateLocationAttendanceTime of Game1 A's – 4, Dodgers – 5 October 15Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) 55,983 3:042 A's – 0, Dodgers – 6 October 16Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) 56,051 2:303 Dodgers – 1, A's – 2 October 18Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,316 3:214 Dodgers – 4, A's – 3 October 19Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,317 3:055 Dodgers – 5, A's – 2 October 20Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,317 2:51

Awards and honors José Canseco – American League Leader Home Runs (42) José Canseco – American League Leader RBIs (124) José Canseco – American League Leader Slugging Percentage (.569) José Canseco - American League Silver Slugger Award (OF) Terry Steinbach - All-Star Game MVP Walt Weiss - American League Rookie of the Year Tony La Russa - American League Manager of the Year Dennis Eckersley - American League Saves Leader (45)

All-Star Game Terry Steinbach, catcher, starter Mark McGwire, first base, starter José Canseco, outfield, starter Dennis Eckersley, relief pitcher, reserve Carney Lansford, third base, reserve

Farm system

References

1988 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1988 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com