after McGwire (maybe) and Rickey who will be the next Oakland Athletic (of Fremont?) in the HOF?

… Eric Chavez would be having his number retired by the Athletics. Injuries are a shame, but the situation turns tragic when they completely derail the career of one of the best all-round players in baseball.

And Griffey Jr. should have the career HR title. Period.

for a Joe Blanton Bobblehead. Why one never came, I have no idea. But I can promise you this… If I get word that they are giving a Joe Blanton Bobblehead away in Philly, I will be the first one on E-bay bidding like a manic on it!

Maybe this is the emotional GIRL side of me, but I can’t help but be attached to certain players. The moment I laid eyes on Greg Smith, I was hooked! My friend said it was cause he looked EXACTLY like my boyfriend, and she may be right, but still, Hooked!! It was the same with Bobby, Swish, and Big Country Joe! I can’t help myself. Even after they are gone, there will still be a piece of my heart devoted to those players. Even while watching a Red Sox game. I desperately want them to stink it up and throw the game away, but when Kotsay comes to bat, I am praying he does good, even in that uniform.

You spend half the year watching them, reading about them, talking about them, how can you NOT get attached! Every time there is a trade I tell myself, I won’t get attached, I won’t do it! But then I go to the park and I see them sign an autograph for some cute kid or they hit a home run in their first AB and I am DONE! Devoted, Forever! Heartbreak and all, they are my boys. No matter how hard I try, I don’t think that will ever change, and I don’t think I would want it any other way!

anyone clamoring for Swisher will now have to figure out what the Yankees might want for him.

in rooting for a team is the players. I would hope that before injuries befell him that there were kids dreaming of becoming the next Chavez. Hey, I hear ya, louismg. I want the A’s to win so bad, it hurts. But it’s like BCG says, there are our boys. And among those boys we find our favorites, our heroes, our crushes, even our scapegoats. Eventually they leave, but they’re never forgotten. Every now and then, we think about them. And we laugh, we sigh, we cry, we curse.

I wanted to say that besides giving us plenty to talk about and speculate over, this trade has brought out the best in AN this week. Every front page item has been well written and a joy to read, and the comments that ensued were what makes this a go-to site in my book.

I really don’t look at baseball in general, and the A’s in particular, objectively at all. It’s a purely emotional attachment. It’s pretty much impossible for me to think of A’s players simply in terms of their stats and how valuable they are to the team; it’s about how they play the game, who they are, how long they’ve been around, what memorable moments have they been part of. And this is why it is difficult to be a Beane-era A’s fan: I get attached, Beane trades my favorite player(s), I mourn, I become attached to new guys, Beane trades them… it goes on. Even after years of this pattern, it doesn’t become easier.

So I will mourn the loss of Huston (we will always have 2005)—and Carlos and Greggles, to a lesser extent. But I will welcome Holliday with open arms, because when old favorites leave, new ones are there to step in. The transition is the painful part.

That can’t be good

It’s the team, not the player. It was different in the 70’s with Blue Moon, Vida, Campy, etc. Now with free agency, it’s short term. I root for the A’s and whoever can win us a championship. Go A’s!

Seeing as Donaldson is doing pretty well with the bat right now, what is more likely:
1. Moving up the catching ranks eventually to the MLB (for the A’s)
2. Getting traded to another club as a C
3. Moving to 3B, where he has played in college

And since we’re so desperate for a third baseman, would it be more likely Barton to switch to 3B (as most would love to see) or Donaldson getting moved (back) to 3B?

i was 7 when they won the ‘89 series, and i guess that was the first year i really paid attention to baseball. i thought rickey was awesome. his speed mesmerized me. i always followed Rickey’s career and rooted for him, but i was almost offended when people would tell me his current team had to be my favorite team now that he was there. nonsense.

i don’t know if it started with stubbornness or a rebellious spirit (i grew up in new york state and now live in nj) or what, but i always stuck with the A’s. even though i wasn’t around for any of it, the spirit and style of their teams in the ‘70s and even the history of Connie Mack managing the team for 50 years always drew me. something about the Oakland A’s always seemed pretty cool…

so regarding swisher, haren, cargon, etc., i’ll always root for them to do well, just not at the expense of the A’s. there is something special about the white shoe wearing Oakland A’s that stays with anybody and everybody who plays for them at some point.

The moment they put on a Giants’ uniform, they’re dead to me. If it was a trade they couldn’t stop, I root for them again when they leave the Giants. If they went to the Giants by choice (like Zito), they’re tainted forever and nothing can remove the stench.

Lansford is my least favorite A’s player ever. I had a tough enough time rooting for him when he was playing for the good guys.I think he looks perfect in a Giants uniform.