Charles O. Finley

By Andy Spear
Love of Sports Correspondent

The recent ranting and raving of Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis got me thinking of a controversial figure from my favorite baseball team of the ‘70s - Charles O. Finley, owner, general manager and promoter of the Swinging A’s.

Charley Finley was a loud-mouth tyrant who was hated by his players and detested by fellow owners, commissioners and politicians during his tenure. He was also a master showman and innovator that defied the owners’ gray-suited world in a dazzling green jacket.

Called the “P.T. Barnum of baseball” by then Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith, “a menace to baseball” by slugger Ken Harrelson and “one of the most disreputable characters ever to enter the American sports scene” by Missouri Senator Stuart Symington, Finley was born into a poverty-ridden family on Feb. 22, 1918, in Ensley, Alabama.

Always active in sports, playing first base for a semi-pro team, Finley lived out most ball fans’ dreams when he purchased 52 percent of the Kansas City Athletics for almost $2 million in 1960.

“I always wanted to be a player,” he said, “but I never had the talent to make the big leagues. So I did the next best thing: I bought a team.”

Baseball, never noted for imagination in the front office or change of any sort, would never be the same. Unlike any other owner, Finley started trends in baseball that were imaginative and had enormous impacts.

In order to appeal to a new generation of fans, Finley took it upon himself to make his A’s the most unique-looking team in baseball. He changed the primary uniform color from something other than white or gray to bright gold-and-green with white spikes. Baseball fashion was never the same. Along with changes in uniforms, other changes came as Finley encouraged his players to grow long hair and mustaches, and even gave them bonuses to do so. They became the “in” team in baseball and were a symbol of the modern generation of the time.

To make his players even more colorful, Finley became a stickler for player nicknames. As soon as he signed pitchers John Odom and Jim Hunter, they promptly became “Blue Moon” Odom and “Catfish” Hunter. He wanted pitcher Vida Blue to change his name to “True” Blue, but Blue refused.

Finley started trends to attract fans that are still used today. The Oakland Coliseum featured an exploding scoreboard in right field that was added to enhance the spectacle of an A’s home run. He had installed the world’s first computer-activated stadium scoreboard and a message board in left field that was 24-feet high and 126-feet long. Never again would fans experience a ballgame the old fashioned way.

He aspired to give fans what they wanted and in Finley’s opinion, the fans wanted exciting baseball with a lot of offense. To make the game more offensive, Finley led the charge toward establishing the still-controversial designated hitter. To increase the hitters’ ability to see the pitch, Finley even developed a bright orange baseball.

“Batters can see an orange ball better, particularly at night. If we start using this ball, batting averages will increase. That means more action, and that’s what the fans want to see,” he said. Although revolutionary, the idea never took off.

Finley’s changes to the scheduling of games were also innovative. He scheduled game times with the working man in mind - 7 p.m. games on weekdays, 6 p.m. games on Saturday, and 2 p.m. games after lunch and church on Sundays.

As early as 1965 Finley was one of the original proponents for interleague play and purposed that each team play four games against each team from the other league. He saw the potential in great rivalries between the Yankees and Mets, and White Sox and Cubs. Finley was also baseball’s strongest lobbyist for World Series night games. Baseball implemented its first World Series night games in 1972, the first year of the Athletics’ World Series dynasty.

On August 23, 1980, in ill health, Finley sold his franchise and moved to his farm. In his post-baseball years, Finley suffered business setbacks and lost much of his fortune. He died on Feb. 19, 1996, of heart and vascular disease - three days before his 78th birthday. “Heaven won’t be the same with Mr. Finley,” said Vida Blue.

Nevertheless, Charlie O. will live on as baseball’s foremost innovator and trend-setter. He did much more than generate controversy; baseball and its fans can thank him for brightening the look of the game and making it more fan friendly.

The game as we know it today is partly the way it is because of his innovations. As an owner and personality, Charles O. Finley was one of a kind, a kind that baseball will probably never see again.