A's Announce All-Century Team;

Rickey Henderson Named Player of the Century

May 31, 2000 OAKLAND, Calif. - In celebration of 100 years of Athletics Baseball, the Oakland A's today announced their All-Century Team. The 15-player team includes nine Hall of Famers and three future Hall of Famers. It features seven Philadelphia Athletics and eight Oakland Athletics, three of whom began their career with the Kansas City Athletics. The selection criteria was a combination of fan balloting conducted in-stadium, on the A's Web site and through the San Francisco Chronicle and a panel of local and national media. The team will be honored prior to the A's game against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, June 3. During that game, Oakland will wear the uniforms of the 1911 Philadelphia A's while San Francisco will don the attire of the New York Giants from that year. Philadelphia defeated New York four games to two in the World Series in 1911. The team is headed by outfielder Rickey Henderson who was also named A's Player of the Century. He was American League MVP in 1990, stole a major league record 130 bases in 1982 and is Major League Baseball's all-time leader in stolen bases. Reggie Jackson and Al Simmons join Henderson in the outfield. Jackson was a member of the A's three straight World Championship teams from 1972-74, was named American League MVP in 1973 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1993. Simmons won consecutive American League batting titles with Philadelphia in 1930 (.381) and 1931 (.390). He is the Athletics career batting leader (.356) and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953. Mickey Cochrane is the catcher on the A's All-Century team. He was named A.L. MVP in 1928, played for all three A's World Series teams from 1929-31 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947. Two of the greatest sluggers in baseball history, Jimmie Foxx and Mark McGwire share honors at first base. Foxx won back-to-back American League MVP awards in 1932 and 33, was named to each of the first nine All-Star games (including three with Philadelphia) and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951. He set the Athletics single season home run (58) and RBI record (169) in 1932 and hit 302 home runs in an A's uniform. McGwire was American League Rookie of the Year in 1987 when he set the Major League rookie record with 49 home runs. He was a nine-time All-Star with the A's and his 363 career home runs in an A's uniform are a franchise record. On May 14 of this year, McGwire hit his 535th career home run, which moved him past Foxx into ninth place on baseball's all-time home run list. The rest of the infield includes second baseman Eddie Collins, third baseman Carney Lansford and shortstop Bert Campaneris. Collins played for four Philadelphia World Series teams in 1910, 11, 13 and 14 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939. He ranks third in A's history with a .336 career average. Lansford played for all three A's World Series teams from 1988-90 and holds the Oakland A's single season record with a .336 batting average in 1989. Campaneris was a five-time All-Star with Oakland and was the shortstop on the A's three consecutive World Champion teams from 1972-74. He holds the Athletics franchise record for games played (1795), at bats (7180) and hits (1882). The A's starting rotation consists of Lefty Grove, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Eddie Plank and Dave Stewart. Grove was named American League MVP in 1931 after tying the franchise record with 31 wins. He won four consecutive ERA titles from 1929-32, led the American League in strikeouts in each of his first seven seasons, won 20 games seven times and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947. Hunter was named to two All-Star games with Kansas City and four with Oakland and went into the Hall of Fame in 1987. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 1974 after leading the league with a 2.49 ERA and tossed the only perfect game in Oakland history on May 8, 1968 against Minnesota. Plank pitched for each of the first five Philadelphia World Series teams and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946. He won 20 games seven times with Philadelphia and is the Athletics franchise career leader in wins (284) and strikeouts (1985). Stewart had four straight 20-win seasons with Oakland from 1987-90 and was named to the American League All-Star team in 1989. He pitched for the A's three straight World Series teams from 1988-90 and was named World Series MVP in 1989. Dennis Eckersley is the reliever on the A's All-Century Team. He was named to four All-Star teams, was the closer on the A's three straight American League Champions from 1988-90 and holds the franchise record with 320 career saves. Eckersley won both the American League Cy Young and MVP award in 1992 after setting a franchise record with 51 saves. Connie Mack, who managed the A's for the first half of the 20th century, is the manager of the A's All-Century Team. He compiled a 3627-3891 record in 50 seasons at the helm of Philadelphia from 1901-50. Mack's A's won nine American League pennants and five World Championships under his guidance. He managed the American League squad in the first All-Star Game in 1933 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937. The Team of the Century is the 1989 Oakland Athletics. That team won 99 games and went on to sweep the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. It was the ninth World Championship for the Athletics franchise, including three straight from 1972-74. The A's also won the World Series in Philadelphia in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930. Only the New York Yankees, with 25, have won more World Championships than the Athletics franchise. Tickets may be purchased at all usual Bay Area outlets or by calling (510) 638-GOA's.

A's ALL-CENTURY TEAM

Catcher: Mickey Cochrane

First Base: Jimmie Foxx and Mark McGwire

Second Base: Eddie Collins

Third Base: Carney Lansford

Shortstop: Bert Campaneris

Outfield: Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson and Al Simmons

Starting Pitchers: Lefty Grove, Jim Hunter, Eddie Plank, Dave Stewart

Relief Pitcher: Dennis Eckersley

Manager: Connie Mack

Player of the Century: Rickey Henderson

Team of the Century: 1989