# 1986 Oakland Athletics season

The 1986 Oakland Athletics season was the 86th season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 19th season in Oakland. The Athletics finished third in the American League West with a record of 76 wins and 86 losses.

## Offseason

* November 13, 1985: Bárbaro Garbey was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Oakland Athletics for Dave Collins.
* December 10, 1985: Mike Heath and Tim Conroy were traded by the Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joaquín Andújar.
* January 17, 1986: Phil Stephenson and Bob Bathe (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the Chicago Cubs for Gary Jones (minors) and John Cox (minors).
* February 1, 1986: Lenn Sakata was signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics.
* March 21, 1986: Bárbaro Garbey was released by the Oakland Athletics.
* March 30, 1986: Charlie O'Brien, Steve Kiefer, Mike Fulmer (minors) and Pete Kendrick (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the Milwaukee Brewers for Moose Haas.

## Regular season

* August 22, 1986: Mark McGwire made his major league debut against the New York Yankees. He had three at-bats and no hits. Three days later, McGwire hit his first major league home run off Walt Terrell of the Detroit Tigers in an 8-4 win.
* September 12, 1986: In a game against the Cleveland Indians, Terry Steinbach hit a home run in his first Major League at-bat. Steinbach became the 54th player to achieve the feat.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| California Angels | 92 | 70 | .568 | — | 50‍–‍32 | 42‍–‍38 |
| Texas Rangers | 87 | 75 | .537 | 5 | 51‍–‍30 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Kansas City Royals | 76 | 86 | .469 | 16 | 45‍–‍36 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Oakland Athletics | 76 | 86 | .469 | 16 | 47‍–‍36 | 29‍–‍50 |
| Chicago White Sox | 72 | 90 | .444 | 20 | 41‍–‍40 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Minnesota Twins | 71 | 91 | .438 | 21 | 43‍–‍38 | 28‍–‍53 |
| Seattle Mariners | 67 | 95 | .414 | 25 | 41‍–‍41 | 26‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1986 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 4–9 | 1–12 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–5 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–3 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 7–6 |
| California | 6–6 | 7–5 | — | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–7 | — | 5–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 2–11 | 6–6 |
| Cleveland | 9–4 | 3–10 | 6–6 | 7–5 | — | 4–9 | 8–4 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 10–2 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 3–10–1 |
| Detroit | 12–1 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 9–4 | — | 5–7 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 4–9 |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 7–5 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 |
| Milwaukee | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 6–6 | — | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 2–10 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 8–4 | — | 4–8 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 |
| New York | 8–5 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 8–4 | — | 5–7 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 7–6 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 6–7 | 2–10 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 7–5 | — | 10–3 | 3–10 | 8–4 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 3–10 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 |
| Texas | 7–5 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 11–2 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 10–3 | 9–4 | — | 5–7 |
| Toronto | 5–8 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–3–1 | 9–4 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 7–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 4, 1986: Jerry Willard was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
* May 20, 1986: Keith Atherton was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later and cash. The Minnesota Twins sent Eric Broersma (minors) (May 23, 1986) to the Oakland Athletics to complete the trade.
* May 23, 1986: Dave Stewart was signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics.
* June 1, 1986: Dave Von Ohlen was purchased by the Athletics from the Miami Marlins.
* July 10, 1986: Mike Bordick was signed by the Athletics as an amateur free agent.
* July 10, 1986: Ozzie Canseco was signed as a free agent by the Oakland Athletics.
* July 18, 1986: Rick Langford was released by the Athletics.

#### Draft picks

* June 2, 1986: Bret Barberie was drafted by the Athletics in the 1st round (22nd pick) of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase), but did not sign.

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 |
| C | Mickey Tettleton | 90 | 211 | 43 | .204 | 10 | 35 |
| 1B | Bruce Bochte | 125 | 407 | 104 | .256 | 6 | 43 |
| 2B | Tony Phillips | 118 | 441 | 113 | .256 | 5 | 52 |
| 3B | Carney Lansford | 151 | 591 | 168 | .284 | 19 | 72 |
| SS | Alfredo Griffin | 162 | 594 | 169 | .285 | 4 | 51 |
| LF | José Canseco | 157 | 600 | 144 | .240 | 33 | 117 |
| CF | Dwayne Murphy | 98 | 329 | 83 | .252 | 9 | 39 |
| RF | Mike Davis | 142 | 489 | 131 | .268 | 19 | 55 |
| DH | Dave Kingman | 144 | 561 | 118 | .210 | 35 | 94 |

#### 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 |
| Donnie Hill | 108 | 339 | 96 | .283 | 4 | 29 |
| Dusty Baker | 83 | 242 | 58 | .240 | 4 | 19 |
| Jerry Willard | 75 | 161 | 43 | .267 | 4 | 26 |
| Stan Javier | 59 | 114 | 23 | .202 | 0 | 8 |
| Bill Bathe | 39 | 103 | 19 | .184 | 5 | 11 |
| Mark McGwire | 18 | 53 | 10 | .189 | 3 | 9 |
| Rusty Tillman | 22 | 39 | 10 | .256 | 1 | 6 |
| Ricky Peters | 44 | 38 | 7 | .184 | 0 | 1 |
| Mike Gallego | 20 | 37 | 10 | .270 | 0 | 4 |
| Lenn Sakata | 17 | 34 | 12 | .353 | 0 | 5 |
| Steve Henderson | 11 | 26 | 2 | .077 | 0 | 3 |
| Terry Steinbach | 6 | 15 | 5 | .333 | 2 | 4 |
| Rob Nelson | 5 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 0 |
| Wayne Gross | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting 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 |
| Curt Young | 29 | 198.0 | 13 | 9 | 3.45 | 116 |
| Joaquín Andújar | 28 | 155.0 | 12 | 7 | 3.82 | 72 |
| Chris Codiroli | 16 | 91.2 | 5 | 8 | 4.03 | 43 |
| Moose Haas | 12 | 72.1 | 7 | 2 | 2.74 | 40 |
| Rick Rodriguez | 3 | 16.1 | 1 | 2 | 6.61 | 2 |

#### 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 |
| José Rijo | 39 | 193.2 | 9 | 11 | 4.65 | 176 |
| Dave Stewart | 29 | 149.1 | 9 | 5 | 3.74 | 102 |
| Eric Plunk | 26 | 120.1 | 4 | 7 | 2.74 | 98 |
| Bill Mooneyham | 45 | 99.2 | 4 | 5 | 4.52 | 75 |
| Rick Langford | 16 | 55.0 | 1 | 10 | 7.36 | 30 |
| Bill Krueger | 11 | 34.1 | 1 | 2 | 6.03 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Jay Howell | 38 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 3.38 | 42 |
| Steve Ontiveros | 46 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 4.71 | 54 |
| Dave Leiper | 33 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4.83 | 15 |
| Doug Bair | 31 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3.00 | 40 |
| Dave Von Ohlen | 24 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.52 | 4 |
| Keith Atherton | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5.87 | 8 |
| Tom Dozier | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.68 | 4 |
| Darrel Akerfelds | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 5 |
| Tim Birtsas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.50 | 1 |
| Fernando Arroyo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* José Canseco, American League Rookie of the Year
* Dave Kingman, American League Record, Most Home Runs in the Final Season of a Career (35)

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tacoma Tigers | Pacific Coast League | Keith Lieppman |
| AA | Huntsville Stars | Southern League | Brad Fischer |
| A | Modesto A's | California League | Tommie Reynolds |
| A | Madison Muskies | Midwest League | Jim Nettles |
| A-Short Season | Medford A's | Northwest League | Dave Hudgens |