# 1982 Oakland Athletics season

The 1982 Oakland Athletics season was the 82nd season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 15th season in Oakland. The Athletics finished fifth in the American League West with a record of 68 wins and 94 losses.
The 1982 Athletics are remembered mainly for the exploits of star left fielder Rickey Henderson. Henderson, in his fourth major league season, stole an MLB-record 130 bases over the course of the year. Henderson broke the record, previously held by Lou Brock, by swiping his 119th base of the season on August 27 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Henderson's record has not been approached since.
The season also marked the end of manager Billy Martin's tenure with the Athletics. Martin was unceremoniously fired at season's end, despite having led the A's to the ALCS only one season prior. He was replaced by Steve Boros.

## Offseason

* December 4, 1981: Joe Rudi was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
* December 9, 1981: Rich Bordi was traded by the Athletics to the Seattle Mariners for Dan Meyer.
* February 7, 1982: Dennis Kinney was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
* February 24, 1982: Craig Minetto was traded by the Athletics to the Baltimore Orioles for Allen Edwards (minors).

## Regular season

* In the first fifty games of the season, Rickey Henderson had stolen 49 bases. By the All-Star break, Henderson had 84 steals.
* October 3, 1982: Joe Rudi hit a home run in the last at-bat of his career.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| California Angels | 93 | 69 | .574 | — | 52‍–‍29 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Kansas City Royals | 90 | 72 | .556 | 3 | 56‍–‍25 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 6 | 49‍–‍31 | 38‍–‍44 |
| Seattle Mariners | 76 | 86 | .469 | 17 | 42‍–‍39 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Oakland Athletics | 68 | 94 | .420 | 25 | 36‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Texas Rangers | 64 | 98 | .395 | 29 | 38‍–‍43 | 26‍–‍55 |
| Minnesota Twins | 60 | 102 | .370 | 33 | 37‍–‍44 | 23‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1982 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 9–4–1 | 8–4 | 11–2 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 10–3 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 7–6 |
| California | 5–7 | 5–7 | — | 8–5 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 8–4 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | 8–4 | 5–8 | — | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–10 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 8–4 |
| Cleveland | 7–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–7 | 2–10 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 7–6 |
| Detroit | 6–7 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 7–6 | — | 6–6 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 8–5 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–7 |
| Kansas City | 8–4 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 10–2 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 |
| Milwaukee | 4–9–1 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 5–7 | — | 7–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 9–4 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | — | 2–10 | 3–10 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| New York | 2–11 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 9–4 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 10–2 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 4–8 | 4–9 | 4–9 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 10–3 | 5–7 | — | 6–7 | 5–8 | 3–9 |
| Seattle | 5–7 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | — | 9–4 | 7–5 |
| Texas | 3–9 | 2–10 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 4–9 | — | 4–8 |
| Toronto | 3–10 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 8–4 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 14, 1982: Rob Picciolo was traded by the Athletics to the Milwaukee Brewers for Mike Warren and John Evans (minors).
* June 7, 1982: 1982 Major League Baseball Draft
** Phil Stephenson was drafted by the Athletics in the 3rd round.
** Charlie O'Brien was drafted by the Athletics in the 5th round.
** Jeff Kaiser was drafted by the Athletics in the 10th round.
** Jim Eppard was drafted by the Athletics in the 13th round.
** José Canseco was drafted by the Athletics in the 15th round. Canseco signed on June 17, 1982.
* June 28, 1982: Jim Spencer was released by the Oakland Athletics.
* July 15, 1982: Preston Hanna was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
* September 6, 1982: Rick Bosetti was released by the Athletics.

### 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 | Mike Heath | 101 | 318 | 77 | .242 | 3 | 39 |
| 1B | Dan Meyer | 120 | 383 | 92 | .240 | 8 | 59 |
| 2B | Davey Lopes | 128 | 450 | 109 | .242 | 11 | 42 |
| 3B | Wayne Gross | 129 | 386 | 97 | .251 | 9 | 41 |
| SS | Fred Stanley | 101 | 228 | 44 | .193 | 2 | 17 |
| LF | Rickey Henderson | 149 | 536 | 143 | .267 | 10 | 51 |
| CF | Dwayne Murphy | 151 | 543 | 129 | .238 | 27 | 94 |
| RF | Tony Armas | 138 | 536 | 125 | .233 | 28 | 89 |
| DH | Jeff Burroughs | 113 | 285 | 79 | .277 | 16 | 48 |

#### 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 |
| Jeff Newman | 72 | 251 | 50 | .199 | 6 | 30 |
| Cliff Johnson | 73 | 214 | 51 | .238 | 7 | 31 |
| Dave McKay | 78 | 212 | 42 | .198 | 4 | 17 |
| Joe Rudi | 71 | 193 | 41 | .212 | 5 | 18 |
| Mickey Klutts | 55 | 157 | 28 | .178 | 0 | 14 |
| Jimmy Sexton | 69 | 139 | 34 | .245 | 2 | 14 |
| Jim Spencer | 33 | 101 | 17 | .168 | 2 | 5 |
| Tony Phillips | 40 | 81 | 17 | .210 | 0 | 8 |
| Mitchell Page | 31 | 78 | 20 | .256 | 4 | 7 |
| Mike Davis | 23 | 75 | 30 | .400 | 1 | 10 |
| Bob Kearney | 22 | 71 | 12 | .169 | 0 | 5 |
| Kelvin Moore | 21 | 67 | 15 | .224 | 2 | 6 |
| Danny Goodwin | 17 | 52 | 11 | .212 | 2 | 8 |
| Rob Picciolo | 18 | 49 | 11 | .224 | 0 | 3 |
| Darrell Brown | 8 | 18 | 6 | .333 | 0 | 3 |
| Rick Bosetti | 6 | 15 | 3 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Kevin Bell | 4 | 9 | 3 | .333 | 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 |
| Rick Langford | 32 | 237.1 | 11 | 16 | 4.21 | 79 |
| Matt Keough | 34 | 209.1 | 11 | 18 | 5.72 | 75 |
| Mike Norris | 28 | 166.1 | 7 | 11 | 4.76 | 83 |
| Steve McCatty | 21 | 128.2 | 6 | 3 | 3.99 | 66 |
| Brian Kingman | 23 | 122.2 | 4 | 12 | 4.48 | 46 |
| Tim Conroy | 5 | 25.1 | 2 | 2 | 3.55 | 17 |
| Chris Codiroli | 3 | 16.2 | 1 | 2 | 4.32 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Tom Underwood | 56 | 153.0 | 10 | 6 | 3.29 | 79 |
| Steve Baker | 5 | 25.2 | 1 | 1 | 4.56 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Dave Beard | 54 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 3.44 | 73 |
| Bob Owchinko | 54 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5.21 | 67 |
| Preston Hanna | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5.59 | 32 |
| Bo McLaughlin | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.84 | 27 |
| Jeff Jones | 18 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5.11 | 18 |
| John D'Acquisto | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.29 | 7 |
| Fernando Arroyo | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.24 | 9 |
| Dennis Kinney | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.31 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tacoma Tigers | Pacific Coast League | Ed Nottle |
| AA | West Haven A's | Eastern League | Bob Didier |
| A | Modesto A's | California League | Pete Whisenant |
| A | Madison Muskies | Midwest League | Brad Fischer |
| A-Short Season | Medford A's | Northwest League | Dennis Rogers |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls A's | Pioneer League | Keith Lieppman |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: West Haven, Modesto