# 1985 Oakland Athletics season

The 1985 Oakland Athletics season was the 85th season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 18th season in Oakland. The Athletics finished fifth in the American League West with a record of 77 wins and 85 losses. While the Athletics' on-field performance continued to disappoint, the debut of slugger Jose Canseco gave fans a measure of hope.

## Offseason

* December 5, 1984: Rickey Henderson, Bert Bradley and cash were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Stan Javier, Jay Howell, José Rijo, Eric Plunk, and Tim Birtsas.
* December 7, 1984: Ray Burris, Eric Barry (minors) and a player to be named later were traded by the Athletics to the Milwaukee Brewers for Don Sutton. The Athletics completed the deal by sending Ed Myers (minors) to the Brewers on March 25, 1985.
* December 8, 1984: Bill Caudill was traded by the Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays for Alfredo Griffin, Dave Collins, and cash.
* February 5, 1985: Rob Picciolo was signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics.

## Regular season

* September 2, 1985: José Canseco made his major league debut in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Canseco had one at bat without a hit.
* September 9, 1985: Canseco hits his first career major league home run off the Texas Ranger's Jeff Russell in a 3–1 loss.
* September 22, 1985: José Canseco became the 27th player to hit a home run over the roof of Comiskey Park.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Kansas City Royals | 91 | 71 | .562 | — | 50‍–‍32 | 41‍–‍39 |
| California Angels | 90 | 72 | .556 | 1 | 49‍–‍30 | 41‍–‍42 |
| Chicago White Sox | 85 | 77 | .525 | 6 | 45‍–‍36 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Minnesota Twins | 77 | 85 | .475 | 14 | 49‍–‍35 | 28‍–‍50 |
| Oakland Athletics | 77 | 85 | .475 | 14 | 43‍–‍36 | 34‍–‍49 |
| Seattle Mariners | 74 | 88 | .457 | 17 | 42‍–‍41 | 32‍–‍47 |
| Texas Rangers | 62 | 99 | .385 | 28½ | 37‍–‍43 | 25‍–‍56 |

### Record vs. opponents

1985 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 5–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 1–12 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 4–8 |
| Boston | 8–5 | — | 5–7 | 4–8–1 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–4 |
| California | 5–7 | 7–5 | — | 8–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 9–3 | 9–4 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 8–4–1 | 5–8 | — | 10–2 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 9–4 | 10–3 | 3–9 |
| Cleveland | 5–8 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 2–10 | — | 5–8 | 2–10 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 4–9 |
| Detroit | 7–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 8–5 | — | 5–7 | 9–4 | 3–9 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 10–2 | 7–5 | — | 8–4 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 3–10 | 6–7 | 7–5 |
| Milwaukee | 4–9 | 8–5 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 4–9 | 4–8 | — | 9–3 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 4–8 | 8–3 | 4–9 |
| Minnesota | 6–6 | 5–7 | 4–9 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 6–7 | 3–9 | — | 3–9 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 4–8 |
| New York | 12–1 | 8–5 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 9–3 | — | 7–5 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 9–3 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 9–3 | 5–8 | 5–7 | — | 8–5 | 6–7 | 5–7 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 10–3 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 5–8 | — | 6–7 | 2–10 |
| Texas | 2–10 | 7–5 | 4–9 | 3–10 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 3–8 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 7–6 | — | 3–9 |
| Toronto | 8–4 | 4–9 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 9–3 | — |

### Transactions

* April 15, 1985: Bob Owchinko was signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics.
* April 26, 1985: Bill Mooneyham was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
* July 12, 1985: Tommy John was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
* July 17, 1985: Bob Owchinko was purchased by the Chicago White Sox from the Oakland Athletics.
* September 10, 1985: Don Sutton was traded by the Athletics to the California Angels for players to be named later. The Angels completed the deal by sending Robert Sharpnack (minors) and Jerome Nelson (minors) to the Athletics on September 25.

#### Draft picks

* June 3, 1985: 1985 Major League Baseball Draft
** Walt Weiss was drafted by the Athletics in the 1st round (11th pick). Player signed June 5, 1985.
** Dave Otto was drafted by the Athletics in the 2nd round.
** Wally Whitehurst was drafted by the Athletics in the 3rd round.
** Jim Pena was drafted by the Athletics in the 24th round, 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 | Mike Heath | 138 | 436 | 109 | .250 | 13 | 55 |
| 1B | Bruce Bochte | 137 | 424 | 125 | .295 | 14 | 60 |
| 2B | Donnie Hill | 123 | 393 | 112 | .285 | 3 | 48 |
| SS | Alfredo Griffin | 162 | 614 | 166 | .270 | 2 | 64 |
| 3B | Carney Lansford | 98 | 401 | 111 | .277 | 13 | 46 |
| LF | Dave Collins | 112 | 379 | 95 | .251 | 4 | 29 |
| CF | Dwayne Murphy | 152 | 523 | 122 | .233 | 20 | 59 |
| RF | Mike Davis | 154 | 547 | 157 | .287 | 24 | 82 |
| DH | Dave Kingman | 158 | 592 | 141 | .238 | 30 | 91 |

#### 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 |
| Dusty Baker | 111 | 343 | 92 | .268 | 14 | 52 |
| Mickey Tettleton | 78 | 211 | 53 | .251 | 3 | 15 |
| Steve Henderson | 85 | 193 | 58 | .301 | 3 | 31 |
| Tony Phillips | 42 | 161 | 45 | .280 | 4 | 17 |
| Rob Picciolo | 71 | 102 | 28 | .275 | 1 | 8 |
| José Canseco | 29 | 96 | 29 | .302 | 5 | 13 |
| Mike Gallego | 76 | 77 | 16 | .208 | 1 | 9 |
| Steve Kiefer | 40 | 66 | 13 | .197 | 1 | 10 |
| Dan Meyer | 14 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie O'Brien | 16 | 11 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Chris Codiroli | 37 | 226.0 | 14 | 14 | 4.46 | 111 |
| Don Sutton | 29 | 194.1 | 13 | 8 | 3.89 | 91 |
| Bill Krueger | 32 | 151.1 | 9 | 10 | 4.52 | 56 |
| Tim Birtsas | 29 | 141.1 | 10 | 6 | 4.01 | 94 |
| José Rijo | 12 | 63.2 | 6 | 4 | 3.53 | 65 |

#### 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 |
| Steve McCatty | 30 | 85.2 | 4 | 4 | 5.57 | 36 |
| Rick Langford | 23 | 59.0 | 3 | 5 | 3.51 | 21 |
| Mike Warren | 16 | 49.0 | 1 | 4 | 6.61 | 48 |
| Tommy John | 11 | 48.0 | 2 | 6 | 6.19 | 8 |
| Curt Young | 19 | 46.0 | 0 | 4 | 7.24 | 19 |

#### 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 | 63 | 9 | 8 | 29 | 2.85 | 68 |
| Keith Atherton | 56 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4.30 | 77 |
| Steve Ontiveros | 39 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1.93 | 36 |
| Steve Mura | 23 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.13 | 29 |
| Tim Conroy | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.26 | 8 |
| Jeff Kaiser | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.58 | 10 |
| Tom Tellmann | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 8 |

## 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 | George Mitterwald |
| A | Madison Muskies | Midwest League | Jim Nettles |
| A-Short Season | Medford A's | Northwest League | Grady Fuson |
| Rookie | Pocatello Gems | Pioneer League | Dave Hudgens |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Huntsville