# 1980 Oakland Athletics season

The 1980 Oakland Athletics season was the team's thirteenth season in Oakland. The A's, under first-year manager Billy Martin, began the season with low expectations following their insipid 1979 campaign. Strong performances from pitchers Mike Norris, Matt Keough, and Rick Langford, along with the brilliant play of breakout star (and future Hall-of-Famer) Rickey Henderson, paved the way for a staggering 29-win increase over the previous year's output. The Athletics, only one year removed from baseball's worst record, swung to a second-place finish behind their 83–79 record.
The season also marked the end of the Charlie Finley ownership era. Finley sold the team to Walter A. Haas, Jr. shortly before the start of the 1981 season. The A's would remain under Haas' ownership until 1995.

## Offseason

* March 21, 1980: Jim Todd was released by the Athletics.
* March 21, 1980: Joe Wallis was released by the Athletics.

## Regular season

In 1980, Charlie O. Finley hired Billy Martin to manage the young team. The club was led by new young stars Rickey Henderson, Mike Norris, Tony Armas, and Dwayne Murphy. The starting pitching staff was also notable in that they completed 94 starts, virtually unheard of in the era of the relief pitcher. Rick Langford finished 28 of his 33 starts, totalling 290 innings, and tallying a 19-12 record. Norris went 22-9 with a 2.53 ERA, completed 24 starts, and was runner-up to Steve Stone in the Cy Young Award balloting that year. Martin made believers of his young charges as "Billyball" (characterized as featuring aggressive base running) was used to market the team, and the Athletics finished second in 1980.
Rickey Henderson broke Ty Cobb's American League record for most stolen bases in one season (96) by recording 100 stolen bases.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Kansas City Royals | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 49‍–‍32 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Oakland Athletics | 83 | 79 | .512 | 14 | 46‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Minnesota Twins | 77 | 84 | .478 | 19½ | 44‍–‍36 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Texas Rangers | 76 | 85 | .472 | 20½ | 39‍–‍41 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Chicago White Sox | 70 | 90 | .438 | 26 | 37‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍48 |
| California Angels | 65 | 95 | .406 | 31 | 30‍–‍51 | 35‍–‍44 |
| Seattle Mariners | 59 | 103 | .364 | 38 | 36‍–‍45 | 23‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1980 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 8–5 | 10–2 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 10–2 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 11–2 |
| Boston | 5–8 | — | 9–3 | 6–4 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–6 |
| California | 2–10 | 3–9 | — | 3–10 | 4–6 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 2–10 | 3–10 | 11–2 | 11–2 | 3–9 |
| Chicago | 6–6 | 4–6 | 10–3 | — | 5–7 | 2–10 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 6–7–2 | 5–7 |
| Cleveland | 7–6 | 6–7 | 6–4 | 7–5 | — | 3–10 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 8–5 |
| Detroit | 3–10 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 10–3 | — | 2–10 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 10–2–1 | 4–8 | 9–4 |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 10–2 | — | 6–6 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 10–3 | 9–3 |
| Milwaukee | 6–7 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 10–3 | 6–7 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 5–8 |
| Minnesota | 2–10 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 5–7 | — | 4–8 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 9–3 | 7–5 |
| New York | 6–7 | 10–3 | 10–2 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 8–4 | — | 8–4 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 10–3 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 3–9 | 10–3 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 4–8 | — | 8–5 | 7–6 | 8–4 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 5–7 | 2–11 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 2–10–1 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 5–8 | — | 4–9 | 6–6 |
| Texas | 6–6 | 7–5 | 2–11 | 7–6–2 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 3–10 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 9–4 | — | 7–5 |
| Toronto | 2–11 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 4–9 | 3–9 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 10, 1980: Randy Elliott was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

#### Draft picks

* June 3, 1980: Rich Bordi was drafted by the Athletics in the 3rd round of the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft.

### 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 | Jim Essian | 87 | 285 | 66 | .232 | 5 | 29 |
| 1B | Dave Revering | 106 | 376 | 109 | .290 | 15 | 62 |
| 2B | Jeff Cox | 59 | 169 | 36 | .213 | 0 | 9 |
| SS | Mario Guerrero | 116 | 381 | 91 | .239 | 2 | 23 |
| 3B | Wayne Gross | 113 | 366 | 103 | .281 | 14 | 61 |
| LF | Rickey Henderson | 158 | 591 | 179 | .303 | 9 | 53 |
| CF | Dwayne Murphy | 159 | 573 | 157 | .274 | 13 | 68 |
| RF | Tony Armas | 158 | 628 | 175 | .279 | 35 | 109 |
| DH | Mitchell Page | 110 | 348 | 85 | .244 | 17 | 51 |

#### 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 | 127 | 438 | 102 | .233 | 15 | 56 |
| Mike Heath | 92 | 305 | 74 | .243 | 1 | 33 |
| Dave McKay | 123 | 295 | 72 | .244 | 1 | 29 |
| Rob Picciolo | 95 | 271 | 65 | .240 | 5 | 18 |
| Mickey Klutts | 75 | 197 | 53 | .269 | 4 | 21 |
| Mike Davis | 51 | 95 | 20 | .211 | 1 | 8 |
| Orlando González | 25 | 70 | 17 | .243 | 0 | 1 |
| Mike Edwards | 46 | 59 | 14 | .237 | 0 | 3 |
| Randy Elliott | 14 | 39 | 5 | .128 | 0 | 1 |
| Ray Cosey | 9 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 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 | 35 | 290.0 | 19 | 12 | 3.26 | 102 |
| Mike Norris | 33 | 284.1 | 22 | 9 | 2.53 | 180 |
| Matt Keough | 34 | 250.0 | 16 | 13 | 2.92 | 121 |
| Steve McCatty | 33 | 221.2 | 14 | 14 | 3.86 | 114 |
| Brian Kingman | 32 | 211.1 | 8 | 20 | 3.83 | 116 |

#### 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 |
| Craig Minetto | 7 | 8.0 | 0 | 2 | 7.88 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Lacey | 47 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2.94 | 45 |
| Jeff Jones | 35 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2.84 | 34 |
| Dave Hamilton | 21 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11.40 | 23 |
| Dave Beard | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.38 | 12 |
| Ernie Camacho | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.94 | 9 |
| Rick Lysander | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.90 | 5 |
| Mark Souza | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.71 | 2 |
| Alan Wirth | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |
| Rich Bordi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Billy Martin, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year

### League records

* Rickey Henderson, American League record (since broken), Most stolen bases in one season (100)

### League leaders

* Rickey Henderson, American League leader, stolen bases (100)

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Ogden A's | Pacific Coast League | José Pagán |
| AA | West Haven Whitecaps | Eastern League | Ed Nottle |
| A | Modesto A's | California League | Keith Lieppman |
| A-Short Season | Medford A's | Northwest League | Brad Fischer |