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Oakland Athletics

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

The Oakland Athletics baseball team debut at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum by losing 4-1 to Baltimore. The Oakland Athletics baseball team moved to Oakland in 1968 where they began a new era under Manager Bob Kennedy. They finish with a record of 82-80. Oakland's Catfish Hunter pitches a perfect game against the Twins, winning 3-0. The 22-year-old hurls the first AL regular season perfecto in 46 years striking out 11 and driving in all 3 Oakland Athletics baseball team runs.

From the very start of the American League, this was Connie Mack's team as the Philadelphia Athletics. In its most successful years, the lineup was studded with Hall of Famers such as Lefty Grove, Jimmie Foxx and Al Simmons. But, of course, much of Mack's tenure was spent in the American League cellar, because he never drew enough fans in Philadelphia to pay for his stars. It was a problem that would not go away, no matter how much the Oakland Athletics baseball team tried to run away. In1986 Oakland's Jose Rijo sets a club record with 16 strikeouts in 8 innings as the Oakland Athletics baseball team beat Seattle 7-2. Oakland's Dave Kingman becomes the 21st player to hit 400 career home runs. One day after hitting 3 home runs in Oakland's 13-3 rout of the Indians, Oakland Athletics baseball team rookie Mark McGwire hits 2 more in a 10-0 Oakland romp to tie the Major League record of 5 homers in 2 games.

Oakland complied a 39-14 record and on Aug. 5 they became the first team in history to go from 15 games below .500 to 15 games above in the same season. But in September, Oakland went 11-17 and missed the playoff for the second straight year. The Oakland Athletics baseball team finished at 88-74 in second place in the American League behind the Angels.

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