Kansas City Athletics - Spring Training Shots

While I was putting the Lew Krausse card back in my 1967 binder after a recent post, I noticed a large number of Athletics' players photographed in spring training. The Athletics trained in Bradenton, FL from 1963-68, before moving to Arizona in 1969.  (The Pirates moved in to Bradenton in 1969, where they remain to this day.)

As I did with the Dodgers about a year ago, here are the Athletics, in their last year as Kansas City Athletics. Most of the players in the 1967 set are featured WITH caps, and in their green and white uniform. (I think only infielders Ed Charles and Ossie Chavarria are in the green and gold (away?) uniforms.

Here are the two standard "pitching poses". Most of the A's pitchers were very young. Catfish Hunter completed 2 years in the majors, Jim Nash and Chuck Dobson 1 each, with Lew Krausse the veteran of these four pitchers with 4 years.

Here are four more players, warming up before manager Al Dark puts them through some "fundamentals training". That white building behind Campy appears in several of the photos. I wonder if that's the clubhouse, or maybe just the maintenance shed for the lawn tractors and such.

Here we see Al Dark, in the white cap that the coaching staff wore (maybe so the fans in Kansas City knew where to direct their vitriol during a game?). Paul Linblad's cap looks like it just came out of the box THAT day.

Lots of youth here. Every one of these 11 players had 4 years or less in the bigs, except Mike Hershberger with 6 years.

I really like the 1967 Athletics' cards.  In the 1968 set, they're a complete airbrushed mess, what with their move to Oakland.

Jim Nash (#90)

Starting a series on all the Topps 1966 all-star rookies...

Jim Nash made his major-league debut with the Kansas City Athletics on July 3, 1966. In just half a season, he compiled a 12-1 record with a 2.06 ERA, and finished 2nd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting to White Sox' outfielder Tommie Agee. Just 6 seasons later, his career would be over.

Nash was signed by Kansas City in 1963, and collected 14 wins in each of his 2 full minor-league seasons ('64,'65). After fashioning a 7-4 record in 13 starts in 1966, he was called up to the Athletics in early July.

Nash joined the all-righthanded starting rotation that included full-timers Lew Krausse (14-9) and Catfish Hunter (9-11), along with John Odom (5-5) and Chuck Dobson (4-6). At age 23, Krausse was the senior statesman of the group.

Jim won 12 games again in 1967, but lost 17 games. The other Jim (Hunter) also lost 17, but they were the top 2 starters on a bad team, with Odom and Dobson again rounding out the rotation. Last year's ace Krausse spent half the season in the bullpen.

Two .500 seasons followed (13-13, 8-8), but by then team management had seen enough. Nash was traded to the Braves after the 1969 season for outfielder Felipe Alou.

He had a bounce-back year in Atlanta's starting rotation in 1970 (13-9 in 33 starts), but slipped in 1971, was relegated to the bullpen by mid-July, and finished with a 9-7 in 32 games (19 starts).

After 11 appearances, the Braves traded Nash and his 5.46 ERA to the Phillies in mid-June 1972. He started 8 games for the Phillies (0-8, 6.27 ERA), and was part of the horrendous, non-Steve Carlton portion of the Phillies' pitching staff that season. As such, he was released the following March.

Nash wrapped up his pro career with the Athletics' double-A team in 1973.