The background and explanation of the internal A's battles, Charlie Finleys personality, and the destruction caused by free agency were all very captivating. In part due to my interest in the A's of the 70's, I could not put this book down. I read the book feverishly but it had my wanting more.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Excellent research, a must read for any baseball fan !!!  Jan 12, 1999

The first thing that should be said about this book is the incredible amount of research and detail that was invested in it. This writing has everything that is needed for an excellent baseball book. It is all here--statistics,trades, critical games,clubhouse chemistry, and quotes from the key players that made the the A's a special team.

The strange and odd antics of Charley Finley is displayed brilliantly, as is the love/hate relationship the players had for the quirky owner.

When great teams of the past are brought up by historians, remarkably the A's of 1972-1974 seldom come up. Most baseball fans will talk about the '27 Yankees, the '39 Yankees, the '49-53 Yankees, the '61 Yankees and the '75-76 Reds. Markusen correctly points out how good this team was. Although they did not have an overpowering offense, they had excellent defense and quality starting and relief pitching which excelled in big game clutch performances, all noted in greatly detailed fashion by Markusen.

If you are a person who enjoys reading a true baseball book, than this book is an absolute must. I consider myself a baseball "junkie", who can never get enough statistics and history of our grand game.

I look forward to future publications by Bruce Markusen, who is a baseball writing talent we will here from again. 5 STARS!!!!!

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Very good book, horrible editing...  Dec 03, 1998

This book is very well researched and contains everything that is needed to know about the Oakland A dynasty. I have never read a book with so many grammatical errors though...

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:

Man of the Century  Jan 15, 2003

I was very disappointed that Charlie Finley never received any votes for Time's Man of the Century...it is the same type of snub that the A's have had to endure many times, such as when Mitchell Page had to share the 1977 AL Rookie of the Year award with Eddie Murray....Charlie was a master deal maker, as witnessed by his trade of his manager, Chuck Tanner, for Manny Sanguillen and the Mitch when he was at AAA Hawaii...Mr. Markusen's book tells the true story that baseball didn't want to know -- Mr. Finley could build and manage a signficant enterprise better than all of the rest of the league combined...Many scoffed at his decision to let players like Rudi, Tenace, Bando and Reggie Jackson go, but Charlier knew his minor leagues were stocked with players like Henderson, Murphy and Armas, not to mention Picciolo, Newman and John Henry Johnson....there is a reason why Oakland has been to 6 world series in the last 30 years, or 20% of all world series played -- Charlie O....this book is a must read for anyone who ever dreams of running an entrepreneurial fortune 500 enterprise, like Charlie's cousin Bill Gates.....sincerely, Miguel Dilone

3 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Good to see the old names in print again  Mar 10, 1999

What is really missing from this book are box scores and the American League final standings for the years covered in the book. Since the author spent so much time discussing the stats of the team and various players I fully expected to see the stats in some sort of appendix. As the book only covered 5 years adding such stats would not have been a huge burden for the author. The box scores from the seasons and post-season and final standings would have made the book much more enjoyable and a useful tool for the reader to compare other players, which was one of the authors main points throughout the book. And not enough pictures to convey all the problems that the book said existed.

See all 12 customer reviews on Amazon.com