The First Home Run in Oakland A's History

The first-ever draft pick, Rick Monday, was also responsible for the first home run in Oakland A's history.

The A's have both feet out of the door in Oakland, but some fans are hoping that John Fisher forgot his wallet on the nightstand and will have to return. Regardless of how this situation turns out, I thought it might be nice to learn a little bit about the team's history so that we don't have to focus as much on the team's inaction on the free agent market for those that still care. 

We all know of the team's run in 1970's, where the A's won three straight World Series titles from '72-74. There was also the 1989 World Series victory over the San Francisco Giants, but that is remembered more for the earthquake that rattled the Bay Area and postponed the Series. 

Today, let's get more specific and talk about the first player to hit a home run for the A's at the Coliseum. That honor belongs to Rick Monday, who took Dave McNally of the Baltimore Orioles deep in a 4-1 Oakland loss. McNally ended the 1968 season with a 1.95 ERA and finished fifth in the AL MVP voting. The home run he allowed that day was one of just two hits allowed across a complete game performance. 

Monday may be known to A's fans as the team's first-ever draft pick in 1965, going first overall while the A's were still in Kansas City. The A's would take Sal Bando in the sixth round of the Draft that season, and the Cubs took Ken Holtzman with the first pick in the fourth round. Holtzman was traded to Oakland following the 1971 season in exchange for Monday, who would go on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers and won the World Series with them in 1981. 

Rick Monday played a huge role in getting the Dodgers to the World Series in the first place with a big performance in the decisive Game 5 of the NLCS. He singled and came around to score to tie the game at one in the fifth inning, then hitting what ended up being a series-clinching home run in the top of the ninth in Montreal. That game came to be known as "Blue Monday" to Expos fans. 

Back to 1968 in Oakland, the A's would walk-off the Orioles the next day in the bottom of the 13th inning on a John Donaldson sac-fly that scored Reggie Jackson. 

Oakland would lose their next five at home, getting swept by the Washington Senators and losing the first two games of their series with the New York Yankees before walking off the Bombers in the bottom of the 11th. John Donaldson came up with that game-winner as well, singling home Bert Campaneris. 

The first home run hit during the Oakland A's era came in the first game of the '68 season in Baltimore, and it came off the bat of Reggie Jackson in the top of the 8th.