Swoonin' A's, 8-16-66: Campy takes it upon himself

Bert "Campy" Campaneris went 4-for-4 and scored all of the Kansas City Athletics' runs Aug. 16, 1966, in their 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Campaneris stole two bases and didn't need any teammates to drive him in, as he scored off two errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball.

By Phil Ellenbecker

  Among the many fun things about the writings of Bill James are his memories of the Kansas City Athletics, most notably his history of being a Kansas City A's fan in his "Baseball Abstract" following their first world championship year of 1985. That's almost worth the price of the book if you're a Kansas City baseball fan -- A's, Royals or whatever.

  In his historical abstract, James has this to say about shortstop Bert Campaneris, who was one of the few bright spots for the A's in the years just before they moved to Oakland, and who was a catalyst at shortstop on those Oakland teams who eventually won three World Series.:
  "When Campaneris arrived in 1964, he looked like the future," James wrote. "He wasn't actually the only good player on the team; we had (Rocky) Colavito and (Jim) Gentile and Ed Charles and Wayne Causey and John Wyatt. Dick Green, who would be a spear carrier for the Oakland dynasty, actually arrived before Campaneris. Even bad teams have four or five players who are as good as some of the players on the good teams. Campy was the one guy who mattered, the cornerstone.
  "There was one game in 1966 that symbolized what he meant to the organization. Nobody else in the lineup got a hit; nobody else, as I recall, even reached base, but Campy went 4-for-4, stole several bases, and scored 4 runs. The A's won the game, I think 4-2 or 4-3. There was a feeling of 'hang-on' Campy, we'll get you some help.' "

  Among the fun things James likes to do, he and his former partner Rob Neyer, is to take old accounts of games by players or other baseball personnel, dig into them and pick them apart to see how true they are.

  So let's have some fun with Bill with his tale about this game involving Dagoberto Campaneris.

  Campaneris had one game where he went 4-for-4 in 1966, according to retrosheet.org. He had two other games when he had four hits, both 4-for-5s, but those are out since the scores were 11-4 and 9-8.

  So we have this one 4-for-4 game, played Aug. 16, and James didn't have all the facts right, but he certainly had the sense of the game nailed.

  Campy wasn't the only A's player to get a hit or reach base. Ossie Chavarria and Joe Nossek singled, while Danny Cater drew a walk. And Campaneris didn't steal several bases, just two. But the score was 4-2, A's over the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, before 12,712 on a Tuesday night.

  It certainly was a do-it-all performance, which shouldn't have been too surprising since the previous September, Campy had played 'em all -- becoming the first player in major league history to cover all nine positions in a game.

  Campaneris beat the White Sox at their own game this night. Known off and on through the '50s and '60s as the "Go Go Sox," specializing in speed, defense and pitching, the ChiSox had become renowned for their ability to squeeze the most out of a minimum of offense.

  That's exactly what the A's did this night, mainly Dagoberto. Campy scored each of Kansas City's runs without the aid of being driven in by a teammate. Neither of the other two hits by A's players figured in the scoring. And a lot of what Campaneris got done, he got done with his legs. Perhaps rattling the White Sox with his presence on the bases, he scored off two errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball.

  Campy's peskiness started right off the bat when he led off the game by beating out an infield single to shortstop. Mike Hershberger bunted him over to second, and then he stole third. Cater drew his walk and then he stole second. When third baseman Don Buford made an error on the play, Campaneris scored. (Don't ask me how this happened, all I've got to go by is the play-by-play from retrosheet.org and baseballreference.com, and this is how they described it.)

  Two innings later Campaneris tripled with one out and scored on Tommy John's wild pitch. The triple was Campy's eighth of the year. He finished with 10, one behind American League leader Bobby Knoop.

  Campaneris singled with two out in the fifth but appeared to be caught short on the bases this time when John had him picked off. But John had a throwing error on the play, and Campaneris came around to score from first, giving K.C. a 3-0 lead.

  After Chicago had cut the margin to 3-2 in the seventh, Campaneris gave the A's some insurance in the eighth. He led off the inning with a single off Hoyt Wilhelm, who'd just relieved John, White Sox manager Eddie Stanky having pinch hit for John the inning before.

  But while Wilhelm was a handy guy to turn to -- he was the first pitcher who was mainly a reliever to be elected to the Hall of Fame -- the knuckleballer wasn't the most handy guy to have in there with a guy like Campaneris on the bases.

  After getting his fourth hit Campaneris stole second. Then Jerry McNertney, who'd just come into the game for John Romano ostensibly to catch Wilhelm's knuckler, gave up back-to-back passed balls that allowed Campaneris to third and home for the game's final run.
  Campaneris' two steals gave him 35 of his 51 on the year, which helped nip Buford by one theft at the end of the year for the AL crown. It was the second of four straight steal titles he would win. He had six in all between 1965 and 1972.

Jack Aker nailed down the Kansas City Athletics' 4-2 victory Aug. 16, 1966, over the Chicago White Sox with 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief. He picked up his 26th save en route to leading the major leagues with 32.

   While Wilhelm's knuckler opened the door for the A's to add another unearned run, Jack Aker's relief work slammed the door on Chicago. He took over for John "Blue Moon" Odom in the seventh and threw 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing one hit while walking one and striking out one.

  He did have to survive some anxious moments in the bottom of the eighth. The White Sox put runners at second and third on a Pete Ward single, a walk to McNertney and a sacrifice by Tom McCraw. But Aker got Bill "Moose" Skowron and Jerry Adair to tap back to him, and the threat was erased. Skowron, the former New York Yankees campaigner in the next-to-last season of his career, had been 2-for-3 going into his at-bat.

  Aker went on to post his 26th save. He had 32 on the season, best in the major leagues.

  Odom had a three-hit shutout going through six frames, but shaky control led to Buford's breaking it up with a two-run double. After Adair singled with one out, he was wild-pitched to second and pinch hitter Wayne Causey walked. Buford's two-bagger scored Adair and Lee Elia, running for Causey. Aker was summoned and fanned Tommy Agee looking to keep K.C.'s lead at 3-2.

  (Elia was in the first of a two-year playing career in which he batted .203. But what he's noted, or notorious, for is his postgame tirade while a manager of the Cubs in 1983 in which he ripped the team's fans for, among other things, not having jobs.)

  The help Odam got from Aker helped him, in the first full season of a 13-year career, square his record at 2-2 with two earned runs allowed, with five strikeouts and four walks.

  John fell to 11-7 but didn't pitch that badly, as only one of the three runs he allowed was earned. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out five in his seven innings.

  Campy's four runs scored tied his career high. He'd already had one four-run game this year on June 2, and he also scored four once in 1965 and twice in 1970.

  His four hits were one shy of his career high, accomplished twice. He had 23 four-hit games.

  And always, as on the night of Aug. 16, 1966, an instigator. As his old boss and former A's owner Charlie Finley put it in 1980 on Campaneris' contribution to his championship teams: “You can talk about Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Sal Bando, all those great players, but it was Campy who made everything go.” 

Sources:

Box scores and play-by-play:  https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B08160CHA1966.htm and https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA196608160.shtml

Lee Elia tirade: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/sports/baseball/the-day-a-cubs-manager-told-fans-at-wrigley-to-get-a-job.html
Bill James quote on Campaneris: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=campabe01