The Good, Bad and Ugly

*  Team equipment manager Steve Vucinich being employed with the franchise every step of way. That's over 18,250 days, give or take, in his 50 years with the team.

* Steve Boros in a suit? He managed the A's in 1983 and 84. He was a leader in using analytics and metrics in baseball. He was a tough, yet mild-mannered pro. I wanted him to break tradition and wear a suit during games, similar to what Connie Mack had done. He politely refused.

* Jay Howell was an A's All-Star in the game played in Oakland on July 14,1987. I asked him to ditch the white shoes and wear black cleats for the game. He checked with some other A's and the answer was a solid no.

* The Jeff Newman Yarmulke -- I asked the former A's catcher and short term manager hired on July 28, 1986 to wear a skullcap under his baseball cap. First and last time in major league baseball history that a Jewish manager wore a yarmulke during a game.

* The Tarp in center field -- enough said.

* John Fisher has never granted a public interview during his 13-year ownership of the A's.

* An Earthquake World Series occurred at 5:04 p.m. on October 17, 1989 before the start of game three at Candlestick Park. It was the first natural disaster broadcast live on national TV. The Loma Prieta quake registered 6.9 on the Richter scale.

* The infield at the proposed Howard Terminal site is currently positioned where Schnitzer Steel recyclers have been crushing and recycling all sorts of metallic junk since 1965. The area where a shortstop might be stopping a hot shot caught fire on June 2. If you want to talk toxic remediation, this is the place to go.

* Three World Series victories in a row has only been done three times in the modern era. Twice by the Yankees in 1936-39 and 1998-2000 and the A's in 1972-74.

Moneyball (2011)

Forgotten Dynasty: 1972-74 Athletics, Comcast TV special (2012)

The Day The Series Stopped -- ESPN Films: 30 for 30 (2014)

Out: The Glenn Burke Story (2015)

The Swingin A's (Charlie Finley's team), (2017)

Bay Area author Michael Lewis' bestseller, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, was released in 2003. It was a riveting behind-the-scenes story of how Oakland's general manager Billy Beane assembled the roster for the A's surprising run in the 2002 season.

Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Lewis's book in 2004. After a few false starts in bringing the story to the screen, the movie debuted in 2011. The film did well with Brad Pitt starring as Billy Beane. Based on the success of the book and the movie, Beane become a sought-after speaker at corporate functions. His insight into sabermetrics, analytics and metrics crossed over from baseball to business. In reality, many organizations in sports were using this strategy years before the book.