Finley Takes Ring To Grave

Charles O. Finley, who could be as cantankerous as he was flamboyant, was buried Thursday, surrounded by his family, friends and two of the players he loved most.

“Charlie Finley was contentious and outspoken, but when times caught up with his thoughts, he became an innovator and creative,” Reggie Jackson said after the funeral service. “His ideas were great. He was tough, he was never easy to work for. Very tough, but fair.”

Finley, owner of the Oakland A’s when they won three straight World Series titles during the early 1970s, died Monday of heart and vascular disease. He would have been 78 Thursday.

Finley was buried with his World Series ring on his finger, his bronze casket surrounded by green-and-gold floral arrangements, the colors of his A’s. There were pictures from his glory days, including framed issues of Time and The Sporting News with Finley on the covers.

While Finley had a reputation as a tough owner, he loved his players like they were his own children, said Jackson, a member of the A’s World Series teams. After Jackson signed with the A’s, Finley brought him to his LaPorte farmhouse and cooked a huge meal for him, Jackson said.

Finley was a guest at both Jackson and Catfish Hunter’s inductions into the Hall of Fame.

“He helped strengthen my character,” Jackson said. “It was important for me to have someone around to help in my development and direction as a young man.”

Hunter agreed.

“Mr. Finley was like a daddy in baseball to me,” he said.

After making millions in the insurance business, Finley tried for years to buy a baseball team and in 1960 finally bought the A’s, then in Kansas City.

In 1968, he moved them to Oakland, and with Jackson, Hunter, Sal Bando and other stars, they became the last team to win three straight World Series titles, defeating the Cincinnati Reds in 1972, the New York Mets in 1973 and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1974.

The A’s also won A.L. West titles in 1971 and 1975, losing in the playoffs to Baltimore and Boston.

“God allowed him to live his dreams and when he lived his dreams, he let a lot of us live his dreams with him,” Jackson said during the hour-long service at the Geisen Funeral Home, near Finley’s home in LaPorte.

Finley was best known for his innovations in baseball. In Kansas City, Finley named a mule Charlie O. and made it the team mascot. He put a sheep pasture on a hill overlooking the outfield and had baseballs delivered to the umpire by a mechanical rabbit that popped out of the ground.

He also had water and cookies - made by A’s employee Debbi Fields who later formed the Mrs. Fields Cookie Co. - delivered to umpires.

Finley was always trying to find ways to make the game of baseball more exciting. He is credited with creating the designated hitter. And it was Finley who suggested playing championship games at night.

Finley had a few other ideas that weren’t instituted. He thought players would hit better if orange baseballs were used, and he wanted to speed up the game by reducing walks to three balls and strikeouts to two strikes.

His A’s were the first to wear colored uniforms, while other teams remained with white for home games and grey on the road.

“He was just his own man,” a daughter, Sharon Kesling, said.

The onset of free agency soured Finley on the game of baseball, and caused his longstanding feud with commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Finley tried to trade pitcher Vida Blue and outfielder Joe Rudi in 1976, knowing they would leave at the end of the season, but Kuhn blocked the deal.