Charles Oscar Finley, son of Oscar A. Finley and Burma Fields-Finley, was born February 22, 1919, in Ensely, Alabama. His father, Oscar worked as a machinist in Alabama’s steel industry and moved the family north to Gary, Indiana, about 1927. As a child, Charlie suffered from a speech impediment which he learned to overcome by talking slowly. As an adult, this way of speaking often intimidated others.
Charlie’s uncle, Carl A. Finley, Sr, moved his family to Dallas Texas in 1920. When Charlie acquired the A’s, in 1960, he started recruiting his cousin, Carl A. Finley, Jr. to help manage his new baseball team. In the summer of 1963, he finally persuaded Carl Jr., a high school principal in Texas, to quit his job, pack up his family, and move to Kansas City to work for the team. See more on CARL FINLEY’S page (link below).
“‘I always wanted to be a player,’ [Charlie Finley] says, ‘but I never had the talent to make the big leagues. So I did the next best thing: I bought a team.’ …Baseball and salesmanship consumed [Finley’s] boyhood. [At the age of 12, he] was bat boy for the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association (a minor league team he now owns and calls the A’s). Time Magazine, Aug 18, 1975, Sport: Charlie Finely: Baseball’s Barnum – TIME p.2
Charlie had many unique ideas to promote his new business, including adding lots of color to his team and stadium. His team was the first to have bright vibrant team uniform colors. Charlie got his idea for the team colors of green & gold from the colors of his favorite football team, Notre Dame. “Charlie was the first to use an electric scoreboard to deliver interesting information about the game and individual players, he called it ‘Fan-a-Grams’.” Nancy Finley, “FinleyBall“
Charlie also promoted the use of orange baseballs for better visibility, but the idea never caught on.
March 29, 2017, Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) tweeted: “Today In 1973: Oakland A’s owner Charles O. Finley’s orange baseball is used in a spring training game! pic.twitter.com/TqGOLGjcP0
“When the A’s took the field and began warming up with the new orange balls, the stadium buzzed…Even Home Plate Umpire George Maloney was captivated. He dispatched the A’s bat boy to ask Finley for a ball. When it was delivered, Maloney promptly sent it back—for an autograph.” August 18, 1975, Time Magazine: Sport: Charlie Finely: Baseball’s Barnum – TIME p.1
Charlie started the designated hitter now in use in the American League. He also started night games for World Series games. During Charlie’s ownership, the A’s were “Post Season Contenders” FIVE years in a row and Won THREE consecutive World Series Champions in 1972, 1973, & 1974.
For the in-depth stories and much more information, read Nancy Finley’s memoir, “FINLEY BALL“.
A Maverick, A Visionary
Sporting News Mar 4, 1996 p.6 by Dave Kindred
Dave Kindred wrote about Charlie O. Finley after his death describing Charlie’s “genius”: Charlie Finley was a baseball genius. Often controversial, certainly driven, he cobbled together unlikely, eccentric, but talented teams and almost literally willed them to three consecutive World Series championships, a feat equaled by only one other team in baseball history, the New York Yankees.
RELATED POSTS
- July 1976 – Finley on Carson
- August 18, 1975 – Time Magazine Cover
- 2018 – Two Finleys Merit Hall of Fame Plaques
- September 2018 – Hall of Fame
- June 10, 2008 – Kansas City Athletics Documentary
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