1993 Oakland Athletics season

1993 Oakland Athletics
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
City	Oakland, California
Record	68–94 (.420)
Divisional place	7th
Owners	Walter A. Haas, Jr.
General managers	Sandy Alderson
Managers	Tony La Russa
Television	KRON-TV (Dick Stockton, Ray Fosse) Sports Channel Pacific (Ray Fosse, Greg Papa)
Radio	KNEW (AM) (Bill King, Lon Simmons, Ray Fosse)
← 1992 Seasons 1994 →

The Oakland Athletics' 1993 season was the team's 26th in Oakland, California. It was also the 93rd season in franchise history. The team finished seventh and last in the American League West with a record of 68–94.

The Athletics' disastrous 1993 campaign was mired by inconsistency, injuries, and free agent departures. The team lost key contributors Dave Stewart, Harold Baines, and Mike Moore to free agency; the players ended up (respectively) in Toronto, Baltimore, and Detroit. The A's also traded Walt Weiss to the expansion Florida Marlins for Scott Baker and Eric Helfand. The Athletics' roster was further weakened by the retirement of longtime third baseman Carney Lansford.

The team's depleted pitching staff was no match for its American League (AL) competition. The Athletics, following a resurgent 1992 campaign, finished 1993 with a team ERA of 4.90; this was the worst such figure in the AL. The futility of Oakland's new-look starting rotation was especially noteworthy; of the team's five primary starters (Bobby Witt, Ron Darling, Bob Welch, Todd Van Poppel, and Shawn Hillegas), only one (Witt) managed a sub-5.00 ERA. On offense, the Athletics also struggled; the loss of their two best players (Mark McGwire and Rickey Henderson) to injury and a trade, respectively, contributed to their scoring only 715 runs (10th of 14 AL teams).

The Athletics' 68-94 finish was their worst since 1982. Moreover, the 1993 Athletics (as of 2020) remain the only team in Oakland history to finish last in the AL West after finishing first one-year earlier.

Offseason

• October 27, 1992: Jamie Quirk was released by the Athletics.^[1]
• November 17, 1992: Walt Weiss was traded by the Athletics to the Florida Marlins for Eric Helfand and a player to be named later. The Marlins completed the deal by sending Scott Baker to the Athletics on November 20.^[2]
• December 7, 1992: Rich Gossage was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[3]
• December 17, 1992: Ron Darling was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[4]
• January 21, 1993: Joe Boever was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[5]
• January 21, 1993: Dale Sveum was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[6]
• March 27, 1993: Mike Aldrete was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[7]

Regular season

Rollie Fingers Pitcher: 1968-76(OAK) Retired 1993

Season standings

v t e AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	94	68	0.580	—	45–36	49–32
Texas Rangers	86	76	0.531	8	50–31	36–45
Kansas City Royals	84	78	0.519	10	43–38	41–40
Seattle Mariners	82	80	0.506	12	46–35	36–45
California Angels	71	91	0.438	23	44–37	27–54
Minnesota Twins	71	91	0.438	23	36–45	35–46
Oakland Athletics	68	94	0.420	26	38–43	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1993 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	6–7	7–5	4–8	8–5	5–8	7–5	8–5	8–4	6–7	10–2	7–5	4–8	5–8
Boston	7–6	—	7–5	7–5	5–8	6–7	5–7	5–8	7–5	6–7	9–3	7–5	6–6	3–10
California	5–7	5–7	—	7–6	5–7	4–8	6–7	7–5	4–9	6–6	6–7	6–7	6–7	4–8
Chicago	8–4	5–7	6–7	—	9–3	7–5	6–7	9–3	10–3	4–8	7–6	9–4	8–5	6–6
Cleveland	5–8	8–5	7–5	3–9	—	6–7	7–5	8–5	4–8	6–7	8–4	3–9	7–5	4–9
Detroit	8–5	7–6	8–4	5–7	7–6	—	5–7	8–5	6–6	4–9	8–4	7–5	6–6	6–7
Kansas City	5–7	7–5	7–6	7–6	5–7	7–5	—	5–7	7–6	6–6	6–7	7–6	7–6	8–4
Milwaukee	5–8	8–5	5–7	3–9	5–8	5–8	7–5	—	7–5	4–9	7–5	4–8	4–8	5–8
Minnesota	4–8	5–7	9–4	3–10	8–4	6–6	6–7	5–7	—	4–8	8–5	4–9	7–6	2–10
New York	7–6	7–6	6–6	8–4	7–6	9–4	6–6	9–4	8–4	—	6–6	7–5	3–9	5–8
Oakland	2–10	3–9	7–6	6–7	4–8	4–8	7–6	5–7	5–8	6–6	—	9–4	5–8	5–7
Seattle	5–7	5–7	7–6	4–9	9–3	5–7	6–7	8–4	9–4	5–7	4–9	—	8–5	7–5
Texas	8–4	6–6	7–6	5–8	5–7	6–6	6–7	8–4	6–7	9–3	8–5	5–8	—	7–5
Toronto	8–5	10–3	8–4	6–6	9–4	7–6	4–8	8–5	10–2	8–5	7–5	5–7	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• June 3, 1993: 1993 Major League Baseball draft
  • Jeff D'Amico was drafted by the Athletics in the 2nd round.^[8]
  • Jason McDonald was drafted by the Athletics in the 4th round. Player signed July 27, 1993.^[9]
  • Scott Spiezio was drafted by the Athletics in the 6th round. Player signed June 24, 1993.^[10]
• June 17, 1993: Dale Sveum was released by the Athletics.^[6]
• July 17, 1993: Miguel Tejada was signed by the Athletics as an amateur free agent.^[11]
• July 31, 1993: Rickey Henderson was traded by the Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays for Steve Karsay and a player to be named later. The Blue Jays completed the deal by sending José Herrera to the Athletics on August 6.^[12]
• August 15, 1993: Joe Boever was released by the Athletics.^[5]

Roster

1993 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 46 Joe Boever 53 John Briscoe 55 Kevin Campbell 17 Ron Darling 15 Storm Davis 31 Kelly Downs 43 Dennis Eckersley 54 Goose Gossage 57 Shawn Hillegas 40 Rick Honeycutt 26 Vince Horsman 47 Miguel Jimenez 50 Steve Karsay 58 Mike Mohler 52 Edwin Núñez 37 Joe Slusarski 51 Roger Smithberg 59 Todd Van Poppel 35 Bob Welch 32 Bobby Witt 29 Curt Young		Catchers 48 Eric Helfand  2 Scott Hemond 39 Henry Mercedes 36 Terry Steinbach Infielders 23 Mike Aldrete 38 Marcos Armas 14 Mike Bordick 13 Brent Gates 25 Mark McGwire 16 Troy Neel  3 Craig Paquette 20 Kevin Seitzer  6 Dale Sveum		Outfielders 11 Kurt Abbott 12 Lance Blankenship  7 Scott Brosius 30 Jerry Browne 28 Eric Fox 42 Dave Henderson 24 Rickey Henderson 49 Scott Lydy 29 Rubén Sierra		Manager 10 Tony La Russa Coaches 18 Dave Duncan  5 Art Kusnyer 19 Greg Luzinski  8 Dave McKay 47 Tommie Reynolds

Game log

1993 regular season game log: 68–94 (Home: 38–43; Away: 30–51)
April: 7–11 (Home: 6–7; Away: 1–4) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Streak 1 April 5 Tigers 2 April 7 Tigers 3 April 8 Tigers 4 April 9 Brewers 5 April 10 Brewers 6 April 11 Brewers 7 April 13 @ Tigers 8 April 15 @ Tigers — April 16 @ Brewers Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: August 24) 9 April 17 @ Brewers 10 April 18 @ Brewers 11 April 20 Yankees 12 April 21 Yankees 13 April 22 Yankees — April 23 Indians Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: July 5) 14 April 24 Indians 15 April 25 Indians 16 April 27 Red Sox 17 April 28 Red Sox 18 April 30 @ Indians
May: 12–16 (Home: 6–7; Away: 6–9) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 19 May 1 @ Indians 20 May 2 @ Indians 21 May 3 @ Yankees 22 May 4 @ Yankees 23 May 5 @ Red Sox 24 May 6 @ Red Sox 25 May 7 @ Angels 26 May 8 @ Angels 27 May 9 @ Angels 28 May 10 Rangers 29 May 11 Rangers 30 May 12 Rangers 31 May 13 Rangers 32 May 14 Mariners 33 May 15 Mariners 34 May 16 Mariners 35 May 18 @ Royals 36 May 19 @ Royals 37 May 20 @ Royals 38 May 21 5:08 p.m. PDT @ White Sox W 12–11 Downs (2–2) Hernández (0–1) Eckersley (7) 3:37 36,760 16–22 W2 39 May 22 10:07 a.m. PDT @ White Sox W 6–4 Witt (4–2) Stieb (1–3) Eckersley (8) 3:26 33,205 17–22 W3 40 May 23 11:30 a.m. PDT @ White Sox L 4–5 (10) Hernández (1–1) Goosage (1–3) – 3:16 30,873 17–23 L1 41 May 25 Twins 42 May 26 Twins — May 27 Twins Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: August 14) 43 May 28 Blue Jays 44 May 29 Blue Jays 45 May 30 Blue Jays 46 May 31 Orioles
June: 12–14 (Home: 7–4; Away: 5–10) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 47 June 1 Orioles 48 June 2 Orioles 49 June 4 @ Blue Jays 50 June 5 @ Blue Jays 51 June 6 @ Blue Jays 52 June 7 @ Orioles 53 June 8 @ Orioles 54 June 9 @ Orioles 55 June 11 @ Twins 56 June 12 @ Twins 57 June 13 @ Twins 58 June 14 7:05 p.m. PDT White Sox W 7–3 Young (1–0) | McCaskill (2–7) – 3:12 23,586 23–35 W2 59 June 15 7:05 p.m. PDT White Sox L 0–4 Álvarez (6–2) Welch (4–6) – 2:26 26,532 23–36 L1 60 June 16 12:16 p.m. PDT White Sox L 0–4 McDowell (10–4) Darling (1–4) – 2:23 24,065 23–37 L2 61 June 17 12:17 p.m. PDT White Sox W 5–2 Witt (6–4) Fernandez (7–4) Eckersley (12) 2:57 20,192 24–37 W1 62 June 18 Royals 63 June 19 Royals 64 June 20 Royals 65 June 21 @ Mariners 66 June 22 @ Mariners 67 June 23 @ Mariners 68 June 24 @ Mariners — June 25 @ Rangers Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: September 28) 69 June 26 @ Rangers 70 June 27 @ Rangers 71 June 29 Angels 72 June 30 Angels
July: 12–17 (Home: 8–6; Away: 4–11) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 73 July 1 Angels 74 July 2 Yankees 75 July 3 Yankees 76 July 4 Yankees 77 (1) July 5 Indians 78 (2) July 5 Indians 79 July 6 Indians 80 July 7 Indians 81 July 8 Red Sox 82 July 9 Red Sox 83 July 10 Red Sox 84 July 11 Red Sox 64th All-Star Game in Baltimore, Maryland 85 July 15 @ Yankees 86 July 16 @ Yankees 87 July 17 @ Yankees 88 July 18 @ Yankees 89 July 19 @ Indians 90 July 20 @ Indians 91 July 21 @ Indians 92 July 22 @ Red Sox 93 July 23 @ Red Sox 94 July 24 @ Red Sox 95 July 25 @ Red Sox 96 July 26 @ Angels 97 July 27 @ Angels 98 July 28 @ Angels 99 July 29 @ Angels 100 July 30 Rangers 101 July 31 Rangers
August: 9–21 (Home: 6–10; Away: 3–11) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 102 August 1 Rangers 103 August 3 Mariners 104 August 4 Mariners 105 August 5 Mariners 106 August 6 @ Royals 107 August 7 @ Royals 108 August 8 @ Royals 109 August 9 5:07 p.m. PDT @ White Sox L 4–5 Fernandez (13–6) Witt (8–11) Hernández (24) 2:54 36,643 46–63 L1 110 August 10 5:06 p.m. PDT @ White Sox L 0–4 Belcher (10–7) Mohler (1–3) – 2:21 29,906 46–64 L2 111 August 11 10:35 a.m. PDT @ White Sox W 3–1 Van Poppel (3–3) Álvarez (8–8) Eckersley (25) 3:19 33,625 47–64 W1 112 August 13 Twins 113 (1) August 14 Twins 114 (2) August 14 Twins 115 August 15 Twins 116 August 17 Brewers 117 August 18 Brewers 118 August 19 Brewers 119 August 20 @ Tigers 120 August 21 @ Tigers 121 August 22 @ Tigers 122 August 23 @ Tigers 123 (1) August 24 @ Brewers 124 (2) August 24 @ Brewers 125 August 25 @ Brewers 126 August 26 @ Brewers 127 August 27 Tigers 128 August 28 Tigers 129 August 29 Tigers 130 August 30 Blue Jays 131 August 31 Blue Jays
September: 15–13 (Home: 4–7; Away: 11–6) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 132 September 1 Blue Jays 133 September 3 Orioles 134 September 4 Orioles 135 September 5 Orioles 136 September 7 @ Blue Jays 137 September 8 @ Blue Jays 138 September 9 @ Blue Jays 139 September 10 @ Orioles 140 September 11 @ Orioles 141 September 12 @ Orioles 142 September 13 @ Twins 143 September 14 @ Twins 144 September 15 @ Twins 145 September 16 @ Twins 146 September 17 7:36 p.m. PDT White Sox L 0–8 Álvarez (13–8) Welch (9–10) – 3:09 27,278 59–87 L2 147 September 18 1:05 p.m. PDT White Sox W 3–2 Witt (12–12) McDowell (21–10) Eckersley (33) 2:33 34,679 60–87 W1 148 September 19 1:06 p.m. PDT White Sox L 1–3 Radinsky (7–2) Eckersley (2–4) Hernández (35) 2:34 29,939 60–88 L1 149 September 20 Royals 150 September 21 Royals 151 September 22 Royals 152 September 23 Royals 153 September 24 @ Mariners 154 September 25 @ Mariners 155 September 26 @ Mariners 156 (1) September 28 @ Rangers 157 (2) September 28 @ Rangers 158 September 29 @ Rangers 159 September 30 @ Rangers
October: 1–2 (Home: 1–2; Away: 0–0) # Date Time (PT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak 160 October 1 Angels 161 October 2 Angels 162 October 3 Angels
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Athletics team member

Detailed records

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Terry Steinbach	104	389	111	.285	10	43
1B	Mike Aldrete	95	255	68	.267	10	33
2B	Brent Gates	139	535	155	.290	7	69
3B	Craig Paquette	105	393	86	.219	12	46
SS	Mike Bordick	159	546	136	.249	3	48
LF	Rickey Henderson	90	318	104	.327	17	47
CF	Dave Henderson	107	382	84	.220	20	53
RF	Rubén Sierra	158	630	147	.233	22	101
DH	Troy Neel	123	427	124	.290	19	63

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jerry Browne	76	260	65	.250	2	19
Kevin Seitzer	73	255	65	.255	4	27
Lance Blankenship	94	252	48	.190	2	23
Scott Hemond	91	215	55	.256	6	26
Scott Brosius	70	213	53	.249	6	25
Scott Lydy	41	102	23	.225	2	7
Mark McGwire	27	84	28	.333	9	24
Dale Sveum	30	79	14	.177	2	6
Kurt Abbott	20	61	15	.246	3	9
Eric Fox	29	56	8	.143	1	5
Henry Mercedes	20	47	10	.213	0	3
Marcos Armas	15	31	6	.194	1	1
Eric Helfand	8	13	3	.231	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bobby Witt	35	220.0	14	13	4.21	131
Ron Darling	31	178.0	5	9	5.16	95
Bob Welch	30	166.2	9	11	5.29	63
Todd Van Poppel	16	84.0	6	6	5.04	47
Steve Karsay	8	49.0	3	3	4.04	33
Miguel Jimenez	5	27.0	1	0	4.00	13
Curt Young	3	14.2	1	1	4.30	4

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Kelly Downs	42	119.2	5	10	5.64	66
Mike Mohler	42	64.1	1	6	5.60	42
Storm Davis	19	62.2	2	6	6.18	37
Shawn Hillegas	18	60.2	3	6	6.97	29
Joe Slusarski	2	8.2	0	0	5.19	1

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Dennis Eckersley	64	2	4	36	4.16	80
Edwin Núñez	56	3	6	1	3.81	58
Rick Honeycutt	52	1	4	1	2.81	21
Joe Boever	42	4	2	0	3.86	49
Vince Horsman	40	2	0	0	5.40	17
Rich Gossage	39	4	5	1	4.53	40
John Briscoe	17	1	0	0	8.03	24
Roger Smithberg	13	1	2	3	2.75	4
Kevin Campbell	11	0	0	0	7.31	9
Kevin Seitzer	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Tigers	Pacific Coast League	Bob Boone
AA	Huntsville Stars	Southern League	Casey Parsons
A	Modesto A's	California League	Ted Kubiak
A	Madison Muskies	Midwest League	Gary Jones
A-Short Season	Southern Oregon A's	Northwest League	Dick Scott
Rookie	AZL Athletics	Arizona League	Bruce Hines

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: AZL Athletics

References

• 1993 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Reference
• 1993 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Almanac
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.