The Mustache Gang

The Mustache Gang, a term coined for the 1972 Oakland Athletic's baseball team, a team that broke the traditionally conservative baseball views by sporting mustaches. Prior to the 1970's there had only been two baseball players who had facial hair during the regular season: Stanley "Frenchy" Bordagaray of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who was then order to shave by his manager, and Wally Schang of the Philadelphia A's. This changed when the A's outfielder, Reggie Jackson, showed up to spring training with a fully grown mustache which would later be thought of as the catalyst that sparked the move away from the conservative baseball era. This move lead to the World Series final to be dubbed "Hairs vs. Squares", as the Oakland A's Mustache Gang faced off with the conservatively clean shaven Cincinnati Reds.

The Origins

Baseball, before 1972, was traditionally known as a conservative era where all players were clean shaven. During this time there had even been an 'unwritten rule' that frowns upon players with facial hair. There have been some baseball players who have grown mustache's but all show up cleanly-shaven at the start of the regular season either by their own decision or ordered by their managers.

The Mustache Gang was started in 1972 when right fielder, Reggie Jackson, showed up to spring training with a mustache claiming he would have a fully grown beard at the start of the regular season. Initially, this assertion did not taken well by the organization and according to Mike Hegan, "[Charlie] told Dick to tell Reggie to shave it off. And Dick told Reggie to shave off, and Reggie told Dick where he could shove it." So, in a hopes to avoid a large conflict Finley decided to take a reverse-psychology approach, knowing Reggie Jackson liked to consider himself to be an individual, he hoped that if a couple other players decided to join him in sporting facial hair then he would give up and shave off his beard. In an attempt to do just that, Finely asked A's pitchers Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Rollie Fingers(who is most notoriously known for his long handlebar mustache), Darold Knowles, and Bob Locker to all grow a mustache. An action that backfired but would ultimately lead to the birth of The Mustache Gang.

As the mustache spread in popularity among the team, Charlie O. Finley and the other management began to come around to the new look. Finely had come around so quickly, he not only grew one but encouraged the other members of the team to do the same. He even dubbed that years "Father's Day" as "Mustache Day" and offered a $300 reward to anyone who could grow a mustache by then. Once "Mustache Day" rolled around, all 25 members of the Oakland Athletics was sporting a mustache, even Dick Williams decided to grow one, and to even further promote his team's new look, every fan that showed up to the Oakland Stadium wearing a mustache gained admittance for free. As though to irritate the other owners even more, Finely took it one step further by changing even making his team's uniforms different from the rest of the league, the traditional baseball pants and black and grey jersey was replaced with a "two-tone uniform". Meaning, the players would wear a green and gold pullover shirts on top, along with the traditional white pants and elastic belts. This created a baseball team unlike any other in it's time.

Members of the 1972 Oakland A's

Name	Position
Charlie O. Finley	Owner
Dick Williams	Manager
Dave Duncan	Catcher
Gene Tenace	Catcher-First Baseman
Mike Epstein	First Baseman
Tim Cullen	Second Baseman
Dick Green	Second Baseman
Bert Campaneris	Shortstop
Sal Bando	Third Baseman
Mike Hegan	First Baseman
Don Mincher	First Baseman
Ted Kubiak	Utility Infielder
Dal Maxvill	Utility Infielder
Joe Rudi	Left Fielder
Reggie Jackson	Center Fielder-Right Fielder
Matty Alou	Right Fielder
Jim "Catfish" Hunter	Starting Pitcher
Ken Holtzman	Starting Pitcher
John "Blue Moon" Odom	Starting Pitcher
Vida Blue	Starting Pitcher
Dave Hamilton	Relief Pitcher-Starting Pitcher
Darold Knowles	Relief Pitcher
Joel Horlen	Relief Pitcher
Bob Locker	Relief Pitcher
Rollie Fingers	Relief Pitcher