HEAVY HITTERS : Oakland Athletics’ Power Hitters Proving They Are Up to the Tusk

The elephants danced and the ground shook all over the American League.

The Oakland Athletics revived a mascot that first appeared in the days of Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics 86 years ago but vanished in the early 1960s.

Never was it more appropriate, though, than in this season of Oakland’s mammoth home run hitters: Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Dave Henderson and Dave Parker. They average 6-foot-4, 225 pounds and over 400-feet per homer.

“The elephant is the right symbol for us this year,” says Canseco. “We’ve got lots of big guys swinging big bats and hitting homers.”

Wearing elephant patches on their uniforms, the Athletics stampeded into stadiums around the league and crushed some balls while holding the AL West lead since April 20th.

Canseco hit nearly two miles worth of balls as he took the major league lead with 23 homers going into this weekend. McGwire was down from the 49 homer pace of his rookie season last year, but he still had 15 and seemed to be just warming up.

They bashed their forearms after homers instead of giving high-fives or handshakes and started a fad kids picked up in the Little Leagues.

The Athletics were a blend of youngsters with talent and veterans with championship experience. They were as big as the 6-5 McGwire and as small as the 5-7 Glenn Hubbard.

They had talent up and down their lineup and depth on the bench, but as the first half of the season was coming to a close, they were wounded and weary.

Parker, who hit nine homers before tearing a ligament in his right thumb last week, had surgery and will be out at least until September. The A’s will miss his power and leadership.

All the A’s felt the need for at least a short break this week after playing two 16-inning games in a row, followed by a doubleheader in the middle of an 11-game road trip.

That doesn’t mean they didn’t like like the road. Their traveling circus had the best road record in baseball, and was the toughest in the league against teams in the East. Oakland pulled away from the rest of the AL West by as many as 11 games on June 5, nearly a month after winning a club record 14 games in a row.

Trouble may loom in the second half of the season, but the Athletics still lead as baseball pauses for the All-Star break.

Indeed, the All-Star Game will be another showcase for the Athletics, with Canseco, McGwire, Terry Steinbach, Carney Lansford and Dennis Eckersley on the AL roster. Pitchers Dave Stewart, 11-7, and Bob Welch, 10-4, didn’t make the team but both were worthy of it.

Canseco, who had more votes than any other AL All-Star, is having an MVP-type season. Going into this weekend, he led the league in homers, runs batted in and runs scored and is among the leaders in stolen bases.

Despite their image, though, the Athletics are more than just sluggers. Pitching and fielding have been outstanding.

“What I like best about this team is the overall balance,” says Manager Tony La Russa. “Some day’s the wind’s blowing in and you can’t hit a home run. We hit a lot of singles and run the bases well. If the power’s not there one day, we can rely on our pitching.”

Team balance, he believes, is the key to winning pennants.

“You’re tested over 162 games,” he says. “If you’re a one- or two-dimensional team, there are going to be a lot of games that dimension is not there.

“Another key is our attitude,” he says. “As long as it stays our number one strength, we’re going to be fine. We don’t get too high when we win and we don’t get too low when we lose. We know we can beat anybody, even if we’re down five runs in the ninth.”

When the A’s are ahead in the ninth, the man La Russa usually sends to the mound is right-hander Eckersley.

The mustachioed, 14-year veteran had a 1.53 earned run average going into this weekend and led the majors with 25 saves. The pitching staff overall had a 3.59 earned run average, second lowest in the league.

Lansford, a former AL batting champion with Boston who is going to his first All-Star game, is having a superb season at third base and at the plate as a leadoff hitter.

Canseco calls him the team’s “catalyst” and “a quiet leader.”

Lansford was hitting as high as .402 a month ago, tops in the majors, before slumping to .321. But he’s been coming back again in the past week to remain among the leaders.

Kansas City’s George Brett says Lansford is a steadier fielder than he was at third when he was an All-Star at that position before moving to first.

“He’s underrated by fans, not other players,” Brett says. “But you don’t get the exposure as a player unless you play in All-Star games and playoffs and World Series. He’s gotten a lot of exposure this year because he’s had such an outstanding year, but he’s had them before and just kind of seems to go unnoticed.”

Lansford, in his 11th year in the majors, says he has only one goal left in baseball, and he hopes this will be the year he reaches it.

“I want to leave the game with a World Series ring, at least one,” he says. “We’ve got the talent here to get it.”

Some fans think Oakland has a chance to win for many years to come with young players like Canseco and McGwire and Steinbach.

“We’re going to have a strong core for a long time,” says Canseco.

“This is a great team,” says McGwire.

It’s a little early, though, to start comparing them with the Athletics of Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter that won three straight World Series from 1972 to 1974 or to the championship Athletics of earlier decades.

If they can fill Parker’s spot with another run-producer and avoid further injuries, the Athletics could start a new reign and return the elephant to a symbol of power in the league.

If they fall apart, however, they could have the shortest dynasty on record, kick out the elephant and bring back Charlie Finley’s mule.