Lids.com has a nice selection that is constantly changing. Keep an eye out for deals and buy quick because they sell out fast.

http://www.lids.com/did/157

Hatland.com is another great source for custom A’s hats in all different styles.

http://www.hatland.com/store4hats.cfm/hats,2,Oakland_Athletics_MLB_Hats.html

NewEraCap.com also has a great selection of A’s hats

http://www.neweracap.com/nshop/product.php?hatGroup=88&hatFit=&groupName=MenMLB&view=listing&searchBy=group&prevHatGroup=&prevHatFit=&resetDropDown=hatFit

These are the three main websites where I personally like to shop for hats. Hopefully this can help you find something to fit your needs.

Mark McGwire was always a favorite player of mine. Until the steroid news came around. I kind of had a hunch when his legs grew wider than my waste, but I didn’t want to believe it. He currently is ranked 8th in career home runs, made the All-Star team 12 times, won a Gold Glove and much more, so you’d think that would be enough to place him into the hall of fame right? No, he keeps coming up short on votes. McGwire needs 75% votes to get in, and he keeps getting around 25%.  It all comes back to the steroids. Does he deserve it? He’s going to be on the Hall of Fame ballot again for the 4th time in 2010 so keep an eye out and see what happens.

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/spring_training/index.jsp?c_id=oak

This site has a list of dates and tickets for A’s Spring Training. It’s in Phoenix as always. So pack your sunscreen and get yourself a ticket or two.

This site has all kinds of different A’s trivia. You can get a lot of answers just from reading up on some of the info posted on my site. But be warned, these are some tough quizzes. You may want to do some studying up before attempting them. Good time killer…

A couple baseball mascots go at it in a dance battle outside of the homerun derby in San Francisco in 2007. Clearly Stomper is the winner. Poor other mascots never had a chance. Don’t they know he’s from the bay?

By Mychael Urban / MLB.com

11/16/09 3:24 PM EST

OAKLAND — A’s right-hander Andrew Bailey got the call from New York at 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday and was told to “keep it under wraps.”

He assumed, however, that it was safe to let his parents in on the secret: His rise from Minor League obscurity to Major League limelight turned historic when he was named the American League’s 2009 Rookie of the Year.

“My dad couldn’t believe it,” Bailey told MLB.com by phone shortly after the announcement. “He had been reading all these articles about who had voted for who, and everyone kind of thought Elvis [Andrus of the Rangers] was going to win. So when I told him, he was like, ‘No way. Are you kidding? Really?’

“When I called my mom, she just started laughing. And then she started crying.”

Andrus, Texas’ acrobatic 21-year-old shortstop, finished second in the voting, which was carried out by selected members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Bailey, 25, posted 26 saves — no other AL rookie reliever had more than two — with a 1.84 ERA, also the best among AL rookies. He was listed first on 13 ballots submitted by two writers in each AL city, second on six and third on five to score 88 points, based on a 5-3-1 tabulation system.

Andrus, who batted .267 and led AL rookies in hits (128), runs (72), triples (8), total bases (179) and stolen bases (33), placed first on eight ballots, second on six and third on seven for 65 points — one point more than Tigers righty starter Rick Porcello (14-9, 3.96 ERA), who was first on seven ballots, second on eight and third on five for 64 points.

A’s lefty starter Brett Anderson finished sixth in the voting, picking up one second-place vote and one third-place vote.

“There were so many rookies who had great years, it’s an amazing honor,” Bailey said while scurrying to the airport for an afternoon flight to Oakland, where he’ll be featured at a press conference Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT.

“And I think it’s really cool that we had two guys in the mix, with Brett being kind of a darkhorse. He had an incredible year, too.”

Bailey is the second Oakland closer to win in the past five elections; Huston Street won it in 2005. Other closers elected were Gregg Olson of the Orioles in 1989 and Kazuhiro Sasaki of the Mariners in ’00. Yankees pitcher Dave Righetti was a starter when he won the award in ’81.

“I kind of thought Andrus was going to win, too,” Bailey said. “He was awesome, and he plays every day.”

Including shortstop Bobby Crosby’s honor in 2004, this marks the third time in six seasons that an A’s player has won the rookie award and the eighth time overall, tying the Yankees for the most winners in the league.

The National League’s Dodgers — Brooklyn and Los Angeles — hold all-time bragging rights with 16 ROYs.

Moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen at Double-A Midland at midseason in 2008, Bailey didn’t just make a successful transition to relief work. He made the transition look like a breeze.

After dominating during the second half of the 2008 season at Midland, he following suit in the prestigious Arizona Fall League and did the same in his first trip to big league Spring Training.

Named to the 25-man roster in part because projected closer Joey Devine was out with an elbow injury that resulted in season-ending surgery, Bailey was handed a low-stress role in the season’s first several weeks but steadily climbed the ladder of responsibility.

He picked up his first save in early May and eventually took over as the full-time closer, converting his final 21 save opportunities dating to June 17.

“We didn’t give him the job,” pitching coach Curt Young said in September. “He took it.”

Named the Athletics’ lone representative at the All-Star Game in St. Louis this summer, Bailey broke Street’s Oakland rookie record for saves and posted a 6-3 record with a 0.88 WHIP and 91 strikeouts against 24 walks in 83 1/3 innings over 68 appearances. Opponents batted .167 against Bailey, who surrendered 47 hits

“Andrew,” said A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki, “was amazing.”

Bailey, who is sharing an apartment with his fiancée, Amanda, in Hamden, Conn., this winter, said he was “shocked” when he got Monday’s big news.

“It’s kind of hard to believe still,” he said. “It’s crazy. There’s about 100 people trying to get through on my phone right now, so everyone’s pretty excited about it. I really tried not to think too much about it after the season because it was out of my hands. All you can do is put up your numbers and hope that’s good enough.

“I guess this means it was. It’s incredible. I’m still shaking.”

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091030&content_id=7583792&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

Ahh yes, the last time the A’s won the World Series. I love that it was against the Giants, and what makes it even sweeter is that they won in a four game sweep. That means the Giants didn’t even win one game of the series…Beautiful. AND it was the only Series where the losing team (Giants) never had the lead. Never.

Those of us living in the Bay Area at this time may remember this series from what happened during game 3. Things got a little bit shaky. The 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake put off the series for ten days.

Game 1: A’s win 5-0 at the Coliseum with Dave Stewart on the mound.

Game 2: A’s win 5-1 at the Coliseum with Mike Moore against Rick Reuschel.

Game 3: A’s win 13-7 at Candlestick in San Francisco with Dave Stewart pitching again. Dave Henderson almost hit 3 home runs, his first at bat bounced off the top of the wall for a double. This game set the record for most combined HR’s in a World Series game with 7 (5 from the A’s, 2 from the Giants).

Game 4: A’s win 9-6 at Candlestick with Mike Moore pitching, Eckersley closed it out for the victory. Rickey Henderson started off the game right with a lead off home run. Thata boy Rickey.

Roster:

A’s Manager: Tony La Russa

MVP: Dave Stewart winning two games and striking out 14 batters

Quotes :

…and he fails to get Dave Parker at second base, so the Oakland A’s take……take……..I’ll tell you what, we’re having an earth…

—ABC Sports color commentator Tim McCarver and play-by-play commentator Al Michaels, respectively. Michaels’ sentence was cut off to the television audience due to the loss of power during the earthquake

Ladies and gentlemen, we are postponing the game because there is no power in the stadium. We would like for you to leave in an orderly way. I don’t think there’s any grave danger, but we have no idea when the power’s going to be on and we have to get people out of here before it gets dark.

—Commissioner Fay Vincent on October 17.

It’s a ground ball to the right side, speared by Phillips, flips to Eckersley…YES!!! He’s there in time, and the A’s are the World Champions!

—Michaels calling the final out of the Series.