[Once A Star raw: Charlie Finley #4]

This tape is part of an interview with renowned Oakland A's manager Charlie Finley. It was shot for the documentary Once A Star.

00:00Copy video clip URL Tape begins.

00:32Copy video clip URL Finley talks about getting doctors to band together and get group insurance. He made his money in insurance, and didn’t know what to do with it, so he bought a baseball team.

04:48Copy video clip URL Finley wanted to by the Detroit Tigers in 1955 and almost bought the White Sox in 1959, but he didn’t make the call soon enough, and Bill Veeck bought the team. He almost made a deal in 1961 to buy the White Sox from Veeck, but Veeck tried to raise the price on him at the last moment. So he bought the Kansas City A’s instead. He says he should have taken the White Sox deal, because in retrospect it was a very good deal.

9:30Copy video clip URL Finley talks about meeting Connie Mack for the first time, in 1933. He also talks about his baseball heroes: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and a Yankees outfielder named Ben Chatwin.

12:37Copy video clip URL Finley talks about the challenge of “living within his means” as an owner–of not paying his players more than he could actually afford.

15:10Copy video clip URL He talks about arranging the trade for Kenny Holzman. “He was the best pitcher I had, along with Catfish Hunter.”

16:56Copy video clip URL Finley says he didn’t let it bother him if his players didn’t like him. There were some who didn’t like him. He denies that he didn’t go to the clubhouse.