I was recently advised that Swingin’ A’s is going to start including a retro feature on Thursdays, featuring A’s players, teams, and accomplishments of the past. As the only one on the writing staff who can proudly say he’s followed the guys in Green and Gold since Day 1 (let alone been sucking air on this planet that long) I plan on taking advantage of the opportunity.
This week’s feature is Rick Monday, the first center fielder in Oakland A’s lore to patrol the mass green pasture of the then-new Oakland Coliseum.
Taken as the first overall selection by the A’s in the inaugural Major League First-Year Player Draft in 1965 out of Arizona State, where he played with eventual teammates Reggie Jackson and Sal Bando, owner Charlie Finley signed Monday with an unheard-of-at-the-time $100,000 bonus.