Francis Patrick Friday (January 16, 1924 - April 2, 1993) was an American baseball executive who served as general manager of the Kansas City Athletics for four full seasons during the 1960s.
Francis Patrick Friday (January 16, 1924 - April 2, 1993) was an American baseball executive who served as general manager of the Kansas City Athletics for four full seasons during the 1960s.
Friday was born on January 16, 1924, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, the son of August Friday (original name Napiętek) and Susan Glinski. On August 22, 1961, Friday became the general manager of the Athletics. When he was hired by Athletics owner Charlie Finley to replace Frank Lane as general manager, Friday had no experience in baseball. [1] He had been in charge of an insurance office owned by Finley. [2] He remained general manager until 1965. [3]
In a seven-year stretch under Finley, Kansas City had seven managers and five general managers, with Friday serving the longest. [4] Friday spent portions of five seasons as general manager. The Athletics did not have a winning season in eleven years in Kansas City. [3] Author Susan Slusser points out that Finley was really the de facto general manager during Friday's tenure. [4]
Friday died on April 2, 1993, in Highland Park, Illinois, at the age of 69.
The Oakland Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team played its home games at the Oakland Coliseum until 2024, with plans to temporarily move to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California, for the 2025–2027 seasons before their permanent move to Las Vegas. While in West Sacramento, the team plans on being referred to as simply the "A's" and "Athletics," with no city name attached. The relocation will mark the first move by an MLB team since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C., becoming the Washington Nationals in 2005. The nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles won by the A's throughout their history are the second-highest in the American League after the New York Yankees.
The Kansas City Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1955 to 1967, having previously played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the Philadelphia Athletics. After moving in 1967, the team became the Oakland Athletics. In 2025 the franchise will move temporarily to Sacramento before permanently moving to Las Vegas.
Charles Oscar Finley, nicknamed "Charlie O" or "Charley O", was an American businessman who owned Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas City, moving it to Oakland in 1968. He is also known as a short-lived owner of the National Hockey League's California Golden Seals and the American Basketball Association's Memphis Tams.
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was an American professional baseball second baseman, manager and executive. While Harris played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators and Detroit Tigers, it was his long managerial career that led to his enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1975.
Frank Charles Meyers Lane was an American executive in professional baseball, most notably serving as a general manager in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers for over fifteen seasons between 1948 and 1972.
Vida Rochelle Blue Jr. was an American professional baseball player. He was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1986, most notably as an integral member of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won three consecutive World Series championships from 1972 to 1974. He won the American League (AL) Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1961 throughout the world.
Parke Carroll was an American front-office executive in minor league and Major League Baseball.
Henry John Peters was an American professional baseball executive who held senior management positions for the Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball between 1965 and 1991. During his dozen years as general manager of the Orioles (1976–1987), Baltimore won two American League pennants and the 1983 World Series championship. Peters was named The Sporting News Executive of the Year after both pennant-winning seasons.
The 1968 Oakland Athletics season was the franchise's 68th season and its first in Oakland, California. The team finished sixth in the American League with a record of 82 wins and 80 losses, placing them 21 games behind the eventual World Series champion Detroit Tigers. The Athletics' paid attendance for the season was 837,466.
The 1967 Kansas City Athletics season involved the team's finishing tenth in the American League with a record of 62 wins and 99 losses, 29+1⁄2 games behind the American League Champion Boston Red Sox. This was the franchise's 13th and final season in Kansas City. After the season, the team relocated from Kansas City to Oakland. This precipitated a series of events culminating in the enfranchisement of the Kansas City Royals in the 1969 Major League Baseball expansion.
The 1965 Kansas City Athletics season was the 11th for the franchise in Kansas City and the 65th in its overall history. It involved the A's finishing tenth in the American League with a record of 59 wins and 103 losses, 43 games behind the American League Champion Minnesota Twins. The paid attendance for the season was 528,344, the lowest in the major leagues. The club won 59 games, their worst showing since the A's moved to Kansas City.
The 1961 Kansas City Athletics season was a season in American baseball. In their seventh season in Kansas City, the 61st overall for the franchise, the A's finished with a record of 61–100, tying the expansion Washington Senators for ninth place, last in the newly expanded 10-team American League. The A's finished nine games behind the league's other expansion team, the Los Angeles Angels and 47+1⁄2 games behind the World Champion New York Yankees.
The 1960 Kansas City Athletics season was the sixth in Kansas City and the 60th overall. It involved the A's finishing last place in the American League's final season as an eight team circuit. Kansas City recorded 58 wins and 96 losses, 39 games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees.
The 1955 Kansas City Athletics season was the 55th season for the franchise in MLB's American League, and the first season in Kansas City after playing the previous 54 in Philadelphia. The team won 63 games – only the fifth time in 20 years that they won more than 60 games – and lost 91, finishing sixth in the American League, 33 games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees.
The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seasons and then to the San Francisco Bay in Oakland, California, in 1968. The team endured numerous attendance issues stemming from the aging Oakland Coliseum before the MLB owners approved the team's application to relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2023. With four locations, the A's have had the most homes of any MLB team.
Leopoldo Jesús Posada Hernández was a Cuban baseball player. He played for the Kansas City Athletics of Major League Baseball from 1960 through 1962. After his retirement as a player, Posada served as a manager in Minor League Baseball.
The 1969 Major League Baseball expansion resulted in the establishment of expansion franchises in Kansas City and Seattle in the American League and in Montreal and San Diego in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Kansas City Royals, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Pilots began play in the 1969 Major League Baseball season. One of the reasons for expansion was increasing pressure to maintain the sport as the US national pastime, particularly because of the increasing popularity of professional football.
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