I reckon I musta just turned 8 in '71 when this team in Green&Gold uniforms got swept in the AL Series by someone...but I thought Campy Campeneris and Vida Blue and Sal Bando and Catfish Hunter and BlueMoon Odom and Joe Rudi and--especially--Reggie Jackson were the kewlest things since sliced bread!! Liked 'em ever since...MUD
When I was a kid the A's were still in Kansas City and they were always battling the Senators for last place. To make matters worse, whenever they got a decent player they would trade him to the Yankees and get nothing in return. They lost Roger Maris, Ralph Terry, Clete Boyer (Landru's Cousin) and many others that went to New York and helped the Yankees win pennant after pennant. The joke was that Kansas City was the Yankees' best farm team.
Being from the New York Yankee radio and TV area, I eventually got tired of the Yankees winning all the time and started to hate them vehemently (I was 8 years old) and decided to pick my own team to root for. After seeing how badly the Yankees had treated the A's I gravitated to them. I liked their players and that big white elephant. When they moved to Oakland, I stuck with them. Became friends with Tony Phillips back in 87 and he was able to get me lots of neat A's memorabilia and autographs. Also free tickets (sat with his parents) at Baltimore games when the A's came east. etc etc