PROGRAMMING NOTE: NBC Sports California is looking back at the A's 50 Memorable Moments since the franchise relocated to Oakland in 1968. Below are the next two moments you can vote on. Tune into A's Pregame Live today at 5:30pm to watch highlights of the two moments. After the A's and Padres conclude, tune into A's Postgame Live to see which moment will move on to the next round!
1. Dallas Braden's Perfect Game on Mother's Day 2010 (15-time winner -- Defeated Eric Byrnes hits for the cycle against the Giants in 2003)
(From Dallas Braden)
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Well, they haven’t taken it away yet so I guess it might not be a dream after all. It’s still insane to think that on such a special day for so many people, my teammates and I were able to etch ourselves into the hearts of A’s fans everywhere.
In the moment, I had no clue. At the same time, I was fully aware. Completely focused and emotionally distracted at the same time. Hell, I talked myself into the wrong count in the last at-bat of the game. The 27th out. In that moment I had no clue. No clue I’d become the vehicle for such an emotional moment shared between mothers and their families across baseball that special day. I do believe that’s what I was -- merely a vehicle to connect people through our beautiful game. My mom, along with the baseball gods, and Landon Powell, I guess, all steered us down the path of history and to be able to share and relive those special moments and memories is a blessing a young little leaguer can only dream of.
I hope that through my passion for the game you feel the same love I, myself, my wife, baby girl, and grandmother have felt from each of you, the fans of the Green & Gold. We couldn’t be happier to share this Mother’s Day and every Mother’s Day from here on out, TOGETHER! It’s a perfect fit if you ask me.
VS.
2. Jose Canseco becomes first player in history to join 40-40 Club and wins AL MVP in 1988
(From Dave Stewart)
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What I remember is the year before, and if Jose was to sit here with me right now, he’d tell you that the year before, I challenged him and told him that I thought he had the ability to be the Most Valuable Player in the League.
I guess he really didn’t care much for the defensive end of the game, and so I challenged him to be a better defensive player, you know, hitting home runs, those things were going to come, but as a good a player as you could possibly be.
And the next year he comes out, he plays a tremendous right field, and then on the offensive end, he made the prediction in Spring Training that he’s going to be the first “40-40 guy”, and he came out and he did it.
With Josey standing at the plate, it always represented an opportunity to win a game, if the game was close with runners on base and to be able to steal that many bases in a season also means that he could win a game by running the bases, and so
now he becomes a double-threat, he could hit the ball out of the ballpark and when he got on base, there was a chance he could steal second base or third base and he really liked to steal third base as well so this guy becomes a serious threat.
He wasn’t shy, that’s a strong prediction to make, to say I’m going to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs and nobody had ever done it before, and for him to be able to do that, and I got to tell you, it wasn’t that tough for him, it wasn’t like it was the last day he stole his
40th base or hit his 40th home run. I mean it was an unbelievable feat to really see him step up all the way around as a player and make himself the player he should be which is a complete player both offensive and defensively.
The award went to the right player that year, he was deserving of the MVP Award.
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