1973, 1974 Oakland A's Championship Rings Featured Green Glass

Published on December 16th, 2022 5:01 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Charlie Finley was the long-time owner of the Oakland Athletics.

In 1968, Finley would move the team from Kansas City to Oakland.

In 1980, Finley would be forced to sell the team due to financial difficulties.

During Finley's time as the owner of the team, the Athletics won three World Series titles (1972-1974) and five straight divisional titles.

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While there were certainly good times in Oakland during the early 1970s, many former players held a long-time grudge against Finley.

The reason?

Cheap championship rings.

When the Athletics won their first title in 1972, Finley spent $3,800 per ring on the team's championship rings.

This works out to a little less than $30,000 per ring in today's dollars - certainly nothing to sneeze at.

The ring's were topped with a full-carat diamond and included the inscription "S+S=S" - Sweat plus Sacrifice Equals Success.

Finley had a promise for his team - repeats as champions, and I'll "make this look like a dime-store ring".

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The Athletics would repeat as champions - in fact, they would win in both 1973 and 1974.

Members of the Athletics were obviously expecting some killer rings in 1973 - after all, their owner had promised it to them the year before.

The team, however, were shocked and stunned to receive championship rings that included "green glass" instead of diamonds.

This would happen once again in 1974 - instead of diamonds in the centerpiece of the ring, there was green glass.

The players were mad about the rings, as they looked cheap and weren't anything close to what was promised to them.

Many of these players held long-time grudges against Charlie Finley as a result of the slight.

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Charlie Finley would later reveal the reason for going back on his word - not enough gratitude from the players for the 1972 rings.

Finley would later reveal that he only received three "thank you notes" from players after giving them the 1972 rings.

Not feeling the gratitude from his players, Finley decided to give them much, much cheaper rings in 1973 and 1974.

Many of the players felt as though they didn't owe Finley any such thank you note, and that their efforts on the field deserved recognition from Finley, and not the other way around.

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You can see pictures of the '73 and '74 championship rings online, and they are embarrassingly drab compared to the rings that are given out in this day and age.