Finley, Charles Oscar

▪ 1997

      ("CHARLIE"), U.S. sports executive (b. Feb. 22, 1918, Ensley, near Birmingham, Ala.—d. Feb. 19, 1996, Chicago, Ill.), introduced innovations to major league baseball as the unconventional and successful owner of the Athletics in Kansas City (1960-67) and Oakland (1968-80); he shepherded his ball club to three consecutive World Series titles in 1972-74. Challenging baseball traditions, he promoted the adoption of the designated hitter, team mascots, colourful player uniforms, and night and weekend World Series games. He was also known for ideas that did not catch on, such as orange baseballs, a walk awarded on three instead of four balls, the designated runner, and a closer right-field fence. Earlier, Finley worked in a steel mill in Gary, Ind., and in an ordnance plant during World War II. While recovering from tuberculosis in a sanitarium in 1946-48, he originated a plan to sell group insurance to physicians, which became a lucrative venture with the formation of his own company in 1954. As owner of the Athletics for two decades, he was regarded as a micromanager with a confrontational style; he hired a total of 18 managers, some of them twice. Known as a tough contract negotiator, he unwittingly introduced (1974) free agency to baseball when his failure to adhere to the contract terms of his star pitcher, Catfish Hunter, resulted in arbitration that ended with Hunter's being allowed to deal with any team. In 1976 Finley's attempt to sell the rights to three of his top players—Rollie Fingers, Vida Blue, and Joe Rudi—before he lost them to free agency was blocked by the baseball commissioner, Bowie Kuhn. With the decline of the team's financial and athletic fortunes, he sold the franchise in 1980.

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