Talk about an artifact with historical significance mixed in with the unrivaled import of one of the great Major League Baseball dynasties of the postwar era! This 1973 Oakland A’s World Series ring was given to future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, one of the team’s greatest stars, by the legendary Charley O. Finley following the team’s vanquishing of the New York Mets in the 1973 World Series, the club’s second of three consecutive world crowns from 1972-74. The 14K gold Jostens ring features a green stone at the center, encircled by the proclamation “World Champions” with year designations “72” and “73” on each side. One shank has the gold Oakland logo with green highlights, along with engravings of “Oakland” and “Fingers” above and below; the other shank has engravings of “A’s 4 Mets 3” and in a small emblem “A’s 4 Reds 3,” alluding to the team’s two World Series triumphs in 1972-73. At the bottom of the emblem is “S+S=S,” the mysterious equation that perhaps proclaims that “Sweat, plus Sacrifice equals Success.” The Size 8 (32 g) ring has Jostens 14K stamped on the interior of the band.
The irascible Finley, now smack dab in the middle of a tumultuous reign atop the baseball world that seemed to be mixed with equal parts savvy baseball management, meddlesome efforts to seemingly infuriate his players, fans, the media and/or Bowie Kuhn and even the occasional forays into the theater of the absurd, apparently took yet another swipe at his ballplayers with the issuance of the ring. Finley reportedly felt that the players hadn’t been sufficiently appreciative of his largesse in handing out the 1972 ring, so he raised their ire by forgoing the inclusion of any precious stones in 1973. The uproar that followed as players groused about their epically penurious owner would have been laughable in most any other circumstance but by then was little more than vintage Finley mayhem.