“OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Athletics players have decided to donate one full playoff share to eight local and national charitable efforts, a total of $34,325.16.

Reliever Jerry Blevins, the team’s player representative, informed the front office that he and his teammates voted to donate one playoff share to charities – including Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The other charities are the MLB Players Trust, UMPS CARE, Oakland A’s Community Fund, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, United Way of the Bay Area, Donnie Moore Ministries and the ”Strike 3 Foundation.”

The AL West champion A’s lost in five games of the AL division series to the Detroit Tigers after a sensational final week of the regular season that included a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers to capture the division crown.”*

The A’s full share of Playoff money was $2,124,312,75.  The players decided to split the money into 51 full shares, 9.786 partial shares, and 20 cash awards. They took the 51st full share and gave it to charities of their choosing.  We all knew that this team was special.  This is another example of what wonderful human beings these guys are.

Apparently, Johnny Gomes (now with the Boston Red Sox) was the player who urged the others to set this share aside for charity at a team meeting held in Texas near the end of the season.  It seemed a long shot at that time, as the A’s were 5 games back of of the Rangers with only a few more games than that left to play.  But do it they did, winning the division on the last game of the season against Texas!

As Casey Pratt of CSN wrote, “Some of the lowest paid players in the league offering up their hard earned money to people that need it more. That tells you all you need to know about the character of these Oakland Athletics.”

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An Apology:  I started this bog a few years ago while I was writing my book, Contract Year: a baseball novel.  During the final rewrites and publications phases, I neglected my blog, posting only sporadically.  To my followers, I am truly sorry.  But now that the book is published, I will have more time to devote to it and will try to live up to my original promise to post at least 3 or more times a month.  Today is the first step in that direction.

People have asked me how the book is doing, and the answer is very well.  I am proud of the fact that it enjoys a 5-star rating on Amazon!  Check it out on my website by clicking on this link:  www.contractyearnovel.com,  where signed copies are available as well as ebook versions in both Kindle and iPad versions.

That’s all for today.  See you again here soon, I promise!

Bee