Rubino: Bay Area's real sports golden age was 40 years ago

You wouldn’t be wrong to say the Bay Area is in a professional sports golden era. The defending World Series-champion Giants have won three titles since 2010, and the Warriors just won the NBA crown. Four championships in five-plus years, two teams, two sports. A golden era, yes. How golden? Oh, let’s say about 20 karats’ worth.

That ain’t bad.

But once upon a time, there was a more golden golden era in Bay Area pro sports. A 24-karat era. Check it out.

In the 1960s, there had been notable heartbreak for Bay Area pro teams - the Giants losing in the 1962 World Series, the Warriors in the 1964 and 1967 NBA Finals, and the Raiders in Super Bowl II in January of 1968. Then, the breakthrough. Five championships in a five-year span, three teams, three sports.

The 1972 Athletics, in Oakland only five years after coming from Kansas City by way of Philadelphia, became the Bay Area’s first pro sports team to win it all. And they did it the hard way - defeating the favored Big Red Machine of Cincinnati by one run in Game 7 on the road, with Oakland ace Catfish Hunter getting the victory in middle relief and Rollie Fingers closing it with a two-inning save.

And oh, yeah. The A’s in the Series were without superstar outfielder Reggie Jackson, who had sustained a broken leg while stealing home during a one-run victory in the deciding game of the American League championship series at Detroit.

The 1973 A’s repeated as World Series champions, the first team not named the New York Yankees to win two in a row since the A’s did it 43 years earlier in their original Philadelphia incarnation. The ’73 victory was against the New York Mets, in Willie Mays’ swan song. That Series also went seven games, with Jackson and Bert Campaneris hitting homers in the clincher.

In 1974, the A’s became the first, and still the only, team not named the Yankees to win three consecutive World Series. Fingers, with one win and two saves, was the MVP. This time the A’s beat the Dodgers, in five games.

In 1975, the Warriors, also originally based in Philadelphia before coming to San Francisco in 1962 and eventually to Oakland with the odd-sounding geographical designation of Golden State, brought the Bay Area its first NBA championship. The redoubtable Rick Barry scored nearly 30 points a game in a four-game sweep of the Washington Bullets. As we know, it would be 40 years before the next NBA crown.

The Raiders, in their first Oakland incarnation and in the midst of their own golden age, won 13 of 14 regular-season games in 1976. Led by quarterback Ken Stabler, who had his best season in a distinguished 15-year career, the Raiders beat New England and Pittsburgh in the playoffs before dispatching the Fran Tarkenton-led Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl in January of 1977.

There were other, tarnished, mini-golden eras in Bay Area pro sports.

In 1988-89, the 49ers won consecutive Super Bowls, and in ’89 the A’s swept the Giants in the 1989 World Series. Three titles, two teams, two sports. Not bad. Say, 9-karat?

And, depending on how far you want to stretch the notion of “era,” thanks to the 49ers’ Super Bowl wins following the ’88, ’89 and ’94 seasons, and including the A’s 1989 championship, you can say the seven-year span of 1988-94 was golden: four titles, two teams, two sports. Maybe a 9-karat era?

Or perhaps the nine-year span of 1981-89 was golden: five titles, two teams, two sports. An 8-karat era.

If you’re desperate to make an era flexible, you could call the 14-year span of 1981-94 golden: six titles, two teams, two sports. If that’s a single golden era, it’s worth 1 karat.

This isn’t meant to denigrate other golden eras. It’s simply meant to remind older fans and perhaps inform younger ones that the most golden of the Bay Area’s golden eras for professional sports occurred four decades ago.

Strolling down History Lane isn’t meant to dilute the present. The Warriors, Giants, A’s, 49ers and Raiders - heck, throw in the Sharks and Earthquakes, too - can all contribute championships to this current era and maybe even upgrade it to 24-karat.

But time is of the essence. You want a golden era with integrity.

Robert Rubino can be reached at RobertoRubino@comcast.net.