Dick Williams honored

OAKLAND, Calif. - Dick Williams, inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee last December, threw out the first ball.

Williams, who managed Boston's Impossible Dream team in 1967, will go into the Hall wearing an A's cap, winning two titles here in the early 1970s.

The A's also are celebrating their 40 years of baseball. They brought back Dave Henderson, Sal Bando, Terry Steinbach, and Joe Rudi who were introduced pre-game. We know Henderson's role in Sox history, bringing them back from the dead in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS against the Angels. Rudi was briefly sold along with Rollie Fingers for $1 million each to the Red Sox in May of 1976, but the deal was overturned by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

Rudi and Fingers were represented by then super-agent Jeremy Kapstein, who is currently the Red Sox' senior adviser.