BCC’s Tam Joins Oakland A’s Win Streak Anniversary Event

By  //  August 12, 2012

Celebration On Aug. 19

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Brevard Community College head baseball coach Jeff Tam will be part of a special celebration for Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics when the team celebrates the 10th Anniversary of its 20-game winning streak.

BCC baseball coach will join in a 10-year anniversary celebration of the Oakland A's 20-game winning streak on Aug. 19 in Oakland. (Image courtesy Major League Baseball)

The achievement will be marked on Aug. 19 at the A’s home game against the Cleveland Indians.

Tam, a relief pitcher, appeared in five games during the winning streak, pitching three 2/3 innings surrendering six hits and three runs. He pitched in the Sept. 4, 2002 milestone victory, a 12-11 win over the Kansas City Royals, giving up an eighth-inning home run.

“It’s flattering to go back and be honored for being basically part of history,” Tam said. “It’s a streak that stands. In that game it’s going to be tough to beat. “Twenty in a row. Everything is possible. Somebody eventually will come down the line and unseat us. Twenty straight wins in baseball is unheard of.”

Oakland’s streak began Tuesday, Aug. 13 with a 5-4 home win against Toronto and ended on Friday, Sept. 6 in a 6-0 loss at Minnesota. The streak is the longest in American League history and second only to the 21-game streak accomplished by the National League Chicago Cubs in 1935.

The streak is a prominent feature of the film “Moneyball” that chronicles the A’s 2002 season. Tam appears in game footage in the film.

Oakland finished first in the American League West in 2002 with a 103-59 record, but lost the five-game divisional playoff series to the Minnesota Twins, 3-2. Tam did not pitch in that series.

For the 2002 season, Tam – then 31 – pitched 40.1 innings in 40 games, finishing with a 1-2 record and a 5.13 earned run average. It was Tam’s second to the last in the big leagues. He played his final season in 2003 for the Toronto Blue Jays.

“I was struggling a little bit that year,” Tam said of 2002. “I didn’t get the innings I got the previous two years. I was fighting a few things mechanics wise. Just even to be there. There are a lot of guys who don’t even get a chance to play . . . I contributed a little bit.”