Blue Moon Odom

Johnny Lee "Blue Moon" Odom (born May 29, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1964 through 1976, most notably as a member of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won three consecutive World Series championships between 1972 and 1974. The two-time All-Star also played for the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago White Sox.

Odom was nicknamed Blue Moon in grade-school by a classmate who thought Odom's round face resembled the moon. Odom led Ballard-Hudson High School in Macon, Georgia, to two consecutive state championships while amassing a 42–2 record. He signed with the Kansas City Athletics upon graduation.

Odom began his professional baseball career with the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League. After one season in Birmingham, he received a September call-up to the Kansas City Athletics in 1964, and made his major league debut at just nineteen years old on September 5 at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. Odom lasted just two innings against the New York Yankees, giving up a three-run home run in the first inning to Mickey Mantle and surrendered three more runs in the second before giving way to the bullpen.

Odom spent the entire 1965 season with the Lewiston Broncs of the Northwest League. For the season, he went 11–14 with a 4.27 earned run average and led the league in games started (29) and innings pitched (198). He only made one appearance at the major league level all season, pitching one inning and allowing one earned run against the Washington Senators on September 22.

Odom split the 1966 season between Kansas City and the double A Mobile A's, going 5–5 with a 2.49 ERA at the major league level. He began the 1967 season in Kansas City but was demoted in July with a 2–4 record and 5.15 ERA. For the season, he went 3–8 with a 5.04 ERA.

Odom's arrival as a quality major league starter would essentially coincide with his franchise's arrival the next season in Oakland, California, as he improved to 16–10 with a 2.45 ERA once team owner Charles O. Finley relocated his franchise. He had a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles broken up by a Davey Johnson single with two out in the ninth on June 7, 1968. Baltimore scored a run in the first on three walks as Odom walked eight in the game. He finished third in the American League with 98 walks and tied Frank Bertaina for the league lead in wild pitches with seventeen. He was also named to his first All-Star Game, and pitched two scoreless innings.

Odom was simply dominant in the first half of the 1969 season, going 14–3 with a 2.41 ERA heading into the All-Star break. He also showed himself to be one of the league's better-hitting pitchers as he went 3-for-3 with a home run and six runs batted in (RBI) against the Seattle Pilots on May 4. He was named to his second consecutive All Star team, but was tagged for five runs (four earned) in just a third of an inning as the National League cruised to a 9–3 victory. His numbers tailed off considerably following the All-Star break, as he went 1–3 with a 4.09 ERA in the second half of the season.

Odom was on the A's roster in both 1970 and 1971.