Bert Campaneris, after the A's moved to Oakland
September 8, 1965, 60 years ago: Against the California Angels at Kansas City Municipal Stadium, Dagoberto "Bert" Campaneris of the Kansas City Athletics becomes the first player to play all 9 positions in the same game, as part of a special promotion featuring the popular 23-year-old Cuban, whose main position is shortstop.
He began the game at shortstop and played, in order for the next 8 innings: 2nd base, 3rd base, left field, center field, right field, 1st base, pitcher (giving up a run on a hit and 2 walks) and catcher. With the game tied at 3-3 after 9 innings, manager Haywood Sullivan (later better known as the general manager of the Boston Red Sox) sent Rene Lachemann in to replace Campaneris, who was injured in a collision at the plate with Ed Kirkpatrick to end the top of the 9th.
The Angels scored 2 runs in the 13th inning, and defeated the A's 5-3. Attendance: 21,576, meaning there were about 13,000 empty seats, so the promotion didn't exactly work.
There appears to be no surviving footage of this game, but Campaneris survived the last 3 seasons in Kansas City, and the 1967-68 move to Oakland, to help the A's become a dynasty in the 1970s. He only batted .259 lifetime, but had 2,249 hits stole 649 bases, led the American League in stolen bases 6 times, made 6 All-Star Games, and reached the postseason 6 times: 5 straight AL Western Division titles with the A's, including 3 straight World Series in 1972, '73 and '74; and the 1979 AL West title with the California Angels. As of September 8, 2025, he is still alive.
Through the 2024 season, there have been 5 players to play all 9 positions in a major league game. No player has also managed to be a designated hitter in the same game, to make it 10.
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