Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 566 › Conversation 566-004

Nixon, Finley & Williams on Major League Baseball and Oakland Athletics

Tuesday, August 17, 1971 · 1:14 PM–1:29 PM ET · Oval Office

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Finley, Charles O.; Williams, DickConversation566-004 on Tape 566 (tape position 01:30:05–01:47:07)StartTuesday, August 17, 1971 at 1:14 PMEndTuesday, August 17, 1971 at 1:29 PMRecording deviceOval OfficeSourceNixon Library record for 566-004 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon hosted the Oakland Athletics, led by owner Charles O. Finley and manager Dick Williams, for a ceremonial visit to the Oval Office. The meeting served as a social meet-and-greet where the President engaged with players, discussed various professional baseball teams and notable past games, and shared anecdotes regarding his grandson, David Eisenhower. Nixon concluded the brief visit by presenting the players with official presidential golf balls as keepsakes.

  • Major League Baseball
  • Oakland Athletics
  • Charles O. Finley
  • White House visits
  • Ceremonial meetings
  • Sports

Audio

Download MP3 (part 1) · 169.3 MB ·Download MP3 (part 2) · 171.7 MB ·Download MP3 (part 3) · 8.1 MB

This conversation has not yet been cut into its own clip, so the player above contains the full tape segment shared with neighbouring conversations. It begins about 01:30:05 into the tape and ends around 01:47:07.

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

· Timestamps are positions within the full tape recording.
1:30:27How are you?
1:30:27How are you?
1:30:27How are you?
1:30:55Oh, yeah, sure, sure.
1:30:55Thank you.
1:31:44And you're, uh, you're 21.
1:31:44How old is he?
1:31:4422.
1:31:4422.
1:31:4422.
1:31:44Oh, yeah.
1:31:45You know, David, my, uh...
1:32:01My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my,
1:32:28You must make your 23rd in that season.
1:32:29Let's go.
1:32:29This is Mr. and Mrs. .
1:32:30Oh, yes.
1:32:30How are you?
1:32:30They brought you along.
1:32:30Yeah, great.
1:32:31Oh, yeah.
1:32:31Good to see you.
1:32:31Yes.
1:32:31Like I said, Jim's pretty .
1:32:57Oh, I know.
1:32:58He's our first baseman.
1:32:58I'd like to get back with him now.
1:32:59Yeah, thanks.
1:32:59Yeah, that would be great.
1:33:00Yeah.
1:33:18Yes, I haven't seen, I haven't seen, uh, over the flight.
1:33:19Uh, didn't you have a senior commander?
1:33:20We have an email list out for you.
1:33:21All the letters that we can't tell you.
1:33:44Oh, okay.
1:34:08Yeah.
1:34:08Right.
1:34:27All right, I'll say it, I'll say it.
1:34:28Our great believer, our great, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
1:34:52Yeah.
1:34:52Yeah.
1:34:52Yeah.
1:35:10I know.
1:35:11I said it to her.
1:35:11She said, you're a bigger man than I am.
1:35:12And I told her that.
1:35:12And she said, oh, thank you.
1:35:13Good luck.
1:35:13She said, this is ain't going to end well.
1:35:14All right.
1:35:14All right.
1:35:36You can't have a fire blue without another guy.
1:35:53You think they'll hold up?
1:36:19Don't worry, it's going to be all right.
1:36:20Yeah, you know, the Giants, the Dodgers, the Colts, the Cavs, they're on the sale.
1:36:21I'm glad they're on the sale.
1:36:22I'm glad they're on the sale.
1:36:23I'm glad they're on the sale.
1:36:23I'm glad they're on the sale.
1:36:24I'm glad they're on the sale.
1:36:24I'm glad they're on the sale.
1:36:48David always talks about you.
1:36:48He said he had never seen you before.
1:36:49He was .
1:36:49He had never seen you before.
1:36:50So that's where we ended up.
1:36:51Two years ago, you know, it was a great year.
1:36:51Last year, .
1:36:52All right.
1:36:52I didn't .
1:37:15But, uh, it really helps, you know, get a few years.
1:37:16The next year, you swap them.
1:37:16The next year, you go back.
1:37:21The same one from the World Series.
1:37:21I'd like to take them all.
1:37:22That's OK. Oh, yes.
1:37:22Blue, red, blue, black.
1:37:23I saw you touch the TV.
1:37:23You want to touch the TV.
1:37:24You want to touch the TV.
1:37:24All right.
1:37:24I'll tell you the very funny thing about my game.
1:37:25Good.
1:37:25I'll tell you the other thing.
1:37:26I have a problem.
1:37:26I just wanted to take the TV over a little while.
1:37:48I don't.
1:38:17Oh, yes, yes.
1:38:33I can tell you.
1:38:33No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
1:39:10Oh,
1:39:25Ah!
1:39:25Ah!
1:39:48Oh, I can't do something.
1:39:48No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
1:39:49No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
1:40:02Oh shit.
1:40:26Thank you.
1:40:50Hello, Bob.
1:40:51How are you?
1:40:51Very well.
1:40:51How are you doing today?
1:41:23Oh, yeah.
1:41:51Don't get lost.
1:41:51Don't give a bunch of politicians whatever comes their way.
1:41:53Put their armor on you like that.
1:42:16Listen, they aren't going to like this in Baltimore.
1:42:17No, I know they're not.
1:43:07I wouldn't want to be the lawyer to negotiate your contract.
1:43:29I'll tell you, we're going to give you this company.
1:43:30They're all athletes.
1:43:30So, uh, this is the presidential golf ball.
1:43:31It has a seal.
1:43:31It has a seal in there.
1:43:32And the golf ball has a signature on it.
1:43:57And I just, I always tell my ex-brother to be on his side with it.
1:44:01Well, I'll give each of you one of those, if you like.
1:44:02And for the lady, well, she's no problem.
1:44:03She just blows off for you.
1:44:04Thank you very much.
1:44:05All right.
1:44:05I said that to the president.
1:44:06She said that to Bob.
1:44:07That's it.
1:44:07All right.
1:44:29Well, yeah, I'm glad to meet you, and I'm waiting for the best.
1:44:31I'm hoping that this will work.
1:44:31I don't know when I get to the World Series, and I'm going to be driving someplace.
1:44:33But in any event, I'll see you on TV.
1:44:34I'm not supposed to say you're in the World Series yet, but that's really good.
1:44:35It's all mine.
1:44:35I'll be quite serious through the month.
1:44:36It's all mine.
1:44:37You're a doctor, though, aren't you?
1:44:59We think so.
1:45:00We think so.
1:45:23Thank you.
1:45:23Thank you.
1:45:38That's in here.
1:45:38That's in here.
1:45:39What are you doing?
1:46:04Thank you for helping me with my new vacuum door.
1:46:27Oh, great.
1:46:27He doesn't mind if you do it for a world series of it, you know?
1:46:28No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
1:47:01Yeah, that's right.
1:47:02That's what we did.

NARA Description

On August 17, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon, Charles O. Finley, and Dick Williams met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:14 pm and 1:29 pm. The Oval Office taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 566-004 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 566-4

Date: August 17, 1971
Time: 1:14 pm - unknown before 1:29 pm
Location: Oval Office

The President met with Charles O. Finley, Dick Williams, Bill Posedel, Jerry Lumpe, Irv Noren,
Vern Hoscheit, Monte Moore, Bob Elson, Red Rush, Hank Fanger, Joe Romo, Tom Corwin,
Blue Moon Odom, Ron Klimkowski, Diego Segui, Jim (“Catfish”) Hunter, Chuch Dobson,
Darold Knowles, Jim Roland, Rollie Fingers, Vida Blue, Bob Locker, Dave Duncan, Gene
Tenace, Frank Fernandez, Dick Greene, Mike Epstein, Sal Bando, Larry Brown, Bert (“Campy”)
Campaneris, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Hegan, Tony LaRussa,Angel Mangual, Reggie Jackson, Tommy
Davis, George Hendrick, Joe Rudi, Curt Blefary, Ron Bergman, and Glen Schwarz; members of
the press were present at the beginning of the meeting.

     General conversation
         -Tour
         -Introductions
               -Vida Blue
                    -Age
                    -[Dwight] David Eisenhower, III
                          -Washington Senators
                          -Conversation with the President
                    -Birthdays
                          -Wins
               -Jim Hegan
               -Washington Senators
               -Camperis
               -Frank Howard
               -San Francisco Giants
               -Los Angeles Dodgers
               -Unknown player
                    -Eisenhowers
               -Odom
                    -Nickname, “Blue Moon”
               -Larry Brown of the Washington Redskins
               -Hunter's perfect game
               -Jim Fregosi
                    -California Angels
         -Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers
         -Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals,
               Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves

     Presentation of gifts by President
          -Golf balls

     President's schedule
          -World Series

     Baltimore Orioles
          -Frank and Brooks Robinson
          -John Wesley (“Boog”) Powell
          -Dave McNally

     Duke Snider
         -Homerun in 1952

     Jackie Robinson

     World Series

Finley, et al. left at an unknown time before 1:29 pm.

Also recorded on August 17, 1971

  • 070-002 12:54 PM · 8 min — a White House tour group met in the Cabinet Room of the White House at an unknown time between 12:54 pm and 11:59 pm.
  • 566-002 12:55 PM · 15 min — Stephen B. Bull, Roger Robb, Dr. James R. Schlesinger, Cora Schlesinger, Charles Schlesinger, Ann Schlesinger, William Schlesinger, Emily Schlesinger, Thomas Schlesinger, Clara Schlesinger, Laura Martin, William O. Doub, Joseph Doub, Albert Doub, Albert A. Doub, Mrs. Albert A. Doub, Mrs. George M. Radcliffe, George M. Radcliffe, President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander P. Butterfield, Gerald R. Ford, and Robert P. Griffin met in the Oval Office of the White House from 12:55 pm to 1:10 pm.
  • 566-003 1:10 PM · 3 min — Gerald R. Ford, Robert P. Griffin, President Richard M. Nixon, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:10 pm to 1:14 pm.
  • 566-005 1:14 PM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 1:14 pm and 1:29 pm.
  • 566-006 1:29 PM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:29 pm to 1:32 pm.
  • 566-007 1:32 PM · 38 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Robert P. Griffin, Alexander P. Butterfield, Charles W. Colson, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and George P. Shultz met in the Oval Office of the White House from 1:32 pm to 2:12 pm.
  • 566-008 2:12 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and unknown person(s) met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 2:12 pm and 2:23 pm.
  • 566-009 2:23 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Rose Mary Woods met in the Oval Office of the White House from 2:23 pm to 2:25 pm.

All 48 conversations from August 17, 1971 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 566-004, August 17, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/566-004 (accessed October 12, 2026).