Originally signed as a catcher by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968, Trillo was converted into a third baseman by his first minor league manager, Dallas Green. In 1969, he was selected by the Oakland Athletics from the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft. Trillo was converted into a second baseman in 1973 while playing for the Athletics\' Triple A team, the Tucson Toros. He made his Major League debut at the age of 22 with Oakland on June 28, 1973 and stayed with the club as the Athletics won the American League Western Division pennant by six games over the Kansas City Royals.\n', '

Trillo was involved in a pair of controversies about his roster eligibility for the 1973 World Series. MLB strictly enforced a rule that only players on a major league roster on August 31 were eligible for the postseason. After José Morales\' contract was sold to the Montreal Expos on September 18 and Bill North severely sprained an ankle, the A\'s petitioned for and received approval from the Baltimore Orioles to allow the additions of both Trillo and Allan Lewis to its roster for the American League Championship Series. A\'s owner Charlie Finley submitted the same request to the New York Mets, his team\'s Fall Classic opponent which only approved Lewis but denied Trillo his eligibility. When Mike Andrews committed two errors in a four-run twelfth inning of Oakland\'s Game 2 defeat, Finley attempted to have Andrews waived onto the disabled list in order to activate Trillo. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ruled against Finley who was forced to reinstate Andrews for Game 4.\n', '

In April 1974, Trillo played 12 games for the Athletics before being sent back to the minor league Tucson Toros. He was eventually brought back to the major leagues in September. He appeared in one game of the 1974 American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles, but didn\'t make any further appearances as the Athletics defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1974 World Series.\n', '

Return to Manny Trillo Autograph Profile