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Oakland Athletics
From TheBestLinks.com
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. They are in the Western Division of the American League. The team is often called simply the "A's".
- Founded: 1893, as the Indianapolis, Indiana franchise in the minor Western League. Moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1900 when that league became the American League. Moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1955 and to Oakland in 1968.
- Formerly known as: Philadelphia Athletics (1901-1954), Kansas City Athletics (1955-1967)
- Home ballpark: Network Associates Coliseum, Oakland
- Uniform colors: 1901-04, 1909-49, 1951-53, 1961: Blue and White; 1905-08, 1954-60, 1962: Blue, Red and White; 1950: Blue, Gold and White; 1963-Present: Green, Gold and White
- Logo design: A stylized capital "A's". The team also occasionally uses an elephant logo.
- Wild Card titles won (1): 2001
- Division titles won (13): 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2003
- American League pennants won (15): 1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1988, 1989, 1990.
- World Series championships won (9): 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, 1930, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1989
Franchise history
The Philadelphia Years (1901-1954)
The Athletic franchise was formed in 1901, as one of eight charter members of the American League. A.L. President Bancroft (Ban) Johnson recruited former player Connie Mack to run the club. Mack in turn persuaded Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics, a name used by earlier teams in the National Association, National League, and American Association. After John McGraw told reporters that Shibe had a “white elephant” on his hands, Mack adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, though over the years the elephant has appeared in several different colors. The team’s inaugural year saw second baseman Nap Lajoie (pronounced la-ZHWAY) lead the A.L. in hitting with a .422 batting average, still a league record.
The new league recruited many of its players from the existing National League, persuading them to “jump” to the A.L. in defiance of their contracts. The Athletics as well as the 7 other A.L. teams received a jolt when, on April 21, 1902, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated the contract with the Athletics signed by Nap Lajoie, and ordered him returned to his former team, the N.L. Philadelphia Phillies. This order, though, was only enforceable in the state of Pennsylvania. Lajoie was traded to the Cleveland Broncos (now the Cleveland Indians) and did not set foot on Pennsylvania soil until the National Agreement was signed between the two leagues in 1903.
As a Philadelphia team, the Athletics were either a very good team or a very bad team. In the early years, the A’s won the A.L. pennant six times (1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914), winning the World Series in 1910, 1911 and 1913. The team was known for its “$100,000 Infield,” consisting of John “Stuffy” McInnis (1b), Eddie Collins (2b), Frank “Home Run” Baker (3b) and Jack Barry (ss).
After the heavily favored A’s lost the 1914 World Series to the underdog Boston Braves in a 4-game sweep, Connie Mack traded, sold or released most of the team’s star players. A third major league, the Federal League, had been formed to begin play in 1915. As the A.L. had done 15 years before, the new league raided existing A.L. and N.L. teams for players. Mack refused to match the offers of the F.L. teams, preferring to rebuild with younger (and less expensive) players. As a result, the Athletics went from a 99-53 (.651) won-loss record and 1st place finish in 1914, to a record of 43-109 (.283) and 8th (last) place in 1915. The team would finish in last place every year after that until 1922, when it finished 7th.
After that, Mack began to build another winner. In 1927 and 1928, the Athletics finished second to the New York Yankees, then won pennants in 1929, 1930 and 1931, winning the World Series in 1929 and 1930. There are those who feel the 1929 A’s were the best team in baseball history, even surpassing the 1927 Yankees.
After a second-place finish in 1932 and 3rd in 1933, Mack again sold or traded his best players in order to reduce expenses. The Great Depression had occurred, and declining attendance had drastically reduced the team’s revenues. The Athletics finished 5th in 1934, then last in 1935. Though he intended to rebuild once more, Mack was already 68 years old when the A’s last won the pennant in 1931, and many felt the game was passing him by. Save for a 5th place finish in 1944, the A’s finished in last or next-to-last place every year from 1935-1946. By now Mack and his immediate family were the team’s sole stockholders, and he had no intention of firing himself.
The 1950 season would be 88-year-old Mack’s 50th and last as A’s manager, a Major League record that will never be broken. During that year the team wore uniforms trimmed in blue and gold, in honor of the Golden Jubilee of "The Grand Old Man of Baseball." However, the team continued to slide, attendance plummeted, and revenues continued to dwindle. Though last minute offers were put on the table to buy the Athletics to keep them in Philadelphia, the American League owners were determined to "solve" the "Philadelphia problem" by moving the team elsewhere. On October 12, 1954, the owners voted to approve the sale of the Athletics to Chicago real estate developer Arnold Johnson, so that he could move the team to Kansas City, Missouri for the 1955 season.
An interesting note is that, except for 1954 when the uniforms had "Athletics" spelled out in script across the front, the team's name never appeared on either home or road uniforms. Furthermore, not once did "Philadelphia" appear on the uniform, nor did the letter "P" appear on the cap or the uniform. The typical uniform had only a stylized "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it.
Connie Mack once said, “You can’t win them all.” The Philadelphia A’s didn’t come close. Though they won 5 World Series and 9 A.L. pennants, their overall record from 1901-1954 was 3,886 games won and 4,239 games lost, for an overall winning percentage of but .478.
The Kansas City years (1955-1967)
- During the Kansas City years, the team generally did not draw well or do well. Kansas City was involved in so many bad trades with the Yankees (in which they gave up Roger Maris, Bob Cerv, and others, and got little in return) that they were jokingly considered to be a Yankee farm club.
The Oakland years (1968 to present)
Events and Records of Note
- 20-Game Win Streak: The Oakland Athletics won an American League Record 20 games in a row, from August 13 to September 4, 2002. The last three games were won in dramatic fashion, each victory coming in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Players of note
Current stars
Not to be forgotten
Retired numbers
Managers, coaches, and executives
External Link
Oakland Athletics Fan Coalition (http://www.oaklandfans.com)
ja:オークランド・アスレチックス
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