Oakland Athletics

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1901
• Home ballpark: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California
• Owner: John J. Fisher
• Team colors: Green, gold, and white

Overview

The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that plays in the American League West division. The Athletics, commonly referred to as the A’s, originated in Philadelphia and soon became one of the best teams of the early twentieth century. Led by legendary manager Connie Mack, the A’s won five World Series titles from 1901 to 1930 and fielded one of the greatest teams of all-time in 1929 and 1930. The Athletics left Philadelphia for Kansas City in 1955 and then headed farther west to Oakland in 1968. Led by a colorful cast of characters, the A’s became baseball’s dominant team of the early 1970s, winning three-straight championships. Oakland again found success in the late 1980s, this time with a lineup known for its prolific offense. As baseball’s economics changed in the 1990s and 2000s, the smaller-market A’s were forced to adjust their player evaluation strategy to remain competitive. Oakland was among the first teams to use data-driven analytics to construct a roster. As a result, the A’s were a consistent winner for the first two decades of the twenty-first century despite a lack of high-priced superstars.

History

In 1901, the American League was formed as a rival to the more established National League. AL officials wanted to place franchises in cities such as Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia to compete with existing NL teams. In Philadelphia, the AL franchise was called the Athletics after a former professional team that played in the city. That team took its name from a local men’s sports organization called the Athletic Club. The Athletics hired former player Connie Mack to both manage the team on the field and oversee baseball operations. In New York, John McGraw, manager of the NL’s Giants, openly mocked the Athletics, calling the franchise a “white elephant,” a term meaning something that cost more than its value. A defiant Mack used the insult as motivation, adopting a white elephant as the team’s symbol. The elephant is still used as an alternate logo by the franchise today.

To build a team, Mack immediately began raiding the roster of the NL’s Philadelphia Phillies, signing away their best players. When the Phillies filed legal action against the A’s, Mack turned around and dealt the players to Cleveland, receiving several talented players in return. The strategy paid off, as the A’s won the American League in 1902. Because the World Series was not established until 1903, the Athletics would not play in a series until 1905, when they lost to John McGraw’s Giants. Led by second baseman Eddie Collins and a group of fielders known as the “$100,000 Infield,” the A’s won their first World Series in 1910 and won two more in 1911 and 1913. The team faded from contention in the late 1910s and early 1920s, but Mack rebuilt a winner later that decade around four future Hall of Famers: hitters Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, and Al Simmons, and pitcher Lefty Grove. The Athletics won more than one hundred games each season from 1930 to 1932 and the World Series in 1929 and 1930. Those teams are considered some of the best in baseball history and one of the few of the era that could rival the powerhouse New York Yankees.

Mack continued to manage the A’s until 1950, an unprecedented tenure of fifty seasons. His lifetime 3,731 career wins are far and away the most in baseball history. He also holds the record for losses with 3,948, many of which occurred after 1933 when the franchise began to struggle. The A’s finished under .500 in all but four seasons from 1934 to 1954. After that season, the team was sold and moved to Kansas City. Although the A’s time in Kansas City was equally as dismal, the franchise received a jolt in 1960 when businessperson Charlie Finley purchased it. Finley was an innovator who was willing to try anything to bring attention to the Athletics. Prior to 1963, the A’s had traditionally worn shades of blue or a combination of black and white. Finley changed the team colors to bright yellow and green—a look that deviated wildly from the more common blues, grays, and whites worn by other teams.

After trying to move the team for years, Finley finally succeeded in 1968 when he relocated the A’s to Oakland, California. Powered by a core of homegrown players who typified the wild, rebellious nature of the era, Oakland soon became a baseball dynasty. The A’s won five straight division titles from 1971 to 1975 and won the World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974. Financial constraints forced the Athletics’ dynasty to be dismantled in the late 1970s, but the team was rebuilt in the mid-1980s around a young group of power hitters that included Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire—known as the “Bash Brothers.” Oakland made three straight World Series appearances from 1988 to 1990, winning a championship in 1989. That World Series, against Bay Area neighbor San Francisco Giants, was interrupted by a devastating earthquake that struck just as Game Three was getting underway.

Since moving to Oakland, the Athletics have had to deal with the consequences of playing in the second smallest market among the thirty MLB teams. As player salaries began to skyrocket throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the A’s often lacked the financial resources to spend as much as teams in Los Angeles or New York. In 1997, Oakland hired former player Billy Beane as general manager. Beane began evaluating players based on analytical data rather than box score statistics such as home runs and runs batted in (RBIs). Using this philosophy, he built a team of inexpensive players who were skilled at getting on base rather than accumulating box score numbers. From 2000 to 2007, Oakland finished no worse than second in the AL West and made the playoffs five times. The streak included two seasons with more than one hundred wins. Oakland’s data-driven strategies were eventually adopted by most MLB teams. The Athletics continued to win with the philosophy into the 2010s, making six playoff appearances and winning three division titles from 2010 to 2020.

However, things began to go sour in the 2020s as the franchise struggled to find wins on the field and attract fans in the stands. Oakland posted a 102-loss season in 2022, and a 112-loss season in 2023. Furthermore, the team’s home ballpark, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, was opened in 1966 and was considered among the worst facilities in professional sports in the 2020s. The team and the city of Oakland tried and failed numerous times to discuss a new ballpark, and the A’s explored several attempts at relocation. In 2023, Major League Baseball approved the A’s request to move to Las Vegas, Nevada. However, since the planned stadium in Las Vegas is not scheduled to be completed until 2028, the A’s were looking to remain in Oakland until then, or finding a temporary location to play their home games.

Notable players

More than forty former players, managers, and team officials associated with the Athletics franchise have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The first of these was Connie Mack who was inducted in 1937 while he was still the team’s active manager. The team’s first pitching star, Eddie Plank, played for the A’s from 1901 to 1914, setting franchise records with 284 wins and 1,985 strikeouts. Second on the list with 1,576 is Rube Waddell, who pitched for the A’s from 1902 to 1907. Eddie Collins provided the spark for the Athletics’ first championships as a member of the team from 1906 to 1914. His .337 average with Philadelphia is third in franchise history.

The 1929 and 1930 championship teams featured a core group of players who are recognized as some of the greatest of all time. Pitcher Lefty Grove played with the A’s from 1925 to 1933, leading the American League in strikeouts seven times, in earned run average (ERA) five times, and in wins four times during that span. Grove is second in team history with 195 wins, and won 300 games in his fifteen-year career. Mickey Cochrane was considered the best catcher of his generation and known as much for his hitting ability as for his skill at helping get the best out of the team’s pitchers. Cochrane played for Philadelphia from 1925 to 1933. Outfielder Al Simmons is the team’s all-time RBI leader with 1,179 and is second with 1,827 hits. He hit a franchise record .356 with the Athletics from 1924 to 1932 and again in 1940 and 1941. Jimmie Foxx belted 302 home runs with the A’s from 1925 to 1935—second most in team history—and is also second in RBIs with 1,075. His .339 average trails only Simmons on the franchise’s all-time list. Foxx’s career total of 534 home runs remains in the top twenty all time as of 2020.

The A’s success in the early 1970s was built around slugging outfielder Reggie Jackson, who hit 268 home runs with the franchise from 1967 to 1975. Jackson, who would go on to have even greater fame with the Yankees in the late 1970s, finished with a career total of 563 home runs. Pitcher Catfish Hunter won twenty or more games four times from 1965 to 1974. In addition to winning the 1974 AL Cy Young Award, Hunter’s 161 wins are fifth in franchise history. Shortstop Bert Campaneris played with the A’s from 1964 to 1976 and is the all-time team leader in hits with 1,882.

Outfielder Rickey Henderson was arguably the greatest player in A’s history, boasting a rare combination of power and speed. Henderson played fourteen seasons with Oakland over three separate stints from 1979 to 1998. In 1982, he set the modern single-season record for stolen bases with 130. Henderson is the all-time franchise leader in steals with 867 and in runs scored with 1,270. His career marks of 1,406 steals and 2,295 runs scored are both MLB records. Outfielder Jose Canseco played with Oakland from 1985 to 1992 and again in 1997, hitting 254 home runs—fourth most in team history. His fellow Bash Brother, Mark McGwire, holds the franchise record with 363 with the A’s from 1986 to 1997. During Oakland’s run of success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the team’s bullpen was anchored by closer Dennis Eckersley who saved a franchise record 320 games from 1987 to 1995.

Bibliography

Akers, Mick. “Source: A’s Won’t Play in Las Vegas Before 2028; Temporary Site Targeted.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 16 Feb. 2024, www.reviewjournal.com/sports/athletics/source-as-wont-play-in-las-vegas-before-2028-temporary-site-targeted-3002441/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

“Athletics History.” MLB.com, 2024, www.mlb.com/athletics/history. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Armour, Mark. “Charlie Finley.” Society for American Baseball Research, sabr.org/bioproj/person/6ac2ee2f. Accessed 6 May 2020.

Creamer, Chris. “Philadelphia Athletics Logos.” SportsLogos.net, 2020, www.sportslogos.net/logos/list‗by‗team/70/Philadelphia‗Phillies/. Accessed 5 May 2020.

“Oakland Athletics.” Baseball Almanac, 2024, www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/athl.shtml. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

“Oakland Athletics Team History & Encyclopedia.” Baseball Reference, 2024, www.baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

“Philadelphia Athletics Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/philadelphia-athletics. Accessed 5 May 2020.

Slusser, Susan. “Moneyball at 20: Inside Billy Beane’s Legacy After 2 Decades Running the A’s.” San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Aug. 2017, www.sfchronicle.com/athletics/article/Moneyball-at-20-Inside-Billy-Beane-s-legacy-11958848.php. Accessed 5 May 2020.

Slusser, Susan. 100 Things A’s Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Triumph Books, 2018.