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{{Short description|Major League Baseball franchise in California}} |
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{{dablink|This article is about the baseball team currently active in the [[American League]]. For the team that played in the [[National Association]] 1871-1875 and in the [[National League]] in 1876, see [[Philadelphia Athletics (National Association)]] or [[Philadelphia Athletics (National League)]]. For the team that played in the [[American Association]] 1882-1891, see [[Philadelphia Athletics (American Association)]].}} |
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{{redirect|The Athletics|other uses|Athletics (disambiguation)}} |
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{{Redirect|A's|the Latin character|A|other uses|AS (disambiguation)|and|A (disambiguation)}} |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}} |
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{{Infobox MLB |
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| name = Athletics<!-- Please DO NOT change to Las Vegas until the club officially relocates to that city. Thank you. --> |
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| established = 1901 |
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| misc = Based in [[West Sacramento, California]] beginning in {{mlby|2025}} |
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| logo = Athletics logo.svg |
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| uniformlogo = Oakland A's cap logo.svg |
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| current league = American League |
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| y1 = 1901 |
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| division = [[American League West|West Division]] |
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| y2 = 1969 |
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| Uniform = <!-- Please do not re-insert MLB-ALW-OAK-Uniform.png to this field; it's outdated because of the Oakland wordmark on the road gray uniform. Please don't add a new uniform file graphic until one is created. Thank you. --> |
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| retirednumbers = {{hlist| [[Reggie Jackson|9]] | [[Rickey Henderson|24]] | [[Catfish Hunter|27]] | [[Rollie Fingers|34]] | [[Dave Stewart (baseball)|34]] | [[Dennis Eckersley|43]] | [[Walter A. Haas Jr.|A's]] | [[Jackie Robinson|42]]}} |
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| colors = Green, gold, white{{efn|The team's official colors are green and gold, according to the official website of the team's mascot, Stomper.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Stomper|url=https://www.mlb.com/athletics/fans/stomper|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|website=Athletics.com|access-date=August 21, 2018}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Clair|first=Michael|title=Why do the A's wear green? You can thank Charlie Finley|url=http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/03/16/219365416/the-as-wear-green-because-of-charlie-finley|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|website=[[MLB.com]]|date=March 17, 2017|access-date=January 6, 2018|quote=Before Finley came on board, the then-Kansas City A's wore baseball's standard blue-and-red combination. In 1963, that all changed as Finley outfitted the team in glorious gold (Finley said it was the same shade the United States Naval Academy used) and kelly green for the very first time.|archive-date=January 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061138/http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/03/16/219365416/the-as-wear-green-because-of-charlie-finley|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Clair|first=Michael|title=The best baseball caps ever, by team|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/best-baseball-cap-for-every-team|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|website=[[MLB.com]]|date=February 27, 2021|access-date=June 6, 2023|quote=How many big league teams do you know that wear green and yellow, the most fantastic color scheme in the world? Exactly: Only one.}}</ref><br>{{color box|#006241}} {{color box|#FFB819}} {{color box|#FFFFFF}} |
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| y3 = 2025 |
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| nicknames = The A's |
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* [[Swingin' A's]] (1971–1981) |
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* The Green Elephants |
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* The Elephants |
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* The Green and Gold |
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* The Mackmen (1901-1950) |
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| pastnames = |
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* [[Oakland Athletics]] ({{MLBy|1968}}–{{MLBy|2024}}) |
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* [[Kansas City Athletics]] ({{MLBy|1955}}–{{MLBy|1967}}) |
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* [[Philadelphia Athletics]] ({{MLBy|1901}}–{{MLBy|1954}}) |
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| ballpark = [[Sutter Health Park]] ({{MLBy|2025}}–present) |
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| pastparks = |
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* [[Oakland Coliseum]] ({{MLBy|1968}}–{{MLBy|2024}}) |
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* [[Municipal Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)|Municipal Stadium]] ({{MLBy|1955}}–{{MLBy|1967}}) |
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* [[Shibe Park]] ({{MLBy|1909}}–{{MLBy|1954}}) |
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* [[Columbia Park]] ({{MLBy|1901}}–{{MLBy|1908}}) |
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| WS = (9) |
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| WORLD CHAMPIONS = {{hlist| {{wsy|1910}} | {{wsy|1911}} | {{wsy|1913}} | {{wsy|1929}} | {{wsy|1930}} | {{wsy|1972}} | {{wsy|1973}} | {{wsy|1974}} | {{wsy|1989}} }} | |
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| LEAGUE = AL |
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| P = (15) |
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| PENNANTS = {{hlist| [[1902 Philadelphia Athletics season|1902]] | [[1905 Philadelphia Athletics season|1905]] | [[1910 Philadelphia Athletics season|1910]] | [[1911 Philadelphia Athletics season|1911]] | [[1913 Philadelphia Athletics season|1913]] | [[1914 Philadelphia Athletics season|1914]] | [[1929 Philadelphia Athletics season|1929]] | [[1930 Philadelphia Athletics season|1930]] | [[1931 Philadelphia Athletics season|1931]] | {{alcsy|1972}} | {{alcsy|1973}} | {{alcsy|1974}} | {{alcsy|1988}} | {{alcsy|1989}} | {{alcsy|1990}} }} |
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| misc1 = |
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| OTHER PENNANTS = |
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| DIV = West |
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| DV = (17) |
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| Division Champs = {{hlist| [[1971 Oakland Athletics season|1971]] | [[1972 Oakland Athletics season|1972]] | [[1973 Oakland Athletics season|1973]] | [[1974 Oakland Athletics season|1974]] | [[1975 Oakland Athletics season|1975]] | [[1981 Oakland Athletics season|1981]] | [[1988 Oakland Athletics season|1988]] | [[1989 Oakland Athletics season|1989]] | [[1990 Oakland Athletics season|1990]] | [[1992 Oakland Athletics season|1992]] | [[2000 Oakland Athletics season|2000]] | [[2002 Oakland Athletics season|2002]] | [[2003 Oakland Athletics season|2003]] | [[2006 Oakland Athletics season|2006]] | [[2012 Oakland Athletics season|2012]] | [[2013 Oakland Athletics season|2013]] | [[2020 Oakland Athletics season|2020]]}} |
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| misc5 = |
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| OTHER DIV CHAMPS = |
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| WC = (4) |
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| Wild Card = {{hlist| [[2001 Oakland Athletics season|2001]] | [[2014 Oakland Athletics season|2014]] | [[2018 Oakland Athletics season|2018]] | [[2019 Oakland Athletics season|2019]] }} |
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| misc6 = |
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| owner = [[John Fisher (baseball owner)|John Fisher]] |
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| president = [[Dave Kaval]] |
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| manager = [[Mark Kotsay]] |
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| gm = [[David Forst]] |
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| website = {{url|https://www.mlb.com/athletics|mlb.com/athletics}} |
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}} |
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The '''Athletics''' (often referred to as the '''A's''') are an American [[professional baseball]] team based in [[West Sacramento, California]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Drellich |first1=Evan |title=A's Brand Transition Guidelines |url=https://x.com/EvanDrellich/status/1853498571934294188 |website=X |access-date=4 November 2024}}</ref> The Athletics compete in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) as a member club of the [[American League]] (AL) [[American League West|West Division]]. The team will play its home games at [[Sutter Health Park]] in West Sacramento for the 2025–2027 seasons before its [[Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas|permanent move]] to [[Las Vegas]].<ref>[https://theathletic.com/5391365/2024/04/04/oakland-athletics-sacramento-ballpark-agreement-2025/ Oakland A’s to play in Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park beginning in 2025 ahead of move to Las Vegas]</ref> While in West Sacramento, the team is being referred to as simply the "Athletics" and "A's", with no city name attached.<ref name="athletic24">{{cite web|last=Perry|first=Dayn|title=A's officially drop Oakland from name, won't add Sacramento as future plans remain at a standstill|url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/as-officially-drop-oakland-from-name-wont-add-sacramento-as-future-plans-remain-at-a-standstill/|work=CBS Sports|date=November 4, 2024|access-date=November 10, 2024}}</ref> The franchise's nine [[World Series]] championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles are the second-most in the AL after the [[New York Yankees]]. |
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One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the team was founded in [[Philadelphia]] in 1901 as the '''[[Philadelphia Athletics]]'''. They won three World Series championships in {{wsy|1910}}, {{wsy|1911}}, and {{wsy|1913}}, and back-to-back titles in {{wsy|1929}} and {{wsy|1930}}. The team's owner and manager for its first 50 years was [[Connie Mack]], and [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Hall of Fame]] players included [[Chief Bender]], [[Home Run Baker|Frank "Home Run" Baker]], [[Jimmie Foxx]], and [[Lefty Grove]]. The team left Philadelphia for [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in 1955 and became the '''[[Kansas City Athletics]]''', before moving to [[Oakland, California]], in 1968 and becoming the '''[[Oakland Athletics]]'''. The Athletics played their home games at the [[Oakland Coliseum]] from 1968 until 2024. Nicknamed the "[[Swingin' A's]]", under owner [[Charlie O. Finley]] they won three consecutive World Series in {{wsy|1972}}, {{wsy|1973}}, and {{wsy|1974}}, led by players including [[Vida Blue]], [[Catfish Hunter]], [[Reggie Jackson]], and [[Rollie Fingers]]. After being sold by Finley to [[Walter A. Haas Jr.]], the team won three consecutive pennants and the [[1989 World Series]] behind the "[[Bash Brothers]]", [[Jose Canseco]] and [[Mark McGwire]], as well as Hall of Famers [[Dennis Eckersley]], [[Rickey Henderson]] and manager [[Tony La Russa]]. In 2002, the Athletics set a then American League record record for most consecutive wins in a season with twenty, an event that would go on to be the pioneering step in the application of [[sabermetrics]] in baseball. The streak record was later broken in 2017 by the [[Cleveland Indians]]. |
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From 1901 through the end of 2024, the franchise's overall win–loss record is {{Win–loss record|w=9,329|l=9,859|t=87}} ({{winpct|9329|9859|87}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Oakland Athletics Team History & Encyclopedia |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/ |website=Baseball Reference |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=September 30, 2024}}</ref> |
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{{MLB Athletics franchise}} |
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==History== |
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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 the '''A's'''. |
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{{main|Philadelphia Athletics|Kansas City Athletics|Oakland Athletics|History of the Athletics}} |
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The history of the Athletics [[Major League Baseball]] franchise spans from 1901 to the present day, having begun in [[Philadelphia]] before moving to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in 1955 and then to its home in [[Oakland, California]], in 1968. The A's made their [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]] debut on Wednesday, April 17, 1968, with a 4–1 loss to the [[Baltimore Orioles]] at the [[Oakland Coliseum|Coliseum]], in front of an opening-night crowd of 50,164.<ref>Boxscore from Baseball-Reference.com [https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK196804170.shtml "Wednesday, April 17, 1968, 7:46PM, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum"]</ref> With four locations, the A's have had the most home cities of any MLB team.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/oakland-athletics-las-vegas-move-history-of-mlb-relocation-expos-senators-pilots-braves-dodgers-giants-orioles/ |publisher=[[CBS News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |accessdate=May 5, 2024 |date=November 16, 2023 |title=After MLB approves A's Las Vegas move, a look at the history of relocation |department=Sports}}</ref> |
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:'''Founded:''' [[1893]], as the [[Indianapolis, Indiana]] franchise in the minor [[Western League]], which became the [[American League]] in 1900. Moved to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] in [[1901]] when the A.L. became a [[Major League Baseball|Major League]]. Moved to [[Kansas City, Missouri]] in [[1955]] and to Oakland in [[1968]]. |
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:'''Formerly known as:''' Philadelphia Athletics ([[1901]]-[[1954]]), Kansas City Athletics ([[1955]]-[[1967]]) |
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:'''Home ballpark:''' [[McAfee Coliseum]], Oakland |
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:'''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 |
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:'''Logo design:''' An Old-English "A's". The team also uses an [[elephant]] logo. |
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:'''Wild Card titles won''' (1): [[2001]] |
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:'''Division titles won''' (13): [[1971]], [[1972]], [[1973]], [[1974]], [[1975]], [[1981]], [[1988]], [[1989]], [[1990]], [[1992]], [[2000]], [[2002]], [[2003]] |
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:'''American League pennants won''' (15): [[1902]], [[1905]], [[1910]], [[1911]], [[1913]], [[1914]], [[1929]], [[1930]], [[1931]], [[1972]], [[1973]], [[1974]], [[1988]], [[1989]], [[1990]]. |
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:'''[[World Series]] championships won''' (9): [[1910]], [[1911]], [[1913]], [[1929]], [[1930]], [[1972]], [[1973]], [[1974]], [[1989]] The Athletics (with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]]) are second only to the [[New York Yankees]] in the number of World Series championships won. |
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:'''Main Rivals:''' [[Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim|Los Angeles Angels]], [[San Francisco Giants]], [[Seattle Mariners]], [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] |
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===Team name and "A" logo=== |
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''See also:'' [[A's-Rangers Derby]], [[Bay Bridge Series]], [[Halos-A's Rivalry]], [[A's-Mariners Derby]] |
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The Athletics' name originated in the term "Athletic Club" for local gentlemen's clubs—dates to 1860 when an amateur baseball team, the [[Athletic of Philadelphia|Athletic (Club) of Philadelphia]], was formed. The team later turned professional in 1875, becoming a charter member of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] in 1876, but were expelled from the N.L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the [[American Association (1882–1891)|American Association]] from 1882 to 1891.<ref>{{Citation |last=Gallegos|first=Martin|title=How they came to be called the A's |website= MLB|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/oakland-athletics-team-name-origin|date=December 1, 2021|access-date=October 29, 2024}}</ref> |
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== Franchise history == |
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The familiar [[blackletter]] "A" is one of the oldest sports logos still in use. An image in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' with the rival [[Brooklyn Atlantics]] shows that the "A" appeared on the original Athletics' uniform as early as 1866.<ref>{{Cite web|title=r/ClassicBaseball - Amazing 1866 Harper's Weekly woodcut engraving of the Brooklyn Atlantics and Philadelphia Athletics, from the National Association Of Base Ball Players league.|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicBaseball/comments/3730uy/amazing_1866_harpers_weekly_woodcut_engraving_of/|access-date=August 16, 2021|work=reddit|date=May 24, 2015}}</ref> |
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===The Philadelphia Years (1901-1954)=== |
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The name "Athletic" for Philadelphia's baseball team dates back to 1860 when an amateur team, the [[Athletic of Philadelphia]], was formed. (A famous image from that era, published in [[Harper's Weekly]] in 1866, shows the Athletic players dressed in uniforms displaying the familiar Old English "A" on the front.) The team later turned professional and joined the [[National Association of Professional Baseball Players|National Association]] in 1871, winning the first-ever major league pennant that year. The Athletic played in the National Association through 1875, becoming a charter member of the [[National League]] in 1876, but was expelled from the N.L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the [[American Association (19th century)|American Association]] from 1882-1891. |
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===Elephant mascot=== |
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The modern Athletic franchise was formed in [[1901 in sports|1901]], one of eight charter members of the [[American League]], the others being the [[New York Yankees|Baltimore Orioles]], [[Boston Red Sox|Boston Americans]], [[Chicago White Sox]], [[Cleveland Indians|Cleveland Blues]], [[Detroit Tigers]], [[Baltimore Orioles|Milwaukee Brewers]], and [[Minnesota Twins|Washington Senators]]. The franchise originated as the [[Indianapolis]] franchise in the minor [[Western League]] in 1883, which was renamed the American League in 1900 by league president [[Ban Johnson|Bancroft (Ban) Johnson]]. |
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After [[New York Giants (baseball)|New York Giants]] manager [[John McGraw]] told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer [[Ben Shibe|Benjamin Shibe]], who owned the controlling interest in the new team, had a "[[white elephant]] on his hands", team manager Connie Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and presented McGraw with a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the [[1905 World Series]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Logos and Mascots|url=http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/history/uniforms_logos.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204074811/http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/history/uniforms_logos.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2007 |website=MLB.com|access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously. By {{mlby|1909}}, the A's were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters, and in [[1918 Major League Baseball season|1918]] it turned up on the regular uniform jersey for the first time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baseballhall.org/discover/elephant-in-the-room|title=The Elephant in the Room|last=Odell|first=John|publisher=National Baseball Hall of Fame|website=BaseballHall.org|accessdate=June 2, 2024}}</ref> |
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In 1963, when the A's were located in Kansas City, then-owner [[Charlie Finley]] changed the team mascot from an elephant to a [[Charlie-O (mascot)|mule]], the state animal of Missouri. This is rumored to have been done by Finley in order to appeal to fans from the region who were predominantly Democrats at the time. (The traditional [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] symbol is an [[Republican Party (United States)#Name and symbols|elephant]], while the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s symbol is a [[Democratic Party (United States)#Name and symbols|donkey]].)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/oakland-athletics-kansas-city-throwbacks-green-gold-uniforms-charlie-o-missouri-mule/1x8d8mnwo4gmq1t6oyiw1rzqxi|title=The A's celebrate KC roots with green and gold uniforms — and a mule named Charlie O|website=www.sportingnews.com|date=June 25, 2015|access-date=October 25, 2019}}</ref> Since {{mlby|1988}}, the Athletics' 21st season in Oakland, an [[illustration]] of an elephant has adorned the left sleeve of the A's home and road uniforms. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the on-field costumed incarnation of the A's elephant mascot went by the name Harry Elephante, a play on the name of singer [[Harry Belafonte]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Hill|first=Angela|url=http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/05/22/mascots-you-dont-see-on-sports-sidelines/|title=Mascots you don't see on sports sidelines|work=East Bay Times|date=May 22, 2007}}</ref> In [[1997 Major League Baseball season|1997]], he became [[Stomper]], debuting Opening Night on April 2.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/fan_forum/kids/stomper/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130194311/http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/fan_forum/kids/stomper/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 30, 2016|title=Stomper's Place|work=Oakland Athletics}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Stomper: The Oakland A's Mascot |url=https://www.mlb.com/athletics/fans/stomper |website=MLB.com |access-date=April 19, 2020}}</ref> |
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When the American League became a [[Major League Baseball|Major League]] in 1901, Johnson shifted the Indianapolis franchise to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] and recruited former player [[Connie Mack (baseball)|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 again be called the '''Philadelphia Athletics'''. After [[John McGraw (baseball)|John McGraw]] told reporters that Shibe had a “white elephant on his hands," Mack defiantly adopted the [[white elephant]] as the team mascot, though over the years the elephant has appeared in several different colors. The team name is typically pronounced "Ath-LET-ics", but their long-time team owner Connie Mack called them by the old-fashioned colloquial pronunciation "Ath-''uh''-LET-ics". Newspaper writers also often referred to the team as the "Mackmen" during their Philadelphia days, in honor of their patriarch. |
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==Uniforms== |
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The team’s inaugural year saw second baseman [[Nap Lajoie]] [la-ZHWAY] lead the league in hitting with a .426 batting average, still a modern Major League record. The new league recruited many of its players---including Lajoie---from the existing National League, persuading them to “jump” to the A.L. in defiance of their N.L. 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 Nap Lajoie's contract with the Athletics, 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. |
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Over the seasons, the Athletics' uniforms have paid homage to their amateur forebears. Until 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, neither "Philadelphia" nor the letter "P" appeared on the uniform or cap. The Philadelphia uniform had only a script "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it. In the early days of the American League, the standings listed the club as "Athletic" rather than "Philadelphia", in keeping with the old tradition. Eventually, the city name came to be used for the team, as with the other major league clubs. |
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After buying the team in 1960, owner [[Charles O. Finley]] introduced road uniforms with "Kansas City" printed on them, with an interlocking "KC" on the cap. Upon moving to Oakland, the "A" cap emblem was restored, and in 1970 an "apostrophe-s" was added to the cap and uniform emblem to reflect that Finley was officially changing the team's name to the "A's". |
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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. They won over 100 games in 1911 and 1912, and 99 games in 1914. The team was known for its “$100,000 Infield,” consisting of John "Stuffy" McInnis (1b), [[Eddie Collins]] (2b), [[Frank Baker|Frank "Home Run" Baker]] (3b) and Jack Barry (ss), as well as pitchers [[Eddie Plank]] and [[Chief Bender|Charles "Chief" Bender]]. Plank holds the club record for career victories, with 284. |
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While in Kansas City, Finley changed the team's colors from their traditional red, white and blue to what he termed "Kelly Green, Wedding Gown White and Fort Knox Gold". It was here that he began experimenting with dramatic uniforms to match these bright colors, such as gold sleeveless tops with green undershirts and gold pants. The uniform innovations increased after the team's move to Oakland, which came with the introduction of polyester pullover uniforms. |
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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. In his book ''To Every Thing a Season'', Bruce Kuklick points out that there were suspicions that the A's had thrown the Series, or at least "laid down", perhaps in protest of Mack's notorious thriftiness. Mack himself alluded to that rumor years later, but also debunked it, asserting that factions within the team along with the allure of the [[Federal League]] had distracted the team. |
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During their dynasty years in the 1970s, the A's had dozens of uniform combinations with jerseys and pants in all three team colors, and never wore the traditional gray on the road, instead wearing green or gold, which helped to contribute to their nickname of "The Swingin' A's". After the team's sale to the [[Walter A. Haas Jr.|Haas]] family, the team changed its primary color to a more subdued forest green in 1982 and began a move back to more traditional uniforms. |
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A third major league, the [[Federal League]], had been formed to begin play in 1914. As the A.L. had done 13 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 let the "prima donnas" go and 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, and then to a modern major league low winning percentange of 36-117 (.235) in 1916. The team would finish in last place every year after that until 1922, when it finished 7th. |
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The 2023 team wore home uniforms with "Athletics" spelled out in script writing and road uniforms with "Oakland" spelled out in script writing, with the cap logo consisting of the traditional "A" with "apostrophe-s". The home cap, which was also the team's road cap until 1992, is forest green with a gold bill and white lettering. This design was also the basis of their batting helmet, which is used both at home and on the road. The road cap, which initially debuted in 1993, is all-forest green. The first version had the white "A's" wordmark before it was changed to gold the following season. An all-forest green batting helmet was paired with this cap until 2008. In 2014, the "A's" wordmark returned to white but added gold trim. |
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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. In each of the three years, the A's won over 100 games. There are those who feel the 1929 A’s were the best team in baseball history, even surpassing the 1927 Yankees. |
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[[File:Oakland Athletics logo 1983 to 1992.png|thumb|150px|right|The Athletics logo (1983–1992)]] |
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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]] was well under way, and declining attendance had drastically reduced the team’s revenues. The construction of the "spite fence" at [[Shibe Park]], blocking the view from nearby buildings, only served to irritate potential paying fans. 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. |
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[[File:Oakland A's logo.svg|150px|right|thumb|Final Oakland A's logo (1993–2024)]] |
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From 1994 until 2013, the A's wore green [[third jersey|alternate jerseys]] with the word "Athletics" in gold, for both road and home games. |
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During the 2000s, the Athletics introduced black as one of their colors. They began wearing a black alternate jersey with "Athletics" written in green. After a brief discontinuance, the A's brought back the black jersey, this time with "Athletics" written in white with gold highlights. The cap paired with this jersey is all-black, initially with the green and white-trimmed "A's" wordmark, before switching to a white and gold-trimmed "A's" wordmark. Commercially popular but rarely chosen as the alternate by players, the black uniform was retired in 2011 in favor of a gold alternate jersey. |
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The 1950 season would be 88-year-old Mack’s 50th and last as A’s manager, a Major League record that will surely 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 (including one made by [[Chicago]] insurance executive [[Charles O. Finley]]), 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 another Chicagoan, real estate developer Arnold Johnson, so that he could move the team to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] for the 1955 season. |
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The gold alternate has "A's" in green trimmed in white on the left chest. With the exception of several road games during the 2011 season, the Athletics' gold uniforms were used as the designated home alternates. A green version of their gold alternates was introduced for the 2014 season, serving as a replacement to the previous green alternates. The new green alternates featured the piping, "A's" and lettering in white with gold trim. |
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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 an Old-English "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it. That seeming oddity actually echoed the team's origins as the singular "Athletic of Philadelphia". |
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In 2018, as part of the franchise's 50th anniversary since the move to Oakland, the A's wore a kelly green alternate uniform with "Oakland" in white with gold trim, and was paired with an all-kelly green cap.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Oakland A's to wear kelly green alternate jersey for Friday home games|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/oakland-as-to-wear-kelly-green-alternate-jersey-for-friday-home-games/c-265421378|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|website=MLB.com|date=January 26, 2018|access-date=January 27, 2018}}</ref> This set was later worn with an alternate kelly green helmet with gold visor. This uniform eventually supplanted the gold alternates by 2019, and in 2022, after the forest green alternate was retired, it became the team's only active alternate uniform. |
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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. |
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The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers used it to shorten the name. From 1972 through 1980, the team name was officially "Oakland A's", although the [[Commissioner's Trophy (MLB)|Commissioner's Trophy]], given out annually to the winner of baseball's [[World Series]], still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise. According to Bill Libby's Book, ''Charlie O and the Angry A's'', owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with him. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]], which were alternatively called the "Acorns". New owner Walter Haas restored the official name to "Athletics" in 1981, but retained the nickname "A's" for marketing. At first, the word "Athletics" was restored only to the club's logo, underneath the much larger stylized-"A" that had come to represent the team since the early days. By 1987, however, the word returned, in script lettering, to the front of the team's jerseys. |
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===The Kansas City Years (1955-1967)=== |
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When Arnold Johnson moved the Athletics to Kansas City, fans turned out in record numbers for the era. In 1955, the new '''Kansas City Athletics''' drew 1,393,054 to newly renovated and newly renamed [[Municipal Stadium (Kansas City)|Municipal Stadium]], a club record easily surpassing the previous record of 945,076 in 1948. What no one realized at the time was that that number would remain the club record for attendance until 1982 -- the Athletics’ 15th season in Oakland! |
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From 2025 to 2027, while the team temporarily plays its home games in West Sacramento, all of its uniforms would feature the "Athletics" wordmark. |
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During the Johnson ownership, any good young players on the Athletics were invariably traded to the Yankees for aging veterans and cash. The cash was used to pay the bills, with the veterans perhaps having star appeal that could improve attendance. It didn’t work. Attendance declined, with fans and even other clubs charging that the A’s were little more than a minor league farm team for the Yankees. In fact, Johnson had a pre-existing cozy relationship with the Yankees' front office, an obvious conflict of interest that was winked at by the rulers of the game at that time. |
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Prior to the mid-2010s, the A's had a long-standing tradition of wearing white cleats team-wide (in line with the standard MLB practice that required all uniformed team members to wear a base cleat color), which dated to the Finley ownership. Since the mid-2010s, however, MLB has gradually relaxed its shoe color rules, and several A's players began wearing cleats in non-white colors, such as [[Jed Lowrie]]'s green cleats. |
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The trade no one ever forgot was the one made after the 1959 season, when the A’s sent young right fielder [[Roger Maris]] to New York for his aging counterpart, [[Hank Bauer]], in a seven-player deal. However, there were others. The Yankees brought up a promising young pitcher, Ralph Terry, in 1956, but were reluctant to use him in critical situations. So, in June, 1957 they traded him to the A's in an eight-player deal. After getting nearly two years of experience facing A.L. batters, Terry apparently was ready to return. In May, 1959 the Yankees sent Jerry Lumpe and two washed-up pitchers to the Athletics for Terry. Once "home," Terry became a 20-game winner for New York. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the "Old" Yankees became less competitive after Charles O. Finley bought the A's and stopped providing talent to the Yankees. |
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{{multiple image |
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Arnold died in 1960. In December of that year, controlling interest in the team was purchased by another Chicagoan, insurance executive [[Charles O. Finley]], who soon thereafter bought out the minority owners. In 1961, Finley's first year as team owner, the American League had expanded to ten teams. The Athletics finished in a tie for dead last with the expansion [[Texas Rangers|Washington Senators]], nine games behind the other expansion team, the [[Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim|Los Angeles Angels]]. |
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| image1 = Sean Doolittle (2) (14163318058) (cropped).jpg |
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| caption1 = Home uniform, worn by [[Sean Doolittle]] |
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| image2 = Frankie Montas.jpg |
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| caption2 = Former road uniform, worn by [[Frankie Montas]] |
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| image3 = Lou Trivino, Oakland A's 6, Seattle Mariners 2, Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California (47933995376) (cropped).jpg |
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| caption3 = Former alternate kelly green uniform, worn by [[Lou Trivino]] |
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| image4 = Matt Olson (35939469653).jpg |
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| caption4 = Former alternate forest green uniform (2014–2021), worn by [[Matt Olson]] |
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| image5 = Sean Doolittle on July 2, 2012.jpg |
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| caption5 = Former alternate gold uniform, worn by Sean Doolittle |
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| image6 = Josh Outman on June 8, 2011.jpg |
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| caption6 = Former alternate forest green uniform (1994–2013), worn by [[Josh Outman]] |
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| image7 = Gregorio Petit.jpg |
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| caption7 = Former alternate black uniform, worn by [[Gregorio Petit]] |
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}} |
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==Planned relocation to Las Vegas== |
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Finley, though, promised the fans a new day. He purchased a bus, pointed it in the direction of [[New York City]], and had it burned, to symbolize the end of the “special relationship” with the Yankees. More importantly, he poured resources into the minor league system for the first time. He was assisted in this endeavor by the creation of the baseball draft in 1965, which forced young prospects to sign with the team that drafted them – at the price offered by the team – if they wanted to play professional baseball. Thus, Finley was spared from having to compete with wealthier teams for top talent. The Athletics, owners of the worst record in the American League in 1964, had the first pick in the first draft, selecting [[Rick Monday]] on June 8, 1965. |
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{{main|New Las Vegas Stadium|Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas}} |
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Following the [[California Golden Seals]]' relocation to Cleveland in 1976, the [[Golden State Warriors]]' move across the bay to [[San Francisco]] in 2019, and the [[Oakland Raiders]]' [[Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas|move to Las Vegas]] in 2020, the Athletics were left as the sole remaining professional sports team in Oakland. However, on April 20, 2023, the Athletics announced they had entered a land purchase agreement with [[Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa|Red Rock Resort]] located near Las Vegas to build a [[New Las Vegas Stadium|new ballpark]] on the [[Las Vegas Strip]], finalizing their plans to relocate to the Las Vegas area.<ref name="Stutz">{{Cite web |last1=Stutz |first1=Howard |last2=Mueller |first2=Tabitha |date=April 19, 2023 |title=Sources: Lombardo, lawmakers on board with planned $1 billion Las Vegas baseball stadium |url=https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/sources-lombardo-lawmakers-on-board-with-planned-1-billion-las-vegas-baseball-stadium |access-date=April 20, 2023 |work=The Nevada Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 20, 2023 |title=Oakland A's close in on move to Las Vegas after signing land deal for stadium |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/20/oakland-athletics-las-vegas-relocation-stadium |access-date=April 20, 2023 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="SF Gate/AP New Stadium">{{Cite web |last=Dubow |first=Josh |date=April 20, 2023 |title=Oakland A's purchase land for new stadium in Las Vegas |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/oakland-a-s-purchase-land-for-new-stadium-in-las-17907772.php |access-date=April 20, 2023 |work=SFGate|agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=April 20, 2023 |title=Oakland A's agree to purchase land near Las Vegas Strip |url=https://abc7news.com/sports/oakland-as-agree-to-purchase-land-near-las-vegas-strip/13157727/ |access-date=April 20, 2023 |work=[[KGO-TV]]}}</ref> On May 9, 2023, the Athletics switched their planned location in the Las Vegas area to the site of the [[Tropicana Las Vegas]] hotel and casino, which was subsequently demolished in October to construct a 33,000-seat partially retractable ballpark and a 1,500-room hotel and casino.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 9, 2023 |title=A's pivot to new site for Vegas baseball stadium, lowering public funding request |url=https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/as-pivot-to-new-site-for-vegas-baseball-stadium-lowering-public-funding-request |access-date=May 9, 2023 |work=The Nevada Independent}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Shannon |title=Time to say goodbye to Tropicana Las Vegas, set for implosion this week |url=https://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/2024/oct/03/time-to-say-goodbye-to-tropicana-las-vegas/ |access-date=October 9, 2024 |work=Las Vegas Weekly |date=October 3, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Tisminezky |first=Ryan |title=Tropicana Las Vegas receives implosion permit, asbestos abatement complete |url=https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/tropicana-las-vegas-receives-implosion-permit-asbestos-abatement-complete/ |access-date=September 27, 2024 |work=KLAS |date=September 24, 2024}}</ref> By June 15, 2023, Nevada governor [[Joe Lombardo]] signed an MLB stadium funding bill known as SB1 into law after the bill was approved by the [[Nevada Legislature]], and the Athletics officially announced they would begin the relocation process.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 15, 2023 |title=Nevada governor signs A's stadium funding bill |url=https://www.8newsnow.com/sports/local-sports/las-vegas-as/nevada-governor-signs-as-stadium-funding-bill/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921214417/https://www.8newsnow.com/sports/local-sports/las-vegas-as/nevada-governor-signs-as-stadium-funding-bill/ |archive-date=September 21, 2023 |access-date=June 16, 2023 |work=KLAS}}</ref> |
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On November 16, 2023, the Athletics' move to Las Vegas was unanimously approved by MLB team owners.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farkas |first=Brady |date=November 19, 2023 |title=An Interesting Nugget About the Oakland Athletics' Relocation to Las Vegas |url=https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/new-report-shows-that-oakland-athletics-owner-john-fisher-will-be-heavily-punished-if-he-tries-to-sell-the-team-following-relocation |access-date=November 23, 2023 |website=Fastball |language=en}}</ref> According to the team, the new Las Vegas ballpark will not be completed until 2028. The lease to the [[Oakland Coliseum]] expired after the 2024 season. Before the scheduled move to Las Vegas in 2028, the team will play in [[West Sacramento, California]] at [[Sutter Health Park]] (home of the [[San Francisco Giants]]' [[Triple-A (baseball)|Triple-A]] affiliate, the [[Sacramento River Cats]]) for the 2025–2027 seasons (with an option for the 2028 season if necessary).<ref name="twitter1">{{Cite tweet |number=1775898900282687717 |user=Athletics |title=Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento will host the A's for the 2025-27 seasons - ahead of the team's move to Vegas in 2028. |date=April 4, 2024 |access-date=April 4, 2024 |link=https://x.com/Athletics/status/1775898900282687717?t=w0ei0jW25Wwby_SXFxPqgA&s=01 |quote=}}</ref> While in West Sacramento the team will be referred to as simply the "A's" and "Athletics," with no city name attached.<ref name="athletic24"></ref> The relocation will mark the first move by an MLB team since the [[Montreal Expos]] moved to [[Washington, D.C.]], becoming the [[Washington Nationals]] in 2005. |
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Finley also made changes to the team’s uniforms. In 1963, he changed the team’s colors to “Kelly Green, Fort Knox Gold and Wedding Gown White” and replaced the traditional elephant mascot with a Missouri mule --- not just a cartoon logo, but a real mule, which he named after himself: “Charlie O, the Mule.” In 1967, he replaced the team’s traditional black cleats with white ones. In 1970 (after the move to Oakland) he added an "apostrophe-s" to the traditional "A" logo, phasing out the team name "Athletics" in favor of, simply, "A's." |
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==Rivalries== |
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But, while laying the groundwork for a future championship team, Finley began shopping the Athletics to other cities, despite his promises that the A’s would remain in Kansas City. On September 18, 1962, after less than two full years of ownership, Finley asked the A.L. owners for permission to move the Athletics to [[Arlington, Texas]]. His request was denied by a 9-1 vote. In 1964, he signed an agreement to move the A’s to [[Louisville, Kentucky]] (and hinted the team's name would change to "Louisville Sluggers"). By another 9-1 vote his request was denied. These requests came as no surprise, as rumors of impending moves to [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]], [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[San Diego, California|San Diego]] and [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]] had long been afloat. When Finley reacted to the Louisville vote by filing a lawsuit against Municipal Stadium, A.L. President [[Joe Cronin]] promised Finley that he could move the team after three years, and the suit was dropped. |
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===San Francisco Giants=== |
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{{See also|Bay Bridge Series}} |
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The Bay Bridge Series is the name of a series of games played between (and the rivalry of) the A's and [[San Francisco Giants]] of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]]. The series takes its name from the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]] which links the cities of [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] and San Francisco. Although competitive, the regional rivalry between the A's and Giants is considered a friendly one with mostly mutual companionship between the fans, as opposed to [[White Sox – Cubs rivalry|White Sox–Cubs]], or [[Mets–Yankees rivalry|Yankees–Mets]] games where animosity runs high. Hats displaying both teams on the cap are sold from vendors at the games, and once in a while the teams both dress in original team uniforms from the early era of baseball. |
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The series is also occasionally referred to as the "BART Series" for the [[Bay Area Rapid Transit]] system that links Oakland to San Francisco. However, the name "BART Series" has never been popular beyond a small selection of history books and national broadcasters and has fallen out of favor. Bay Area locals almost exclusively refer to the rivalry as the "Battle of the Bay".<ref name=Bolavip>{{cite web |url=https://us.bolavip.com/mlb/15-biggest-mlb-rivalries-of-all-time-20200727-0002.html |title=15 biggest MLB rivalries of all time |website=bolavip.com |last=Cova |first=Ernesto |date=May 27, 2021 |access-date=January 13, 2022 }}</ref> |
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Originally, the term described a series of exhibition games played between the two clubs after the conclusion of spring training, immediately prior to the start of the regular season. It was first used to refer to the [[1989 World Series]] in which the Athletics won their most recent championship and the first time the teams had met since they moved to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] (and the first time they had met since the A's also defeated the Giants in the [[1913 World Series]]). Today, it also refers to games played between the teams during the regular season since the commencement of [[interleague play]] in 1997. Through the 2024 regular season, the Athletics have won 76 games, and the Giants have won 72 contests.<ref>{{cite web |title=Head-to-head record for Oakland Athletics against the listed opponents from 1997 to 2024 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/games/head2head.cgi?teams=OAK&from=1997&to=2024 |work=baseball-reference.com}}</ref> |
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Finally, on October 18, 1967, A.L. owners gave Finley permission to move the Athletics to Oakland for the 1968 season. Then-U.S. Senator [[Stuart Symington]] of Missouri blasted Finley on the floor of the Senate, calling him "one of the most disreputable characters ever to enter the American sports scene,” and said Oakland was “the luckiest city since [[Hiroshima]].” In 1969, Kansas City was awarded an American League expansion team, the [[Kansas City Royals]]. |
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Through the 2024 season, the A's also have edges on the Giants in terms of overall postseason appearances (21–13), division titles (17–10) and World Series titles (4–3) since both teams moved to the Bay Area, even though the Giants franchise moved there a decade earlier than the A's did. |
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During the Johnson years, the Athletics' home attendance averaged just under one million per season, respectable numbers for the era, especially in light of the team's won-loss record. In contrast, during the years of Finley's ownership, the team averaged under 680,000 per year in Kansas City. |
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On March 24, 2018, the Oakland A's announced that for the Sunday, March 25, 2018, exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants, A's fans would be charged $30 for parking and Giants fans would be charged $50. However, the A's stated that Giants fans could receive $20 off if they shout "Go A's" at the parking gates.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2766384-athletics-offer-20-parking-discount-to-giants-fans-who-yell-go-as-at-gates|title=Athletics Offer $20 Parking Discount to Giants Fans Who Yell 'Go A's' at Gates|last=Goldberg|first=Ron|date=March 24, 2018|work=Bleacher Report|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> |
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During their 13-year existence, the Kansas City Athletics were arguably one of the worst teams ever in baseball, finishing in last or next to last place in 10 of those years. Their overall record was 829-1,224, for a winning percentage of .404. |
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In 2018, the Athletics and Giants started battling for a "Bay Bridge" Trophy<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.mlb.com/news/athletics-giants-unveil-bay-bridge-trophy/c-269789752 | title=Athletics, Giants unveil Bay Bridge trophy| website=[[MLB.com]]}}</ref> made from steel taken from the [[Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge|old east span]] of the Bay Bridge, which was taken down after the new span was opened in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bay-Bridge-Now-Open-to-Public-222062721.html |title=New Bay Bridge Opens Ahead of Schedule - NBC Bay Area |access-date=October 19, 2018 |archive-date=October 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020011527/https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bay-Bridge-Now-Open-to-Public-222062721.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/09/08/old-bay-bridge-piers-demolish/ | title=Last 2 Piers of the Old Bay Bridge Demolished| date=September 8, 2018}}</ref> The A's won the inaugural season with the trophy, allowing them to place their logo atop its Bay Bridge stand.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/As-Take-Bay-Bridge-Series-With-Another-Walkoff-Win-Over-the-Giants-488844751.html |title = A's Take Bay Bridge Series with Another Walkoff Win over the Giants| date=July 22, 2018 }}</ref> When the A's left Oakland, the Giants had won the trophy 4 times, to the A's 3. |
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===The Oakland Years (1968 to present)=== |
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The Athletics arrived in Oakland just as the team was beginning to gel. Managed by [[Bob Kennedy]], the '''Oakland Athletics''' finished the 1968 season with an 82-80 record – their best record since [[1952]]. With expansion to 12 teams in 1969, the American League was divided into two 6-team divisions. During that year, the Athletics finished second in the A.L. West Division behind the [[Minnesota Twins]] – their highest finish in 37 years! After another second-place finish in 1970, the A’s won the A.L. West title in 1971, only to lose to the [[Baltimore Orioles]] in the [[American League Championship Series]]. |
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===Los Angeles Angels=== |
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Finley had built himself a winner. The Athletics won World Series championships in [[1972 World Series|1972]], [[1973 World Series|1973]] and [[1974 World Series|1974]]. Unlike earlier Athletic championship teams, which thoroughly dominated their opposition, the A’s teams of the 1970s played well enough to win their division, then defeated teams that had won more games during the regular season, with good pitching, good defense, and clutch hitting. Finley termed this team the “Swingin’ A’s.” The players, in turn, often said they played so well as a team due to their universal dislike for their employer. Players such as [[Reggie Jackson]], [[Sal Bando]], [[Joe Rudi]], [[Bert Campaneris]], [[Catfish Hunter]], [[Rollie Fingers]], and [[Vida Blue]] formed the nucleus of these teams. |
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{{See also|Angels–Athletics rivalry}} |
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The A's have held a rivalry with the [[Los Angeles Angels]] since their relocation to California in 1968, and the charter membership of both teams in the AL West in 1969. The A's and Angels have often competed for the division title.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/112065-oakland-as-la-angels-the-fight-for-the-west|title=Oakland A's, LA Angels: The Fight For The West|work=Bleacher Report}}</ref> The peak of the rivalry was during the early part of the millennium as both teams were perennial contenders. During the {{mlby|2002}} season, the A's famous "Moneyball" tactics led them to a league record 20-game winning streak, knocking the Angels out of the first seed in the division. The A's finished 4 games ahead while the Angels secured the Wild Card berth.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/jenkins/article/A-s-Angels-rivalry-30-years-in-making-After-3325207.php|title=A's-Angels rivalry 30 years in making / After decades, rivalry is heated|newspaper=SFGate|last1=Jenkins|first1=Bruce}}</ref> Despite the 103-win season for Oakland, they lost to the underdog Minnesota Twins in the [[2002 American League Division Series|ALDS]]. The Angels beat the heavily favored New York Yankees, then beat the Twins, and then won the [[2002 World Series]]. During the {{mlby|2004}} season, the teams were tied for wins headed into the final week of September with the last three games being played in Oakland against the Angels.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-angels-athletics-baxter-20140829-story.html|title=Angels-Athletics is becoming a real rivalry|work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 29, 2014 }}</ref> Both teams were battling to secure the division championship. Oakland lost two of the three games to the Angels, and they were eliminated from the playoff hunt. The Angels were swept in the playoffs by the eventual champion Boston Red Sox.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sbnation.com/2012/9/10/3313359/as-angels-rivalry-wild-card-standings|title=A's vs. Angels: The Rivalry That Should Be (And Eventually Will)|date=September 10, 2012 }}</ref> The Athletics lead the series 541–491, and the two teams have yet to meet in the postseason. |
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===Philadelphia Phillies (historic)=== |
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The A’s teams of the 1970s were also known for their sartorial and tonsorial appearance. Beginning in 1972, the Athletics began wearing jerseys of solid green or solid gold color, with contrasting white pants, at a time when all other teams wore all-white uniforms at home and all-grey ones on the road. Furthermore, in conjunction with a Mustache Day promotion, Finley offered $500 to any player who grew a mustache, at a time when every other team forbade facial hair. The [[1972 World Series]] against the [[Cincinnati Reds]] was termed “The Hairs vs. the Squares,” as Cincinnati wore traditional uniforms and forbade facial hair on its players. A contemporary book about the team was called ''Moustache Gang''. The A's seven-game victory over the heavily-favored Reds gave the team its first World Series Championship since 1931! |
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{{See also|City Series (Philadelphia)}} |
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The City Series was the name of baseball games played between the Philadelphia Athletics and the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]], that ran from 1903 through 1955. After the A's move to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in 1955, the City Series rivalry came to an end. Since the introduction of interleague play in 1997, the teams have since faced each other during the regular season (with the first games taking place in 2003) but the rivalry had effectively died in the intervening years since the A's left Philadelphia. In 2014, when the A's faced the Phillies in inter-league play at the Oakland Coliseum, the Athletics did not bother to mark the historical connection, going so far as to have a Connie Mack promotion the day before the series while the Texas Rangers were in Oakland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/schedule/promotions.jsp?c_id=oak&y=2014|title=2014 Promotional Schedule|website=Oakland Athletics|access-date=March 4, 2015|archive-date=April 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402090104/http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/schedule/promotions.jsp?c_id=oak&y=2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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The first City Series was held in 1883 between the [[1883 Philadelphia Quakers season|Phillies]] and the [[American Association (1882–1891)|American Association]] [[Philadelphia Athletics (American Association)|Philadelphia Athletics]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Movin' on Up: Baseball and Philadelphia Then, Now, and Always|last=Burgoyne|first=Tom|year=2004|publisher=B B& A Publishers|isbn=0-9754419-3-0|page=128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yba-wMVloosC&q=Phillies+Athletics+city+series&pg=PA128}}</ref> When the Athletics first joined the [[American League]], the two teams played each other in a spring and fall series. No City Series was held in 1901 and 1902 due to legal warring between the National League and American League. |
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One tradition carried on from Philadelphia, which continues even into the 21st Century, is the low budget for players' salaries. Reggie Jackson reported in his autobiography that when he asked for a raise following the 1972 season, Finley told him that his World Series check was his "raise". |
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==Achievements== |
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The Athletics' victory over the [[New York Mets]] in the [[1973 World Series]] was marred by owner Finley's antics. Finley forced player [[Mike Andrews]] to sign a false affadavit saying he was injured after the reserve infielder committed two consecutive errors in the 12th inning of the A's Game Two loss to the Mets. When other team members, manager [[Dick Williams]], and virtually the entire sports-viewing public rallied to Andrews' defense, Finley was forced to back down, and Andrews was reinstated. As it was, the incident allowed the Mets, a team that went but 82-79 during the regular season, to go seven games before losing to a superior team. |
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===Awards=== |
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{{main|Athletics award winners and league leaders}} |
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After the Athletics' victory over the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] in the [[1974 World Series]], pitcher Catfish Hunter filed a grievance, claiming that the team had violated its contract with Hunter by failing to make timely payment on an insurance policy during the 1974 season as called for. On [[December 13]], 1974, arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in Hunter’s favor. As a result, Hunter became a free agent, and signed a contract with the [[New York Yankees]] for the 1975 season. Despite the loss of Hunter, the A’s repeated as West Division champions in 1975, but lost the ALCS to Boston in a 3-game sweep. |
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*The Athletics give out an award named the [[Catfish Hunter Award]] since 2004 for the most inspirational Athletic. |
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===Hall of Famers=== |
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As the 1976 season got underway, the basic rules of player contracts were changing. Arbitrator Seitz had ruled that baseball’s reserve clause only bound players for one season after their contract expired. Thus, all players not signed to multi-year contracts would be eligible for free agency at the end of the 1976 season. The balance of power had shifted from the owners to the players for the first time since the days of the [[Federal League]]. Like his predecessor Connie Mack had done twice before, Charles Finley reacted by trading star players and attempting to sell others. On [[June 15]], [[1976]], Finley sold left fielder Rudi and relief pitcher Fingers to Boston for $1 million apiece, and pitcher Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million. Three days later, Baseball Commissioner [[Bowie Kuhn]] voided the transactions in the “best interests of baseball.” |
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{{Main|List of members of the Baseball Hall of Fame}} |
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{{Baseball hall of fame list |
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|Current Team Name = Athletics |
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| All Team Names = Athletics |
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| ColorA# = 006241 |
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| ColorB# = FFFFFF |
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| ColorC# = FFB819 |
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| ColorD# = 000000 |
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| Team Name 1 = '''Philadelphia Athletics''' |
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| List 1.1 = '''[[Home Run Baker]]''' *<br>'''[[Chief Bender]]''' *<br>[[Ty Cobb]]<br>[[Mickey Cochrane]] * |
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| List 1.2 = [[Eddie Collins]] <br>[[Jimmy Collins]]<br>[[Stan Coveleski]]<br>[[Elmer Flick]] |
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| List 1.3 = [[Nellie Fox]]<br>[[Jimmie Foxx]] *<br>[[Lefty Grove]] *<br>[[Waite Hoyt]]<br>[[George Kell]] |
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| List 1.4 = [[Nap Lajoie]]<br>[[Connie Mack]] *<br>[[Herb Pennock]]<br>'''[[Eddie Plank]]''' * |
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| List 1.5 = '''[[Al Simmons]]''' *<br>[[Tris Speaker]]<br>'''[[Rube Waddell]]''' *<br>[[Zack Wheat]] |
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| Team Name 2 = '''Kansas City Athletics''' |
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| List 2.1 = [[Luke Appling]] |
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| List 2.2 = [[Lou Boudreau]] |
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| List 2.3 = [[Whitey Herzog]]<br>[[Tommy Lasorda]] |
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| List 2.4 = [[Satchel Paige]] |
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| List 2.5 = [[Enos Slaughter]] |
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| Team Name 3 = '''Oakland Athletics''' |
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| List 3.1 = [[Dick Allen]]<br>[[Harold Baines]]<br>[[Orlando Cepeda]]<br>'''[[Dennis Eckersley]]''' * |
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| List 3.2 = '''[[Rollie Fingers]]''' *<br>[[Goose Gossage]]<br>'''[[Rickey Henderson]]''' *<br>[[Catfish Hunter]] * |
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| List 3.3 = [[Reggie Jackson]] *<br>[[Tony La Russa]]<br>[[Willie McCovey]]<br>[[Joe Morgan]] |
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| List 3.4 = [[Dave Parker]]<br>[[Mike Piazza]]<br>[[Tim Raines]]<br>[[Don Sutton]] |
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| List 3.5 = [[Frank Thomas (designated hitter)|Frank Thomas]]<br>[[Billy Williams (left fielder)|Billy Williams]]<br>'''[[Dick Williams]]''' |
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| Team Name 4 = |
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| List 4.1 = |
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| List 4.2 = |
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| List 4.3 = |
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| List 4.4 = |
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| List 4.5 = |
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| Footnote1 = * Philadelphia / Kansas City / Oakland Athletics listed as primary team according to the Hall of Fame |
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| Footnote2 = |
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| Footnote3 = |
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| Footnote4 = |
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|}} |
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===Ford C. Frick Award recipients=== |
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After 1976 the season, most of the Athletics’ veteran players did become eligible for free agency, and predictably almost all left. Three thousand miles and several decades later, one of baseball’s most storied franchises suffered yet another dismemberment of a dynasty team. The 1977 version of the A’s finished in last place, behind even the expansion [[Seattle Mariners]], who entered the American League that year. In 1979, only 306,763 paying customers showed up to watch the A's, the team's worst attendance since leaving Philadelphia. |
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{{Ford C. Frick award list |
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|Current Team Name = Oakland Athletics |
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| All Team Names = Athletics |
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| ColorA# = 006241 |
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| ColorB# = FFFFFF |
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| ColorC# = FFB819 |
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| ColorD# = 000000 |
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| List 1 = [[Harry Caray]]<br>[[Herb Carneal]] |
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| List 2 = |
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| List 3 = [[Al Helfer]]<br>[[Bill King]] |
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| List 4 = |
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| List 5 = [[By Saam]]<br>[[Lon Simmons]] |
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| Footnote1 = |
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| Footnote2 = |
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| Footnote3 = |
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| Footnote4 = |
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|}} |
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===Retired numbers=== |
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After three dismal seasons on the field and at the gate, the team started to gel again. In a masterstroke, Finley hired [[Billy Martin]] to manage the young team. Martin made believers of his young charges, “Billyball” was used to market the team, and the Athletics finished second in 1980. |
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{{See also|List of Major League Baseball retired numbers}} |
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The Athletics have retired six numbers; additionally, [[Walter A. Haas, Jr.]], owner of the team from 1980 until his death in 1995, was honored by the retirement of the letter "A". Of the six players with retired numbers, five were retired for their play with the Athletics and one, 42, was universally retired by Major League Baseball when they honored the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking the color barrier. No A's player from the Philadelphia era has his number retired by the organization. Though Jackson and Hunter played small portions of their careers in Kansas City, no player that played the majority of his years in the Kansas City era has his number retired either. The A's have retired only the numbers of Hall-of-Famers who played large portions of their careers in Oakland. The Athletics have all of the numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930). [[Dave Stewart (baseball)|Dave Stewart]] was about to have his #34 jersey retired by the Athletics in 2020, but the ceremony was postponed until further notice, due to the [[COVID-19]] pandemic. Questions were raised if there would be a formal ceremony after no news about a reschedule happened in 2021 before it was announced in April 2022 that Stewart would have his jersey retired on September 11, 2022.<ref>{{cite tweet|number=1514016584682991620|user=Dsmoke34|title=@GlennRecon I have no idea what the A's are doing. At this point they can just retire the number with no celebratio…|date=April 12, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Miedema |first1=Laurence |title=A's Announce Date to Retire Former Ace Dave Stewart's No. 34 |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/04/22/as-announce-date-to-retire-dave-stewarts-no-34/ |access-date=April 27, 2022 |work=[[The Mercury News]] |date=April 22, 2022}}</ref> Stewart broke the A's tradition in that his number was a re-retirement, as well as his not being in the Hall of Fame. |
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But, the Finley era was coming to a close. The man who brought American League baseball to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] was being sued for a [[divorce]]. As his estranged wife would not accept part of a baseball team in a property settlement, the team had to be sold. Though Finley found a buyer who would have moved the Athletics to Denver, the tentative deal was voided when the [[Oakland Coliseum]] refused to let the team out of its lease. He then looked to local buyers, selling the Athletics to San Francisco clothing manufacturer Walter A. Haas, Jr. (then president of [[Levi Strauss & Co.]]) prior to the 1981 season. |
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{{retired number list| |
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Despite winning three World Series Championships and two other A.L. West Division titles, the A's on-field success did not translate into success at the box office during the Finley Era in Oakland. Average home attendance from 1968-1980 was 777,000 per season, with 1,075,518 in 1975 being the highest attendance for a Finley-owned team. In marked contrast, during the first year of Haas ownership, the Athletics drew 1,304,052---in a season shortened by a player strike! |
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{{retired number|image=OaklandRetired09.PNG|alt=9|name=[[Reggie Jackson|Reggie<br>Jackson]]|pos=[[Right fielder|RF]]<br> |date=May 22, 2004}} |
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{{retired number|image=OaklandRetired24.png|size=104px|alt=24|name=[[Rickey Henderson|Rickey<br>Henderson]]|pos=[[Left fielder|LF]]<br> |date=August 1, 2009}} |
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{{retired number|image=OaklandRetired27.PNG|alt=27|name=[[Catfish Hunter|Catfish<br>Hunter]]|pos=[[Pitcher|P]]<br> |date=June 9, 1991}} |
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{{retired number|image=OaklandRetired34.PNG|alt=34|name=[[Rollie Fingers|Rollie<br>Fingers]]|pos=[[Pitcher|P]]<br> |date=July 5, 1993}} |
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{{retired number|image=Stewart34.png|alt=34|name=[[Dave Stewart (baseball player)|Dave<br>Stewart]]|pos=[[Pitcher|P]]<br> |date=September 11, 2022}} |
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{{retired number|image=OaklandRetired43.PNG|alt=43|name=[[Dennis Eckersley|Dennis<br>Eckersley]]|pos=[[Pitcher|P]]<br> |date=August 13, 2005}} |
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{{retired number|image=WalterHaas.png|alt=A|name=[[Walter A. Haas, Jr.|Walter A.<br>Haas, Jr.]]|pos=Owner<br> |honored=<br>1995}} |
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{{retired number|image=OaklandRetired42.PNG|alt=42|name=[[Jackie Robinson|Jackie<br>Robinson]]|pos=All MLB<br> |date=April 15, 1997}} |
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}} |
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===Athletics Hall of Fame=== |
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Under the Haas ownership, the minor league system was rebuilt, which bore fruition later that decade as Athletics [[José Canseco]] (1986), [[Mark McGwire]] (1987) and Walt Weiss (1988) were chosen as A.L. Rookies of the Year. During the 1986 season, [[Tony La Russa]] was hired as the Athletics’ manager, a post he held until the end of 1995. In 1987, La Russa’s first full year as manager, the team finished at 81-81, its best record in 7 seasons. Beginning in 1988, the Athletics won the A.L. pennant three years in a row. Reminiscent of their Philadelphia predecessors, this A’s team finished with the best record of any team in the major leagues during all 3 years, winning 104 (1988), 99 (1989), and 103 (1990) games, featuring such stars as McGwire, Canseco, Weiss, [[Carney Lansford]], [[Dave Stewart (baseball player)|Dave Stewart]], and [[Dennis Eckersley]]. |
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On August 14, 2018, the team publicly announced the creation of a team Hall of Fame, complete with the first seven names to be inducted.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.athleticsnation.com/2018/8/14/17690748/oakland-as-athletics-hall-of-fame | title=Oakland A's announce the Athletics Hall of Fame | date=August 14, 2018 }}</ref> On September 5, the Athletics held a ceremony to induct seven members into the inaugural class. Each member was honored with an unveiling of a painting in their likeness and a bright green jacket. Hunter, who died in 1999, was represented by his widow, while Finley, who died in 1996, was represented by his son. If the team ever gets a new stadium, a physical site will be designated for the Hall of Fame, as the Coliseum does not have enough space for a full-fledged exhibit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/athletics/history/athletics-hall-of-fame|title=Athletics Hall of Fame|website=[[MLB.com]]}}</ref> In August 2021, it was announced that players [[Sal Bando]], [[Eric Chavez]], [[Joe Rudi]], director of player development Keith Lieppman, and clubhouse manager Steve "Vuc" Vucinich would be part of the class of 2022; in November 2021, [[Ray Fosse]], who had died the previous month, was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-a-s-announce-five-members-of-athletics-hall-of-fame-class-of-2022 | title=A's announce five members of the Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2022; fans can vote to help select final member | website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-a-s-to-induct-ray-fosse-into-athletics-hall-of-fame-in-2022 | title=A's to Induct Ray Fosse into Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022 | website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref> The 2023 & 2024 classes were inducted in August of each respective year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mlb.com/news/athletics-hall-of-fame-class-of-2023-announcement | title=Giambi, Lansford among 5 to enter A's Hall of Fame Class in 2023 | website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.si.com/mlb/athletics/to-celebrate-coliseum-remainder-of-2024 | title=A's to Celebrate the Coliseum for the Remainder of 2024 | date=April 5, 2024 }}</ref> |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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|+Key |
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|- |
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!scope="row" style="background:#ffb;"| '''Bold''' |
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|Member of the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] |
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|- |
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!scope="row" style="background:#ffb;"| {{center|{{dagger}}}} |
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|Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Athletic |
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|- |
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!scope="row" style="background:#cfc;"| '''Bold''' |
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|Recipient of the Hall of Fame's [[Ford C. Frick Award]] |
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|} |
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
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Regular season dominance did not translate into post-season success, however. The Athletics lost the World Series in [[1988 World Series|1988]] and [[1990 World Series|1990]], losing the latter to the underdog Cincinnati Reds in a shocking 4-game sweep reminiscent of the A’s loss to the Braves 76 years earlier. The A’s lone victory was a 4-game sweep of their cross-bay rivals, the [[San Francisco Giants]], in the [[1989 World Series]]. The team began a slow but steady decline, winning the A.L. West championship in 1992 (but losing to [[Toronto Blue Jays|Toronto]] in the ALCS), then finishing last in 1993. |
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|- |
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| colspan="5" style="{{Baseball primary style|Oakland Athletics}};|'''Athletics Hall of Fame''' |
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|- |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}};"|Year |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}};"|No. |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}};"|Player |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}};"|Position |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}};"|Tenure |
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|- |
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| rowspan=7|2018 || 43 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Dennis Eckersley]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1987–1995 |
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|- |
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| 32, 38, 34||style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Rollie Fingers]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1968–1976 |
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|- |
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| 39, 35, 22, 24||style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Rickey Henderson]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Left fielder|LF]] || 1979–1984<br>1989–1993<br>1994–1995<br>1998 |
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|- |
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| 27||style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Catfish Hunter]]''' || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1965–1974 |
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|- |
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| 9, 44||style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Reggie Jackson]]''' || [[Right fielder|RF]] || 1967–1975<br>1987 |
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|- |
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|34, 35||[[Dave Stewart (baseball)|Dave Stewart]] || P || 1986–1992<br>1995 |
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|- |
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| — || [[Charlie Finley]] ||Owner<br>General Manager || 1960–1981 |
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|- |
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| rowspan=5|2019 || 10, 11, 22, 29, 42 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Tony La Russa]]''' || [[Infielder|IF]]<br>Manager || 1963<br>1968–1971<br>1986–1995 |
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|- |
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| 14, 17, 21, 28, 35 || [[Vida Blue]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1969–1977 |
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|- |
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| 19 || [[Bert Campaneris|Bert "Campy" Campaneris]] || [[Shortstop|SS]] || 1964–1976 |
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|- |
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| 25 || [[Mark McGwire]] || [[First baseman|1B]] || 1986–1997 |
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|- |
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| — || [[Walter A. Haas, Jr.]] || Owner || 1981–1995 |
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|- |
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| rowspan=10|2021 || — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Connie Mack]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || Manager<br>Owner || 1901–1950<br>1901–1954 |
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|- |
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| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Eddie Collins]]''' || [[Second baseman|2B]] || 1906–1914<br>1927–1930 |
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|- |
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| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Home Run Baker|Frank "Home Run" Baker]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Third baseman|3B]] || 1908–1914 |
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|- |
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| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Chief Bender|Charles "Chief" Bender]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1903–1914 |
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|- |
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| 2 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Mickey Cochrane]]''' || [[Catcher|C]] || 1925–1933 |
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|- |
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| 2, 3 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Jimmie Foxx]]''' || [[First baseman|1B]] || 1925–1935 |
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|- |
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| 10 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Lefty Grove]]''' || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1925–1933 |
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|- |
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| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Eddie Plank]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1901–1914 |
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|- |
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| 6, 7, 28, 32 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Al Simmons]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Left fielder|LF]]<br>Coach || 1924–1932<br>1940–1941, 1944<br>1940–1945 |
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|- |
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| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Rube Waddell]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1902–1907 |
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|- |
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| rowspan=6|2022 || 30, 3 || [[Eric Chavez]] || [[Third baseman|3B]] || 1998–2010 |
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|- |
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| 6 || [[Sal Bando]] || [[Third baseman|3B]] || 1966–1976 |
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|- |
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| 15, 45, 8, 36, 26 || [[Joe Rudi]] || [[Left fielder|LF]] / [[First baseman|1B]] || 1967–1976<br>1982 |
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|- |
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| 10 || [[Ray Fosse]] || [[Catcher|C]]<br>Broadcaster || 1973–1975<br>1986–2021 |
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|- |
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| — || Keith Lieppman || Director of Player Development || 1971–present |
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|- |
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| — || Steve Vucinich|| Clubhouse manager || 1966–present |
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|- |
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| rowspan=5|2023 || 16 || [[Jason Giambi]] || [[Left fielder|LF]] / [[First baseman|1B]] || 1995–2001<br>2009 |
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|- |
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| 26, 7, 4 || [[Bob Johnson (outfielder)|Bob Johnson]] || [[Left fielder|LF]] || 1933–1942 |
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|- |
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| 5, 4 || [[Carney Lansford]] || [[Third baseman|3B]] || 1983–1992 |
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|- |
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| 24, 38, 18 || [[Gene Tenace]] || [[Catcher|C]] / [[First baseman|1B]] || 1969–1976 |
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|- |
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| — || Roy Steele || Public address announcer || 1968–2005<br>2007–2008 |
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|- |
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| rowspan=6|2024 || 33 || [[Jose Canseco]] || [[Right fielder|RF]] / [[Designated hitter|DH]] || 1985–1992<br>1997 |
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|- |
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| 1 || [[Eddie Joost]] || [[Shortstop|SS]]<br>Manager || 1947–1954<br>1954 |
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|- |
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| 36 || [[Terry Steinbach]] || [[Catcher|C]] || 1986–1996 |
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|- |
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| 4 || [[Miguel Tejada]] || [[Shortstop|SS]] || 1997–2003 |
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|- |
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| 23 ||style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Dick Williams]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Left fielder|LF]] / [[Third baseman|3B]]<br>Manager || 1959–1960<br>1971–1973 |
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|- |
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| — || style="background:#cfc;"|'''[[Bill King]]''' || Broadcaster || 1981–2005 |
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|} |
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===Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame=== |
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During the 15 years of Haas ownership, the Athletics became one of baseball’s most successful teams at the gate, drawing 2,900,217 in 1990, still the club record for single season attendance, as well as on the field. They restored the team’s official name of “Athletics” in 1981. While the team colors remained green, gold, and white, the garish Kelly green was replaced with a more subdued forest green. And, after a 23-year hiatus, the elephant was restored as the club mascot in 1986. |
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[[File:Dave Stewart on August 1, 2009.jpg|thumb|right|[[Dave Stewart (baseball)|Dave Stewart]], Oakland Athletics pitcher from 1986 to 1992 and 1995]] |
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{{Main|Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame}} |
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17 members of the Athletics organization have been honored with induction into the [[Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame]]. |
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
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| colspan="5" style="{{Baseball primary style|Oakland Athletics}}"|'''Athletics in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame''' |
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|- |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Oakland Athletics}}"|No. |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Oakland Athletics}}"|Player |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Oakland Athletics}}"|Position |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Oakland Athletics}}"|Tenure |
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! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Oakland Athletics}}"|Notes |
|||
|- |
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| 12 || [[Dusty Baker]] || [[Outfielder|OF]] || 1985–1986 || |
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|- |
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| 14, 17, 21, 28, 35 || [[Vida Blue]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1969–1977 || |
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|- |
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| 19 || [[Bert Campaneris|Bert "Campy" Campaneris]] || [[Shortstop|SS]] || 1964–1976 || |
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|- |
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| 12 || [[Orlando Cepeda]] || [[First baseman|1B]] || 1972 || Elected mainly on his performance with [[San Francisco Giants]] |
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|- |
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| 4, 6, 10, 14 || [[Sam Chapman]] || [[Center fielder|CF]] || 1938–1941<br>1945–1951 || Born and raised in [[Tiburon, California]] |
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|- |
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| 43 || [[Dennis Eckersley]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1987–1995 || Grew up in [[Fremont, California]] |
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|- |
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| 32, 34, 38 || [[Rollie Fingers]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1968–1976 || |
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|- |
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| — || [[Walter A. Haas, Jr.]] || Owner || 1981–1995 ||Grew up in San Francisco, California, attended [[UC Berkeley]] |
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|- |
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| 24 || [[Rickey Henderson]] || [[Left Fielder|LF]] || 1979–1984<br>1989–1993<br>1994–1995<br>1998 || Raised in [[Oakland, California]] |
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|- |
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| 27 || [[Catfish Hunter]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1965–1974 || |
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|- |
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| 9, 31, 44 || [[Reggie Jackson]] || [[Right fielder|RF]] || 1968–1975<br>1987 || |
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|- |
|||
| 1 || [[Eddie Joost]] || [[Shortstop|SS]]<br>Manager || 1947–1954<br>1954 || Born and raised in San Francisco, California |
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|- |
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| 10, 11, 22, 29, 42 || [[Tony La Russa]] || [[Infielder|IF]]<br>Manager || 1963<br>1968–1971<br>1986–1995 || |
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|- |
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| 1, 4 || [[Billy Martin]] || [[Second baseman|2B]]<br>Manager || 1957<br>1980–1982 || Elected mainly on his performance with [[New York Yankees]], Born in [[Berkeley, California]] |
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|- |
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| 44 || [[Willie McCovey]] || [[First baseman|1B]] || 1976 || Elected mainly on his performance with [[San Francisco Giants]] |
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|- |
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| 8 || [[Joe Morgan]] || [[Second baseman|2B]] || 1984 || Elected mainly on his performance with [[Cincinnati Reds]], raised in [[Oakland, California]] |
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|- |
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| 19 || [[Dave Righetti]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1994 || Born and raised in [[San Jose, California]] |
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|- |
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| 34|| [[Dave Stewart (baseball)|Dave Stewart]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1986–1992<br>1995 || Born and raised in [[Oakland, California]] |
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|} |
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===Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame=== |
|||
Walter Haas died in 1995, and the team was sold to San Francisco Bay Area real estate developers Stephen Schott (no relation to one-time Cincinnati Reds’ owner [[Marge Schott]]) and Kenneth Hofmann, prior to the 1996 season. Once again, the Athletics’ star players were traded or sold, as the new owners’ goal was to cut payroll drastically. Many landed with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], including McGwire, Eckersley, and manager La Russa. In a turn of events eerily reminiscent of the A’s Roger Maris trade 28 years before, Mark McGwire celebrated his first full season with the Cardinals by setting a new major league home run record! In fact, McGwire came close to the record in 1997, when he split 58 homers between the A's and the Cards. |
|||
{{See also|Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame}} |
|||
The Athletics have all of the numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930). |
|||
The new owners were faced with another problematic issue, that of the venue where the team played. The [[McAfee Coliseum|Oakland Coliseum]], though built as a multi-purpose facility, was considered by many to be one of the better ballparks in the major leagues. After the [[Oakland Raiders]] football team moved to Los Angeles in 1982, many improvements were made to what had become a baseball-only facility. Then, in 1994, a deal was struck whereby the [[Los Angeles Raiders]] would move back to Oakland for the 1995 season. The agreement called for the expansion of the Coliseum to more than 63,000 seats. The bucolic view of the Oakland foothills enjoyed by baseball spectators was replaced with a jarring view of an outfield grandstand contemptuously referred to as "Mount Davis" after Raiders' owner [[Al Davis]]. The final insult was that construction was not finished by the start of the 1996 season. The Athletics were forced to play their first homestand elsewhere. They chose 9,300-seat Cashman Field in [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]], playing six "home" games there. Ever since that time, ownership has stated that a new baseball-only facility is necessary to ensure the economic viability of the Athletics. |
|||
Also, from 1978 to 2003 (except 1983), the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] inducted one former Athletic (and one former Phillie) each year into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame at the then-existing [[Veterans Stadium]]. 25 Athletics have been honored. In March 2004, after Veterans Stadium was replaced by the new [[Citizens Bank Park]], the Athletics' plaques were relocated to the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society in [[Hatboro, Pennsylvania]],<ref>For photos of the A's Wall of Fame plaques, see [http://philadelphiaathletics.org/museum.html Philadelphia A's Society Museum and Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051229220635/http://philadelphiaathletics.org/museum.html |date=December 29, 2005 }} webpage. Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. Retrieved September 23, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://philadelphiaathletics.org/index.html Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927224059/http://philadelphiaathletics.org/index.html |date=September 27, 2010}} official website. Retrieved September 23, 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Frank|last=Fitzpatrick|title=Demographics may doom the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20110222_Demographics_may_doom_the_Philadelphia_Athletics_Historical_Society.html|date=February 22, 2011|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=February 23, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226071546/http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20110222_Demographics_may_doom_the_Philadelphia_Athletics_Historical_Society.html|archive-date=February 26, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> and a single plaque listing all of the A's inductees was attached to a statue of [[Connie Mack]] that is located across the street from Citizens Bank Park.<ref>For photos of the plaque, see {{cite web|url=http://www.philadelphiaathletics.org/event/20040605walloffameday.htm|title=Wall of Fame Day in Hatboro, Pennsylvania|last=Montella|first=Ernie|date=June 5, 2004|publisher=Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society|access-date=September 23, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219001008/http://philadelphiaathletics.org/event/20040605walloffameday.htm|archive-date=December 19, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philadelphiaathletics.org/event/walloffameplaques.htm|title=Vet Plaques Come to Hatboro|last=Jordan|first=David M.|publisher=Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society|access-date=September 23, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906180700/http://philadelphiaathletics.org/event/walloffameplaques.htm|archive-date=September 6, 2008}}</ref> |
|||
The Schott-Hofmann ownership allocated resources to building and maintaining a strong minor league system while almost always refusing to pay the going rate to keep star players on the team once they become free agents. Perhaps as a result, the A’s at the turn of the 21st century were a team that usually finished at or near the top of the A.L. West Division, but could not advance beyond the first round of playoffs. The Athletics made the post season playoffs for four straight years, 2000-2003, but lost the first round (best 3-out-of-5) in each case, 3 games to 2. In two of those years (2001 against New York and 2003 against Boston), the Athletics won the first two games of the series, only to lose the next three straight and hence the playoffs. |
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{| class="wikitable" |
|||
In recent years, the Athletics were best known for starting pitchers [[Tim Hudson]], [[Mark Mulder]], and [[Barry Zito]], collectively referred to as “The Big Three,” as well as infielders [[Eric Chavez]], [[Jason Giambi]], and [[Miguel Tejada]]. After becoming free agents, Giambi left for the New York Yankees after the 2001 season, while Tejada departed for the [[Baltimore Orioles]] after the 2003 season. |
|||
|+Key |
|||
!scope="row" |Year |
|||
|Year inducted |
|||
|- |
|||
!scope="row" style="background:#ffb;"| '''Bold''' |
|||
|Member of the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] |
|||
|- |
|||
!scope="row" style="background:#ffb;"| {{center|{{dagger}}}} |
|||
|Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of the A's |
|||
|- |
|||
!scope="row" style="background:#cfc;"| '''Bold''' |
|||
|Recipient of the Hall of Fame's [[Ford C. Frick Award]] |
|||
|} |
|||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
|||
In 2004, the Athletics finished in 2nd place in the A.L. West Division. After the 2004 season, Athletics General Manager [[Billy Beane]] shocked many by breaking up the Big Three, trading [[Tim Hudson]] to the [[Atlanta Braves]] and [[Mark Mulder]] to the [[St. Louis Cardinals]]. Following this trend, some speculated that [[Barry Zito]] could land with a team in the National League West before Opening Day 2005, but no such trade happened. |
|||
| colspan="5" style="{{Baseball primary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|'''Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame''' |
|||
|- |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|No. |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Player |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Position |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Tenure |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Inducted |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Home Run Baker|Frank "Home Run" Baker]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Third baseman|3B]] || 1908–1914 || 1993 |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Chief Bender|Charles "Chief" Bender]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1903–1914 || 1991 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 4, 6, 10, 14 || [[Sam Chapman]] || [[Center fielder|CF]] || 1938–1951 || 1999 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 2 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Mickey Cochrane]]''' || [[Catcher|C]] || 1925–1933 || 1982 |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Eddie Collins]]''' || [[Second baseman|2B]] || 1906–1914<br>1927–1930 || 1987 |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Jack Coombs]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1906–1914 || 1992 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 5 || [[Jimmy Dykes]] || [[Third baseman|3B]]/[[Second baseman|2B]]<br>Coach<br>Manager || 1918–1932<br>1940–1950<br>1951–1953 || 1984 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 11 || [[George Earnshaw]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1928–1933 || 2000 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 5, 8 || [[Ferris Fain]] || [[First baseman|1B]] || 1947–1952 || 1997 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 2, 3, 4 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Jimmie Foxx]]''' || [[First baseman|1B]] || 1925–1935 || 1979 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 10 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Lefty Grove]]''' || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1925–1933 || 1980 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 4, 7, 26 || [[Bob Johnson (outfielder)|"Indian Bob" Johnson]] || [[Left fielder|LF]] || 1933–1942 || 1989 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1 || [[Eddie Joost]] || [[Shortstop|SS]]<br>Manager || 1947–1954<br>1954 || 1995 |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Connie Mack]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || Manager<br>Owner || 1901–1950<br>1901–1954 || 1978 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 9, 27 || [[Bing Miller]] || [[Right fielder|RF]] || 1922–1926<br>1928–1934 || 1998 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 1, 2, 9, 19 || [[Wally Moses]] || [[Right fielder|RF]] || 1935–1941<br>1949–1951 || 1988 |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Rube Oldring]] || [[Center fielder|CF]] || 1906–1916<br>1918 || 2003 |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Eddie Plank]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1901–1914 || 1985 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 14 || [[Eddie Rommel]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1920–1932 || 1996 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 21, 30 || [[Bobby Shantz]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1949–1954 || 1994 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 6, 7, 28, 32 || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Al Simmons]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Left fielder|LF]]<br>Coach || 1924–1932<br>1940–1941, 1944<br>1940–1945 || 1981 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 10, 15, 21, 35, 38 || [[Elmer Valo]] || [[Right fielder|RF]] || 1940–1954 || 1990 |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || style="background:#ffb;"|'''[[Rube Waddell]]'''{{sup|{{dagger}}}} || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1902–1907 || 1986 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 12 || [[Rube Walberg]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1923–1933 || 2002 |
|||
|- |
|||
| 6, 19, 30 || [[Gus Zernial]] || [[Left fielder|LF]] || 1951–1954 || 2001 |
|||
|} |
|||
===Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame=== |
|||
On [[March 30]], [[2005]], the Athletics were sold to a group headed by [[Los Angeles]] real estate developer Lewis Wolff. Rumors speculate that he wishes to move the team to [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], but those plans are complicated by the claims of the cross-bay [[San Francisco Giants]] that they own the territorial rights to San Jose and [[Santa Clara County, California|Santa Clara County]]. While not ruling out relocating the A's elsewhere in the Bay Area, Wolff has stated his primary focus is finding a site in Oakland for a new baseball-only stadium. |
|||
{{Main|Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame}} |
|||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
|||
|- |
|||
! colspan="6" style="{{Baseball primary style|Philadelphia Athletics}};"|'''Athletics in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame''' |
|||
|- |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|No. |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Name |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Position |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Tenure |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Inducted |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Philadelphia Athletics}}"|Notes |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Connie Mack]] || Manager<br>Owner || 1901–1950<br>1901–1954 || 2004 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| 2, 3, 4 || [[Jimmie Foxx]] || [[First baseman|1B]] || 1925–1935 || 2004 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| 10 || [[Lefty Grove]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1925–1933 || 2005 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| 6, 7, 28, 32 || [[Al Simmons]] || [[Left fielder|LF]]<br>Coach || 1924–1932<br>1940–1941, 1944<br>1940–1945 || 2006 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| 2 || [[Mickey Cochrane]] || [[Catcher|C]] || 1925–1933 || 2007 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Eddie Collins]] || [[Second baseman|2B]] || 1906–1914<br>1927–1930 || 2009 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| 21, 30 || [[Bobby Shantz]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1949–1954 || 2010 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| 5 || [[Jimmy Dykes]] || [[Third baseman|3B]]/[[Second baseman|2B]]<br>Coach<br>Manager || 1918–1932<br>1940–1950<br>1951–1953 || 2011 || Born in Philadelphia |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Eddie Plank]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1901–1914 || 2012 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Chief Bender|Charles "Chief" Bender]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1903–1914 || 2014 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Herb Pennock]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1912–1915 || 2014 || Elected mainly on his performance with [[New York Yankees]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[By Saam]] || Broadcaster || 1938–1954 || 2014 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| 4, 7, 26 || [[Bob Johnson (outfielder)|Bob Johnson]] || [[Left fielder|LF]] || 1933–1942 || 2017 || |
|||
|- |
|||
| — || [[Home Run Baker]] || [[Third baseman|3B]] || 1908–1914 || 2019 || |
|||
|} |
|||
===Team captains=== |
|||
== Events and Records of Note == |
|||
*6 [[Sal Bando]], 3B, 1969–1976 |
|||
*''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. The streak was finally snapped in Minnesota. Transplanted [[Chicago Cubs]] fans came to the [[Metrodome]] to root for the Twins and help preserve the Cubs all-time record of 21 straight set in [[1935]]. |
|||
==Season-by-season records== |
|||
The Athletics played their former co-occupants of Shibe Park, the Phillies, for the first time in a championship season in June of 2003. Previously they had only played each other in exhibition games, dubbed "The City Series", which was played annually. However, since the teams never faced each other in the World Series, they never played each other in games that counted; interleague play made the recent matchup possible. Ceremonies were held for the first game of the 3 game series at [[Veterans Stadium]], as former Philadelphia A's players were honored on the field. The Phillies took the series against the A's, 2-1. They played each other again in June of 2005 in Oakland, this time the White Elephants defeating their former crosstown rivals two games to one. |
|||
{{Main|List of Athletics seasons}} |
|||
The records of the Athletics' last ten seasons in [[Major League Baseball]] are listed below. |
|||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
|||
== Players of note == |
|||
|- |
|||
= |
!style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics}}|Season |
||
!style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics}}|Wins |
|||
{| |
|||
!style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics}}|Losses |
|||
|valign="top"| |
|||
!style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics}}|Win % |
|||
*[[Frank Baker|Frank "Home Run" Baker]] |
|||
!style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics}}|Place |
|||
*[[Chief Bender]] |
|||
!style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics}}|Playoffs |
|||
*[[Orlando Cepeda]] |
|||
|- |
|||
*[[Ty Cobb]] |
|||
|[[2015 Oakland Athletics season|2015]] |
|||
*[[Mickey Cochrane]] |
|||
|68 |
|||
*[[Eddie Collins]] |
|||
|94 |
|||
*[[Jimmy Collins]] |
|||
|.420 |
|||
*[[Stan Coveleski]] |
|||
|5th in AL West |
|||
*[[Dennis Eckersley]] |
|||
| |
|||
*[[Rollie Fingers]] |
|||
|- |
|||
*[[Elmer Flick]] |
|||
|[[2016 Oakland Athletics season|2016]] |
|||
|width="50"| |
|||
|69 |
|||
|valign="top"| |
|||
|93 |
|||
*[[Nellie Fox]] |
|||
|.426 |
|||
*[[Jimmie Foxx]] |
|||
|5th in AL West |
|||
*[[Lefty Grove]] |
|||
| |
|||
*[[Waite Hoyt]] |
|||
|- |
|||
*[[Catfish Hunter]] |
|||
|[[2017 Oakland Athletics season|2017]] |
|||
*[[Reggie Jackson]] |
|||
|75 |
|||
*[[George Kell]] |
|||
|87 |
|||
*[[Nap Lajoie]] |
|||
|.463 |
|||
*[[Willie McCovey]] |
|||
|5th in AL West |
|||
*[[Joe Morgan]] |
|||
| |
|||
|width="50"| |
|||
|- |
|||
|valign="top"| |
|||
|[[2018 Oakland Athletics season|2018]] |
|||
*[[Satchel Paige]] |
|||
|97 |
|||
*[[Herb Pennock]] |
|||
|65 |
|||
*[[Eddie Plank]] |
|||
|.599 |
|||
*[[Al Simmons]] |
|||
|2nd in AL West |
|||
*[[Enos Slaughter]] |
|||
|align="left"| Lost [[2018 American League Wild Card Game|ALWC]] vs. [[2018 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]], 7–2 |
|||
*[[Tris Speaker]] |
|||
|- |
|||
*[[Don Sutton]] |
|||
|[[2019 Oakland Athletics season|2019]] |
|||
*[[Rube Waddell]] |
|||
|97 |
|||
*[[Zack Wheat]] |
|||
|65 |
|||
*[[Billy Williams (baseball player)|Billy Williams]] |
|||
|.599 |
|||
|2nd in AL West |
|||
|align="left"| Lost [[2019 American League Wild Card Game|ALWC]] vs. [[Tampa Bay Rays]], 5–1 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[2020 Oakland Athletics season|2020]] |
|||
|36 |
|||
|24 |
|||
|.600 |
|||
|1st in AL West |
|||
|align="left"| Lost [[2020 American League Division Series|ALDS]] vs. [[Houston Astros]], 3–1 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[2021 Oakland Athletics season|2021]] |
|||
|86 |
|||
|76 |
|||
|.531 |
|||
|3rd in AL West |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[2022 Oakland Athletics season|2022]] |
|||
|60 |
|||
|102 |
|||
|.370 |
|||
|5th in AL West |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[2023 Oakland Athletics season|2023]] |
|||
|50 |
|||
|112 |
|||
|.309 |
|||
|5th in AL West |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[2024 Oakland Athletics season|2024]] |
|||
|69 |
|||
|93 |
|||
|.426 |
|||
|4th in AL West |
|||
| |
|||
|- |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |'''10-Year Record'''<!-- When adding a new year, please remove the oldest year from the top of the list. --> |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |707 |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |811 |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |.466 |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |— |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |— |
|||
|- |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |'''All-Time Record''' |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |9,329 |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |9,859 |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |.486 |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |— |
|||
! style="{{Baseball secondary style|Athletics}}" |— |
|||
|} |
|} |
||
===Philadelphia=== |
|||
===Current roster (updated on June 30, 2005)=== |
|||
*[[Columbia Park]] ({{mlby|1901}}–{{mlby|1908}}) |
|||
{| |
|||
*[[Shibe Park]] ({{mlby|1909}}–{{mlby|1954}}) |
|||
|valign="top"| |
|||
'''Pitchers''' |
|||
*55 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Joe Blanton]] |
|||
*50 {{flagicon|PRI}} [[Kiko Calero]] |
|||
*58 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Justin Duchscherer]] |
|||
*47 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Ron Flores]] |
|||
*56 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Ryan Glynn]] |
|||
*40 {{flagicon|CAN}} [[Rich Harden]] |
|||
*24 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Danny Haren]] |
|||
*73 {{flagicon|MEX}} [[Ricardo Rincón]] |
|||
*31 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Kirk Saarloos]] |
|||
*20 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Huston Street]] |
|||
*13 {{flagicon|JPN}} [[Keiichi Yabu]] (薮 恵壹) |
|||
*75 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Barry Zito]] |
|||
===Kansas City=== |
|||
'''Catchers''' |
|||
*[[Municipal Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)|Municipal Stadium]] ({{mlby|1955}}–{{mlby|1967}}) |
|||
*18 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Jason Kendall]] |
|||
*17 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Adam Melhuse]] |
|||
|width="50"| |
|||
|valign="top"| |
|||
'''Infielders''' |
|||
* 3 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Eric Chavez]] |
|||
*14 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Mark Ellis (baseball)|Mark Ellis]] |
|||
* 7 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Bobby Crosby]] |
|||
*10 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Scott Hatteberg]] |
|||
*11 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Dan Johnson]] |
|||
*19 {{flagicon|VEN}} [[Marco Scutaro]] |
|||
===Oakland=== |
|||
'''Outfielders''' |
|||
*[[Oakland Coliseum]] ({{mlby|1968}}–{{mlby|2024}}) |
|||
*22 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Eric Byrnes]] |
|||
**[[Cashman Field]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] (April {{mlby|1996}} for six games due to renovations at Oakland Coliseum) |
|||
*23 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Bobby Kielty]] |
|||
*21 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Mark Kotsay]] |
|||
*33 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Nick Swisher]] |
|||
*12 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Matt Watson]] |
|||
===West Sacramento=== |
|||
'''Disabled list''' |
|||
*[[Sutter Health Park]] ({{mlby|2025}}–present) |
|||
*53 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Chad Bradford]] (P, 60-day) |
|||
*29 {{flagicon|DOM}} [[Octavio Dotel]] (P, out for season) |
|||
*44 {{flagicon|MEX}} [[Erubiel Durazo]] (DH, 15-day) |
|||
|} |
|||
==Roster== |
|||
'''Manager''' |
|||
{{See also|Athletics all-time roster}} |
|||
*39 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Ken Macha]] |
|||
{{Oakland Athletics roster}} |
|||
==Minor league affiliations== |
|||
'''Coaches''' |
|||
{{Main|List of Athletics minor league affiliates}} |
|||
*48 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Dave Hudgens]] (hitting) |
|||
*35 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Brad Fischer]] (first base) |
|||
*52 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Bob Geren]] (bullpen) |
|||
*41 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Curt Young]] (pitching) |
|||
*38 {{flagicon|USA}} [[Ron Washington]] (third base) |
|||
* - {{flagicon|USA}} [[Rene Lachemann]] (bench) |
|||
*To be announced (bullpen catching) |
|||
The Athletics [[farm team|farm system]] consists of six [[Minor League Baseball|minor league]] affiliates.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/affiliate.cgi?id=OAK|title=Athletics Minor League Affiliates|website=Baseball-Reference|publisher=Sports Reference|access-date=October 20, 2023}}</ref> |
|||
===Not to be forgotten=== |
|||
*[[Tony Armas]] |
|||
*[[Sal Bando]] |
|||
*[[Vida Blue]] |
|||
*[[Dick Bosman]] |
|||
*[[Bert Campaneris]] |
|||
*[[José Canseco]] |
|||
*[[Doc Cramer]] |
|||
*[[Tim Cullen]] |
|||
*[[Ray Fosse]] |
|||
*[[Jason Giambi]] |
|||
*[[Dave Henderson]] |
|||
*[[Rickey Henderson]] |
|||
*[[Rick Honeycutt]] |
|||
*[[Tim Hudson]] |
|||
*[[Bob Johnson (baseball)|“Indian Bob” Johnson]] |
|||
*[[Eddie Joost]] |
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*[[David Justice]] |
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*[[Dave Kingman]] |
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*[[Mark McGwire]] |
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*[[Mark Mulder]] |
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*[[Dave Righetti]] |
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*[[Joe Rudi]] |
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*[[Dave Stewart (baseball player)|Dave Stewart]] |
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*[[Gene Tenace]] |
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*[[Miguel Tejada]] |
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*[[Elmer Valo]] |
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*[[Bob Welch]] |
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*[[Gus Zernial]] |
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{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |
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===Awards=== |
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|- |
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====[[MLB Most Valuable Player award|Most Valuable Player]]==== |
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!scope="col" style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics|border=2}}"|Class |
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* '''Philadelphia''' |
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!scope="col" style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics|border=2}}"|Team |
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**[[Mickey Cochrane]] (1928) |
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!scope="col" style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics|border=2}}"|League |
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**[[Eddie Collins]] (1914) |
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!scope="col" style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics|border=2}}"|Location |
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**[[Jimmie Foxx]] (1932-33) |
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!scope="col" style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics|border=2}}"|Ballpark |
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**[[Lefty Grove]] (1931) |
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!scope="col" style="{{Baseball primary style|Athletics|border=2}}"|Affiliated |
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**[[Bobby Shantz]] (1952) |
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|- |
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* '''Oakland''' |
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| [[Triple-A (baseball)|Triple-A]] |
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**[[Vida Blue]] (1971) |
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!scope="row"| [[Las Vegas Aviators]] |
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**[[José Canseco]] (1988) |
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| [[Pacific Coast League]] |
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**[[Dennis Eckersley]] (1992) |
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| [[Summerlin, Nevada]] |
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**[[Jason Giambi]] (2000) |
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| [[Las Vegas Ballpark]] |
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**[[Rickey Henderson]] (1990) |
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| align="right"| 2019 |
|||
**[[Reggie Jackson]] (1973) |
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|- |
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**[[Miguel Tejada]] (2002) |
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| [[Double-A (baseball)|Double-A]] |
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!scope="row"| [[Midland RockHounds]] |
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| [[Texas League]] |
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| [[Midland, Texas]] |
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| [[Momentum Bank Ballpark]] |
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| align="right"| 1999 |
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|- |
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| [[High-A]] |
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!scope="row"| [[Lansing Lugnuts]] |
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| [[Midwest League]] |
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| [[Lansing, Michigan]] |
|||
| [[Jackson Field (Lansing)|Jackson Field]] |
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| align="right"| 2021 |
|||
|- |
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| [[Single-A]] |
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!scope="row"| [[Stockton Ports]] |
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| [[California League]] |
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| [[Stockton, California]] |
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| [[Banner Island Ballpark]] |
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| align="right"| 2005 |
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|- |
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| rowspan=2| [[Rookie league|Rookie]] |
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!scope="row"| [[Arizona Complex League Athletics|ACL Athletics]] |
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| [[Arizona Complex League]] |
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| [[Mesa, Arizona]] |
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| [[Fitch Park]] |
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| align="right"| 1988 |
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|- |
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!scope="row"| [[Dominican Summer League Athletics|DSL Athletics]] |
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| [[Dominican Summer League]] |
|||
| [[Boca Chica]], [[Santo Domingo Province|Santo Domingo]] |
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| Juan Marichal Complex |
|||
| align="right"| 1989 |
|||
|} |
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==Radio and television== |
|||
====[[Cy Young Award|Cy Young]]==== |
|||
{{See also|List of Athletics broadcasters}} |
|||
* '''Oakland''' |
|||
**Vida Blue (1971) |
|||
**Dennis Eckersley (1992) |
|||
**[[Catfish Hunter]] (1974) |
|||
**[[Bob Welch]] (1990) |
|||
**[[Barry Zito]] (2002) |
|||
As of the 2020 season, the Athletics have had 14 radio homes.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/13/oakland-as-95-7-the-game-splitting-ways-on-a-very-bitter-note/|title=Oakland A's confirm split with radio flagship via Twitter|date=October 13, 2018|work=[[The Mercury News]]|access-date=October 29, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> The Athletics' [[Flagship station|flagship]] radio station is [[KNEW (AM)|KNEW]] and the team has a free live 24/7 exclusive A's station branded as ''A's Cast'' to stream the radio broadcast within the Athletics market and other A's programming via [[iHeartRadio]].<ref>{{cite tweet |author=San Francisco Chronicle |user=sfchronicle |number=1288961560686333952 |date=July 30, 2020 |title=JUST IN: The Oakland A's - who had planned to provide streaming-only service for its audio broadcasts in the Bay Area - will partner with 960 AM radio station starting Friday. https://t.co/BE7zJ2pv6M |language=en |access-date=December 31, 2020}}</ref> Going into the 2020 season, the Athletics had a deal with [[TuneIn]] for A's Cast and no flagship radio station in the Bay Area but changed their plans due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] keeping fans from attending games.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A's announce new radio partnerships for upcoming season|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/15/oakland-athletics-announce-new-radio-deal-mlb/|date=February 15, 2019|work=[[The Mercury News]]|access-date=February 17, 2019}}</ref> The announcing team features [[Ken Korach]] and [[Vince Cotroneo]]. |
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====[[MLB Rookie of the Year Award|Rookie of the Year]]==== |
|||
* '''Philadelphia''' |
|||
**[[Harry Byrd (baseball)|Harry Byrd]] (1952) |
|||
* '''Oakland''' |
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**José Canseco (1986) |
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**[[Bobby Crosby]] (2004) |
|||
**[[Ben Grieve]] (1998) |
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**[[Mark McGwire]] (1987) |
|||
**[[Walt Weiss]] (1988) |
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Television coverage is exclusively on [[NBC Sports California]]. Some A's games air on an alternate feed of NBCS, called NBCS Plus, if the main channel shows a [[Sacramento Kings]] or [[San Jose Sharks]] game at the same time. On TV, [[Jenny Cavnar]] covers [[play-by-play]], and [[Dallas Braden]] provides [[color commentary]]. Some games would feature [[Chris Caray]] on play-by-play; Caray is a fourth-generation baseball announcer that included great-grandfather [[Harry Caray]], grandfather [[Skip Caray]], and father [[Chip Caray]]. |
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====[[Manager of the Year]]==== |
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* '''Oakland''' |
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**[[Tony La Russa]] (1988-92) |
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==In popular culture== |
|||
====[[Gold Glove Award]]==== |
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The 2003 [[Michael Lewis]] book ''[[Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game|Moneyball]]'' chronicles the [[2002 Oakland Athletics season]], with a focus on [[Billy Beane]]'s economic approach to managing the organization under significant financial constraints. Beginning in June 2003, the book remained on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] for 18 consecutive weeks, peaking at number 2.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hawes.com/2003/2003-06-22.pdf |title=The New York Times Best Seller List - June 22, 2003 |publisher=Hawes Publications |access-date=April 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006145949/http://www.hawes.com/2003/2003-06-22.pdf |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The New York Times Best Seller List - September 23, 2003 |url=http://www.hawes.com/2003/2003-09-28.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006145949/http://www.hawes.com/2003/2003-06-22.pdf |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |access-date=April 23, 2014 |publisher=Hawes Publications}}</ref> In 2011, [[Columbia Pictures]] released a [[Moneyball (film)|film adaptation]] based on Lewis' book, which featured [[Brad Pitt]] playing the role of Beane. On September 19, 2011, the U.S. premiere of ''Moneyball'' was held at the [[Paramount Theatre (Oakland, California)|Paramount Theatre]] in Oakland, which featured a green carpet for attendees to walk, rather than the traditional [[red carpet]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/Oakland-shines-for-Moneyball-premiere-2308993.php |title=Oakland shines for 'Moneyball' premiere|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date= September 20, 2011|access-date=April 23, 2014}}</ref> |
|||
* '''Philadelphia''' |
|||
**[[Vic Power]] (1954) |
|||
* '''Kansas City''' |
|||
**[[Vic Power]] (1955-58) |
|||
* '''Oakland''' |
|||
**[[Eric Chavez]] (2001-04) |
|||
**[[Ray Fosse]] (1971) |
|||
**[[Mark McGwire]] (1990) |
|||
**[[Joe Rudi]] (1974-76) |
|||
The blog that spawned the full-fledged popular sports blog site ''[[SBNation]]'' was dedicated to the Oakland Athletics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/08/interview-with-jim-bankoff-ceo-of-sbnation.html |title=The Evolution of Sports Blog Nation|publisher=Inc.com |date= August 20, 2010|access-date=June 12, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourdailybears.com/platform/amp/2012/9/20/3363324/sb-nation-united-what-to-expect-from-the-new-our-daily-bears |title=SB Nation United: What To Expect From The New Our Daily Bears|publisher=SBNation |date= September 20, 2012|access-date=June 12, 2022}}</ref> |
|||
===Retired numbers=== |
|||
*9 [[Reggie Jackson]] |
|||
*27 [[Catfish Hunter]] |
|||
*34 [[Rollie Fingers]] |
|||
*42 [[Jackie Robinson]] (retired throughout baseball) |
|||
*43 [[Dennis Eckersley]] (will be retired August 13, 2005) |
|||
[[Eric Shaun Lynch]], a former member of ''[[The Howard Stern Show]]'''s [[Wack Pack]] who went by the name "Eric the Actor" (and previously, "Eric the Midget"), was a huge fan of the Athletics and would occasionally talk about them on Stern's show. Following his death in September 2014, the team broadcasters offered a tribute by using Lynch's signature sign off "bye for now" at the end of an Athletics game broadcast. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when American baseball teams were using cutouts of fans to show solidarity in their absence, the Athletics placed a cutout of Lynch among other cutouts of the team's fans. |
|||
==Managers, coaches, and executives== |
|||
*[[Sandy Alderson]] |
|||
*[[Billy Beane]], General Manager 1997-present |
|||
*[[Alvin Dark]] |
|||
*[[Charles O. Finley|Charlie Finley]] |
|||
*[[Art Howe]] |
|||
*[[Tony La Russa]] |
|||
*[[Ken Macha]] |
|||
*[[Connie Mack (baseball)|Connie Mack]], Owner, General Manager, Manager 1901-1951 |
|||
*[[Billy Martin]] |
|||
*[[Dick Williams]] |
|||
==See also== |
|||
==Single Season Records== |
|||
* [[Athletics award winners and league leaders]] |
|||
*'''Home Runs''': 58 [[Jimmie Foxx]] (1932) |
|||
* [[List of Athletics first-round draft picks]] |
|||
*'''Runs Batted In''': 169 [[Jimmie Foxx]] (1932) |
|||
* [[List of Athletics managers]] |
|||
*'''Batting Average''': .426 [[Nap Lajoie]] (1901) (''Major League Record'') |
|||
* [[List of Athletics no-hitters]] |
|||
*'''Slugging Percentage''': .749 [[Jimmie Foxx]] (1932) (''American League Record'') |
|||
* [[List of Oakland Athletics Opening Day starting pitchers]] |
|||
*'''On Base Percentage''': .477 [[Jason Giambi]] (2001) |
|||
* [[List of Athletics owners and executives]] |
|||
*'''Hits''': 253 [[Al Simmons]] (1925) (''Major League Record'') |
|||
* [[List of Athletics team records]] |
|||
*'''Runs''': 152 [[Al Simmons]] (1930) |
|||
*'''Doubles''': 53 [[Al Simmons]] (1926) |
|||
*'''Triples''': 21 [[Frank Baker]] (1912) |
|||
*'''Total Bases''': 438 [[Jimmie Foxx]] (1932) |
|||
*'''Extra Base Hits''': 100 [[Jimmie Foxx]] (1932) |
|||
*'''Grand Slams''': 4 [[Jason Giambi]] (2000) |
|||
*'''Hitting Streak''': 25 games [[Jason Giambi]] (1997) |
|||
*'''Walks''': 149 [[Eddie Joost]] (1949) |
|||
*'''Strikeouts''': 175 [[Jose Canseco]] (1986) |
|||
*'''Hit by Pitch''': 20 [[Don Baylor]] (1976) |
|||
*'''Sacrifice Hits''': 34 [[Simon Nicholls]] (1907) |
|||
*'''Sacrifice Flies''': 14 [[Dave Kingman]] (1984) |
|||
*'''Grounded Into Double Plays''': 32 [[Ben Grieve]] (2000) |
|||
*'''Stolen Bases''': 130 [[Rickey Henderson]] (1982) (''Major League Record'') |
|||
*'''Caught Stealing''': 42 [[Rickey Henderson]] (1982) (''Major League Record'') |
|||
*'''Pitching Wins, LHP''': 31 [[Lefty Grove]] (1931) (''Major League Record'') |
|||
*'''Pitching Wins, RHP''': 31 [[Jack Coombs]] (1910) |
|||
*'''Pitching Losses''': 25 [[Scott Perry]] (1925) |
|||
*'''Most Saves''': 51 [[Dennis Eckersley]] (1992) |
|||
*'''Earned Run Average''': 1.30 [[Jack Coombs]] (1910) |
|||
*'''Pitching Strikeouts''': 349 [[Rube Waddell]] (1904) |
|||
*'''Pitching Walks''': 168 [[Elmer Myers]] (1916) |
|||
==Explanatory notes== |
|||
{{Notelist}} |
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==References== |
|||
== External links == |
|||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
* [http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/oak/homepage/oak_homepage.jsp Oakland Athletics official web site] |
|||
* [http://www.athleticsnation.com Athletics Nation: An Oakland A's blog] |
|||
* [http://www.elephantsinoakland.com Elephants in Oakland - An Oakland A's blog] |
|||
* [http://www.oaklandfans.com Oakland Athletics Fan Coalition] |
|||
* [http://www.whitecleats.org Independent A's history and fan site] |
|||
==Further reading== |
|||
{{MLB}} |
|||
*Bergman, Ron. ''Mustache Gang: The Swaggering Tale of Oakland's A's.'' Dell Publishing Co., New York, 1973. |
|||
*Dickey, Glenn. ''Champions: The Story of the First Two Oakland A's Dynasties—and the Building of the Third.'' Triumph Books, Chicago, 2002. {{ISBN|1-57243-421-X}} |
|||
*Jordan, David M. ''The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack's White Elephants, 1901–1954.'' McFarland & Co., Jefferson NC, 1999. {{ISBN|0-7864-0620-8}}. |
|||
*Katz, Jeff. "The Kansas City A's & The Wrong Half of the Yankees." Maple Street Press, Hingham, Massachusetts, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-9777436-5-0}}. |
|||
*Kuklick, Bruce. ''To Everything a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia 1909–1976.'' Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1991. {{ISBN|0-691-04788-X}}. |
|||
*[[Michael Lewis (author)|Lewis, Michael]]. ''[[Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game]]''. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York, 2003. {{ISBN|0-393-05765-8}}. |
|||
*Markusen, Bruce. ''Baseball's Last Dynasty: Charlie Finley's Oakland A's.'' Master Press, Indianapolis, 1998. |
|||
*Peterson, John E. ''The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History 1954–1967.'' McFarland & Co., Jefferson NC, 1999. {{ISBN|0-7864-1610-6}}. |
|||
*[[Susan Slusser|Slusser, Susan]]. ''100 Things A's Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die''. Triumph Books, Chicago, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1629370682}}. |
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==External links== |
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[[Category:Oakland sports]] |
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{{sister project links|d=Q504339|c=category:Oakland Athletics|q=no|wikt=no|s=no|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no}} |
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[[Category:Oakland Athletics]] |
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* [https://www.mlb.com/athletics Athletics official website] |
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[[Category:MLB teams]] |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000229074759/http://philadelphiaathletics.org/ Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society] |
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[[Category:Moneyball|Athletics]] |
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* [https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/mlb_Franchise/21/ Oakland Athletics Franchise History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241104201828/https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/mlb_Franchise/21/ |date=November 04, 2024 }} |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110515082057/http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/al/oakland/oaka_s.html Sports E-Cyclopedia] |
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* [http://athletics.scout.com Oakland A's prospect information] |
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{{S-start-collapsible|header={{S-ach}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Pittsburgh Pirates]]<br>{{wsy|1909}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = World Series champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{wsy|1910}}–{{wsy|1911}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Boston Red Sox]]<br>{{wsy|1912}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Boston Red Sox]]<br>{{wsy|1912}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = World Series champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{wsy|1913}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Boston Braves]]<br>{{wsy|1914}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[New York Yankees]]<br>{{wsy|1927}}–{{wsy|1928}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = World Series champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{wsy|1929}}–{{wsy|1930}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[St. Louis Cardinals]]<br>{{wsy|1931}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Pittsburgh Pirates]]<br>{{wsy|1971}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = World Series champions<br>[[Oakland Athletics]]|years = {{wsy|1972}}–{{wsy|1974}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Cincinnati Reds]]<br>{{wsy|1975}}–{{wsy|1976}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Los Angeles Dodgers]]<br>{{wsy|1988}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = World Series champions<br>[[Oakland Athletics]]|years = {{wsy|1989}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Cincinnati Reds]]<br>{{wsy|1990}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Chicago White Sox]]<br>{{mlby|1901}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = American League champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{mlby|1902}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Boston Red Sox|Boston Americans]]<br>{{mlby|1903}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Boston Red Sox|Boston Americans]]<br>{{mlby|1903}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = American League champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{mlby|1905}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Chicago White Sox]]<br>{{mlby|1906}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Detroit Tigers]]<br>{{mlby|1907}}–{{mlby|1909}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = American League champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{mlby|1910}}–{{mlby|1911}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Boston Red Sox]]<br>{{mlby|1912}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Boston Red Sox]]<br>{{mlby|1912}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = American League champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{mlby|1913}}–{{mlby|1914}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Boston Red Sox]]<br>{{mlby|1915}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[New York Yankees]]<br>{{mlby|1926}}–{{mlby|1928}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = American League champions<br>[[Philadelphia Athletics]]|years = {{mlby|1929}}–{{mlby|1931}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[New York Yankees]]<br>{{mlby|1932}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Baltimore Orioles]]<br>{{alcsy|1969}}–{{alcsy|1971}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = American League champions<br>[[Oakland Athletics]]|years = {{alcsy|1972}}–{{alcsy|1974}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Boston Red Sox]]<br>{{alcsy|1975}}}} |
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{{s-bef|before = [[Minnesota Twins]]<br>{{alcsy|1987}}}} |
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{{s-ttl|title = American League champions<br>[[Oakland Athletics]]|years = {{alcsy|1988}}–{{alcsy|1990}}}} |
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{{s-aft|after = [[Minnesota Twins]]<br>{{alcsy|1991}}}} |
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{{S-end}} |
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[[Category:Athletics (baseball)| ]] |
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[[Category:Major League Baseball teams]] |
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[[ja:オークランド・アスレチックス]] |
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[[Category:Baseball teams in Sacramento, California]] |
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Latest revision as of 15:23, 26 December 2024
Athletics | |||||
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2024 Athletics season | |||||
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Major league affiliations | |||||
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Retired numbers | |||||
Colors | |||||
Name | |||||
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Other nicknames | |||||
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Ballpark | |||||
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Major league titles | |||||
World Series titles (9) | |||||
AL Pennants (15) | |||||
West Division titles (17) | |||||
Wild card berths (4) | |||||
Front office | |||||
Principal owner(s) | John Fisher | ||||
President | Dave Kaval | ||||
General manager | David Forst | ||||
Manager | Mark Kotsay | ||||
Website | mlb.com/athletics |
The Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in West Sacramento, California.[4] The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team will play its home games at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025–2027 seasons before its permanent move to Las Vegas.[5] While in West Sacramento, the team is being referred to as simply the "Athletics" and "A's", with no city name attached.[6] The franchise's nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles are the second-most in the AL after the New York Yankees.
One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the team was founded in Philadelphia in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. They won three World Series championships in 1910, 1911, and 1913, and back-to-back titles in 1929 and 1930. The team's owner and manager for its first 50 years was Connie Mack, and Hall of Fame players included Chief Bender, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Jimmie Foxx, and Lefty Grove. The team left Philadelphia for Kansas City in 1955 and became the Kansas City Athletics, before moving to Oakland, California, in 1968 and becoming the Oakland Athletics. The Athletics played their home games at the Oakland Coliseum from 1968 until 2024. Nicknamed the "Swingin' A's", under owner Charlie O. Finley they won three consecutive World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974, led by players including Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and Rollie Fingers. After being sold by Finley to Walter A. Haas Jr., the team won three consecutive pennants and the 1989 World Series behind the "Bash Brothers", Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, as well as Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley, Rickey Henderson and manager Tony La Russa. In 2002, the Athletics set a then American League record record for most consecutive wins in a season with twenty, an event that would go on to be the pioneering step in the application of sabermetrics in baseball. The streak record was later broken in 2017 by the Cleveland Indians.
From 1901 through the end of 2024, the franchise's overall win–loss record is 9,329–9,859–87 (.486).[7]
History
[edit]The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans from 1901 to the present day, having begun in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 and then to its home in Oakland, California, in 1968. The A's made their Bay Area debut on Wednesday, April 17, 1968, with a 4–1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at the Coliseum, in front of an opening-night crowd of 50,164.[8] With four locations, the A's have had the most home cities of any MLB team.[9]
Team name and "A" logo
[edit]The Athletics' name originated in the term "Athletic Club" for local gentlemen's clubs—dates to 1860 when an amateur baseball team, the Athletic (Club) of Philadelphia, was formed. The team later turned professional in 1875, becoming a charter member of the National League in 1876, but were expelled from the N.L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the American Association from 1882 to 1891.[10]
The familiar blackletter "A" is one of the oldest sports logos still in use. An image in Harper's Weekly with the rival Brooklyn Atlantics shows that the "A" appeared on the original Athletics' uniform as early as 1866.[11]
Elephant mascot
[edit]After New York Giants manager John McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the new team, had a "white elephant on his hands", team manager Connie Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and presented McGraw with a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the 1905 World Series.[12] McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously. By 1909, the A's were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters, and in 1918 it turned up on the regular uniform jersey for the first time.[13]
In 1963, when the A's were located in Kansas City, then-owner Charlie Finley changed the team mascot from an elephant to a mule, the state animal of Missouri. This is rumored to have been done by Finley in order to appeal to fans from the region who were predominantly Democrats at the time. (The traditional Republican Party symbol is an elephant, while the Democratic Party's symbol is a donkey.)[14] Since 1988, the Athletics' 21st season in Oakland, an illustration of an elephant has adorned the left sleeve of the A's home and road uniforms. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the on-field costumed incarnation of the A's elephant mascot went by the name Harry Elephante, a play on the name of singer Harry Belafonte.[15] In 1997, he became Stomper, debuting Opening Night on April 2.[16][17]
Uniforms
[edit]Over the seasons, the Athletics' uniforms have paid homage to their amateur forebears. Until 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, neither "Philadelphia" nor the letter "P" appeared on the uniform or cap. The Philadelphia uniform had only a script "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it. In the early days of the American League, the standings listed the club as "Athletic" rather than "Philadelphia", in keeping with the old tradition. Eventually, the city name came to be used for the team, as with the other major league clubs.
After buying the team in 1960, owner Charles O. Finley introduced road uniforms with "Kansas City" printed on them, with an interlocking "KC" on the cap. Upon moving to Oakland, the "A" cap emblem was restored, and in 1970 an "apostrophe-s" was added to the cap and uniform emblem to reflect that Finley was officially changing the team's name to the "A's".
While in Kansas City, Finley changed the team's colors from their traditional red, white and blue to what he termed "Kelly Green, Wedding Gown White and Fort Knox Gold". It was here that he began experimenting with dramatic uniforms to match these bright colors, such as gold sleeveless tops with green undershirts and gold pants. The uniform innovations increased after the team's move to Oakland, which came with the introduction of polyester pullover uniforms.
During their dynasty years in the 1970s, the A's had dozens of uniform combinations with jerseys and pants in all three team colors, and never wore the traditional gray on the road, instead wearing green or gold, which helped to contribute to their nickname of "The Swingin' A's". After the team's sale to the Haas family, the team changed its primary color to a more subdued forest green in 1982 and began a move back to more traditional uniforms.
The 2023 team wore home uniforms with "Athletics" spelled out in script writing and road uniforms with "Oakland" spelled out in script writing, with the cap logo consisting of the traditional "A" with "apostrophe-s". The home cap, which was also the team's road cap until 1992, is forest green with a gold bill and white lettering. This design was also the basis of their batting helmet, which is used both at home and on the road. The road cap, which initially debuted in 1993, is all-forest green. The first version had the white "A's" wordmark before it was changed to gold the following season. An all-forest green batting helmet was paired with this cap until 2008. In 2014, the "A's" wordmark returned to white but added gold trim.
From 1994 until 2013, the A's wore green alternate jerseys with the word "Athletics" in gold, for both road and home games.
During the 2000s, the Athletics introduced black as one of their colors. They began wearing a black alternate jersey with "Athletics" written in green. After a brief discontinuance, the A's brought back the black jersey, this time with "Athletics" written in white with gold highlights. The cap paired with this jersey is all-black, initially with the green and white-trimmed "A's" wordmark, before switching to a white and gold-trimmed "A's" wordmark. Commercially popular but rarely chosen as the alternate by players, the black uniform was retired in 2011 in favor of a gold alternate jersey.
The gold alternate has "A's" in green trimmed in white on the left chest. With the exception of several road games during the 2011 season, the Athletics' gold uniforms were used as the designated home alternates. A green version of their gold alternates was introduced for the 2014 season, serving as a replacement to the previous green alternates. The new green alternates featured the piping, "A's" and lettering in white with gold trim.
In 2018, as part of the franchise's 50th anniversary since the move to Oakland, the A's wore a kelly green alternate uniform with "Oakland" in white with gold trim, and was paired with an all-kelly green cap.[18] This set was later worn with an alternate kelly green helmet with gold visor. This uniform eventually supplanted the gold alternates by 2019, and in 2022, after the forest green alternate was retired, it became the team's only active alternate uniform.
The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers used it to shorten the name. From 1972 through 1980, the team name was officially "Oakland A's", although the Commissioner's Trophy, given out annually to the winner of baseball's World Series, still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise. According to Bill Libby's Book, Charlie O and the Angry A's, owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with him. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league Oakland Oaks, which were alternatively called the "Acorns". New owner Walter Haas restored the official name to "Athletics" in 1981, but retained the nickname "A's" for marketing. At first, the word "Athletics" was restored only to the club's logo, underneath the much larger stylized-"A" that had come to represent the team since the early days. By 1987, however, the word returned, in script lettering, to the front of the team's jerseys.
From 2025 to 2027, while the team temporarily plays its home games in West Sacramento, all of its uniforms would feature the "Athletics" wordmark.
Prior to the mid-2010s, the A's had a long-standing tradition of wearing white cleats team-wide (in line with the standard MLB practice that required all uniformed team members to wear a base cleat color), which dated to the Finley ownership. Since the mid-2010s, however, MLB has gradually relaxed its shoe color rules, and several A's players began wearing cleats in non-white colors, such as Jed Lowrie's green cleats.
Planned relocation to Las Vegas
[edit]Following the California Golden Seals' relocation to Cleveland in 1976, the Golden State Warriors' move across the bay to San Francisco in 2019, and the Oakland Raiders' move to Las Vegas in 2020, the Athletics were left as the sole remaining professional sports team in Oakland. However, on April 20, 2023, the Athletics announced they had entered a land purchase agreement with Red Rock Resort located near Las Vegas to build a new ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip, finalizing their plans to relocate to the Las Vegas area.[19][20][21][22] On May 9, 2023, the Athletics switched their planned location in the Las Vegas area to the site of the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel and casino, which was subsequently demolished in October to construct a 33,000-seat partially retractable ballpark and a 1,500-room hotel and casino.[23][24][25] By June 15, 2023, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo signed an MLB stadium funding bill known as SB1 into law after the bill was approved by the Nevada Legislature, and the Athletics officially announced they would begin the relocation process.[26]
On November 16, 2023, the Athletics' move to Las Vegas was unanimously approved by MLB team owners.[27] According to the team, the new Las Vegas ballpark will not be completed until 2028. The lease to the Oakland Coliseum expired after the 2024 season. Before the scheduled move to Las Vegas in 2028, the team will play in West Sacramento, California at Sutter Health Park (home of the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats) for the 2025–2027 seasons (with an option for the 2028 season if necessary).[28] While in West Sacramento the team will be referred to as simply the "A's" and "Athletics," with no city name attached.[6] The relocation will mark the first move by an MLB team since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C., becoming the Washington Nationals in 2005.
Rivalries
[edit]San Francisco Giants
[edit]The Bay Bridge Series is the name of a series of games played between (and the rivalry of) the A's and San Francisco Giants of the National League. The series takes its name from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge which links the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. Although competitive, the regional rivalry between the A's and Giants is considered a friendly one with mostly mutual companionship between the fans, as opposed to White Sox–Cubs, or Yankees–Mets games where animosity runs high. Hats displaying both teams on the cap are sold from vendors at the games, and once in a while the teams both dress in original team uniforms from the early era of baseball. The series is also occasionally referred to as the "BART Series" for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system that links Oakland to San Francisco. However, the name "BART Series" has never been popular beyond a small selection of history books and national broadcasters and has fallen out of favor. Bay Area locals almost exclusively refer to the rivalry as the "Battle of the Bay".[29]
Originally, the term described a series of exhibition games played between the two clubs after the conclusion of spring training, immediately prior to the start of the regular season. It was first used to refer to the 1989 World Series in which the Athletics won their most recent championship and the first time the teams had met since they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area (and the first time they had met since the A's also defeated the Giants in the 1913 World Series). Today, it also refers to games played between the teams during the regular season since the commencement of interleague play in 1997. Through the 2024 regular season, the Athletics have won 76 games, and the Giants have won 72 contests.[30]
Through the 2024 season, the A's also have edges on the Giants in terms of overall postseason appearances (21–13), division titles (17–10) and World Series titles (4–3) since both teams moved to the Bay Area, even though the Giants franchise moved there a decade earlier than the A's did.
On March 24, 2018, the Oakland A's announced that for the Sunday, March 25, 2018, exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants, A's fans would be charged $30 for parking and Giants fans would be charged $50. However, the A's stated that Giants fans could receive $20 off if they shout "Go A's" at the parking gates.[31]
In 2018, the Athletics and Giants started battling for a "Bay Bridge" Trophy[32] made from steel taken from the old east span of the Bay Bridge, which was taken down after the new span was opened in 2013.[33][34] The A's won the inaugural season with the trophy, allowing them to place their logo atop its Bay Bridge stand.[35] When the A's left Oakland, the Giants had won the trophy 4 times, to the A's 3.
Los Angeles Angels
[edit]The A's have held a rivalry with the Los Angeles Angels since their relocation to California in 1968, and the charter membership of both teams in the AL West in 1969. The A's and Angels have often competed for the division title.[36] The peak of the rivalry was during the early part of the millennium as both teams were perennial contenders. During the 2002 season, the A's famous "Moneyball" tactics led them to a league record 20-game winning streak, knocking the Angels out of the first seed in the division. The A's finished 4 games ahead while the Angels secured the Wild Card berth.[37] Despite the 103-win season for Oakland, they lost to the underdog Minnesota Twins in the ALDS. The Angels beat the heavily favored New York Yankees, then beat the Twins, and then won the 2002 World Series. During the 2004 season, the teams were tied for wins headed into the final week of September with the last three games being played in Oakland against the Angels.[38] Both teams were battling to secure the division championship. Oakland lost two of the three games to the Angels, and they were eliminated from the playoff hunt. The Angels were swept in the playoffs by the eventual champion Boston Red Sox.[39] The Athletics lead the series 541–491, and the two teams have yet to meet in the postseason.
Philadelphia Phillies (historic)
[edit]The City Series was the name of baseball games played between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League, that ran from 1903 through 1955. After the A's move to Kansas City in 1955, the City Series rivalry came to an end. Since the introduction of interleague play in 1997, the teams have since faced each other during the regular season (with the first games taking place in 2003) but the rivalry had effectively died in the intervening years since the A's left Philadelphia. In 2014, when the A's faced the Phillies in inter-league play at the Oakland Coliseum, the Athletics did not bother to mark the historical connection, going so far as to have a Connie Mack promotion the day before the series while the Texas Rangers were in Oakland.[40]
The first City Series was held in 1883 between the Phillies and the American Association Philadelphia Athletics.[41] When the Athletics first joined the American League, the two teams played each other in a spring and fall series. No City Series was held in 1901 and 1902 due to legal warring between the National League and American League.
Achievements
[edit]Awards
[edit]- The Athletics give out an award named the Catfish Hunter Award since 2004 for the most inspirational Athletic.
Hall of Famers
[edit]Athletics Hall of Famers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ford C. Frick Award recipients
[edit]Oakland Athletics Ford C. Frick Award recipients | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum | |||||||||
|
Retired numbers
[edit]The Athletics have retired six numbers; additionally, Walter A. Haas, Jr., owner of the team from 1980 until his death in 1995, was honored by the retirement of the letter "A". Of the six players with retired numbers, five were retired for their play with the Athletics and one, 42, was universally retired by Major League Baseball when they honored the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking the color barrier. No A's player from the Philadelphia era has his number retired by the organization. Though Jackson and Hunter played small portions of their careers in Kansas City, no player that played the majority of his years in the Kansas City era has his number retired either. The A's have retired only the numbers of Hall-of-Famers who played large portions of their careers in Oakland. The Athletics have all of the numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930). Dave Stewart was about to have his #34 jersey retired by the Athletics in 2020, but the ceremony was postponed until further notice, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions were raised if there would be a formal ceremony after no news about a reschedule happened in 2021 before it was announced in April 2022 that Stewart would have his jersey retired on September 11, 2022.[42][43] Stewart broke the A's tradition in that his number was a re-retirement, as well as his not being in the Hall of Fame.
|
Athletics Hall of Fame
[edit]On August 14, 2018, the team publicly announced the creation of a team Hall of Fame, complete with the first seven names to be inducted.[44] On September 5, the Athletics held a ceremony to induct seven members into the inaugural class. Each member was honored with an unveiling of a painting in their likeness and a bright green jacket. Hunter, who died in 1999, was represented by his widow, while Finley, who died in 1996, was represented by his son. If the team ever gets a new stadium, a physical site will be designated for the Hall of Fame, as the Coliseum does not have enough space for a full-fledged exhibit.[45] In August 2021, it was announced that players Sal Bando, Eric Chavez, Joe Rudi, director of player development Keith Lieppman, and clubhouse manager Steve "Vuc" Vucinich would be part of the class of 2022; in November 2021, Ray Fosse, who had died the previous month, was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.[46][47] The 2023 & 2024 classes were inducted in August of each respective year.[48][49]
Bold | Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame |
---|---|
†
|
Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Athletic |
Bold | Recipient of the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award |
Athletics Hall of Fame | ||||
Year | No. | Player | Position | Tenure |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 43 | Dennis Eckersley† | P | 1987–1995 |
32, 38, 34 | Rollie Fingers† | P | 1968–1976 | |
39, 35, 22, 24 | Rickey Henderson† | LF | 1979–1984 1989–1993 1994–1995 1998 | |
27 | Catfish Hunter | P | 1965–1974 | |
9, 44 | Reggie Jackson | RF | 1967–1975 1987 | |
34, 35 | Dave Stewart | P | 1986–1992 1995 | |
— | Charlie Finley | Owner General Manager |
1960–1981 | |
2019 | 10, 11, 22, 29, 42 | Tony La Russa | IF Manager |
1963 1968–1971 1986–1995 |
14, 17, 21, 28, 35 | Vida Blue | P | 1969–1977 | |
19 | Bert "Campy" Campaneris | SS | 1964–1976 | |
25 | Mark McGwire | 1B | 1986–1997 | |
— | Walter A. Haas, Jr. | Owner | 1981–1995 | |
2021 | — | Connie Mack† | Manager Owner |
1901–1950 1901–1954 |
— | Eddie Collins | 2B | 1906–1914 1927–1930 | |
— | Frank "Home Run" Baker† | 3B | 1908–1914 | |
— | Charles "Chief" Bender† | P | 1903–1914 | |
2 | Mickey Cochrane | C | 1925–1933 | |
2, 3 | Jimmie Foxx | 1B | 1925–1935 | |
10 | Lefty Grove | P | 1925–1933 | |
— | Eddie Plank† | P | 1901–1914 | |
6, 7, 28, 32 | Al Simmons† | LF Coach |
1924–1932 1940–1941, 1944 1940–1945 | |
— | Rube Waddell† | P | 1902–1907 | |
2022 | 30, 3 | Eric Chavez | 3B | 1998–2010 |
6 | Sal Bando | 3B | 1966–1976 | |
15, 45, 8, 36, 26 | Joe Rudi | LF / 1B | 1967–1976 1982 | |
10 | Ray Fosse | C Broadcaster |
1973–1975 1986–2021 | |
— | Keith Lieppman | Director of Player Development | 1971–present | |
— | Steve Vucinich | Clubhouse manager | 1966–present | |
2023 | 16 | Jason Giambi | LF / 1B | 1995–2001 2009 |
26, 7, 4 | Bob Johnson | LF | 1933–1942 | |
5, 4 | Carney Lansford | 3B | 1983–1992 | |
24, 38, 18 | Gene Tenace | C / 1B | 1969–1976 | |
— | Roy Steele | Public address announcer | 1968–2005 2007–2008 | |
2024 | 33 | Jose Canseco | RF / DH | 1985–1992 1997 |
1 | Eddie Joost | SS Manager |
1947–1954 1954 | |
36 | Terry Steinbach | C | 1986–1996 | |
4 | Miguel Tejada | SS | 1997–2003 | |
23 | Dick Williams† | LF / 3B Manager |
1959–1960 1971–1973 | |
— | Bill King | Broadcaster | 1981–2005 |
Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
[edit]17 members of the Athletics organization have been honored with induction into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.
Athletics in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame | ||||
No. | Player | Position | Tenure | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
12 | Dusty Baker | OF | 1985–1986 | |
14, 17, 21, 28, 35 | Vida Blue | P | 1969–1977 | |
19 | Bert "Campy" Campaneris | SS | 1964–1976 | |
12 | Orlando Cepeda | 1B | 1972 | Elected mainly on his performance with San Francisco Giants |
4, 6, 10, 14 | Sam Chapman | CF | 1938–1941 1945–1951 |
Born and raised in Tiburon, California |
43 | Dennis Eckersley | P | 1987–1995 | Grew up in Fremont, California |
32, 34, 38 | Rollie Fingers | P | 1968–1976 | |
— | Walter A. Haas, Jr. | Owner | 1981–1995 | Grew up in San Francisco, California, attended UC Berkeley |
24 | Rickey Henderson | LF | 1979–1984 1989–1993 1994–1995 1998 |
Raised in Oakland, California |
27 | Catfish Hunter | P | 1965–1974 | |
9, 31, 44 | Reggie Jackson | RF | 1968–1975 1987 |
|
1 | Eddie Joost | SS Manager |
1947–1954 1954 |
Born and raised in San Francisco, California |
10, 11, 22, 29, 42 | Tony La Russa | IF Manager |
1963 1968–1971 1986–1995 |
|
1, 4 | Billy Martin | 2B Manager |
1957 1980–1982 |
Elected mainly on his performance with New York Yankees, Born in Berkeley, California |
44 | Willie McCovey | 1B | 1976 | Elected mainly on his performance with San Francisco Giants |
8 | Joe Morgan | 2B | 1984 | Elected mainly on his performance with Cincinnati Reds, raised in Oakland, California |
19 | Dave Righetti | P | 1994 | Born and raised in San Jose, California |
34 | Dave Stewart | P | 1986–1992 1995 |
Born and raised in Oakland, California |
Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame
[edit]The Athletics have all of the numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930).
Also, from 1978 to 2003 (except 1983), the Philadelphia Phillies inducted one former Athletic (and one former Phillie) each year into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame at the then-existing Veterans Stadium. 25 Athletics have been honored. In March 2004, after Veterans Stadium was replaced by the new Citizens Bank Park, the Athletics' plaques were relocated to the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society in Hatboro, Pennsylvania,[50][51][52] and a single plaque listing all of the A's inductees was attached to a statue of Connie Mack that is located across the street from Citizens Bank Park.[53][54]
Year | Year inducted |
---|---|
Bold | Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame |
†
|
Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of the A's |
Bold | Recipient of the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award |
Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame | ||||
No. | Player | Position | Tenure | Inducted |
---|---|---|---|---|
— | Frank "Home Run" Baker† | 3B | 1908–1914 | 1993 |
— | Charles "Chief" Bender† | P | 1903–1914 | 1991 |
4, 6, 10, 14 | Sam Chapman | CF | 1938–1951 | 1999 |
2 | Mickey Cochrane | C | 1925–1933 | 1982 |
— | Eddie Collins | 2B | 1906–1914 1927–1930 |
1987 |
— | Jack Coombs | P | 1906–1914 | 1992 |
5 | Jimmy Dykes | 3B/2B Coach Manager |
1918–1932 1940–1950 1951–1953 |
1984 |
11 | George Earnshaw | P | 1928–1933 | 2000 |
5, 8 | Ferris Fain | 1B | 1947–1952 | 1997 |
2, 3, 4 | Jimmie Foxx | 1B | 1925–1935 | 1979 |
10 | Lefty Grove | P | 1925–1933 | 1980 |
4, 7, 26 | "Indian Bob" Johnson | LF | 1933–1942 | 1989 |
1 | Eddie Joost | SS Manager |
1947–1954 1954 |
1995 |
— | Connie Mack† | Manager Owner |
1901–1950 1901–1954 |
1978 |
9, 27 | Bing Miller | RF | 1922–1926 1928–1934 |
1998 |
1, 2, 9, 19 | Wally Moses | RF | 1935–1941 1949–1951 |
1988 |
— | Rube Oldring | CF | 1906–1916 1918 |
2003 |
— | Eddie Plank† | P | 1901–1914 | 1985 |
14 | Eddie Rommel | P | 1920–1932 | 1996 |
21, 30 | Bobby Shantz | P | 1949–1954 | 1994 |
6, 7, 28, 32 | Al Simmons† | LF Coach |
1924–1932 1940–1941, 1944 1940–1945 |
1981 |
10, 15, 21, 35, 38 | Elmer Valo | RF | 1940–1954 | 1990 |
— | Rube Waddell† | P | 1902–1907 | 1986 |
12 | Rube Walberg | P | 1923–1933 | 2002 |
6, 19, 30 | Gus Zernial | LF | 1951–1954 | 2001 |
Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
[edit]Athletics in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted | Notes |
— | Connie Mack | Manager Owner |
1901–1950 1901–1954 |
2004 | |
2, 3, 4 | Jimmie Foxx | 1B | 1925–1935 | 2004 | |
10 | Lefty Grove | P | 1925–1933 | 2005 | |
6, 7, 28, 32 | Al Simmons | LF Coach |
1924–1932 1940–1941, 1944 1940–1945 |
2006 | |
2 | Mickey Cochrane | C | 1925–1933 | 2007 | |
— | Eddie Collins | 2B | 1906–1914 1927–1930 |
2009 | |
21, 30 | Bobby Shantz | P | 1949–1954 | 2010 | |
5 | Jimmy Dykes | 3B/2B Coach Manager |
1918–1932 1940–1950 1951–1953 |
2011 | Born in Philadelphia |
— | Eddie Plank | P | 1901–1914 | 2012 | |
— | Charles "Chief" Bender | P | 1903–1914 | 2014 | |
— | Herb Pennock | P | 1912–1915 | 2014 | Elected mainly on his performance with New York Yankees |
— | By Saam | Broadcaster | 1938–1954 | 2014 | |
4, 7, 26 | Bob Johnson | LF | 1933–1942 | 2017 | |
— | Home Run Baker | 3B | 1908–1914 | 2019 |
Team captains
[edit]- 6 Sal Bando, 3B, 1969–1976
Season-by-season records
[edit]The records of the Athletics' last ten seasons in Major League Baseball are listed below.
Season | Wins | Losses | Win % | Place | Playoffs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 68 | 94 | .420 | 5th in AL West | |
2016 | 69 | 93 | .426 | 5th in AL West | |
2017 | 75 | 87 | .463 | 5th in AL West | |
2018 | 97 | 65 | .599 | 2nd in AL West | Lost ALWC vs. New York Yankees, 7–2 |
2019 | 97 | 65 | .599 | 2nd in AL West | Lost ALWC vs. Tampa Bay Rays, 5–1 |
2020 | 36 | 24 | .600 | 1st in AL West | Lost ALDS vs. Houston Astros, 3–1 |
2021 | 86 | 76 | .531 | 3rd in AL West | |
2022 | 60 | 102 | .370 | 5th in AL West | |
2023 | 50 | 112 | .309 | 5th in AL West | |
2024 | 69 | 93 | .426 | 4th in AL West | |
10-Year Record | 707 | 811 | .466 | — | — |
All-Time Record | 9,329 | 9,859 | .486 | — | — |
Philadelphia
[edit]Kansas City
[edit]Oakland
[edit]- Oakland Coliseum (1968–2024)
- Cashman Field in Las Vegas, Nevada (April 1996 for six games due to renovations at Oakland Coliseum)
West Sacramento
[edit]- Sutter Health Park (2025–present)
Roster
[edit]Minor league affiliations
[edit]The Athletics farm system consists of six minor league affiliates.[55]
Class | Team | League | Location | Ballpark | Affiliated |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Triple-A | Las Vegas Aviators | Pacific Coast League | Summerlin, Nevada | Las Vegas Ballpark | 2019 |
Double-A | Midland RockHounds | Texas League | Midland, Texas | Momentum Bank Ballpark | 1999 |
High-A | Lansing Lugnuts | Midwest League | Lansing, Michigan | Jackson Field | 2021 |
Single-A | Stockton Ports | California League | Stockton, California | Banner Island Ballpark | 2005 |
Rookie | ACL Athletics | Arizona Complex League | Mesa, Arizona | Fitch Park | 1988 |
DSL Athletics | Dominican Summer League | Boca Chica, Santo Domingo | Juan Marichal Complex | 1989 |
Radio and television
[edit]As of the 2020 season, the Athletics have had 14 radio homes.[56] The Athletics' flagship radio station is KNEW and the team has a free live 24/7 exclusive A's station branded as A's Cast to stream the radio broadcast within the Athletics market and other A's programming via iHeartRadio.[57] Going into the 2020 season, the Athletics had a deal with TuneIn for A's Cast and no flagship radio station in the Bay Area but changed their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping fans from attending games.[58] The announcing team features Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo.
Television coverage is exclusively on NBC Sports California. Some A's games air on an alternate feed of NBCS, called NBCS Plus, if the main channel shows a Sacramento Kings or San Jose Sharks game at the same time. On TV, Jenny Cavnar covers play-by-play, and Dallas Braden provides color commentary. Some games would feature Chris Caray on play-by-play; Caray is a fourth-generation baseball announcer that included great-grandfather Harry Caray, grandfather Skip Caray, and father Chip Caray.
In popular culture
[edit]The 2003 Michael Lewis book Moneyball chronicles the 2002 Oakland Athletics season, with a focus on Billy Beane's economic approach to managing the organization under significant financial constraints. Beginning in June 2003, the book remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 18 consecutive weeks, peaking at number 2.[59][60] In 2011, Columbia Pictures released a film adaptation based on Lewis' book, which featured Brad Pitt playing the role of Beane. On September 19, 2011, the U.S. premiere of Moneyball was held at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, which featured a green carpet for attendees to walk, rather than the traditional red carpet.[61]
The blog that spawned the full-fledged popular sports blog site SBNation was dedicated to the Oakland Athletics.[62][63]
Eric Shaun Lynch, a former member of The Howard Stern Show's Wack Pack who went by the name "Eric the Actor" (and previously, "Eric the Midget"), was a huge fan of the Athletics and would occasionally talk about them on Stern's show. Following his death in September 2014, the team broadcasters offered a tribute by using Lynch's signature sign off "bye for now" at the end of an Athletics game broadcast. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when American baseball teams were using cutouts of fans to show solidarity in their absence, the Athletics placed a cutout of Lynch among other cutouts of the team's fans.
See also
[edit]- Athletics award winners and league leaders
- List of Athletics first-round draft picks
- List of Athletics managers
- List of Athletics no-hitters
- List of Oakland Athletics Opening Day starting pitchers
- List of Athletics owners and executives
- List of Athletics team records
Explanatory notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "About Stomper". Athletics.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
- ^ Clair, Michael (March 17, 2017). "Why do the A's wear green? You can thank Charlie Finley". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
Before Finley came on board, the then-Kansas City A's wore baseball's standard blue-and-red combination. In 1963, that all changed as Finley outfitted the team in glorious gold (Finley said it was the same shade the United States Naval Academy used) and kelly green for the very first time.
- ^ Clair, Michael (February 27, 2021). "The best baseball caps ever, by team". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
How many big league teams do you know that wear green and yellow, the most fantastic color scheme in the world? Exactly: Only one.
- ^ Drellich, Evan. "A's Brand Transition Guidelines". X. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- ^ Oakland A’s to play in Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park beginning in 2025 ahead of move to Las Vegas
- ^ a b Perry, Dayn (November 4, 2024). "A's officially drop Oakland from name, won't add Sacramento as future plans remain at a standstill". CBS Sports. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
- ^ "Oakland Athletics Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
- ^ Boxscore from Baseball-Reference.com "Wednesday, April 17, 1968, 7:46PM, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum"
- ^ "After MLB approves A's Las Vegas move, a look at the history of relocation". Sports. CBS News. Associated Press. November 16, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
- ^ Gallegos, Martin (December 1, 2021), "How they came to be called the A's", MLB, retrieved October 29, 2024
- ^ "r/ClassicBaseball - Amazing 1866 Harper's Weekly woodcut engraving of the Brooklyn Atlantics and Philadelphia Athletics, from the National Association Of Base Ball Players league". reddit. May 24, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
- ^ "Logos and Mascots". MLB.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
- ^ Odell, John. "The Elephant in the Room". BaseballHall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ "The A's celebrate KC roots with green and gold uniforms — and a mule named Charlie O". www.sportingnews.com. June 25, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
- ^ Hill, Angela (May 22, 2007). "Mascots you don't see on sports sidelines". East Bay Times.
- ^ "Stomper's Place". Oakland Athletics. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016.
- ^ "Stomper: The Oakland A's Mascot". MLB.com. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
- ^ "Oakland A's to wear kelly green alternate jersey for Friday home games". MLB.com (Press release). MLB Advanced Media. January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
- ^ Stutz, Howard; Mueller, Tabitha (April 19, 2023). "Sources: Lombardo, lawmakers on board with planned $1 billion Las Vegas baseball stadium". The Nevada Independent. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
- ^ "Oakland A's close in on move to Las Vegas after signing land deal for stadium". The Guardian. April 20, 2023. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
- ^ Dubow, Josh (April 20, 2023). "Oakland A's purchase land for new stadium in Las Vegas". SFGate. Associated Press. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
- ^ "Oakland A's agree to purchase land near Las Vegas Strip". KGO-TV. April 20, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
- ^ "A's pivot to new site for Vegas baseball stadium, lowering public funding request". The Nevada Independent. May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
- ^ Miller, Shannon (October 3, 2024). "Time to say goodbye to Tropicana Las Vegas, set for implosion this week". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
- ^ Tisminezky, Ryan (September 24, 2024). "Tropicana Las Vegas receives implosion permit, asbestos abatement complete". KLAS. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
- ^ "Nevada governor signs A's stadium funding bill". KLAS. June 15, 2023. Archived from the original on September 21, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- ^ Farkas, Brady (November 19, 2023). "An Interesting Nugget About the Oakland Athletics' Relocation to Las Vegas". Fastball. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
- ^ @Athletics (April 4, 2024). "Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento will host the A's for the 2025-27 seasons - ahead of the team's move to Vegas in 2028" (Tweet). Retrieved April 4, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Cova, Ernesto (May 27, 2021). "15 biggest MLB rivalries of all time". bolavip.com. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
- ^ "Head-to-head record for Oakland Athletics against the listed opponents from 1997 to 2024". baseball-reference.com.
- ^ Goldberg, Ron (March 24, 2018). "Athletics Offer $20 Parking Discount to Giants Fans Who Yell 'Go A's' at Gates". Bleacher Report. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
- ^ "Athletics, Giants unveil Bay Bridge trophy". MLB.com.
- ^ "New Bay Bridge Opens Ahead of Schedule - NBC Bay Area". Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
- ^ "Last 2 Piers of the Old Bay Bridge Demolished". September 8, 2018.
- ^ "A's Take Bay Bridge Series with Another Walkoff Win over the Giants". July 22, 2018.
- ^ "Oakland A's, LA Angels: The Fight For The West". Bleacher Report.
- ^ Jenkins, Bruce. "A's-Angels rivalry 30 years in making / After decades, rivalry is heated". SFGate.
- ^ "Angels-Athletics is becoming a real rivalry". Los Angeles Times. August 29, 2014.
- ^ "A's vs. Angels: The Rivalry That Should Be (And Eventually Will)". September 10, 2012.
- ^ "2014 Promotional Schedule". Oakland Athletics. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
- ^ Burgoyne, Tom (2004). Movin' on Up: Baseball and Philadelphia Then, Now, and Always. B B& A Publishers. p. 128. ISBN 0-9754419-3-0.
- ^ @Dsmoke34 (April 12, 2022). "@GlennRecon I have no idea what the A's are doing. At this point they can just retire the number with no celebratio…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Miedema, Laurence (April 22, 2022). "A's Announce Date to Retire Former Ace Dave Stewart's No. 34". The Mercury News. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
- ^ "Oakland A's announce the Athletics Hall of Fame". August 14, 2018.
- ^ "Athletics Hall of Fame". MLB.com.
- ^ "A's announce five members of the Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2022; fans can vote to help select final member". MLB.com.
- ^ "A's to Induct Ray Fosse into Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022". MLB.com.
- ^ "Giambi, Lansford among 5 to enter A's Hall of Fame Class in 2023". MLB.com.
- ^ "A's to Celebrate the Coliseum for the Remainder of 2024". April 5, 2024.
- ^ For photos of the A's Wall of Fame plaques, see Philadelphia A's Society Museum and Library Archived December 29, 2005, at the Wayback Machine webpage. Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
- ^ Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society Archived September 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine official website. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Frank (February 22, 2011). "Demographics may doom the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on February 26, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- ^ For photos of the plaque, see Montella, Ernie (June 5, 2004). "Wall of Fame Day in Hatboro, Pennsylvania". Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. Archived from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
- ^ Jordan, David M. "Vet Plaques Come to Hatboro". Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
- ^ "Athletics Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- ^ "Oakland A's confirm split with radio flagship via Twitter". The Mercury News. October 13, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle [@sfchronicle] (July 30, 2020). "JUST IN: The Oakland A's - who had planned to provide streaming-only service for its audio broadcasts in the Bay Area - will partner with 960 AM radio station starting Friday. https://t.co/BE7zJ2pv6M" (Tweet). Retrieved December 31, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ "A's announce new radio partnerships for upcoming season". The Mercury News. February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
- ^ "The New York Times Best Seller List - June 22, 2003" (PDF). Hawes Publications. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ "The New York Times Best Seller List - September 23, 2003" (PDF). Hawes Publications. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ "Oakland shines for 'Moneyball' premiere". San Francisco Chronicle. September 20, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ "The Evolution of Sports Blog Nation". Inc.com. August 20, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
- ^ "SB Nation United: What To Expect From The New Our Daily Bears". SBNation. September 20, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Bergman, Ron. Mustache Gang: The Swaggering Tale of Oakland's A's. Dell Publishing Co., New York, 1973.
- Dickey, Glenn. Champions: The Story of the First Two Oakland A's Dynasties—and the Building of the Third. Triumph Books, Chicago, 2002. ISBN 1-57243-421-X
- Jordan, David M. The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack's White Elephants, 1901–1954. McFarland & Co., Jefferson NC, 1999. ISBN 0-7864-0620-8.
- Katz, Jeff. "The Kansas City A's & The Wrong Half of the Yankees." Maple Street Press, Hingham, Massachusetts, 2006. ISBN 978-0-9777436-5-0.
- Kuklick, Bruce. To Everything a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia 1909–1976. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1991. ISBN 0-691-04788-X.
- Lewis, Michael. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York, 2003. ISBN 0-393-05765-8.
- Markusen, Bruce. Baseball's Last Dynasty: Charlie Finley's Oakland A's. Master Press, Indianapolis, 1998.
- Peterson, John E. The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History 1954–1967. McFarland & Co., Jefferson NC, 1999. ISBN 0-7864-1610-6.
- Slusser, Susan. 100 Things A's Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. Triumph Books, Chicago, 2015. ISBN 978-1629370682.
External links
[edit]- Athletics official website
- Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society
- Oakland Athletics Franchise History Archived November 4, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
- Sports E-Cyclopedia
- Oakland A's prospect information
Awards and achievements | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | World Series champions Philadelphia Athletics 1910–1911 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | World Series champions Philadelphia Athletics 1913 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | World Series champions Philadelphia Athletics 1929–1930 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | World Series champions Oakland Athletics 1972–1974 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | World Series champions Oakland Athletics 1989 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | American League champions Philadelphia Athletics 1902 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | American League champions Philadelphia Athletics 1905 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | American League champions Philadelphia Athletics 1910–1911 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | American League champions Philadelphia Athletics 1913–1914 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | American League champions Philadelphia Athletics 1929–1931 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | American League champions Oakland Athletics 1972–1974 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | American League champions Oakland Athletics 1988–1990 |
Succeeded by |