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Welcome to the complete history of the Philadelphia Athletics, the American League
Major League baseball team that basically reigned supreme over it's National League
counterpart for the better part of the 54 years in the city of Philadelphia.
During the five different decades, the Athletics were run and managed by the great
Hall Of Famer Connie Mack. After retiring as a former player, Mack along with Ben
Shibe were awarded a new baseball team in 1901 in the newly formed American League.
Mack and Shibe would remain owners of the team until the Athletics were sold and moved
to Kansas City after the 1954 season. Mack would however lead the team as the franchise's
manager for 50 years, the longest tenure of any manager ever in baseball history. He still
holds the major league records for wins, losses and games managed. His final record as
Athletics manager was 3,582-3,814 (.484). The story of the team's logo started 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," 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. 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. The Athletics finished in last place more often than
they competed for the American League pennant. But as a franchise in Philadelphia, they
were the most sucessful as they won the World Series five different seasons. They were
champions of baseball in the years: 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930. They also were
American League champions in 1902, 1905, 1914 and 1931. That is nine different World
Series appearances alone as a baseball team in Philadelphia. The "White Elephants" were
by far the most popular team in Philadelphia during their fifty plus years in the city.
They started play in 1901 in Columbia Park and played there until 1908. They opened the 1909
in most modern of stadiums, Shibe Park, appropriately named after one of the owners. Shibe
Park remained opened until 1970, when the Phillies moved to Veteran's Stadium. The Phillies
played in the Baker Bowl during the Athletics tenure in Philly until 1938, when the Phillies
moved to Shibe Park. A number of times the franchise tried to rename the stadium after
it's longtime manager, but Mack would not allow it. Then in 1953 after his retirement,
Mack finally relented and Shibe Park was renamed Connie Mack Stadium. The Athletics were
one of the most sucessful teams in the first half of the 20th Century and Coopertown, NY where
"Baseball's Hall Of Fame" is located recognized this too. Along with Connie Mack, these great
players were also inducted into the Hall Of Fame as Philadelphia Athletics: Frank "Home Run"
Baker, Chief Bender, Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Jimmy Foxx, Lefty Grove, Eddie Plank,
Al Simmons, and Rube Waddell. I am adding this highly informative site to my already successful
PHILLIES site found at the link
http://melaman2.com/phillies. I thought
now would be a great time to help keep the memories alive of the other team that played baseball
in Philadelphia. Though, I was born in 1964 and grew up a Phillies fan, I now realize there was
once another baseball team that was originally better than it's National League counterpart.
And it showed with "FIVE" World Series Chanmpionships. Welcome to the
PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS history homepage, the history of a Philadelphia baseball team
from the American League that played in the "City of Brotherly Love" from 1901-54....
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