Still, there’s no denying that NorCal’s
A’s are one of the most entertaining and storied franchises in baseball
history, home team to Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Vida Blue, Dennis
Eckersley, Dave Stewart, Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson, José Canseco, Jason
Giambi and others.
Yet, no team in baseball trades away
their homegrown young talent like the A’s, and their front office
penny-pinching approach has led to some genius innovation that inspired a
best-selling book and movie, but World Series glimpses that are few and far
between lately. Still, if you grew up in Sacramento or the surrounding area,
you might have grown up loving and emulating the A’s, not their cross-Bay
Giants, and it’s a love affair that won’t fade soon.
So here are 20 facts about your Oakland
A’s as we go through the summer enjoying A’s baseball, with hope that maybe –
just maybe – this will be their year!
1. The
A’s are one of few teams in major professional sports that features green as
their team color, along with the Celtics and NFL’s Eagles. But Oakland’s squad
is definitely the only team in sports to rock green and gold as the official
team colors, and in such wild (and often atrocious) combinations that their
fashion choice contributed to their nickname, “The Swinging A’s.” Always ready
to rock the baseball boat, the A’s are the only team in the Majors to wear
their white cleats both at home on the road, a tradition that goes back to
owner Charlie Finley’s era.
2. While
many celebrities and prominent Californians regularly jump on the Giants and
Dodgers bandwagons, NorCal and Sacramento native Tom Hanks is a lifelong A’s
fan, and still periodically attends games or is caught in private moments
wearing an A’s baseball cap.
3. You
wouldn’t believe it by watching baseball these days, but for most of the 20th
century, baseball players were all clean-shaven and facial-hair free. But that
changed dramatically in 1972, when the Oakland A’s played the baseball
renegades with a wild array of facial hair and went on to win the World Series.
4. The
A’s won World Series titles nine times throughout their history, including
1989, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1930, 1929, 1913, 1911, and 1910. Those nine World
Series rings are the third most of any current team in baseball.
5. They’ve
also won 15 Pennants, 16 West division titles (the latest in 2012 and then
again in 2013), and Wild Card births in 2001 and 2014.
6. The
A’s not only changed baseball but also revolutionized front offices across all
major sports with their Moneyball approach. The term was coined for the 2003
Michael Lewis book that documented A’s General Manager Billy Beane’s
unconventional approach to fielding a competitive team despite having one of
the lowest payrolls in baseball. Moneyball is really a testament to advance
statistics and analytics, and went on to be a hit movie with Brad Pitt in 2011,
complete with a green carpet – not the traditional red carpet – at the premier.
8. While
the 1989 World Series winning Bash Brothers of Jose Canseco, a young Mark
McGwire, Rickey Henderson, Dave Stewart, Dennis Eckersley, etc. were an
incredible team, the best Oakland A’s squad ever assembled was the 1972-1974
team that won three World Series in row with behind Catfish Hunter, Reggie
Jackson, ace reliever Rollie Fingers.
9. The
A’s hosted their first game after moving to California on April 17, 1968,
losing to the Baltimore Orioles in front of a jubilant crowd of 50,164 fans.
10. The
A’s (at that time the Athletics) started in Philadelphia in 1901 as one of the
American Leagues first eight charter teams. They had success in the early
decades, winning multiple World Series behind iconic manager Connie Mack. The
team relocated to Kansas City in 1955, keeping the Athletics team name, and
then to Oakland in 1968.
11. The
A’s mascot is a white elephant, with origins going as far back as the team
itself. Although this might be impossible for current A’s fans to believe, back
when the team started in Philadelphia they were known for spending big to bring
in the best talent. (Yes, the A’s were a big market, free-spending team!) At
the time, John McGraw, manager of the New York Giants, told reporters that the
rival A’s had “A White elephant on their hands,” a term that meant something
looked good but was actually high maintenance. Never to be one-upped, A’s owner
and manager Connie Mack embraced the intended-slight by giving McGraw a stuffed
white elephant at the start of the 1905 World Series, and by 1909 had white
elephants put on the sleeves of the team’s sweaters, and it was an official
part of the uniform and the team by 1918.
12. The
A’s mascot elephant has been called Stomper since the 1997, but that wasn’t
always the case. In fact, when it was called Harry Elephante in the mid 1980s
(worst mascot name ever?). Prior to that, in 1963 when the A’s called Kansas
City home, team owner Charlie Finley tried to change the elephant mascot to a
Missouri mule! It’s rumored that he wanted to make the change partially because
Missouri was such a popularly Democratic state and he wanted to appeal to fans
of the donkey, not the traditional Republican elephant.
13. The
team has a long and often confusing history with their name. The “A” in A’s
originated from the term “Athletic Club” back in 1860. That first amateur team
played with a black “A” on the front of their jerseys. The A’s became the team
moniker through the decades and into the next century as a professional team in
the major leagues, though it wasn’t always popular, as several owners or
staffers tried to expunge the “Athletics” from the A’s official team name,
while others wanted to keep it to honor the tradition.
14. The
Oakland A’s have retired six player numbers in their history. However, only
five of those players ever suited up for the A’s. Oakland pulled a classy move
by retiring Jack Robinson’s number 42 when baseball honored the 50th
anniversary of his accomplishment breaking the color barrier.
15. The
Oakland A’s tradition of elite hurlers extends back to their first years in
California. Since then, Vida Blue (1971), Catfish Hunter (1974), Bob Welch
(1990), Dennis Eckersley (1992), and Barry Zito (2002) have all won Cy Young
awards.
16. They’ve
also had a great modern tradition of fielding the top player in the game in
certain years, as Vida Blue (1971), Reggie Jackson (1973), José Canseco (1988),
Rickey Henderson (1990), Dennis Eckersley (1992), Jason Giambi (2000) and
Miguel Tejada (2002) have won Most Valuable Player Awards.
17. The
team also has a well-deserved reputation for developing some of the best
homegrown talent in the game (and then trading them away, unfortunately.) The
list of Oakland A’s that have won Rookie of the Year winners includes José
Canseco (1986), Mark McGwire (1987), Walt Weiss (1988), Ben Grieve (1998),
Bobby Crosby (2004), Huston Street (2005) and Andrew Bailey (2009).
18. A’s
all-time team hitting records include:
Batting average .356 Al Simmons
(1924-44)
Hits 1,882 Bert Campaneris (1964-1976)
Home runs 365 Mark McGwire (1986-1997)
Stolen bases 867 Rickey Henderson
(1979-1988 on and off)
19. A’s
team pitching records include:
Wins 284 Eddie Plank (1901-1914)
Win-loss percentage .712 Lefty Grove
(1925-1933)
ERA 1.97 Rube Waddell (1902-1907)
Saves 320 Dennis Eckersley (1987-1995)
Strikeouts 1,985 Eddie Plank
(1901-1914)
20. Who
holds the A’s all-time record for most home runs in a single season? It’s got
to be Mark McGwire, José Canseco, or maybe Reggie Jackson, right? Wrong! In
fact, Jimmie Foxx set the A’s single-season homer record when he hit 58 in
1932. (He also set the A’s record with 169 RBIs that year.)
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