20 Facts about the lovable, sometimes laughable, but always entertaining Oakland Athletics

“Hope springs eternal” are the opening lines to a famous essay by Alexander Pope, but it also could describe the optimism of Oakland A’s fans, who typically enjoy hot starts, stellar play by breakout stars, and even knock on the post season door before ending up cooling off with the fall weather.

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.

7.         The Oakland A’s came incredibly close to being the New Orleans A’s. In 1978, the New Orleans Superdome wanted the A’s to relocate east to the city of Mardi Gras and jazz, and started negotiations. The A’s were reportedly very interested, and the move could have become official if the A’s weren’t bound by their stadium lease in Oakland, and could find no way out.

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.)

50 Things you probably didn't know about our San Francisco Giants

With Sacramento just a short ride from San Francisco, a good portion of the capital city's residents root, root, root for the baseball Giants as their home team. With three World Series championships in five years, a ballpark that is the toast of Major League Baseball, and a team that endears the fans, it's no wonder why NorCal loves the Giants. To show our support and help kick off the season (which we predict will end with another SF ring because it's an even year!) here are 50 things you probably didn't know about the San Francisco Giants. 

Early history of the Giants:

1. The Giants franchise first came to be in 1883, joining the National League as the New York Gothams. 

2. Playing at the iconic Polo Grounds ballpark in Upper Manhattan, the Gothams (still a cool name!) won their very first game against the Boston Beaneaters.

3. The team changed named to the Giants two years later, in 1885. There is no official account of where the new name came from, but local lore recounts that the team’s player-manager, Jim Mutrie, used to applaud his troops by calling them, "my big fellows, my giants,” and the name stuck.

4. The Giants had plenty of success throughout the decades in New York, winning 5 World Series and faring well against their archrival Brooklyn Dodgers.

Go west, young Giants:

5. The Giants and Dodgers both fled New York City in 1957, relocating to San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

6. That meant New York City went from three times to one team – just the Yankees – and the National League did not have a team in the Big Apple until 1962 when the New York Mets were found.

7. In fact, the Mets' team colors of Dodger-blue and Giant-orange commemorate their predecessors. 

The ballparks:

8. Many people don’t realize that upon arriving in California, the Giants played their first two seasons at Seals Stadium before moving to Candlestick Park in 1960.

9. Venerable and beloved Candlestick was their home for the next four decades, despite being one of the windiest, coldest, and most uncomfortable places to watch a game in the entire major leagues! 

10. Candlestick was also the inauspicious site of the 1989 World Series, remembered not for a Bay Area A’s vs. Giant’s series, but the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake that struck just before the start of Game 3.

11. The earthquake, starting at 5:04 pm before a 5:35 first pitch game time, lasted only 15 seconds but caused major damage in the area.

12. The World Series was suspended 10 days before it resumed, but in retrospect, the earthquake occurring right before the game probably saved hundreds of lives, as most people in the Bay Area were in their homes or in bars watching the series, not out on the roads and highways, which were particularly hit hard.

13. Since 2000, the Giants have played at AT&T Park, a state-of-the-art 12 acre stadium complex built right on the water in downtown San Francisco.

14. One of the best things about the new ballpark is that the right field wall is right in front of the bay, a watery landing spot for home runs that’s often shown on Sportscenter.

15. But in fact, home runs land in the bay pretty infrequently. Since 2000, only 62 homers have hit the water – an average of one every 12 or 13 games – with Barry Bonds claiming 35 of them.

16. With the lessons learned from the 1989 World Series earthquake, AT&T Park was built with earthquake plates so it can withstand a similar disaster and keep everyone safe. 

17. AT&T Park was one of the only baseball stadiums in the Major Leagues not to have netting directly behind home plate, which becomes a danger zone with foul balls – but forces people to pay attention!

18. You might notice a giant sculpture of a baseball glove in left field, yet it has only four fingers.

19. In fact, it was made to replicate a glove in the 1920s, when all gloves had only four fingers. At that time, players would just cram two of their fingers in one glove finger. 

The Giant's mascots:

20. The first mascot in the west coast Giant’s history was Crazy Crab, introduced in 1984. 

21. That season was also a comedy of errors for the Giants, who lost 94 games, so Crazy Crab became a popular anti-mascot; a lightning rod for fans and even Giants players, who abused the poor mascot by throwing food, trash, and even resin bags at him.

22. So Crazy Crab was retired after only two miserable seasons.

23. Lou Seal has been the mascot ever since, and has brought nothing but good luck and three World Series championships, so he’s beloved by fans.

24. The Crazy Crab still makes an appearance every once and a while for the Giants, serving as a villain and fan whipping boy. 

25. At one game appearance in 1999, the Crab even grabbed the house microphone and pledged his fealty to the Los Angeles Dodgers! 

Giant's World Series:

26. The Giants won the World Series in 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933, and 1954 in New York, and 2010, 2012, and 2014 in San Francisco.

27. In fact, the pattern of winning a World Series every even numbered year for three year straight has never been done before – and the Giants will look extend that streak to four in 2016!

28. While all of those series were epically entertaining, Giants fans will never forget the 2014 season when Madison Bumgarner turned in one of the greatest postseason pitching performances in the history of the game. 

29. Not only did he win Game 7 on the road, which hadn’t been done since 1979, but he allowed only one earned run in 21 innings pitched in the series, for a record) 0.43 ERA, the best since Sandy Koufax’s 0.38 ERA in 1965.

Giant’s records:

30. Giant’s team batting records

Career batting: .341 Bill Terry 

Hits: 3,187 Willie Mays 

Home runs: 646 Willie Mays 

Runs batted in: 1,860 Mel Ott 

Stolen bases: 428 Mike Tiernan

All-Star games: 23 Willie Mays

31. Giant’s team pitching records

Wins: 372 Christy Mathewson 

ERA: 2.12 Christy Mathewson

Strikeouts: 2,504 Christy Mathewson 

No-hitters: 2 Tim Lincecum, Christy Mathewson

Perfect Games: 1 Matt Cain 

32. Single-season batting records

Batting average: .401 Bill Terry 1930

Home runs: 73 Barry Bonds 2001

Runs batted in: 151 Mel Ott

Hits: 254 Bill Terry 1930

Stolen Bases: 111 John Montgomery Ward 1887

33. Single-season pitching records

Wins: 44 Mickey Welch 191

Strikeouts: 345 Mickey Welch 1884

ERA: 0.90 Ferdie Schupp 1916

Saves: 48 Brian Wilson 2010, Rod Beck 1993

Milestones:

34. The Giants are the sixth-oldest franchise still in operation in the Majors, but still have some notable accomplishments:

35. The Giants have the most Hall of Fame inductees of any major league ball club with 56.

36. Their 10,780 wins are the most of any ball club in major league history!

37. If you add up the World Series rings won by the New York Team (5) and the San Francisco squad (3) the Giants have 8 total championships.

38. That puts them in a tie for third place with Boston, behind only the Cardinals (11) and New York Yankees (27).

Fun and interesting facts about the current team:

39. The Giant’s manager, Bruce Bochy, has the largest head in all of Major League baseball. In fact, Bochy’s hat-size 8 ¼ cranium is so massive, that as a player, he used to carry his own custom batting helmet with him and when he got traded, just had it repainted with his new team’s logo.

40. Tim Lincecum has thrown multiple no-hitters, won multiple Cy Young Awards won, multiple World Series championship titles and multiple All-Star selections. The only other player ever to accomplish that is Sandy Koufax.

41. Hunter Pence, a fan favorite, suffers from Scheuermann's Disease, a spinal disorder that inhibits flexibility, which is the reason for his herky-jerky playing and running style. But the disease hasn’t slowed Pence down at all, as he holds the current active record for consecutive regular season games played with 383.

42. Jake Peavy – a starting pitcher for this season’s team - is legally blind if he doesn’t wear his corrective lenses.

43. When current Giant’s pitcher Mike Leake played for the Reds in 2011, he was arrested for shoplifting six t-shirts at a Macys in Cincinnati. Leake was charged and had to complete 30 hours of community service and counseling, By the way, his player salary was about a million dollars at the time. 

44. Giants closer Santiago Casilla joined the Oakland A’s in 2000 with false documents that showed him to be three years younger – and going by the name Jairo Garcia!

Who is the most beloved Giant of all time?

45. There is no debate that Barry Bonds was statistically was one of the best baseball players of all time, including his historic campaign to hit 73 home runs in one season.

46. But he’s also the poster boy for steroid abuse and cheating in the Major Leagues, and his records frequently appear with an asterisk.

47. Even the Giants organization is unsure how to handle Bonds, who was also aloof and arrogant to teammates and the organization during his playing days.

48. In fact, the AT&T gift shop sells only a few items with Bonds name on them, and a guided tour of the ballpark reveals a few small plaques of his accomplishments but no big memorials.

49. However, the Giants organization, former players and their fans LOVE Willie Mays!

50. Mays' statue adorns the front of the ballpark outside and May’s number 24 is prominent; ballpark’s address is 24 Willie Mays Plaza, there are 24 palm trees lined up at the front gates, and the right field wall is 24 feet tall!

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Do you have fun or interesting facts about the San Francisco Giants? Email them to us!

And don't worry, Oakland fans because we'll write up a profile on the Athletics soon, too!