6 A t h l e t i c s THE TEAM TO BEAT he city of Oakland California has long been a destination for weary travelers During the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s prospectors arrived in the sunny city hoping to find their fortune After nearby San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake and subsequent fire in 1906 displaced refugees crossed the San Francisco Bay to build new homes in Oakland During the 1940s Oakland grew as naval shipbuilding operations for World War II took off Although many of those laborers left when the jobs disappeared in the years following the end of the war the city is now a bustling port and business center with a population of more than 400,000 Like many of Oakland’s residents the city’s professional baseball team traveled a long and circuitous route to the West Coast The Oakland Athletics which moved to California in 1968 began as the Indianapolis Indians a minor-league club that was part of the Western League in 1893 In 1901 the Indians moved to Philadelphia to become a charter member of the new American League AL Former catcher T
Oakland is one of four California cities along with Los Angeles San Diego and San Francisco to host at least one major league baseball team
ALL-TIME ATHLETICS A t h l e t i c s 8 Oakland Athletics (cid:39)(cid:32)(cid:43)(cid:26)(cid:31)(cid:28)(cid:41)(cid:1)(cid:76) LEFTY GROVE During his time with the Philadelphia Athletics Robert Moses Lefty Grove racked up 7 consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins He was so dominant in one 1929 game against the Yankees that with a one-run lead no outs and one player on base he struck out New York legends Babe Ruth Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel with just 10 pitches Grove had a destructive temper sometimes shredding his uniform or ripping apart lockers after a loss Fortunately he won far more often than he lost he assembled a 300 141 career record and a 680 winning percentage the highest of any major-league pitcher with that many games STATS Athletics seasons 1925 33 Height 6-foot-3 Weight 190 (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:25)(cid:13)(cid:84)(cid:73)(cid:77)(cid:69)(cid:0)(cid:33)(cid:44)(cid:0)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:65)(cid:68)(cid:69)(cid:82)(cid:0)(cid:73)(cid:78)(cid:0)(cid:37)(cid:50)(cid:33) (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:22)(cid:13)(cid:84)(cid:73)(cid:77)(cid:69)(cid:0)(cid:33)(cid:76)(cid:76)(cid:13)(cid:51)(cid:84)(cid:65)(cid:82) (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:17)(cid:25)(cid:19)(cid:17)(cid:0)(cid:33)(cid:44)(cid:0)(cid:45)(cid:54)(cid:48) (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:34)(cid:65)(cid:83)(cid:69)(cid:66)(cid:65)(cid:76)(cid:76)(cid:0)(cid:40)(cid:65)(cid:76)(cid:76)(cid:0)(cid:79)(cid:70)(cid:0)(cid:38)(cid:65)(cid:77)(cid:69)(cid:0)(cid:73)(cid:78)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:67)(cid:84)(cid:69)(cid:69)(cid:0) 1947 Lefty Grove Pitcher
CHIEF BENDER A t h l e t i c s 9 Connie Mack was chosen to lead the Philadelphia Athletics a team he would own and manage for the next 50 years In the team’s second year in Philadelphia six batters hit better than 300 and brought the City of Brotherly Love its first AL pennant The Athletics won the pennant again in 1905 and advanced to their first-ever World Series where the New York Giants trampled them The Athletics moved into their new stadium Shibe Park in 1909 The following year they returned to the World Series to face the heavily favored Chicago Cubs Using only two pitchers Jack Coombs and Charles Chief Bender in the five-game series the Athletics defeated the Cubs and claimed their first World Series title In 1911 the team won the AL pennant behind the arm of pitcher Eddie Plank who won 23 games with the aid of a sidearm curveball and a frustratingly slow delivery As sportswriter David Pietrusza later described that delivery Plank would stand on the mound and rub up the baseball adjust his belt step off the mound knock dirt from his spikes go back to the
