Glory Days T he A’s have been playing on the west coast since moving to Oakland California in 1968 The team actually played its first season in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics more than 2,000 miles away from its current home Fans back then started calling the club the A’s for short The team’s official name is still Athletics In their early days the A’s were among the best in the American League AL They were managed for 50 years by Connie Mack who built a winning foundation on pitching defense and base-stealing Mack’s first group of stars included Harry Davis Frank Baker Eddie Collins Eddie Plank Charles Chief Bender and Rube Waddell All are in the Hall of Fame except for Davis During the 1920s Mack rebuilt the A’s as a power-hitting re During the 1920s Mack r During the 1920s Mack r team Sluggers such as Al Simmons and Jimmie c team Sluggers suc Foxx competed with Babe Ruth and Lou Foxx com m Gehrig of the New York Yankees for the AL home run and runs batted in RBIs championships b 6
LEFT This pennant dates back to the 1930s RIGHT Al Simmons Mickey Cochrane and Lefty Grove made up the best catcher-pitcher combination in baseball Philadelphia won the pennant each year from 1929 to 1931 Grove was the first winner of the AL Most Valuable Player MVP Award also in 1931 After their great three-year run the A’s struggled for the rest of their time in Philadelphia They had a few stars including Bob Johnson Wally Moses Ferris Fain Gus Zernial and Bobby Shantz However by the end of the summer the team was rarely in the pennant race After Mack retired the A’s moved to Kansas City Missouri They played there from 1955 to 1967 but they never had a winning season In 1968 the A’s moved farther west to Oakland Many of the young players signed in Kansas City became stars in their new hometown Catfish Hunter Blue Moon Odom Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers 7
helped the A’s form the best pitching staff in the league Reggie Jackson Sal Bando and Joe Rudi were the heart of a powerful offense The A’s won the World Series three years in a row from 1972 to 1974 They were known as the Moustache Gang because the team’s owner Charles Finley paid his players a bonus to grow moustaches The team wore stunning green and gold uniforms during this time During the 1980s and 1990s the A’s kept playing exciting baseball Rickey Henderson Carney Lansford Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were among the top hitters in baseball Canseco became the first player with 40 homers and 40 steals in the same season McGwire hit 49 home runs as a rookie Pitchers Dave Stewart and LEFT Jim Hunter was better known to baseball fans as Catfish ABOVE Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco were nicknamed the Bash Brothers 9
