Oakland Athletics

Oakland Athletics founded in 1901 (Major League)

Full name
Oakland Athletics
abbreviation
OAK
earlier names)
Oakland A's (1970-1980) Oakland Athletics (1968-1969) Kansas City Athletics (1955-1967) Philadelphia Athletics (1901-1954)
Nickname (s)
The A's
Club colors
Green, gold, white
league
American League (since 1901) West Division (since 1969)
uniform

Ball park (s)
Oakland – Alameda County Coliseum (since 1968) Municipal Stadium (Kansas City) (1955-1967) Shibe Park (Philadelphia) (1909–1954) Columbia Park (Philadelphia) (1901-1908)
successes
World Series (9): 1910 , 1911 , 1913 , 1929 , 1930 , 1972 , 1973 , 1974 , 1989 American League titles (15): 1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1929–1931, 1972–1974, 1988–1990 Division titles (16): 1971–1975, 1981, 1988–1990, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2013 Wild Cards (4): 2001, 2013, 2018, 2019
Website : http://athletics.mlb.com

The Oakland Athletics are a major league baseball team from Oakland, California . You play in the Western Division of the American League . The team is often referred to as The A’s for short.

history

Origins

The Oakland Athletics were founded in Indianapolis in 1893 and played in the Western League, a minor league that became the American League in 1900 . In 1901 the A's moved to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , where they played as the Philadelphia Athletics until 1954. From 1955 to 1967 the Athletics played in Kansas City , Missouri , and finally moved to Oakland in 1968.

The name Athletics comes from an amateur team called the Athletics of Philadelphia that was founded in 1860. After this team became a professional baseball team, they joined the National Association of Professional Baseball in 1871 and won their first Pennant title in the Major Leagues in their first year. The Athletics of Philadelphia played in the National Association until 1875 and were a founding member of the National League in 1876 , but were expelled from the league after only one season. A later team in the Athletics played in the American Association from 1882 to 1891 .

In the 1930s, Athletics Third Base Coach Russell "Lena" Blackburne introduced the use of baseball rubbing mud to rub baseballs . This mud is used by almost every team in Major League Baseball to this day.

Oakland (1968-present)

Percentage of Oakland A's games won during the regular season

Three World Series in a row

After a sporting dry spell of 40 years, the A's had great success again during the first half of the 1970s. They won the World Series three times in a row (1972–1974). The star of the team was outfielder Reggie Jackson , who ranks 11th on the all-time best list with his home runs . The three strongest pitchers were Catfish Hunter , Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue , all of whom received the Cy Young Award over the course of their careers . Other pillars of the team were Sal Bando (third base), Joe Rudi (outfield) and Bert Campaneris (shortstop). During this time Herb Washington , a pure pinch runner , also played one of the stranger players in MLB history at the Athletics. Most of these players left the Athletics by 1977, which was followed by several weak seasons.

The Bay Bridge Series

It was not until the early 1980s that a new successful team could be built. Finally, this again reached the final of the play-offs three times in a row ( 1988 , 1989 and 1990 ), where they won the World Series in 1989. Since the finals were played against the neighboring San Francisco Giants , they went down in history as the Bay Bridge Series . The most successful players of this era included Rickey Henderson (outfield), the player with the most stolen bases in MLB history, as well as the two sluggers José Canseco (outfield) and Mark McGwire (first base), who came in 32nd and 8th respectively are on the list with the most home runs. Other important players on this team were the pitchers Dennis Eckersley and Dave Stewart, Carney Lansford (third base) and Walt Weiss (shortstop). After 1992 the team fell apart.

Moneyball Years

Billy Beane has been General Manager of the A's since 1997 . This formed a new team that was significantly cheaper than the championship teams of the 1970s and 1980s. Beane selected players who, according to current statistics, appeared to be mediocre, but who were above average according to so-called Sabermetrics . This phase was known as the Moneyball Years . Despite being financially inferior to the competition, the Athletics managed to move into the play-offs from 2000 to 2003, where however they failed each time in the first round (de facto in the quarterfinals). This period was dominated by the pitchers Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito, known as the Big Three . There were also infielder Jason Giambi (first base), Miguel Tejada (shortstop) and Eric Chavez (third base; six-time winner of the Gold Glove ), who were each good batter. After the 2004 season, all top players except for Chavez were given up in exchange for young talent. The events of these years were processed in the 2011 feature film The Art of Winning - Moneyball .

Since 2006

In 2006 the A's achieved their greatest success since the takeover by Billy Beane: They not only reached the play-offs, but also made it to the final of the American League, where they were defeated by the Detroit Tigers . After this season the better known players were exchanged for talents from other teams. The team was looked after by Bob Geren as Field Manager from 2007. Under his leadership (until 2011), however, the A's never had more victories than defeats in any season. Beane signed as Geren's successor Bob Melvin, who had previously been successful with the Arizona Diamondbacks . With the new Field Manager, Oakland won the Western Division in 2012 and 2013.

Logo and stadium

The old English "A" as a jersey badge

Over the years, the Athletics have honored their amateur ancestors with their jerseys. Until 1954, when "Athletics" appeared on the front of the jersey for the first time, the team's name did not appear on either home or away jerseys. Furthermore, there was never "Philadelphia" or the letter "P" on the caps or jerseys. The standard Athletics jersey only had a stylized "A" on the left front, which could also be seen on the hats. While the team was playing in Kansas City, the away jerseys read "Kansas City" and an interlocking "KC" on the hats. When the company moved to Oakland, the "A" was reintroduced on the hat and jersey, and in 1970 the "Apostroph-S" was added to its current form.

Currently, the Athletics wear jerseys labeled "Athletics" for home games and "Oakland" away from home. The hat and team logo is still the traditional stylized "A's"

mascot

After John McGraw , the manager of the New York Giants, told reporters that the new team's lead owner, Benjamin Shibe , owned a "white elephant" (in English, the term "white elephant" means something that is more labor or cost than it's worth it), despite the allegations, manager Connie Mack took over the white elephant as the team's mascot. Over the years the color only changed several times, currently the elephant is forest green. The athletics are sometimes, albeit irregularly, referred to as elephants or white elephants .

The elephant was replaced in 1963 by the then owner Charles O. Finley by a mule, the heraldic animal of the State of Missouri. In 1986 the elephant was reintroduced as a symbol of athletics and currently adorns the left sleeve of home and away jerseys.

Stadion

For years, the owners of the team faced the problematic issue of where to host their home games. The Oakland Coliseum was considered by many to be one of the best major league baseball stadiums, although it was originally designed as a multi-purpose facility and was also used as a venue by the football team, the Oakland Raiders . After the Raiders moved to Los Angeles in 1982, many improvements were made to the stadium, which has now become a pure ballpark.

In 1994 a contract was signed, which would move the Los Angeles Raiders back to Oakland for the '95 season. The agreement required the Coliseum to be expanded to over 63,000 seats. The rural view of the foothills that fans could enjoy when visiting the stadium has been replaced by a huge grandstand that is contemptuously called "Mount Davis" by baseball fans, named after the owner of the Raiders, Al Davis . From the point of view of baseball fans, however, the high point of the insults was that the expansion was not yet completed at the beginning of the 96 baseball season, which forced the Athletics to play their first home games in a different stadium. Ultimately, the 9,300-seat Cashman Field in Las Vegas , Nevada was selected. Six "home games" were played there.

Since then, the owners have stated that a new ballpark is necessary to ensure the economic survival of the Athletics. In 2005, the new owner Lewis Wolff published his plans to build a new arcade with 35,000 seats. The New Oakland Ballpark is to be developed not far from the current venue as part of a larger commercial and residential area.

New stadium

On November 28, 2018, Athletics announced that the team had decided to build a 34,000-seat stadium at the Howard Terminal location in the Port of Oakland. The team also announced its intention to buy the Coliseum and grounds around it and make it a technology and place to live.

Rivalries

The Athletics have no major rivalries on the scale of the rivalries between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox , the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants, or between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals . This is partly because the squad has been in the back of the division for their last two decades in Philadelphia and all of their time in Kansas City. Another reason was the two moves over the years, which prevented local rivalries. Although the Athletics have played in the American League since 1901, their competitors in the division are from later years. The Los Angeles Angels were founded in 1961, as was the Texas Rangers (who have only played in Dallas since 1972). The Seattle Mariners were not formed until 1977. However, the athletics' worst rivals within the American League in recent years have been the teams they faced back in the Philadelphia days, such as. B. the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, if only because of the highly competitive clashes in the play-offs.

A strong rivalry with the Kansas City Royals established itself in the 1970s, sparked by Kansas City fans who were unhappy with the 1968 A's move from Kansas City to Oakland. There is also rivalry between the two cities' football teams, the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs .

In the last few decades, a strong rivalry has developed with the San Francisco Giants due to their geographical proximity. The meeting of the two teams is commonly referred to as the "Bay Bridge Series". The name of the series comes from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that connects the two cities. The teams faced each other in the 1989 World Series, the Athletics clearly won 4-0, a so-called sweep. Since both teams have long and storied pasts, they met three times in the World Series before they moved to the West Coast (the Giants are originally from New York), of which the Athletics won two and the Giants won a title.

Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Oakland Athletics Hall of Famers

Membership in the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Philadelphia Athletics

Frank Baker
Chief Bender
Ty Cobb
Mickey Cochrane

Eddie Collins
Jimmy Collins
Stan Coveleski
Elmer Flick

Nellie Fox
Jimmie Foxx
Lefty Grove
Waite Hoyt
George Kell

Nap Lajoie
Connie Mack
Herb Pennock
Eddie Plank

Al Simmons
Tris Speaker
Rube Waddell
Zack Wheat

Kansas City Athletics

Luke Appling ¹

Lou Boudreau ¹

Whitey Duke ²
Tommy Lasorda ²

Satchel Paige

Enos Slaughter

Oakland Athletics

Orlando Cepeda
Dennis Eckersley

Rollie Fingers
Goose Gossage
Rickey Henderson

Catfish Hunter *
Reggie Jackson

Willie McCovey
Joe Morgan
Don Sutton

Billy Williams
Dick Williams²

Players in bold are featured on their Hall of Fame boards with Athletics badges.
* - Catfish Hunter couldn't decide between the Yankees and the Athletics and is shown without a hat.
¹ - as a player; was manager of Athletics
² - as manager; played for the athletics

Current squad

Oakland Athletics players

Active players (25-player group)

Inactive players (40-player group)

Trainer / Others

Pitcher

Starting rotation

Bullpen

Closer

16 Liam Hendriks

Catcher

30 Austin Allen
12 Sean Murphy

Infielder

Outfielder

Pitcher

Catcher

37 Jonah Heim

Infielder

21 Sheldon Neuse

Outfielder

Manager

6 Bob Melvin

Trainer

29 Ryan Christenson (bench)
51 Darren Bush (hitting)
14 Scott Emerson (pitching)
17 Mike Aldrete (First Base)
41 Al Pedrique (Third Base)
59 Marcus Jensen (Bullpen)
91 Dustin Hughes (Bullpen Catcher)
88 Philip Pohl (Bullpen Catcher)
52 Eric Martins (Assistant Hitting)
7 Mark Kotsay (Quality Control)

Injury list (7 or 10 days)
* Banned
Roster updated on August 15, 2020
Transfers • Line-up

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the number of players in the active squad at the beginning of the 2020 MLB season on 23/24. July increased to 30 players. Two weeks later there was a scheduled reduction to 28 players. Another two weeks later, the number of players is to be reduced to 26 and maintained for the entire 2020 season. In the case of double-headers , the teams may appoint a 27th player to the active squad.

Numbers that are no longer assigned

9 Reggie Jackson
27 Catfish Hunter
34 Rollie Fingers
42 Jackie Robinson (on all baseball teams)
43 Dennis Eckersley

Notable events and records

20 game winning streak : The Oakland Athletics won 20 games in a row between August 13 and September 4, 2002, setting a new record within the American League. The last three victories have been very dramatic, each triumph was only achieved at the end of the last inning. The series was eventually interrupted in Minnesota . The record for the entire major league is held by the New York Giants , who were unbeaten in 26 consecutive games in 1916, which is also the National League record. However, there is a tie within these 26 games, which was not unusual at the time (before the introduction of floodlights). The record for most consecutive games won is 21, set in 1935 by the Chicago Cubs en route to the National League Pennant. Since 2011 there has also been a film about the winning streak: The Art of Winning - Moneyball .

City Series : The Athletics played for the first time in a championship season in June 2003 against their former city rivals and fellow users of Shibe Park , the Philadelphia Phillies . Before that, they only met at annual friendly games, which were given the title "The City Series". But since the two teams play in different leagues and never faced each other in the World Series , the two teams never met in a major game. However, the Interleague Games , which have been around since 1997, made it possible for both teams to clash during the season. Before the first game, celebrations were held at Philadelphia Veterans Stadium to honor former Philadelphia A's players. The Phillies then won the first series at home with 2-1 games. The second series in June 2005 in Oakland were won by the Athletics 2-1.