Oakland Athletics

Oakland Athletics
2024 Oakland Athletics season
Team logoCap insignia
Major league affiliations
Current uniform
Retired numbers
Colors
  • Green, gold, white
Name
  • Oakland Athletics (1968–present)
  • Kansas City Athletics (19551967)
  • Philadelphia Athletics (19011954)
Other nicknames
  • The A's
  • Swingin' A's (1971–1981)
  • The Green Elephants
  • The Elephants
  • The Green and Gold
Ballpark
Major league titles
World Series titles (9)
AL Pennants (15)
West Division titles (17)
Wild card berths (4)
Front office
Principal owner(s)John Fisher
PresidentDave Kaval
President of baseball operationsBilly Beane
General managerDavid Forst
ManagerMark Kotsay

The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the Oakland A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team plays its home games at the Oakland Coliseum. The nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles that the A's have won throughout their history is the second-highest in the American League after the New York Yankees.

One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the team was founded in Philadelphia in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. They won three World Series championships in 1910, 1911, and 1913, and back-to-back titles in 1929 and 1930. The team's owner and manager for its first 50 years was Connie Mack, and Hall of Fame players included Chief Bender, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Jimmie Foxx, and Lefty Grove. The team left Philadelphia for Kansas City in 1955 and became the Kansas City Athletics before moving to Oakland in 1968. Nicknamed the "Swingin' A's", they won three consecutive World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974, led by players including Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, and owner Charlie O. Finley. After being sold by Finley to Walter A. Haas Jr., the team won three consecutive pennants and the 1989 World Series behind the "Bash Brothers", Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, as well as Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley, Rickey Henderson and manager Tony La Russa. In 2002, the Athletics set the record for most consecutive wins in a season with twenty, an event that would go on to be the pioneering step in the application of sabermetrics in baseball.

Following the California Golden Seals' relocation to Cleveland in 1976, the Golden State Warriors' move across the bay to San Francisco in 2019, and the Oakland Raiders' move to Las Vegas in 2020, the Athletics were left as the sole remaining professional sports team in Oakland. However, on April 20, 2023, the Athletics announced they had entered a land purchase agreement with Red Rock Resort located near Las Vegas, Nevada to build a new ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip, finalizing the Athletics plans to relocate from Oakland and move to the Las Vegas Valley. After the Athletics complete their move, this will leave no professional sports teams within the Oakland city limits, although residents will still have access to professional games by sports teams located in other cities in the metropolitan area. On May 9, 2023, the Athletics switched their planned location in the Las Vegas area to the site of the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel and casino, which will be demolished to construct a 33,000-seat partially retractable ballpark and a 1,500-room hotel and casino. By June 15, 2023, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo signed an MLB stadium funding bill known as SB1 into law after the bill was approved by the Nevada Legislature, and the Athletics officially announced they would begin the relocation process. On November 16, 2023, MLB owners unanimously approved the Athletics' request to relocate to the Las Vegas area.

From 1901 through the end of 2023, the franchise's overall win–loss record is 9,260–9,766–87 (.487). Since moving to Oakland in 1968, the Athletics have an overall win–loss record of 4,545–4,294 (.514) through the end of 2023.

History

The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans from 1901 to the present day, having begun in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 and then to its home in Oakland, California, in 1968. The A's made their Bay Area debut on Wednesday, April 17, 1968, with a 4–1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at the Coliseum, in front of an opening-night crowd of 50,164.

The Athletics' name originated in the term "Athletic Club" for local gentlemen's clubs—dates to 1860 when an amateur team, the Athletic (Club) of Philadelphia, was formed. The team later turned professional through 1875, becoming a charter member of the National League in 1876, but were expelled from the N.L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the American Association from 1882 to 1891.[citation needed]

The familiar blackletter "A" is one of the oldest sports logos still in use. An image in Harper's Weekly with the rival Brooklyn Atlantics shows that the "A" appeared on the original Athletics' uniform as early as 1866.

Elephant mascot

After New York Giants manager John McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the new team, had a "white elephant on his hands", team manager Connie Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and presented McGraw with a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the 1905 World Series. McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously. By 1909, the A's were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters, and in 1918 it turned up on the regular uniform jersey for the first time.[citation needed]

In 1963, when the A's were located in Kansas City, then-owner Charlie Finley changed the team mascot from an elephant to a mule, the state animal of Missouri. This is rumored to have been done by Finley in order to appeal to fans from the region who were predominantly Democrats at the time. (The traditional Republican Party symbol is an elephant, while the Democratic Party's symbol is a donkey.) Since 1988, the Athletics' 21st season in Oakland, an illustration of an elephant has adorned the left sleeve of the A's home and road uniforms. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the on-field costumed incarnation of the A's elephant mascot went by the name Harry Elephante, a play on the name of singer Harry Belafonte. In 1997, he became Stomper, debuting Opening Night on April 2.

Uniforms

Over the seasons, the Athletics' uniforms have paid homage to their amateur forebears. Until 1954, when the uniforms had "Athletics" spelled out in script across the front, the team's name never appeared on either home or road uniforms. Furthermore, neither "Philadelphia" nor the letter "P" appeared on the uniform or cap. The Philadelphia uniform had only a script "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it. In the early days of the American League, the standings listed the club as "Athletic" rather than "Philadelphia", in keeping with the old tradition. Eventually, the city name came to be used for the team, as with the other major league clubs.

After buying the team in 1960, owner Charles O. Finley introduced road uniforms with "Kansas City" printed on them, with an interlocking "KC" on the cap. Upon moving to Oakland, the "A" cap emblem was restored, and in 1970 an "apostrophe-s" was added to the cap and uniform emblem to reflect that Finley was officially changing the team's name to the "A's".

While in Kansas City, Finley changed the team's colors from their traditional red, white and blue to what he termed "Kelly Green, Wedding Gown White and Fort Knox Gold". It was here that he began experimenting with dramatic uniforms to match these bright colors, such as gold sleeveless tops with green undershirts and gold pants. The uniform innovations increased after the team's move to Oakland, which came with the introduction of polyester pullover uniforms.

During their dynasty years in the 1970s, the A's had dozens of uniform combinations with jerseys and pants in all three team colors, and never wore the traditional gray on the road, instead wearing green or gold, which helped to contribute to their nickname of "The Swingin' A's". After the team's sale to the Haas family, the team changed its primary color to a more subdued forest green and began a move back to more traditional uniforms.

The 2023 team wore home uniforms with "Athletics" spelled out in script writing and road uniforms with "Oakland" spelled out in script writing, with the cap logo consisting of the traditional "A" with "apostrophe-s". The home cap, which was also the team's road cap until 1992, is forest green with a gold bill and white lettering. This design was also the basis of their batting helmet, which is used both at home and on the road. The road cap, which initially debuted in 1993, is all-forest green. The first version had the white "A's" wordmark before it was changed to gold the following season. An all-forest green batting helmet was paired with this cap until 2008. In 2014, the "A's" wordmark returned to white but added gold trim.

The Athletics logo (1983–1992)

From 1994 until 2013, the A's wore green alternate jerseys with the word "Athletics" in gold, for both road and home games.

During the 2000s, the Athletics introduced black as one of their colors. They began wearing a black alternate jersey with "Athletics" written in green. After a brief discontinuance, the A's brought back the black jersey, this time with "Athletics" written in white with gold highlights. The cap paired with this jersey is all-black, initially with the green and white-trimmed "A's" wordmark, before switching to a white and gold-trimmed "A's" wordmark. Commercially popular but rarely chosen as the alternate by players, the black uniform was retired in 2011 in favor of a gold alternate jersey.

The gold alternate has "A's" in green trimmed in white on the left chest. With the exception of several road games during the 2011 season, the Athletics' gold uniforms were used as the designated home alternates. A green version of their gold alternates was introduced for the 2014 season, serving as a replacement to the previous green alternates. The new green alternates featured the piping, "A's" and lettering in white with gold trim.

In 2018, as part of the franchise's 50th anniversary since the move to Oakland, the A's wore a kelly green alternate uniform with "Oakland" in white with gold trim, and was paired with an all-kelly green cap. This set was later worn with an alternate kelly green helmet with gold visor. This uniform eventually supplanted the gold alternates by 2019, and in 2022, after the forest green alternate was retired, it became the team's only active alternate uniform.

The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers used it to shorten the name. From 1972 through 1980, the team name was officially "Oakland A's", although the Commissioner's Trophy, given out annually to the winner of baseball's World Series, still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise. According to Bill Libby's Book, Charlie O and the Angry A's, owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with him. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league Oakland Oaks, which were alternatively called the "Acorns". New owner Walter Haas restored the official name to "Athletics" in 1981, but retained the nickname "A's" for marketing. At first, the word "Athletics" was restored only to the club's logo, underneath the much larger stylized-"A" that had come to represent the team since the early days. By 1987, however, the word returned, in script lettering, to the front of the team's jerseys.

Prior to the mid-2010s, the A's had a long-standing tradition of wearing white cleats team-wide (in line with the standard MLB practice that required all uniformed team members to wear a base cleat color), which dated to the Finley ownership. Since the mid-2010s, however, MLB has gradually relaxed its shoe color rules, and several A's players began wearing cleats in non-white colors, such as Jed Lowrie's green cleats.

Home uniform, worn by Sean Doolittle
Road uniform, worn by Frankie Montas
Alternate kelly green uniform, worn by Lou Trivino
Former alternate forest green uniform (2014–2021), worn by Matt Olson
Former alternate gold uniform, worn by Sean Doolittle
Former alternate forest green uniform (1994–2013), worn by Josh Outman
Former alternate black uniform, worn by Gregorio Petit

Ballpark history and future

The Oakland Coliseum—originally the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, and later named as Network Associates, McAfee, Overstock.com/O.co and RingCentral Coliseum—was built as a multi-purpose facility. Louisiana Superdome officials pursued negotiations with Athletics officials during the 1978–79 baseball offseason about moving the Athletics to their facility in New Orleans. The Athletics were unable to break their lease at the Coliseum, and remained in Oakland.

After the Oakland Raiders football team moved to Los Angeles in 1982, many improvements were made to what was suddenly a baseball-only facility. The 1994 movie Angels in the Outfield was filmed in part at the Coliseum, filling in for Anaheim Stadium.

The Coliseum in its original configuration before being enclosed

In 1995, the Raiders moved back to Oakland. The Coliseum was expanded to 63,026 seats. The bucolic view of the Oakland foothills that baseball spectators enjoyed was replaced with a jarring view of an outfield grandstand contemptuously referred to as "Mount Davis" after Raiders' owner Al Davis. Because construction was not finished by the start of the 1996 season, the Athletics were forced to play their first six-game homestand at 9,300-seat Cashman Field in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although official capacity was listed as 43,662 for baseball, seats were sometimes sold in Mount Davis, pushing actual capacity to nearly 60,000. The ready availability of tickets on game day made season tickets a tough sell, while crowds as high as 30,000 often seemed sparse in such a venue. On December 21, 2005, the Athletics announced that seats in the Coliseum's third deck would not be sold for the 2006 season, but would instead be covered with a tarp, and that tickets would no longer be sold in Mount Davis under any circumstances. That effectively reduced capacity to 34,077, making the Coliseum the lowest-capacity stadium in Major League Baseball. Beginning in 2008, sections 316–318 immediately behind home plate were the only third-deck sections open for A's games, which brought the total capacity to 35,067 until 2017, when new team president Dave Kaval took the tarps off of the upper deck, increasing capacity to 47,170. The Athletics were the last MLB team to share a stadium full-time with an NFL team, a situation that ended when the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020.

The Athletics' spring training facility is Hohokam Stadium, in Mesa, Arizona. From 1982 to 2014, their spring training facility was Phoenix Municipal Stadium, in Phoenix, Arizona; they also spent time playing in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Improvements to the Coliseum

Oakland Coliseum, the 5th oldest MLB stadium

New areas

In 2017, the team created an outdoor plaza in the space between the Coliseum and Oracle Arena. The grassy area is open to all ticketed fans, and it features food trucks, seating and games like corn hole for every Athletics home game. The following year, the team introduced The Treehouse, a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) area open to all fans with two full-service bars, standing-room and lounge seating, numerous televisions with pre-game and postgame entertainment. The A's Stomping Ground transformed part of the Eastside Club and the area near the right-field flag poles into a fun and interactive space for kids and families. The inside section features a stage and video wall for interactive events, a digital experience that lets youngsters race their favorite Athletics players, replica team dugouts, a simulated hitting and pitching machine, foosball, and a photo booth. The outside area includes play areas, a grassy seating area, drink rails for parents, and picnic tables, a miniature baseball field and spiderweb play area.[citation needed]

Premium spaces

The team added three new premium spaces, including The Terrace, Lounge Seats, and the Coppola Theater Boxes, to the Coliseum for the 2019 season. The new premium seating options offer fans a high-end game-day experience with luxury amenities. The team also added two new group spaces – the Budweiser Hero Deck and Golden Road Landing – to the Coliseum.[citation needed]

Other additions

In addition, the tarps on the upper deck were removed; a modern version of the beloved mechanical Harvey the Rabbit to deliver the first pitch ball was re-introduced, while the playing surface at the Coliseum was renamed "Rickey Henderson Field". The team held the first free game in MLB history for 46,028 fans on April 17, 2018, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Athletics first game in Oakland. The team tried a new concept in season ticketing in the A's Access plan that involved "general admission access to every home game with a set number of reserved-seat upgrades allotted", which was meant to replace previous attempts at subscription-based services that they tried with Ballpark Pass and Treehouse Pass. On July 21, 2018, the Athletics set a Coliseum record for the largest attendance with a crowd of 56,310 when the team hosted to the San Francisco Giants.

Prior stadium proposals

Oakland

Since the early 2000s, the A's have been in talks with Oakland and other Northern California cities about building a new baseball-only stadium. The team had said it wanted to remain in Oakland. A 2017 plan would have placed a new 35,000 seat A's stadium near Laney College and the Eastlake neighborhood on the site of the Peralta Community College District's administration buildings. The plan was announced by team president Dave Kaval in September 2017. However, three months later, negotiations abruptly ended. On November 28, 2018, the Athletics announced that the team had chosen to build its new 34,000-seat ballpark at the Howard Terminal site at the Port of Oakland. The team also announced its intent to purchase the Coliseum site and renovate it into a tech and housing hub, preserving Oakland Arena and reducing the Coliseum to a low-rise sports park as San Francisco did with Kezar Stadium. In April 2023, the City of Oakland ended discussions with the Athletics organization after the announcement of a new ballpark in Las Vegas, amid widespread claims that the team was not negotiating in good faith and was using the proposed site in Oakland to leverage a better deal in Las Vegas instead of any real intention to stay within the city.

Fremont

In the early 2000s, the A's began contemplating a move to the Warm Springs district of suburban Fremont. Fremont is about 25 miles (40 km) south of Oakland; many nearby residents are already a part of the Athletics fanbase.[citation needed]

On November 7, 2006, the news media announced the Athletics would be leaving Oakland as early as 2010 for a new stadium in Fremont, confirmed the next day by the Fremont City Council. The plan was strongly supported by Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman. The team would have played in Cisco Field, a 32,000-seat, baseball-only facility. The proposed ballpark would have been part of a larger "ballpark village" which would have included retail and residential development. On February 24, 2009, however, Lew Wolff released an open letter announcing the end of his efforts to relocate the A's to Fremont, citing "real and threatened" delays to the project. The project faced opposition from some in the community who thought the relocation of the A's to Fremont would increase traffic problems in the city and decrease property values near the ballpark site.

San Jose

In 2009, the City of San Jose attempted to open negotiations with the team regarding a move to the city. Although land south of Diridon Station would be acquired by the city as a stadium site, the San Francisco Giants' claim on Santa Clara County as part of their home territory would have to be settled before any agreement could be made.

By 2010, San Jose was "aggressively wooing" A's owner Lew Wolff, the city as the team's "best option", but Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said he would await a report on whether the team could move to the area, because of the Giants conflict. In September 2010, 75 Silicon Valley CEOs drafted and signed a letter to Bud Selig urging a timely approval of the move to San Jose. In May 2011, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed sent a letter to Bud Selig asking the commissioner for a timetable of when he might decide whether the A's can pursue this new ballpark, but Selig did not respond.

Selig addressed the San Jose issue via an online town hall forum held in July 2011, saying, "Well, the latest is, I have a small committee who has really assessed that whole situation, Oakland, San Francisco, and it is complex. You talk about complex situations; they have done a terrific job. I know there are some people who think it's taken too long and I understand that. I'm willing to accept that. But you make decisions like this; I've always said, you'd better be careful. Better to get it done right than to get it done fast. But we'll make a decision that's based on logic and reason at the proper time."

On June 18, 2013, the City of San Jose filed suit against Selig, seeking the court's ruling that Major League Baseball may not prevent the Oakland A's from moving to San Jose. Wolff criticized the lawsuit, stating he did not believe business disputes should be settled through legal action.

Most of the city's claims were dismissed in October 2013, but a U.S. District Judge ruled that San Jose could move forward with its claim that MLB illegally interfered with a land agreement between the city and the A's. On January 15, 2015, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the claims were barred by baseball's antitrust exemption, established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1922 and upheld in 1953 and 1972. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo commented that the city would seek a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 5, 2015, the United States Supreme Court rejected San Jose's case.

Planned relocation to Las Vegas

On November 16, 2023, the Athletics' move to Las Vegas was unanimously approved by MLB team owners. According to the team, the stadium will not be completed until 2028. The lease to the Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2024 season. The team has plans to play at the San Francisco Giants' ballpark, Oracle Park, in San Francisco and the Las Vegas Aviators' home, Las Vegas Ballpark, in Summerlin, Nevada, until their home stadium can be completed.

Rivalries

San Francisco Giants

The Bay Bridge Series is the name of a series of games played between (and the rivalry of) the A's and San Francisco Giants of the National League. The series takes its name from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge which links the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. Although competitive, the regional rivalry between the A's and Giants is considered a friendly one with mostly mutual companionship between the fans, as opposed to White Sox–Cubs, or Yankees–Mets games where animosity runs high. Hats displaying both teams on the cap are sold from vendors at the games, and once in a while the teams both dress in original team uniforms from the early era of baseball. The series is also occasionally referred to as the "BART Series" for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system that links Oakland to San Francisco. However, the name "BART Series" has never been popular beyond a small selection of history books and national broadcasters and has fallen out of favor. Bay Area locals almost exclusively refer to the rivalry as the "Battle of the Bay".

Originally, the term described a series of exhibition games played between the two clubs after the conclusion of spring training, immediately prior to the start of the regular season. It was first used to refer to the 1989 World Series in which the Athletics won their most recent championship and the first time the teams had met since they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area (and the first time they had met since the A's also defeated the Giants in the 1913 World Series). Today, it also refers to games played between the teams during the regular season since the commencement of interleague play in 1997. Through the 2021 regular season, the Athletics have won 71 games, and the Giants have won 65 contests.

Through the 2021 season, the A's also have edges on the Giants in terms of overall postseason appearances (21–13), division titles (17–10) and World Series titles (4–3) since both teams moved to the Bay Area, even though the Giants franchise moved there a decade earlier than the A's did.

On March 24, 2018, the Oakland A's announced that for the Sunday, March 25, 2018, exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants, A's fans would be charged $30 for parking and Giants fans would be charged $50. However, the A's stated that Giants fans could receive $20 off if they shout "Go A's" at the parking gates.

In 2018, the Athletics and Giants started battling for a "Bay Bridge" Trophy made from steel taken from the old east span of the Bay Bridge, which was taken down after the new span was opened in 2013. The A's won the inaugural season with the trophy, allowing them to place their logo atop its Bay Bridge stand.

Los Angeles Angels

The A's have held a rivalry with the Los Angeles Angels since their relocation to California and to the AL West in 1969. The A's and Angels have often competed for the division title. The peak of the rivalry was during the early part of the millennium as both teams were perennial contenders. During the 2002 season, the A's famous "Moneyball" tactics led them to a league record 20-game winning streak, knocking the Angels out of the first seed in the division. The A's finished 4 games ahead while the Angels secured the Wild Card berth. Despite the 103-win season for Oakland, they lost to the underdog Minnesota Twins in the ALDS. The Angels beat the heavily favored New York Yankees, then beat the Twins, and then won the 2002 World Series. During the 2004 season, the teams were tied for wins headed into the final week of September with the last three games being played in Oakland against the Angels. Both teams were battling to secure the lowest remaining wild card spot. Oakland lost two of the three games to the Angels, and they were eliminated from the playoff hunt. The Angels were swept in the playoffs by the eventual champion Boston Red Sox. The Athletics lead the series 527–479, and the two teams have yet to meet in the postseason.

Philadelphia Phillies (historic)

The City Series was the name of baseball games played between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League, that ran from 1903 through 1955. After the A's move to Kansas City in 1955, the City Series rivalry came to an end. Since the introduction of interleague play in 1997, the teams have since faced each other during the regular season (with the first games taking place in 2003) but the rivalry had effectively died in the intervening years since the A's left Philadelphia. In 2014, when the A's faced the Phillies in inter-league play at the Oakland Coliseum, the Athletics did not bother to mark the historical connection, going so far as to have a Connie Mack promotion the day before the series while the Texas Rangers were in Oakland.

The first City Series was held in 1883 between the Phillies and the American Association Philadelphia Athletics. When the Athletics first joined the American League, the two teams played each other in a spring and fall series. No City Series was held in 1901 and 1902 due to legal warring between the National League and American League.

Achievements

Awards

  • The Athletics give out an award named the Catfish Hunter Award since 2004 for the most inspirational Athletic.

Hall of Famers

Oakland Athletics Hall of Famers
Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Philadelphia Athletics

Home Run 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

Lou Boudreau

Whitey Herzog
Tommy Lasorda

Satchel Paige

Enos Slaughter

Oakland Athletics

Harold Baines
Orlando Cepeda
Dennis Eckersley *
Rollie Fingers *

Goose Gossage
Rickey Henderson *
Catfish Hunter *

Reggie Jackson *
Tony La Russa
Willie McCovey

Joe Morgan
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines

Don Sutton
Frank Thomas
Billy Williams
Dick Williams

  • Players and managers listed in bold are depicted on their Hall of Fame plaques wearing a Athletics cap insignia.
  • * Philadelphia / Kansas City / Oakland Athletics listed as primary team according to the Hall of Fame

Ford C. Frick Award recipients

Oakland Athletics Ford C. Frick Award recipients
Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Harry Caray
Herb Carneal

Al Helfer
Bill King

By Saam
Lon Simmons

  • Names in bold received the award based primarily on their work as broadcasters for the Athletics.

Retired numbers

The Athletics have retired six numbers, and honored one additional individual with the letter "A". Walter A. Haas, Jr., owner of the team from 1980 until his death in 1995, was honored by the retirement of the letter "A". Of the six players with retired numbers, five were retired for their play with the Athletics and one, 42, was universally retired by Major League Baseball when they honored the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking the color barrier. No A's player from the Philadelphia era has his number retired by the organization. Though Jackson and Hunter played small portions of their careers in Kansas City, no player that played the majority of his years in the Kansas City era has his number retired either. The A's have retired only the numbers of Hall-of-Famers who played large portions of their careers in Oakland. The Athletics have all of the numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930). Dave Stewart was about to have his #34 jersey retired by the Oakland Athletics in 2020, but the ceremony was postponed until further notice, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions were raised if there would be a formal ceremony after no news about a reschedule happened in 2021 before it was announced in April 2022 that Stewart would have his jersey retired on September 11, 2022. Stewart broke the A's tradition in that his number was a re-retirement, as well as his not being in the Hall of Fame.

9
Reggie
Jackson

RF
 
Retired May 22, 2004
24
Rickey
Henderson

LF
 
Retired August 1, 2009
27
Catfish
Hunter

P
 
Retired June 9, 1991
34
Rollie
Fingers

P
 
Retired July 5, 1993
34
Dave
Stewart

P
 
Retired September 11, 2022
43
Dennis
Eckersley

P
 
Retired August 13, 2005
A
Walter A.
Haas, Jr.

Owner
 
Honored
1995
42
Jackie
Robinson

All MLB
 
Retired April 15, 1997

Athletics Hall of Fame

On September 5, 2018, the Athletics held a ceremony to induct seven members into the inaugural class of the team's Hall of Fame. Each member was honored with an unveiling of a painting in their likeness and a bright green jacket. Hunter, who died in 1999, was represented by his widow, while Finley, who died in 1996, was represented by his son. If the team ever gets a new stadium, a physical site will be designated for the Hall of Fame, as the Coliseum does not have enough space for a full-fledged exhibit. In August 2021, it was announced that players Sal Bando, Eric Chavez, Joe Rudi, director of player development Keith Lieppman, and clubhouse manager Steve "Vuc" Vucinich would be part of the class of 2022; in November 2021, Ray Fosse, who had died the previous month, was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2023, to be inducted August 6, featured players Jason Giambi, Carney Lansford and Gene Tenace, and longtime public address announcer Roy Steele.

Key
Bold Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Athletic
Bold Recipient of the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award
Athletics Hall of Fame
Year No. Player Position Tenure
2018 43 Dennis Eckersley P 1987–1995
32, 38, 34 Rollie Fingers P 1968–1976
39, 35, 22, 24 Rickey Henderson LF 1979–1984
1989–1993
1994–1995
1998
27 Catfish Hunter P 1965–1974
9, 44 Reggie Jackson RF 1967–1975
1987
34, 35 Dave Stewart P 1986–1992
1995
Charlie Finley Owner
General Manager
1960–1981
2019 10, 11, 22, 29, 42 Tony La Russa IF
Manager
1963
1968–1971
1986–1995
14, 17, 21, 28, 35 Vida Blue P 1969–1977
19 Bert "Campy" Campaneris SS 1964–1976
25 Mark McGwire 1B 1986–1997
Walter A. Haas, Jr. Owner 1981–1995
2021 City of Oakland Fans 1968–present
2022 30, 3 Eric Chavez 3B 1998–2010
6 Sal Bando 3B 1966–1976
15, 45, 8, 36, 26 Joe Rudi LF / 1B 1967–1976
1982
10 Ray Fosse C
Broadcaster
1973–1975
1986–2021
Keith Lieppman Director of Player Development 1971–present
Steve Vucinich Clubhouse manager 1966–present
2023 16 Jason Giambi LF / 1B 1995–2001
2009
5, 4 Carney Lansford 3B 1983–1992
24, 38, 18 Gene Tenace C / 1B 1969–1976
Roy Steele Public address announcer 1968–2005
2007–2008

Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame

Dave Stewart, Oakland Athletics pitcher from 1986 to 1992 and 1995

17 members of the Athletics organization have been honored with induction into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Athletics in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
No. Player Position Tenure Notes
12 Dusty Baker OF 1985–1986
14, 17, 21, 28, 35 Vida Blue P 1969–1977
19 Bert "Campy" Campaneris SS 1964–1976
12 Orlando Cepeda 1B 1972 Elected mainly on his performance with San Francisco Giants
4, 6, 10, 14 Sam Chapman CF 1938–1941
1945–1951
Born and raised in Tiburon, California
43 Dennis Eckersley P 1987–1995 Grew up in Fremont, California
32, 34, 38 Rollie Fingers P 1968–1976
Walter A. Haas, Jr. Owner 1981–1995 Grew up in San Francisco, California, attended UC Berkeley
24 Rickey Henderson LF 1979–1984
1989–1993
1994–1995
1998
Raised in Oakland, California
27 Catfish Hunter P 1965–1974
9, 31, 44 Reggie Jackson RF 1968–1975
1987
1 Eddie Joost SS
Manager
1947–1954
1954
Born and raised in San Francisco, California
10, 11, 22, 29, 42 Tony La Russa IF
Manager
1963
1968–1971
1986–1995
1, 4 Billy Martin 2B
Manager
1957
1980–1982
Elected mainly on his performance with New York Yankees, Born in Berkeley, California
44 Willie McCovey 1B 1976 Elected mainly on his performance with San Francisco Giants
8 Joe Morgan 2B 1984 Elected mainly on his performance with Cincinnati Reds, raised in Oakland, California
19 Dave Righetti P 1994 Born and raised in San Jose, California
34 Dave Stewart P 1986–1992
1995
Born and raised in Oakland, California

Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame

The Athletics have all of the numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930).

Also, from 1978 to 2003 (except 1983), the Philadelphia Phillies inducted one former Athletic (and one former Phillie) each year into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame at the then-existing Veterans Stadium. 25 Athletics have been honored. In March 2004, after Veterans Stadium was replaced by the new Citizens Bank Park, the Athletics' plaques were relocated to the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, and a single plaque listing all of the A's inductees was attached to a statue of Connie Mack that is located across the street from Citizens Bank Park.

Key
Year Year inducted
Bold Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of the A's
Bold Recipient of the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award
Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame
No. Player Position Tenure Inducted
Frank "Home Run" Baker 3B 1908–1914 1993
Charles "Chief" Bender P 1903–1914 1991
4, 6, 10, 14 Sam Chapman CF 1938–1951 1999
2 Mickey Cochrane C 1925–1933 1982
 — Eddie Collins 2B 1906–1914
1927–1930
1987
Jack Coombs P 1906–1914 1992
5 Jimmy Dykes 3B/2B
Coach
Manager
1918–1932
1940–1950
1951–1953
1984
11 George Earnshaw P 1928–1933 2000
5, 8 Ferris Fain 1B 1947–1952 1997
2, 3, 4 Jimmie Foxx 1B 1925–1935 1979
10 Lefty Grove P 1925–1933 1980
4, 7, 26 "Indian Bob" Johnson LF 1933–1942 1989
1 Eddie Joost SS
Manager
1947–1954
1954
1995
Connie Mack Manager
Owner
1901–1950
1901–1954
1978
9, 27 Bing Miller RF 1922–1926
1928–1934
1998
1, 2, 9, 19 Wally Moses RF 1935–1941
1949–1951
1988
Rube Oldring CF 1906–1916
1918
2003
Eddie Plank P 1901–1914 1985
14 Eddie Rommel P 1920–1932 1996
21, 30 Bobby Shantz P 1949–1954 1994
6, 7, 28, 32 Al Simmons LF
Coach
1924–1932
1940–1941, 1944
1940–1945
1981
10, 15, 21, 35, 38 Elmer Valo RF 1940–1954 1990
Rube Waddell P 1902–1907 1986
12 Rube Walberg P 1923–1933 2002
6, 19, 30 Gus Zernial LF 1951–1954 2001

Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame

Athletics in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
No. Name Position Tenure Inducted Notes
Connie Mack Manager
Owner
1901–1950
1901–1954
2004
2, 3, 4 Jimmie Foxx 1B 1925–1935 2004
10 Lefty Grove P 1925–1933 2005
6, 7, 28, 32 Al Simmons LF
Coach
1924–1932
1940–1941, 1944
1940–1945
2006
2 Mickey Cochrane C 1925–1933 2007
Eddie Collins 2B 1906–1914
1927–1930
2009
21, 30 Bobby Shantz P 1949–1954 2010
5 Jimmy Dykes 3B/2B
Coach
Manager
1918–1932
1940–1950
1951–1953
2011 Born in Philadelphia
Eddie Plank P 1901–1914 2012
Charles "Chief" Bender P 1903–1914 2014
Herb Pennock P 1912–1915 2014 Elected mainly on his performance with New York Yankees
By Saam Broadcaster 1938–1954 2014
4, 7, 26 Bob Johnson LF 1933–1942 2017
Home Run Baker 3B 1908–1914 2019

Team captains

Season-by-season records

The records of the Athletics' last ten seasons in Major League Baseball are listed below.

Season Wins Losses Win % Place Playoffs
2014 88 74 .543 2nd in AL West Lost ALWC vs. Kansas City Royals, 9–8
2015 68 94 .420 5th in AL West
2016 69 93 .426 5th in AL West
2017 75 87 .463 5th in AL West
2018 97 65 .599 2nd in AL West Lost ALWC vs. New York Yankees, 7–2
2019 97 65 .599 2nd in AL West Lost ALWC vs. Tampa Bay Rays, 5–1
2020 36 24 .600 1st in AL West Lost ALDS vs. Houston Astros, 3–1
2021 86 76 .531 3rd in AL West
2022 60 102 .370 5th in AL West
2023 50 112 .309 5th in AL West
10-Year Record 822 858 .489
All-Time Record 9,260 9,766 .487

Philadelphia

Kansas City

Oakland

Roster

40-man roster Non-roster invitees Coaches/Other

Pitchers


Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Designated hitters

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders


Manager

Coaches

60-day injured list


32 active, 8 inactive, 27 non-roster invitees

7-, 10-, or 15-day injured list
* Not on active roster
Suspended list
Roster, coaches, and NRIs updated March 16, 2024
Transactions Depth chart
All MLB rosters

Minor league affiliations

The Oakland Athletics farm system consists of six minor league affiliates.

Class Team League Location Ballpark Affiliated
Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators Pacific Coast League Summerlin, Nevada Las Vegas Ballpark 2019
Double-A Midland RockHounds Texas League Midland, Texas Momentum Bank Ballpark 1999
High-A Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League Lansing, Michigan Jackson Field 2021
Single-A Stockton Ports California League Stockton, California Banner Island Ballpark 2005
Rookie ACL Athletics Arizona Complex League Mesa, Arizona Fitch Park 1988
DSL Athletics Dominican Summer League Boca Chica, Santo Domingo Juan Marichal Complex 1989

Radio and television

As of the 2020 season, the Oakland Athletics have had 14 radio homes. The Athletics' flagship radio station is KNEW and the team has a free live 24/7 exclusive A's station branded as A's Cast to stream the radio broadcast within the Athletics market and other A's programming via iHeartRadio. Going into the 2020 season, the Athletics had a deal with TuneIn for A's Cast and no flagship radio station in the Bay Area but changed their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping fans from attending games. The announcing team features Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo.

Television coverage is exclusively on NBC Sports California. Some A's games air on an alternate feed of NBCS, called NBCS Plus, if the main channel shows a Sacramento Kings or San Jose Sharks game at the same time. On TV, Jenny Cavnar covers play-by-play, and Dallas Braden provides color commentary.

In popular culture

The 2003 Michael Lewis book Moneyball chronicles the 2002 Oakland Athletics season, with a focus on Billy Beane's economic approach to managing the organization under significant financial constraints. Beginning in June 2003, the book remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 18 consecutive weeks, peaking at number 2. In 2011, Columbia Pictures released a film adaptation based on Lewis' book, which featured Brad Pitt playing the role of Beane. On September 19, 2011, the U.S. premiere of Moneyball was held at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, which featured a green carpet for attendees to walk, rather than the traditional red carpet.

The blog that spawned the full-fledged popular sports blog site SBNation was dedicated to the Oakland Athletics.

Eric Shaun Lynch, a former member of The Howard Stern Show's Wack Pack who went by the name "Eric the Actor" (and previously, "Eric the Midget"), was a huge fan of the Athletics and would occasionally talk about them on Stern's show. Following his death in September 2014, the team broadcasters offered a tribute by using Lynch's signature sign off "bye for now" at the end of an Athletics game broadcast. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when American baseball teams were using cutouts of fans to show solidarity in their absence, the Athletics placed a cutout of Lynch among other cutouts of the team's fans.

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ The team's official colors are green and gold, according to the official website of the team's mascot, Stomper.
  2. ^ Six games in April 1996.

This page was last updated at 2024-03-17 10:59 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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