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The Athletic franchise was formed in 1901, as one of eight charter members of the American League. A.L. President Bancroft (Ban) Johnson recruited former player Connie Mack to run the club. Mack in turn persuaded Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics, a name used by earlier teams in the National Association, National League, and American Association. After John McGraw told reporters that Shibe had a “white elephant” on his hands, Mack adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, though over the years the elephant has appeared in several different colors. The team’s inaugural year saw second baseman Nap Lajoie [la-ZHWAY] lead the league in hitting with a .426 batting average, still an American League record.
The new league recruited many of its players from the existing National League, persuading them to “jump” to the A.L. in defiance of their N.L. contracts. The Athletics as well as the 7 other A.L. teams received a jolt when, on April 21, 1902, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated Nap Lajoie's contract with the Athletics, and ordered him returned to his former team, the N.L. Philadelphia Phillies. This order, though, was only enforceable in the state of Pennsylvania. Lajoie was traded to the Cleveland Broncos (now the Cleveland Indians) and did not set foot on Pennsylvania soil until the National Agreement was signed between the two leagues in 1903.
As a Philadelphia team, the Athletics were either a very good team or a very bad team. In the early years, the A’s won the A.L. pennant six times ( 1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914), winning the World Series in 1910, 1911 and 1913. They won over 100 games in 1911 and 1912, and 99 games in 1914. The team was known for its “$100,000 Infield,” consisting of John "Stuffy" McInnis (1b), Eddie Collins (2b), Frank "Home Run" Baker (3b) and Jack Barry (ss), as well as pitchers Eddie Plank and Charles "Chief" Bender. Plank holds the club record for career victories, with 284.
After the heavily favored A’s lost the 1914 World Series to the underdog Boston Braves in a 4-game sweep, Connie Mack traded, sold or released most of the team’s star players. A third major league, the Federal League, had been formed to begin play in 1915. As the A.L. had done 15 years before, the new league raided existing A.L. and N.L. teams for players. Mack refused to match the offers of the F.L. teams, preferring to rebuild with younger (and less expensive) players. As a result, the Athletics went from a 99-53 (.651) won-loss record and 1st place finish in 1914, to a record of 43-109 (.283) and 8th (last) place in 1915. The team would finish in last place every year after that until 1922, when it finished 7th.
After that, Mack began to build another winner. In 1927 and 1928, the Athletics finished second to the New York Yankees, then won pennants in 1929, 1930 and 1931, winning the World Series in 1929 and 1930. In each of the three years, the A's won over 100 games. There are those who feel the 1929 A’s were the best team in baseball history, even surpassing the 1927 Yankees.
After a second-place finish in 1932 and 3rd in 1933, Mack again sold or traded his best players in order to reduce expenses. The Great Depression had occurred, and declining attendance had drastically reduced the team’s revenues. The Athletics finished 5th in 1934, then last in 1935. Though he intended to rebuild once more, Mack was already 68 years old when the A’s last won the pennant in 1931, and many felt the game was passing him by. Save for a 5th place finish in 1944, the A’s finished in last or next-to-last place every year from 1935- 1946. By now Mack and his immediate family were the team’s sole stockholders, and he had no intention of firing himself.
The 1950 season would be 88-year-old Mack’s 50th and last as A’s manager, a Major League record that will never be broken. During that year the team wore uniforms trimmed in blue and gold, in honor of the Golden Jubilee of "The Grand Old Man of Baseball." However, the team continued to slide, attendance plummeted, and revenues continued to dwindle. Though last minute offers were put on the table to buy the Athletics to keep them in Philadelphia, the American League owners were determined to "solve" the "Philadelphia problem" by moving the team elsewhere. On October 12, 1954, the owners voted to approve the sale of the Athletics to Chicago real estate developer Arnold Johnson , so that he could move the team to Kansas City, Missouri for the 1955 season.
An interesting note is that, except for 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, not once did "Philadelphia" appear on the uniform, nor did the letter "P" appear on the cap or the uniform. The typical uniform had only a stylized "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it.
Connie Mack once said, “You can’t win them all.” The Philadelphia A’s didn’t come close. Though they won 5 World Series and 9 A.L. pennants, their overall record from 1901-1954 was 3,886 games won and 4,239 games lost, for an overall winning percentage of but .478.
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