[BigRed75]

The Athletics Franchise
Part 1 - A Philadelphia Story

The team we now know as the green-and-gold Oakland Athletics started out as the Philadelphia Athletics, wearing blue and white. Owned by businessman Ben Shibe and managed by the (already) legendary Connie Mack, the Athletics, like most teams of the time, wore blue and white.

The elephant mascot came from a comment by New York Giants manager John McGraw, who didn't see the wisdom in putting a second team in Philadelphia (especially given the sad-sack nature of the Phillies), and said that Shibe and Mack had a white elephant on their hands. Mack turned the comment around and make it his own - putting an elephant on the uniforms along with the A (the team never used a P) and even giving McGraw a toy elephant when the two teams met in the 1905 World Series.

While the team usually wore a royal blue, there were some other shades, and even black and white from 1924 to 1927. But by 1928, the team would settle into the look that would serve them for nearly 100 years, three cities and numerous color schemes.

#1 - 1901
#2 - 1902 to 1919
#3 - 1920
#4 - 1921 to 1923
#5 - 1924 to 1927