One of the oldest nicknames in pro sports, the Athletics name goes back to the Philadelphia Athletic Club, which was a popular civic organization in the city dating back to the 19th century.
From 1901 through 1954, the Athletics played in Philadelphia. From 1955 through 1967, the team was in Kansas City. Since 1968, the franchise has represented Oakland.
The A’s have taken their nickname with them to Kansas City and Oakland. The elephant as their logo/mascot came about after Giants’ manager John McGraw called the A’s “white elephants” in 1902. Owner Connie Mack flipped the insult around and adopted the white elephant as part of the team persona. It survives today, which leaves a lot of fans wondering why a baseball team called the A’s has an elephant on their uniform.
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Yes, that is clearly what they are doing. My article isn’t about WHY the mistakes are happening, it’s an examination of how Google is offering bad data.
Our rankings are not predicated on judgment of whether a player is worthy of this or that. We have included any player from MLB history. But we discount pitchers who we believe used PEDs. It really only impacts a handful of pitchers: Clemens, Pettitte, Kevin Brown, Pettitte.