Baseball Way Back: When the A's made their first move
Oakland A's fans had their hearts broken when Major League Baseball owners Thursday voted to allow the A's to flee to Las Vegas in 2028.
But they weren't the first A's fans to grieve the loss of their beloved team.
Nearly 70 years ago, on Nov. 4, 1954, when the team was based in Philadelphia, Connie Mack sold the team to Chicagoan Arnold Johnson, who planned to move the team to Kansas City.
The newspapers reported that Mack, the 91-year-old club founder and longtime manager, signed the final papers from his sick bed.
Johnson announced that Mack and his two sons, Roy and Earle, had sold the team for about $3.5 million.
"Johnson offered too strong a proposition. There was nothing else we could do. Mr. Johnson is a nice man and he won out," Mack's wife, Katherine, said, adding he had edged out a rival Philadelphia group.
Johnson said Earle and Roy would remain in the organization under three-year contracts, while Connie would be named chairman of the board of directors.
Today, the Philadelphia A's - the team was named after a founding member of the NL, the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia - are but a distant memory. But in their prime, they were a perennial powerhouse, winning American League pennants in 1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914 and World Series in 1910, 1911 and 1913.
The team boasted the $100,000 infield of Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry and "Home Run" Baker, as well as hurlers Eddie Plank, Chief Bender and Rube Waddell.
The 1910 pennant winners beat the Chicago Cubs, with the keystone combo of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance, in the World Series.
Spurred in part by escalating salaries brought on by the new Federal League, Mack broke up the team, parting with players like Collins, whom he sold to the White Sox.
But Mack built another dynasty that won three straight pennants in 1929, 1930 and 1931 and two straight World Series in 1929 and 1930 with such stars as Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Cochrane. They beat the Cubs again in the 1929 in a World Series memorable for the unexpected pitching brilliance of 35-year-old Howard Ehmke and costly misplays by Cubs outfielder Hack Wilson.
The Great Depression forced Mack once again to break up his team, dispensing with such players as Al Simmons, Mule Haas and Jimmy Dykes, all of whom wound up with the White Sox.
But Mack, known for managing his team in a suit and directing his players with a scorecard, try as he might, could not build another championship.
Sports writer Oscar Fraley wrote in 1954 that Mack had frequently said his goal was to "win just one more pennant in Philadelphia." Mack was about as far from that goal as possible in his final year as manager, 1950, when the team went 52-102.
When, on Nov. 8, 1954, the American League unanimously approved the sale, league President Will Harridge said: "It is a real pleasure to announce the transfer of this franchise to Kansas City. I'm sure the people there will do a great job of supporting their team, next year, the next year and the next."
Johnson assured fans: "And we'll give Kansas City a winning team if they'll just give us a little time. We have a million dollars to spend on players and we are ready to start spending it."
Mack was on hand for Opening Day in Kansas City in 1955.
The International News Service reported, "Mr. Mack received a tremendous hand when he was helped down the ramp of the 'A's Airliner' at Municipal Airport."
Missouri native and former President Harry S. Truman threw out the first pitch after Mack handed him the ball.
Also on hand was 73-year-old David Bishop of Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
"Bishop didn't miss an opener of the Philadelphia Athletics for 53 years. Townspeople and fellow workers at a Pottstown concrete-products plant chipped in $112 so Bishop could make the trip here," the news service reported.
The A's and their new fans in Kansas City soon faced the reality that winning would prove as elusive there as it did in Philly. The team's next winning season was also the team's first in Oakland, when, in 1968, under manager Bob Kennedy, the team won 82 games and finished sixth.