When Ban Johnson decided to turn the American League into a major league for 1901, he gave his friend Cornelius McGillicuddy $50,000 and a mandate to establish an A.L. club in Philadelphia.  McGillicuddy, better known to the world as Connie Mack, had managed the Milwaukee franchise in Johnson's Western League for several years in the 1890s. He secured land for a venue, to be known as Columbia Park, and set about acquiring players with himself as 1/4 owner of the club (other owners included the local Shibe family who ran a sporting goods business). The name "Athletics" was selected to pay homage to the city's first professional club of the same name that played in the National Association in the 1870s. In time for opening day, 1901, Mack scored a coup by persuading Nap LaJoie to jump from the cross-town Phillies for higher pay.  His initial difficulties in finding land to build a stadium prompted Baltimore's John McGraw to quip that the Athletics would be the "white elephants" of the league - imagery the club has used in its logos ever since.  

Mack assumed the role of field manager in 1901, and remained in that post for exactly 50 years.  During that time, the  Athletics (informally referred to as simply the "A's" from their earliest days) had periods of greatness (1910-1914, 1929-1931) as well as spans of woe (1915-1923, 1935-1954).  By 1950, after control of the club had passed largely to Mack's sons, the team was a wreck.  The next few seasons brought malaise and offers to purchase and move the club.  The winner was Arnold Johnson, who moved the team to Kansas City for 1955. 

In Kansas City, the A's served mostly as a glorified farm club for the Yankees.  Owner Johnson owned Yankee Stadium and had close relationships with Yankee brass.  Further, K.C. had already been the home of the Yankees' top farm club for years.  For the duration of Johnson's ownership many prospects were traded to New York in return for neglible returns - among them Roger Maris, Ryne Duren, Clete Boyer and Bobby Shantz.   The team never sniffed .500, and after Johnson died during spring training in 1960, Indiana insurance executive Charles Finley stepped in and purchased the club.   

Finley proved to be the sort of owner that would make George Steinbrenner blush.  He regularly, and often wrecklessly, involved himself in all aspects of the team's business, both off the field and on, to include calling managers in the dugout to dictate strategy.   And, by at least 1963, he had eyes on moving the club to Oakland.  For a variety of reasons, the actual move didn't occur until 1968, by which time Finley had so antagonized the city of Kansas City that the league had to promise the city an expansion franchise by 1969 to avoid legal action.  

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In something of an irony, most of the players that would lead Oakland to 5 straight post-season appearances and 3 consecutive titles in the 1970s were already playing for the A's, at either the major or minor league level, when the team decamped for the Bay Area.  The club's dominance in the early and mid-1970s was followed by a period of wretchedness, redeemed only by the club's out-of-nowhere play-off run in 1981 under Billy Martin.  Finley was gone after 1980 and new ownership developed the club into a dominant team by the end of the decade - although they would lose 2 World Series in which they were heavily favored by a cumulative total of 8 games to 1.   Since that time, despite some missteps, low revenue and a dismal facility, they have more often than not fielded a competitive club, thanks in large part to the Moneyball philosophy which developed under general manager Billy Beane, until they bottomed out in 2022, leading to a probable move to Las Vegas.      

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The main purpose of this page is to illustrate those players, managers and coaches who have been the most prominent in the franchise's history.  Links below will take you to galleries highlighting each, by position.  Generally, an individual is included if he spent at least 2 full seasons (consecutive or cumulative) as a starter, relief pitcher, closer or manager. For coaches, I've generally used 5 years of service as the bar.  None of this is scientific, though, so there are exceptions.  Where possible and practical, I used pictures of actual baseball cards because that it is the medium through which I, and I suppose many others, first discovered the game. Where necessary, I designed my own images.  Images of actual baseball cards were obtained at the Card Cyber Museum, and for my own designs I used photos found at host of different sites, but none moreso than the wonderful forum at Out of the Park Developments.  

I claim no rights to, or ownership of, any of the photographic images I've used on these pages.   You are welcome to use them yourself.  All I ask is that that if you use any of my personal creations, you give credit to this site.