The Corning Royals were a minor league baseball team located in Corning, New York . The team played in the New York–Penn League . Their home stadium was Corning Memorial Stadium .
115-575: In contrast to most other New York–Penn teams, the Corning franchise never developed its own brand or identity, always naming itself after its parent club; even in the one year the team had no major league affiliation, instead of establishing a name for itself, it simply referred to itself as the Independents. The team was first founded in 1951 as the Corning Athletics or Corning A's as an affiliate of
230-652: A best-of-nine affair matching that year's pennant winners – the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NL and Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox ) of the AL – has come to be regarded as the 1903 World Series . It had been arranged well in advance by the two club owners, as both teams were league leaders by large margins. Boston upset Pittsburgh by five games to three, winning with pitching depth behind Cy Young and Bill Dinneen and with
345-524: A .344 average) and 1952 (with a .320 average). His 1952 batting crown remains the last time an Athletic has led the league in hitting. Joost was a solid fielder who had a good eye at the plate for generating walks and had an above-average on-base percentage as a result. All four players represented the American League in the All-Star Game. Shantz might have won 30 games his best year 1952 but was hurt by
460-467: A 30-day option to buy out Connie Jr. and the Shibe's before the team was put on the market. Connie Jr. did not think Roy and Earle could get the $ 1.74 million required to buy him out, but Roy and Earle called their bluff by mortgaging the team to Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (now part of CIGNA ) and pledging Shibe Park as collateral. The mortgage deal closed on August 26. The shares of Connie Jr. and
575-481: A 3–4 pattern due to World War II travel restrictions; in 1944 , the normal pattern was followed because both teams were based in the same home ballpark. Gambling and game-fixing had been a problem in professional baseball from the beginning; star pitcher Jim Devlin was banned for life in 1877 when the National League was just two years old. Baseball's gambling problems came to a head in 1919, when eight players of
690-585: A 7–6 Red Sox victory. The National and American Leagues operated under essentially identical rules until 1973, when the American League adopted the designated hitter (DH) rule, allowing its teams to use another hitter to bat in place of the (usually) weak-hitting pitcher. The National League did not adopt the DH rule. This presented a problem for the World Series, whose two contestants would now be playing their regular-season games under different rules. From 1973 to 1975,
805-637: A Dodgers team trailing 4–3 in the ninth. After getting the first two outs, Eckersley walked Mike Davis of the Dodgers, who were playing without Gibson, their best position player and the NL MVP. Gibson had injured himself in the NLCS and was expected to miss the entire World Series. Yet, despite not being able to walk without a noticeable limp, Gibson surprised all in attendance at Dodger Stadium (and all watching on TV) by pinch-hitting. After two quick strikes and then working
920-495: A century (until the 2016 season) for their next trophy. They did not appear in the World Series from 1945 until 2016, the longest drought of any MLB club. The New York Yankees purchased Babe Ruth 's contract from the Boston Red Sox after the 1919 season, appeared in their first World Series two years later in 1921 , and became frequent participants thereafter. The 1921 World Series was the first to be broadcast on radio. Over
1035-413: A coach earlier in the year, was named general manager, stripping Connie Sr. of his last direct authority over baseball matters. Ultimately, the A's finished with the worst record in the majors at 52–102, 46 games out of first. Mack's 50-year tenure is a North American professional sports record for manager/head coach that has never been threatened. Unfortunately for the A's, the team continued to slide on
1150-456: A criminal conspiracy trial. Meanwhile, to deal with the fallout from the scandal baseball owners had agreed to reform the discredited National Commission. However, when they offered esteemed federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis a role on the reformed Commission, he quickly made clear he would only accept an appointment as the sole Commissioner of Baseball with virtually unchecked authority over
1265-453: A few months later, leaving the presidency to Mack. When John died on July 11, 1937, Mack bought enough shares from the Shibe estate to become majority owner. However, Mack had been the franchise's number-one man since Ben Shibe's death. Even as bad as the A's got during this time, Mack retained full authority over business and baseball matters. Long after most teams hired a general manager, Mack continued making all personnel decisions and leading
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#17328905687461380-432: A few more years, as the team finished second in 1932 and third in 1933. Mack was already 68 years old when the A's won the pennant in 1931, and many felt that the game had long since passed him by. Although he had every intention of building another winner, he did not have the extra money to get big stars. He also did not (or could not) invest in a farm system. Unlike most other owners, Mack had no source of income apart from
1495-557: A high of fifteen in 1887 (Detroit beat St. Louis ten games to five). Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game. The series was promoted and referred to as "The Championship of the United States", "World's Championship Series", or "World's Series" for short. In his book Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 , Simon Winchester mentions in passing that
1610-714: A high-collar shirt, tie, ascot scarf, and a straw boater hat instead of a uniform, a look that he never changed for the rest of his life, even decades after it went out of fashion. This came at the price of Mack not being allowed on-field during games per league regulations. By the latter half of the 1920s, Mack had assembled one of the most feared batting orders in the history of baseball, featuring three future Baseball Hall of Fame members. At its heart were Al Simmons , who batted .334 and hit 307 home runs over his major league career, Jimmie Foxx , who hit 30 or more home runs in 12 consecutive seasons and drove in more than 100 runs in 13 consecutive years, and Mickey Cochrane , one of
1725-879: A local company called Shibe Vintage Sports sells retro Philadelphia Athletics gear. By 2022 , the Athletics franchise had played in Oakland, California longer than Philadelphia. In 2023, the team announced its intention to move to Las Vegas , Nevada effective in 2028. In 2024 the team announced that it would move to West Sacramento for the 2025–2027 seasons. Home Run Baker * Chief Bender * Ty Cobb Mickey Cochrane * Eddie Collins Jimmy Collins Stan Coveleski Elmer Flick Nellie Fox Jimmie Foxx * Lefty Grove * Waite Hoyt George Kell Nap Lajoie Connie Mack * Herb Pennock Eddie Plank * Al Simmons * Tris Speaker Rube Waddell * Zack Wheat The Athletics have all of
1840-520: A period of 45 years from 1920 to 1964, the Yankees played in 29 World Series championships, winning 20. The team's dynasty reached its apex between 1949 and 1964 when the Yankees reached the World Series 14 times in 16 years, helped by an agreement with the Kansas City Athletics , after that team moved from Philadelphia during 1954–1955 offseason, whereby the teams made several deals advantageous to
1955-435: A pitched ball on the wrist and was finished for the season. By the summer of 1954, it was obvious that the A's were on an irreversible slide into bankruptcy. Earle and Roy decided that there was no choice but to sell their father's beloved team, and it was with great sorrow that the old man gave his approval for the sale. Although several offers were put forward by Philadelphia interests, American League president Will Harridge
2070-490: A telephone in the dugout and instead would use a series of obtuse hand signs to signal his coaches on the field. According to infielder Ferris Fain , "He'd fall asleep for much of the game waving his score card, but he still had a few working nerve endings left in his big ol' neck waddle. Anyone who dared wake him up was subjected to a hasty trial by the team's kangaroo court." For the most part, Mack's coaches handled in-game operations. Nonetheless, despite calls inside and outside
2185-451: A year earlier—proved more difficult, but the Phillies reluctantly bought it. The American League owners met again on November 8, and duly approved Johnson's bid to buy the A's. Johnson's first act was to request permission to move to Kansas City. This proved more difficult, since it required a three-fourths majority. However, Detroit owner Spike Briggs was persuaded to change his vote, ending
2300-618: Is remembered for the iconic home run by the Los Angeles Dodgers' Kirk Gibson with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1. The Dodgers were huge underdogs against the 104-win Oakland Athletics, who had swept the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. Baseball's top relief pitcher, Dennis Eckersley , closed out all four games in the ALCS, and he appeared ready to do the same in Game 1 against
2415-642: Is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best-of-seven playoff , is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy . The series is traditionally played in October, although before expansion of the regular-season schedule from 154 to 162 games
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#17328905687462530-590: The 1905 Series and beat the Philadelphia Athletics four games to one. Since then the Series has been held every year except 1994, when it was canceled due to a players' strike . The name of the event, initially known as the World's Championship Series, was gradually shortened in common usage to "World's Series" and, by the 1930s, to "World Series". The list of postseason rules evolved over time. From 1919 to 1921 ,
2645-557: The Chicago White Sox for $ 100,000. In December 1933 , Mack sent Grove, Rube Walberg and Max Bishop to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Kline , Rabbit Warstler and $ 125,000. Also in 1933, he sold Cochrane to the Detroit Tigers for $ 100,000. The construction of a spite fence at Shibe Park, blocking the view from nearby buildings, only served to irritate potential paying fans. However, the consequences did not become apparent for
2760-713: The Chicago White Sox were alleged to have conspired to throw the 1919 World Series . The Sox had won the Series in 1917 and were heavy favorites to beat the Cincinnati Reds in 1919, but first baseman Chick Gandil had other plans. Gandil, in collaboration with gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, approached his teammates and got six of them to agree to throw the Series: starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams , shortstop Swede Risberg , left fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson , center fielder Happy Felsch , and utility infielder Fred McMullin . Third baseman Buck Weaver knew of
2875-555: The Cincinnati Reds . The 1985 Kansas City Royals won the series four games to three over the St. Louis Cardinals. The key turning point of the series was a Kansas City win in Game Six aided by a controversial call by Don Denkinger at first base. Kansas City later won Game Seven 11–0 to take the series. The series is best remembered for its Game 6, which saw the Mets rally from a two-run deficit in
2990-578: The Kansas City Athletics . Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland Athletics . Beginning in 2025 they will temporarily play in Sacramento, California , and plan to relocate to Las Vegas permanently in 2028. The Philadelphia Athletics had an overall win–loss record of 3,886–4,248–79 (.478) during their 54 years in Philadelphia. Eight former Philadelphia Athletics players were elected to
3105-484: The National Baseball Hall of Fame . The Western League was renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Bancroft (Ban) Johnson and declared itself the second major league in 1901. Johnson created new franchises in the east and eliminated some franchises in the west. Philadelphia was given a new franchise to compete with the National League's Philadelphia Phillies . Former catcher Connie Mack
3220-620: The New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals , did not win their first championship until the 1920s; and three of the teams that were highly successful prior to 1920 (the Boston Red Sox , Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs ) went the rest of the 20th century without another World Series win. The Red Sox and White Sox finally won again in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Cubs had to wait over
3335-572: The Oakland Athletics , and 1998 to 2000 by the Yankees. In an 18-year span from 1947 to 1964, except for 1948 and 1959, the World Series was played in New York City, featuring at least one of the three teams located in New York at the time. The Dodgers and Giants moved to California after the 1957 season, leaving the Yankees as the lone team in the city until the Mets were enfranchised in 1962. In 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1956, both teams in
3450-635: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated Lajoie's contract with the Athletics, and ordered him back to the Phillies. This order, though, was only enforceable in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . Lajoie was sold to Cleveland, but was kept out of road games in Philadelphia until the National Agreement was signed between the two leagues in 1903. Columbia Park was the Athletics first home. They played there from their founding in 1901 through
3565-576: The Philadelphia Athletics . In 1953 the team had no major league affiliation and was called the Corning Independents . However the team began and affiliation with the Boston Red Sox and were known as the Corning Red Sox each year until 1960, with the exception of 1959, when they were named the Corning Cor-Sox . The team then went inactive until 1968 when the city became an affiliate of
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3680-683: The Pittsburgh Pirates , in 1971 and 1979, who defeated the Baltimore Orioles both times. The less successful side during this era also featured repeats. The Orioles themselves made multiple World Series appearances, including three consecutive: 1969, losing to the "amazing" seven-year-old franchise New York Mets , 1970, beating the Reds in their first World Series appearance of the decade, and their 1971 and 1979 defeats by Pittsburgh. The Los Angeles Dodgers lost to Oakland in 1974, and made back-to-back World Series appearances in 1977 and 1978, both losses to
3795-410: The best-of-nine format first used in 1903 was employed. In 1925 , Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets persuaded others to adopt as a permanent rule the 2–3–2 home game pattern first used in 1924 . Previously, the pattern had been to alternate by game or to make another arrangement convenient to both clubs. The 2–3–2 pattern has been used ever since save for the 1943 and 1945 World Series , which followed
3910-529: The fall or autumn season in North America, it is often referred to as the Fall Classic . Before the AL and NL were split into divisions in 1969, the team with the best regular-season win–loss record in each league won its pennant and advanced to the World Series, barring a tie necessitating a pennant playoff . Since then each league has conducted a League Championship Series ( ALCS and NLCS ) preceding
4025-407: The "Greatest of All Time" in their "World Series 100th Anniversary" countdown, with five of its games being decided by a single run, four games decided in the final at-bat and three games going into extra innings. The series was also notable for both participants having finished last in their divisions the year prior; no last place team before had ever finished first, let alone reached the World Series,
4140-621: The "inferiority" of the upstart American League. John McGraw , the Giants' manager, even went so far as to say that his Giants were already "world champions" since they were the champions of the "only real major league". At the time of the announcement, their new cross-town rivals, the New York Highlanders (now the New York Yankees ), were leading the AL, and the prospect of facing the Highlanders did not please Giants management. Boston won on
4255-403: The 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between split season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the first-place club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–1897,
4370-711: The 1908 season, and it was the venue of their two home games in the 1905 World Series . In the early years, the A's established themselves as one of the dominant teams in the new league, winning the A.L. pennant six times (1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913, and 1914), and winning the World Series in 1910, 1911, and 1913. They won over 100 games in 1910 and 1911, and 99 games in 1914. The team was known for its " $ 100,000 infield ," consisting of Stuffy McInnis ( first base ), Eddie Collins ( second base ), Jack Barry ( shortstop ), and Frank "Home Run" Baker ( third base ) as well as pitchers Eddie Plank and Chief Bender . Rube Waddell
4485-415: The 1953–54 offseason, when they slashed over $ 100,000 from the player payroll, fired general manager Arthur Ehlers and replaced Dykes as manager with shortstop Eddie Joost . They also pared down the minor-league system to only six clubs. However, even with these measures, there still wasn't nearly enough money coming in to service the mortgage debt, and Roy and Earle began feuding with each other. Despite
4600-513: The A's 54-year stay in Philadelphia. The Athletics played the Phillies for the first time in interleague play in June 2003 at Veterans Stadium . The Phillies invited former A's Eddie Joost and Gus Zernial to the games. Connie Mack's daughter Ruth Mack Clark attended the first game. Former Florida U.S. Senator Connie Mack III , Mack's grandson, threw out the first ball. In turn, the Phillies played
4715-536: The A's had been sold to a Philadelphia-based group headed by auto dealer John Crisconi, with Roy having an option to buy a minority stake. The deal was to be approved at an American League owners' meeting on October 28. It looked headed for approval when rumors (reportedly planted by the Yankees) cropped up that the Crisconi group was underfinanced, and Johnson collared Roy Mack at Roy's home to persuade him that his original deal
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4830-469: The A's later on. During this time, Shibe Park was also becoming an increasing liability. While the facility had been state of the art when it opened in 1909, by the late 1940s, it had not been well maintained in some time. It was also not suited to automobile traffic, having been designed before the Ford Model T was introduced. To the surprise of most people in baseball, Mack managed not only to get out of
4945-447: The A's midway through the 1938 season, not enough revenue came in for Mack to build another winner. By the mid-1940s, as Mack passed his 80th birthday, he was showing unmistakable signs of mental deterioration, almost to the point of senility. He would frequently sleep through innings, make bad calls that his coaches simply ignored, have inexplicable fits of anger, or call players from decades earlier to pinch-hit. Mack also never installed
5060-454: The A's, so the dwindling attendance figures of the early 1930s hit him especially hard. As a result, the A's went into a decline that lasted for over 30 years, through three cities. The Athletics finished fifth in 1934, then last in 1935. Except for a fifth-place finish in 1944, they finished in last or next-to-last place every year through 1946. Tom Shibe died in 1936 and John succeeded him as club president. However, John resigned due to illness
5175-523: The AL team winning 68 times and the NL team 52. Before 1882, when the American Association was formed as a second major league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871–1875) and then the National League (founded 1876) represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. All championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of
5290-526: The American League and Mack's tenure as manager of the A's—would bring a pennant at last. 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 1950 season was an unmitigated disaster. They were only above .500 once all season (at 3–2), and a 5–17 May ended any hope of contention. Before May was out, Mack's sons had agreed to ease their father out as manager. On May 26, it
5405-507: The Athletics in Oakland in June 2005. The A's invited Eddie Joost to throw out the first pitch before the series opening game on June 17, 2005. In 2011 the Athletics visited the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park for an interleague series in which the Phillies took two out of three games. There remains a level of nostalgia for the Athletics in the Philadelphia region. A Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society exists with an active website, and
5520-439: The Athletics lost the 1914 World Series to the "Miracle Braves" in a four-game sweep. Mack traded, sold or released most of the team's star players soon after. In his book To Every Thing a Season , Bruce Kuklick points out that there were suspicions that the A's had thrown the Series, or at least "laid down," perhaps in protest of Mack's frugal ways. Mack himself alluded to that rumor years later, but debunked it. He claimed that
5635-489: The Bay Area and killed 63 people. Television viewers saw the video signal deteriorate and heard Michaels say "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth--" before the feed from Candlestick Park was lost. Fans filing into the stadium saw Candlestick sway visibly during the quake. Television coverage later resumed, using backup generators, with Michaels becoming a news reporter on the unfolding disaster. Approximately 30 minutes after
5750-614: The Curse of the Bambino superstition used to explain the Red Sox's championship drought after the 1918 World Series. The 1987 Minnesota Twins became the first team in the history of the World Series to win the championship by winning all 4 games they hosted when they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. They repeated this 4 years later in 1991 when they defeated the Atlanta Braves. The 1988 World Series
5865-474: The DH rule was used in all World Series games, regardless of home team. The 1984 Detroit Tigers gained distinction as just the third team in major league history (after the 1927 New York Yankees and 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers) to lead a season wire-to-wire, from opening day through their World Series victory. In the process, Tigers skipper Sparky Anderson became the first manager to win a World Series title in both leagues, having previously won in 1975 and 1976 with
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#17328905687465980-412: The New York and Philadelphia dynasties were remarkably even: The Athletics had a record of 313–143 (.686) between 1929 and 1931; the Yankees, 302–160 (.654) between 1926 and 1928. And while the Athletics scored six fewer runs than the Yankees (2,710–2,716), the Athletics had five fewer runs scored against them (1,992–1,997), a combined difference of only one run. The Yankees had the best single season at
6095-486: The Shibes were retired, ending the Shibes' half-century involvement with the A's and making Connie Sr., Roy and Earle the team's only shareholders. Although his father remained nominal owner and team president, Roy, who had been vice president since 1936, now became operating head of the franchise, sharing day-to-day control with Earle. However, under the terms of the mortgage, the A's were now saddled with payments of $ 200,000 over
6210-565: The World Series did not include a DH. Starting in 1976, the DH rule was used in the World Series held in even-numbered years. The Cincinnati Reds swept the 1976 Series in four games, using the same nine-man lineup in each contest. Dan Driessen was the Reds' DH during the series, thereby becoming the National League's first designated hitter. From 1986 to 2019, and in 2021, the DH was used only in World Series games played at American League parks, and pitchers were required to bat in games played at National League parks. In 2020, and starting in 2022,
6325-461: The World Series to determine which teams will advance, while those series have been preceded in turn by Division Series ( ALDS and NLDS ) since 1995, and Wild Card games or series in each league since 2012. Until 2002, home-field advantage in the World Series alternated from year to year between the AL and NL. From 2003 to 2016, home-field advantage was given to the league that won that year's All-Star Game . Starting in 2017, home-field advantage
6440-463: The World Series was named for the New York World newspaper, but this view is disputed. The 19th-century competitions are, however, not officially recognized as part of World Series history by Major League Baseball , as it considers 19th-century baseball to be a prologue to the modern baseball era. As late as approximately 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on an equal basis with
6555-467: The World Series were from New York, with the Yankees playing against either the Dodgers or Giants. In 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants took their long-time rivalry to the west coast, moving to Los Angeles and San Francisco , respectively, bringing Major League Baseball west of St. Louis and Kansas City . The Dodgers were the first of the two clubs to contest a World Series on
6670-483: The Yankees' far more exalted status in history is due largely to the fact that they played in New York, where most of the national media is located. As it turned out, this would be the Athletics' last hurrah in Philadelphia. The Great Depression was well under way, and declining attendance drastically reduced the team's revenues. Mack again sold or traded his best players in order to reduce expenses. In September 1932 , he sold Simmons, Jimmy Dykes and Mule Haas to
6785-436: The Yankees, until ended by new Athletics' owner Charles O. Finley. During that span, the Yankees played in all World Series except 1954 and 1959 , winning nine of them. From 1949 to 1953, the Yankees won the World Series five years in a row; from 1936 to 1939 the Yankees won four World Series Championships in a row. There are only two other occasions when a team has won at least three consecutive World Series: 1972 to 1974 by
6900-536: The Yankees. Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is regarded by most as one of the greatest World Series games ever played. It found the Boston Red Sox winning in the 12th inning in Fenway Park , defeating the Cincinnati Reds to force a seventh and deciding game. The game is best remembered for its exciting lead changes, nail-biting turns of events, and a game-winning walk-off home run by Carlton Fisk , resulting in
7015-568: The best win–loss record at the end of the regular season. A structured playoff series began in 1969 when both the National and American Leagues were reorganized into two divisions each, East and West. The two division winners within each league played each other in a best-of-five League Championship Series to determine who would advance to the World Series. In 1985, the format changed to best-of-seven. The National League Championship Series (NLCS) and American League Championship Series (ALCS), since
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#17328905687467130-439: The best-hitting catchers in baseball history. A fourth future Hall of Fame member was pitcher Lefty Grove , who led the American League in strikeouts seven years in a row, and had the league's lowest earned run average a record nine times. 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
7245-414: The bottom of the 10th inning, despite having two outs and no one on base. The Red Sox, who held a 3–2 series lead, were twice one strike away from securing the championship, but failed to close out the inning as the Mets tie on a Bob Stanley wild pitch & win off an error by Boston first baseman Bill Buckner. Due to the Mets claiming the series in Game 7, the Game 6 collapse entered baseball lore as part of
7360-426: The business side, leaving the baseball side to Mack. Although Mack only held the titles of vice president and secretary-treasurer, for all intents and purposes he was now the head of the franchise and would remain so for the next three decades. By this time, Mack had cemented his famous image of the tall, gaunt and well-dressed man waving his players into position with a scorecard. Unlike most managers, he chose to wear
7475-430: The cellar in 1947, but actually finished with a winning record for the first time in 14 years. They contended for much of 1948, even managing to spend 49 days in first place. However, the turning point came on June 13, when pitcher Nels Potter , who had been a solid middle reliever for most of the season, blew a three-run lead in the first game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns . An enraged Mack ordered him off
7590-448: The count full, Gibson hit a home run to right, inspiring iconic pronouncements by two legendary broadcasters calling the game, Vin Scully (on TV) and Jack Buck (on radio). On NBC, after Gibson limped around the bases, Scully famously exclaimed, "The impossible has happened!" and on radio, Buck equally famously exclaimed, "I don't believe what I just saw!" Gibson's home run set the tone for
7705-478: The earthquake, Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the game to be postponed. Fans, workers, and the teams evacuated a blacked-out (although still sunlit) Candlestick. Game 3 was finally played on October 27, and Oakland won that day and the next to complete a four-game sweep. The 1991 World Series saw the Minnesota Twins defeating the Atlanta Braves four games to three to win the championship. ESPN selected it as
7820-450: The event occasionally started in late September (most recently in 1955 ) and the entire 1918 series took place early in that month due to the World War I "Work or Fight" order forcing an early end to that year's regular season, while some more recent editions have been played into November due to in-season delays and expansion of earlier postseason rounds. Because the series is played in
7935-460: The existing National League, persuading them to "jump" to the American League in defiance of their contracts. One of the players who jumped to the new league was second baseman Nap Lajoie , formerly of the Crosstown Phillies. He won the A.L.'s first batting title with a .426 batting average, still a league record. The Athletics and the American League received a setback when, on April 21, 1902,
8050-578: The expansion Kansas City Royals , and was named the Corning Royals before folding again in 1969. This article about a baseball team in New York is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri , and became
8165-408: The expansion to best-of-seven, are always played in a 2–3–2 format: Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 are played in the stadium of the team that has home-field advantage, and Games 3, 4, and 5 are played in the stadium of the team that does not. Night games were played in the major leagues beginning with the Cincinnati Reds in 1935, but the World Series remained a strictly daytime event for years thereafter. In
8280-429: The field. Although the 1949 team set a major league record for double plays which still stands, this was more a reflection of the team's poor pitching staff allowing too many base runners . They would have only one winning record from 1951 to 1954—a fourth-place finish in 1952. The nadir came in 1954, when the A's finished with a ghastly 51–103 record, easily the worst record in baseball and 60 games out of first. At
8395-414: The fifth and final game of the 1949 World Series , a Series game was finished under the lights for the first time due to encroaching darkness in the ninth inning. The first scheduled night World Series game was Game 4 of the 1971 World Series at Three Rivers Stadium . Afterward, World Series games were frequently scheduled at night, when television audiences were larger. Game 6 of the 1987 World Series
8510-473: The first five years, depriving them of badly needed capital that could have been used improving the team and the park. Throughout the early 1950s, attendance plummeted, and there was nowhere near enough revenue to service the mortgage debt. In response, Roy and Earle began cutting costs even further. They turned over the rent from the Phillies to Connecticut General and took cash advances from their concessions contractor. The cost-cutting ramped up even further in
8625-403: The fix but declined to participate, hitting .324 for the series from 11 hits and committing no errors in the field. The Sox, who were promised $ 100,000 for cooperating, proceeded to lose the best-of-nine series in eight games, pitching poorly, hitting poorly and making many errors. Though he took the money, Jackson insisted to his death that he played to the best of his ability in the series (he
8740-401: The following year. The series-deciding seventh game was a scoreless tie (0–0) through the regular nine innings, and went into extra innings; Minnesota won by a score of 1–0 in the 10th inning, after their starting pitcher, Jack Morris , pitched a complete 10 inning shutout 7th game. (Morris was named Most Valuable Player for the Series.) With 69 innings in total, the 1991 World Series shares
8855-405: The game. The owners agreed. Immediately after and notwithstanding the acquittals, Landis banned all of the players involved (including Weaver) for life. The White Sox would not win a World Series again until 2005 . The events of the 1919 Series, segueing into the "live ball" era , marked a point in time of change of the fortunes of several teams. The two most prolific World Series winners to date,
8970-411: The last day of the season, and the leagues had previously agreed to hold a World's Championship Series in 1904, but it was not binding, and Brush stuck to his original decision. In addition to political reasons, Brush also cited a number of legitimate grievances, including the lack of rules under which revenue would be split, where games would be played, and how they would be operated and staffed. During
9085-547: The league champions played the runners-up in the postseason championship series called the Temple Cup . A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, which was played only once, in 1900. In 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and American Leagues fought each other for business supremacy (in 1902,
9200-651: The numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930). Also, from 1978 to 2003 (except 1983), the Philadelphia Phillies inducted one former Athletic (and one former Phillie) each year into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame at
9315-514: The organization to step down, Mack would not even consider firing himself. Also during this time, Mack gave minority stakes in the team to his sons, Roy , Earle and Connie Jr. Although Connie Jr. was nearly 20 years younger than Roy and Earle (he was the son of Connie Sr.'s second marriage), Mack intended to have all three of them inherit the team upon his death. He also intended for Earle, who had been assistant manager since 1924, to succeed him as manager. This decision would have dire consequences for
9430-507: The other. Connie Jr., like many A's fans, had become disenchanted with his brothers' bargain-basement approach to running the team. However, Roy and Earle were not willing to modernize and refused to listen to their younger half-brother, whom they considered a mere child with no relevant opinion. Compounding their disagreements was that they had different mothers. When it was apparent that Roy and Earle would not consider making what he considered to be critical reforms, Connie Jr. and his mother (who
9545-465: The plate, hitting for a combined .307 batting average and scoring 975 runs in 1927. The Athletics' strongest offensive performance came in 1929, when they batted .296. On defense the Athletics were clearly superior; over their three-year American League reign they committed only 432 errors , 167 fewer than the Yankees. Cochrane was also especially adept at telling his pitchers how to pitch to opposing batters. Many veteran baseball observers believe that
9660-425: The post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903 and discuss the earlier contests separately. (For example, the 1929 World Almanac and Book of Facts lists "Baseball World's Championships 1884–1928" in a single table, but the 1943 edition lists "Baseball World's Championships 1903–1942". ) Following the collapse of the American Association after
9775-417: The same time, the Phillies, who had been the definition of baseball futility for over 30 years, began a surprisingly quick climb to respectability. The A's were the more popular team in Philadelphia for most of the first half of the century, even though for much of the last decade they had been as bad or worse than the Phillies. But in the 1940s, the Phillies began spending lavishly on young prospects. The impact
9890-570: The season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, with the terms arranged through negotiation of the owners of the championship teams beforehand. The number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884 (Providence defeated New York three games to zero), to
10005-432: The second and last time in franchise history where a new ballpark was built specifically for the A's. In 1912, Mack bought the 25% of the team's stock owned by Jones and Hough to become a full partner with Shibe. Shibe ceded Mack full control over the baseball side while retaining control over the business side. However, Mack had already enjoyed a nearly free hand in baseball matters since the franchise's inception. In 1914,
10120-470: The series, as the Dodgers went on to beat the A's 4 games to 1. The severity of Gibson's injury prevented him from playing in any of the remaining games. When the 1989 World Series began, it was notable chiefly for being the first-ever World Series matchup between the two San Francisco Bay Area teams, the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics . Oakland won the first two games at home, and
10235-434: The support of the band of Royal Rooters . The 1904 Series , if it had been held, would have been between the AL's Boston Americans (Boston Red Sox) and the NL's New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants ). At that point there was no governing body for the World Series nor any requirement that a Series be played. Thus the Giants' owner John T. Brush refused to allow his team to participate in such an event, citing
10350-586: The team in front of a shocked clubhouse after the game. The A's spent most of the summer in either first or second place. Mack had previously released pitcher Bill Dietrich and his dismissal of Potter left the second place A's with only five healthy pitchers at that point. By the end of the year the team faded to fourth place. The franchise would not be a factor in a pennant race again at that late date until 1969 —their second year in Oakland. Another winning record in 1949 sparked hopes that 1950—the 50th season for both
10465-487: The team on the field. One of the few times that he even considered ceding some of his duties came in the 1934–35 offseason, when the A's were not far removed from what would be their last great era. He seriously entertained hiring Babe Ruth to succeed him as manager, but backed off from this idea, saying that the Babe's wife, Claire , would be running the team within a month. Even when the Phillies moved to Shibe Park as tenants of
10580-467: The team was torn by numerous internal factions, and was also distracted by the allure of a third major league, the Federal League . The Federal League had been formed to begin play in 1914. As the AL had done 13 years before, the new league raided existing AL and NL teams for players. Several of his best players, including Bender, had already decided to jump before the World Series. Mack refused to match
10695-458: The team, the other owners pressured Roy Mack to agree to the sale. Johnson had very close ties to the Yankees; he not only owned Yankee Stadium but also owned Blues Stadium in Kansas City , home to the Yankees' top farm team. Johnson intended to move the A's to a renovated Blues Stadium if he was cleared to buy them. The Yankees made no secret that they favored Johnson, and their backing gave him
10810-605: The then-existing Veterans Stadium . 25 Athletics have been honored. In March 2004, after Veterans Stadium was replaced by the new Citizens Bank Park , the Athletics' plaques were relocated to the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society in Hatboro, Pennsylvania , and a single plaque listing all of the A's inductees was attached to a statue of Connie Mack that is located across the street from Citizens Bank Park. World Series The World Series
10925-491: The three years, the Athletics won over 100 games. While the 1927 New York Yankees , whose batting order was known as the Murderers' Row , are remembered as one of the best teams in baseball history, the Athletics teams of the late 1920s and early 1930s are largely forgotten. Opponents who faced both teams considered them to be generally equal. Both teams won three consecutive pennants and two of three World Series. Statistically
11040-413: The top teams instead opted to compete in a football championship ). After two years of bitter competition and player raiding, the National and American Leagues made peace and, as part of the accord, several pairs of teams squared off for interleague exhibition games following the 1903 season. These series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s World's Series matches had been. One of them,
11155-458: The turmoil, some Athletics players shined on the field. In 1951 , Gus Zernial led the American League with 33 home runs, 129 runs scored, 68 extra-base hits , and 17 outfield assists ; in 1952 he swatted 29 homers and bagged 100 RBI; in 1953 he hit 42 homers and drove in 108 runs. In 1952, left-handed pitcher Bobby Shantz won 24 games and was named the league's Most Valuable Player , and Ferris Fain won AL batting championships in 1951 (with
11270-606: The two teams crossed the bridge to San Francisco to play Game 3 on Tuesday, October 17. ABC 's broadcast of Game 3 began at 5 pm local time, approximately 30 minutes before the first pitch was scheduled. At 5:04, while broadcasters Al Michaels and Tim McCarver were narrating highlights and the teams were warming up, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred (having a surface-wave magnitude of 7.1 with an epicenter ten miles (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz, California). The earthquake caused substantial property and economic damage in
11385-404: The upper hand with the other owners. After an October 12 owners meeting at which several offers from Philadelphia interests were rejected as inadequate (Harridge later said that while several of them "talked about millions," they didn't have any money behind them), Mack agreed in principle to sell the A's to Johnson no later than October 18. However, on October 17, Roy Mack suddenly announced that
11500-493: The upstart league's offers, preferring to rebuild with younger (and less expensive) players. The result was a swift and near-total collapse. The Athletics went from a 99–53 (.651) record and a pennant in 1914 to a record of 43–109 (.283) and last place in 1915, and then to 36–117 (.235, still a modern major-league low ) in 1916. The team would finish in last place every year through 1922 and would not contend again until 1925. Shibe died in 1922, and his sons Tom and John took over
11615-570: The west coast, defeating the Chicago White Sox in 1959 . The 1962 Giants made the first California World Series appearance of that franchise, losing to the Yankees. The Dodgers made three World Series appearances in the 1960s: a 1963 win over the Yankees , a 1965 win over the Minnesota Twins and a 1966 loss to the Baltimore Orioles . Prior to 1969, the National League and the American League each crowned its champion (the "pennant winner") based on
11730-448: The winter of 1904–1905, however, feeling the sting of press criticism, Brush had a change of heart and proposed what came to be known as the "Brush Rules", under which the series were played subsequently. One rule was that player shares would come from a portion of the gate receipts for the first four games only. This was to discourage teams from fixing early games in order to prolong the series and make more money. Receipts for later games
11845-497: Was also a major pitching star for the A's in the early 1900s. According to Lamont Buchanan in The World Series and Highlights of Baseball , the A's fans were fond of chanting, "If Eddie Plank doesn't make you lose / We have Waddell and Bender all ready to use!" Plank holds the franchise record for career victories, with 284. In 1909, the A's moved into the major leagues' first concrete-and-steel ballpark, Shibe Park . This remains
11960-494: Was angered at Connie Sr.'s refusal to give Connie Jr.'s sisters any role in the team) made an alliance with the Shibe heirs. Connie Jr. began taking steps to upgrade the team and the park. One of the few things on which the two sides agreed was that it was time for Connie Sr. to step down as manager. Matters came to a head in July 1950, when Connie Jr. and the Shibe's decided to sell the team. However, Roy and Earle insisted that they have
12075-464: Was announced that Mack would resign at the end of the season. On the same day, former A's star Jimmy Dykes , who had returned to the A's as a coach a year earlier, was named assistant manager and would transition to manager for the 1951 season. However, for all practical purposes, Dykes took over as manager immediately; he was given control over the A's day-to-day operations and became the team's main game-day operator. Cochrane, who had been brought back as
12190-399: Was awarded to the league champion team with the better regular-season win–loss record, regardless of that team's seeding in earlier playoff rounds (i.e. a Wild Card team in one league will have home-field advantage over a division winner in the other league if it had a better record or wins the tie-breaking procedure). The World Series has been contested 120 times through the 2024 season, with
12305-416: Was better for his family in the long run. On October 28, the sale to the Crisconi group came up one vote short of the five needed for approval, with Roy Mack voting against the deal he had just negotiated. While Connie and Earle had joined Roy in signing the contract to sell their stakes to Crisconi, the league's rejection voided the deal. A day later, Connie Mack released an open letter to A's fans (one that
12420-452: Was convinced that the team could never be viable in Philadelphia. The sparse crowds at Shibe had been a source of frustration for some time to the other AL owners, as they could not even begin to meet their expenses for trips to Philadelphia. As a result, Harridge had come to believe that the only way to resolve the "Philadelphia problem" was to move the Athletics elsewhere. For this reason, when Chicago businessman Arnold Johnson offered to buy
12535-468: Was immediate. In 1947, the A's finished fourth in the American League while the Phillies tied for the worst record in the National League. Just three years later, the A's compiled the worst record in the majors and the Phillies went all the way to the 1950 World Series . It soon became obvious that the Phillies had passed the A's as Philadelphia's number-one team. In the late 1940s, a power struggle developed between Roy and Earle on one side and Connie Jr. on
12650-554: Was likely written by his wife) blasting the owners and Roy for sinking the deal to the Crisconi group. However, he conceded that he didn't have enough money to run the A's in 1955, and the Johnson deal was the only one that had any prospect of winning league approval. A few days later, the Macks sold the A's to Johnson for $ 3.5 million, $ 1.5 million for their shares plus $ 2 million in debt. Selling Shibe Park—which had been renamed Connie Mack Stadium
12765-581: Was recruited to manage the club. Mack in turn persuaded Phillies minority owner Ben Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics, a name taken from the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia , which had been a founding member of the NL in 1876 but had folded after only one season. Mack himself bought a 25% interest, while the remaining 25% was sold to Philadelphia sportswriters Sam Jones and Frank Hough. The new league recruited many of its players from
12880-503: Was split among the two clubs and the National Commission, the governing body for the sport, which was able to cover much of its annual operating expense from World Series revenue. Most importantly, the now-official and compulsory World Series matches were operated strictly by the National Commission itself, not by the participating clubs. With the new rules in place and the National Commission in control, McGraw's Giants made it to
12995-572: Was the best hitter in the series, including having hit the series' only home run, but had markedly worse numbers in the games the White Sox lost). During the Series, writer and humorist Ring Lardner had facetiously called the event the "World's Serious". The Series turned out to indeed have serious consequences for the sport. After rumors circulated for nearly a year, the players were suspended in September 1920. The " Black Sox " were eventually acquitted in
13110-677: Was the last World Series game played in the daytime, indoors at the Metrodome in Minnesota. The last World Series played outdoors during the day was the final game of the 1984 series in Detroit's Tiger Stadium . The start time of this game (Game 5) was 4:45 PM, making it the last outdoor World Series game to be started during daylight hours, but the game concluded after sunset and the final innings were technically played at night. The last World Series game to be played outdoors entirely during daylight hours
13225-473: Was the previous day's game, Game 4, which started at 1:45 PM. During this seven-year period, only three teams won the World Series: the Oakland Athletics from 1972 to 1974, Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976, and New York Yankees in 1977 and 1978. This is the only time in World Series history in which three teams have won consecutive series in succession. This period was book-ended by World Championships for
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