About Athletics
The Oakland Athletics were an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Oakland Athletics competed in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League West Division from 1968 until 2024. The team played its home games at the Oakland Coliseum throughout their entire time in Oakland. The franchise's nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles are the second-most in the AL after the New York Yankees.
Despite the team's success in Oakland, issues with the Oakland Coliseum throughout the decades led to the team trying to replace the aging venue multiple times, but after they were not able to secure locations in East Bay and San Jose, the team left Oakland after the 2024 season, temporarily moving to West Sacramento before a permanent move to Las Vegas. The move from Oakland was the franchise's third relocation after Philadelphia and Kansas City. The move also marked the end of professional major league sports in Oakland, as the California Golden Seals of the NHL, who had played at the next door Oakland Arena, relocated to Cleveland in 1976, the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, who also played at Oakland Arena, moved across the bay to San Francisco in 2019 and their former co-tenant Oakland Raiders of the NFL relocated to Las Vegas in 2020.
The Oakland Athletics had an overall win–loss record of 4,614–4,387–1 during their 56 years in Oakland. Seventeen former Oakland Athletics players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame with Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson, and Dick Williams depicted with an Oakland Athletics cap.
Almost as soon as the ink dried on his purchase of the Athletics in 1960, Charlie Finley began shopping the Athletics to other cities despite his promises that the A's would remain in Kansas City. Soon after the lease-burning stunt, it was discovered that what actually burned was a blank boilerplate commercial lease available at any stationery store. The actual lease was still in force—including the escape clause. Finley later admitted that the whole thing was a publicity stunt, and he had no intention of amending the lease.
In 1961 and 1962, Finley talked to people in Dallas–Fort Worth and a four-man group appeared before American League owners, but no formal motion was put forward to move the team to Texas. In January 1964, he signed an agreement on to move the A's to Louisville, promising to change the team's name to the "Kentucky Athletics". The owners turned it down by a 9–1 margin on January 16, with Finley being the only one voting in favor. Six weeks later, by the same 9–1 margin, the AL owners denied Finley's request to move the team to Oakland.
These requests came as no surprise, as impending moves to these cities, as well as to Atlanta, Milwaukee, New Orleans, San Diego, and Seattle—all of which Finley had considered as new homes for the Athletics—had long been afloat. He also threatened to move the A's to a "cow pasture" in Peculiar, Missouri, complete with temporary grandstands. Not surprisingly, attendance tailed off. The city rejected Finley's offer of a two-year lease agreement; finally, American League President Joe Cronin persuaded Finley to sign a four-year lease with Municipal Stadium in February 1964.
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