The Oakland Athletics are a professional
baseball team based in Oakland, California.The Athletics are a
member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American
League. From 1968 to the present, the Athletics have played in
McAfee Coliseum.
The "Athletics" name originates
from the late 1800s "athletic clubs", specifically the
Athletic of Philadelphia. They are most prominently nicknamed
"the A's", in reference to the blackletter "A",
a trademark of the team and the old Athletic of Philadelphia.
This has gained very prominent use, and in some circles is used
more frequently than the full "Athletics" name. They
are also known as "the White Elephants" or simply "the
Elephants", in reference to then New York Giants' manager
John McGraw's calling the team a "white elephant". This
was embraced by the team, who then made a white elephant the team's
mascot, and often incorporated it into the logo or sleeve patches.
One of the American League's eight charter
franchises, the club was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
in 1901. Then the Philadelphia Athletics, the team moved to Kansas
City in 1955 and became the Kansas City Athletics. It was not
until 1968 that the team moved to Oakland.