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Oakland A’s manager reflects on ‘legacy’ left by franchise in final trip to Philly before relocation

Shibe Park was home to the Philadelphia Athletics. (Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Playing in their original home city as they prepare for another major move, the Oakland Athletics’ presence in Philadelphia for a former City Series matchup shines a light on the franchise’s history.

The A’s once dominated the baseball world in Philadelphia before moving away from the city. Now, the club is back to take on the Phillies in a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park as it prepares to relocate from Oakland to Sacramento — and eventually Las Vegas — after this season.

Before their opening victory on Friday, Athletics manager Mark Kotsay shared his thoughts on the A’s returning to Philly and the significance of the timing.

“I wasn’t born when the A’s were in Philadelphia, but there’s legacy here for sure,” Kotsay said. “I think with the transition of this organization leaving Oakland, you kind of look back on the foundation of the organization.”

The Athletics were founded in Philadelphia in 1901 as an original American League club. They were managed by Connie Mack, who led the team on the field for its first 50 seasons — a staggering record considered to be unbreakable. The A’s moved into Shibe Park in 1909, and Mack soon assembled a dynasty that won the World Series in 1910, 1911 and 1913. After shipping away the core pieces of that team, the A’s put together another dominant force that won back-to-back titles in 1929 and 1930.

After losing in the World Series in 1931, the Athletics never returned to that level of success again in Philadelphia as Mack sold off important members of his team once again in the following years. The A’s finished dead last in the AL in 11 of their final 20 seasons in Philly before the team was sold and moved to Kansas City, Mo., after the 1954 season.

The Athletics later moved to Oakland, their home from 1968 through this season. The A’s won three straight titles from 1972 to 1974, then added another in 1989. They’ve fielded a number of competitive teams since. But the last three seasons have been a major struggle on the field as the Athletics have begun their relocation process.

Kotsay has seen a lot of the recent A’s history up close, spending 13 seasons as a member of the organization since 2004. He played in Oakland as an outfielder from 2004 to 2007, then joined the coaching staff in 2016 before taking over as manager of the Athletics for the 2022 season. Kotsay understands the Oakland A’s organization and culture, but, admittedly, doesn’t know quite as much about the earliest days of the franchise.

He does, however, make the connection to Philly when he sees the elephant logo the A’s continue to wear on their uniform sleeve, a team emblem that Mack embraced in the early 1900s.

“From the time I knew anything about the A’s,” Kotsay said of the elephant, “it’s always been a part of it.”

The manager may see a few fans donning the old Philadelphia white elephant in the crowd as this series continues this weekend, as some local baseball fans — perhaps with grandparents or great-grandparents who supported the A’s back in the day — still hold their allegiance to the AL club. It’s an opportunity that Kotsay welcomes, and he hopes that similar feelings can be held in Oakland down the line.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “That’s legacy, right? And that’s something that we’ve talked about with Oakland. When we leave Oakland, there’s a legacy there that we all hope and want them to continue to be A’s fans.”

Understandably, there will be plenty of hard feelings and fans left with resentment for the team, its owner and Major League Baseball for moving the Athletics from Oakland. The same was true in Philadelphia back in 1954. But, as Kotsay hopes, some will remain fans of the team. And no one can take the history away from Oakland or any other city the A’s call home.