It was introduced this week that the Athletics, in the end, had come to an settlement with a bunch of politicians to construct a brand new stadium for the membership, which has been caught in an outdated facility for years.
If that sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of the identical state of affairs, with the identical reasoning, has been taking part in out for greater than 100 years. The Athletics, a vagabond franchise that initially hailed from Philadelphia earlier than transferring to Kansas Metropolis, Mo., after which Oakland, Calif., have by no means appeared content material with the place they had been.
From a stadium restricted by prohibitive blue legal guidelines in Philadelphia to a unexpectedly rebuilt minor league park in Kansas Metropolis to a Brutalist concrete palace in Oakland, they’ve at all times had their eye out for one thing higher. They explored Denver, they poked at San Jose and Fremont, they’d a number of websites picked out in Oakland. However now, in an settlement introduced by Nevada’s governor that also faces a number of hurdles, they wish to construct a stadium on the Las Vegas Strip that will theoretically be prepared for the 2027 season.
It’s a state of affairs inflicting optimism in Vegas, heartbreak in Oakland and undoubtedly some eye-rolling in every single place else. The A’s, with 9 World Collection titles and 17 100-loss seasons, have seemingly been on the verge of a transfer for many of their existence.
“It’s potential {that a} relocation vote might occur as early as June,” Commissioner Rob Manfred informed reporters on Thursday when requested concerning the Las Vegas deal. However in step with how far the plan has to go, and the way a lot it has already modified in the previous few weeks, he cited a earlier location for the stadium, somewhat than the staff’s present plan to construct on the location of the Tropicana Las Vegas.
The staff’s popularity for restlessness is earned. The Athletics are tied with the Braves (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta) and the Orioles (Milwaukee, St. Louis and Baltimore) for essentially the most traveled franchises. However in a wierd sufficient quirk, the A’s have had solely 4 stadiums of their 123 seasons of play — fewer than all however a handful of groups.
Sadly for the A’s, none of their 4 parks would get confused for a traditional like Boston’s Fenway Park or a contemporary marvel just like the Rangers’ Globe Life Area.
A take a look at these 4 stadiums makes it clear why A’s have had a perpetual wandering eye.
Columbia Park
1901-1908 | World Collection titles: 0
High Participant: Eddie Plank, P, 51 wins above alternative
Constructed for a brand new staff in a brand new league through which nobody knew what to anticipate, Columbia Park was instantly too small. It had a capability of 9,500, though extra individuals watched from close by rooftops. The staff tinkered with it, however even at its peak it held fewer than 14,000 followers.
The stadium’s most notable second, at the very least by way of absurdity, got here within the 1905 World Collection when Connie Mack’s Athletics and John McGraw’s New York Giants conspired to faux a rainout to keep away from taking part in to a sparse crowd.
As recounted in The New York Instances, Sport 3 was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 11, however with a crowd of round 4,000 individuals, and pay for the golf equipment being totally depending on ticket gross sales, the managers agreed to fake {that a} mild drizzle earlier within the day had made the sphere unplayable. Sammy Strang, a utility participant for the Giants, helped promote the ruse, with The Instances saying, “A typical pantomime was that of Strang, who jumped beneath the stand, and, seeking to the sky, stretched forth his arms and beckoned to the moisture to let itself fall.”
The gambit labored. The groups performed Sport 3 the following day, with a reported crowd of 10,991 that almost tripled Wednesday’s gate.
The Athletics performed three extra forgettable years at Columbia and inside a decade of them leaving, the stadium was torn down and changed with housing.
Shibe Park
1909-1954 | World Collection titles: 5
High Participant: Lefty Grove, P, 68.4 WAR
Hoping to capitalize on his staff’s reputation, Charles Shibe, the first proprietor of the Athletics, constructed baseball’s first steel-and-concrete stadium, beating Fenway Park by three seasons and Wrigley Area by 5. The choice paid off, with The Instances reporting that Philadelphia’s first sport of the 1909 season was attended by a file 30,162 followers. The Athletics led the A.L. in attendance for 3 straight years.
Shibe Park was residence to some nice groups, with the Athletics successful 9 pennants and 5 World Collection titles there, however possession routinely cited the state’s restrictive blue legal guidelines for limiting their means to play residence video games on Sundays, placing the membership at an obstacle to different groups. The staff, determined to boost cash, additionally alienated followers by blocking the close by rooftop bleachers with a 34-foot wall that was nicknamed Connie Mack’s Spite Fence.
As Shibe Park began to put on down, the Athletics by no means recovered from promoting off the 1930 champions. They completed in final or second-to-last place 14 occasions in a 20-season interval from 1935 to 1954, drawing solely 304,666 followers of their final season in Philadelphia — fewer than they’d in all however certainly one of their seasons at tiny Columbia Park.
A hearth was set within the stadium in 1971, destroying most of it. “Fireplace ravaged Connie Mack Stadium the opposite day,” Arthur Daley wrote in The Instances, referring to Shibe beneath the title it utilized in its later years. “If nothing else, it lit some nice reminiscences.”
The stadium’s well-known nook tower, with Mack’s unique workplace, was demolished in 1976. A church constructed a sanctuary on the location.
Municipal Stadium
1955-1967 | World Collection titles: 0
High Participant: Ed Charles, third base, 14.4 WAR
George E. Muehlebach deserves some credit score for predicting that the stadium he inbuilt 1923 for his minor league staff, the Kansas Metropolis Blues, would possibly someday be the house of a significant league squad. In actual fact, it was all alongside: the Kansas Metropolis Monarchs of the Negro leagues had been tenants of the stadium. However along with his eyes on a Nationwide or American League staff, Muehlebach designed the stadium with giant footings to permit for growth. Sadly, when Arnold Johnson bought the Athletics and moved the staff to Kansas Metropolis in 1955, it was discovered that the footings, and practically the whole stadium, wanted to be rebuilt.
Value overruns resulted within the stadium’s capability being far decrease than anticipated, and the park was barely prepared when the season started.
The A’s completed sixth of their first season in Missouri and wouldn’t get that top once more, ending their 13-season run there with a file of 829-1,224 and no postseason appearances. Attendance at Municipal Stadium was within the A.L.’s backside three in all however one of many staff’s seasons.
It wasn’t all unhealthy. Charles O. Finley purchased the staff in 1960 and, amid numerous shenanigans, he presided over an unimaginable accumulation of expertise, with the Corridor of Famers Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter starting their careers in Kansas Metropolis.
The stadium was demolished in 1976. A backyard with a plaque sits on the previous web site, surrounded by a housing improvement.
Oakland Coliseum
1968-Current | World Collection titles: 4
High Participant: Rickey Henderson, left discipline, 72.7 WAR
Constructed within the multipurpose stadium craze of the Nineteen Sixties, Oakland Coliseum was quirky from the beginning. Its round design gave the Coliseum by far essentially the most foul territory in baseball. It was dug right into a hill, placing its taking part in floor 21 ft beneath sea stage. Feral cats, leaking sewage and a possum that lives in one of many tv cubicles wouldn’t come alongside till later.
The A’s had a number of eras of dominance within the park, successful three straight World Collection titles within the Nineteen Seventies and going to the Collection in three straight years from 1988 to 1990 (successful as soon as), however attendance different wildly, dropping as little as 306,763 (3,787 per sport) in 1979 and reaching a peak of two.9 million (35,805 per sport) in 1990.
Unpopular modifications to the stadium on the behest of the Oakland Raiders of the N.F.L. made a boring stadium incongruous and ugly. The upkeep of the park grew to become unmanageable, and the staff’s numerous homeowners persistently complained concerning the lack of facilities.
An aggressive sell-off of promising gamers over the previous few years, mixed with the staff’s apparent desire for Las Vegas, resulted in an enormous fan backlash. The staff averaged solely 9,849 followers a sport final season, and issues are even worse this yr, at 8,695. It doesn’t assist that the staff, at 10-42 by Thursday, was on tempo for the worst file of baseball’s fashionable period.
With the Raiders already having left for Las Vegas, the Golden State Warriors having moved to San Francisco and the A’s lease expiring after the 2024 season, the Coliseum complicated could quickly haven’t any everlasting tenants. It might then very doubtless be consigned to the same destiny because the A’s three earlier parks, none of which left greater than a plaque to recollect them by.