The North American Sports Almanac: The Athletics

Slowly circumnavigating the United States, the “Athletics” are our most vagabond franchise. Originally from the northeast in Philadelphia, there have been waystations in the midwestern plains (Kansas City) and Pacific expanse (Oakland). They plan to soon begin the long journey back eastward with a decades-long residency in Las Vegas’ sun belt, but first … Sacramento. The “Athletics” consider this pit stop embarrassing enough that they have struck the city from their name, going mononymic. It’s a curious decision, and also a brave one — it presupposes the Vegas stadium actually opens on time in 2028. If it does, it will house one of the most successful sports teams in American history. There have been mythic figures like Connie Mack and Reggie Jackson, as well as trendsetters (Billy Beane) and iconoclasts (Charlie Finley). The dislocation and discursions have not precluded winning, with the Athletics’ nine World Series titles tied for third most. This is a club whose fourth winningest manager earned a Philip Seymour Hoffman movie portrayal. The A’s are equal parts strange, nomadic, greedy and successful. They are an American sports franchise if there ever was one.