History Column: Philadelphia Athletics’ roots run deep

History may have forgotten, but Philadelphia never will.

America was in the midst of the Great Depression when the Philadelphia Athletics fielded one of the most talented baseball teams ever in 1929. Connie Mack’s Athletics were already winners in Philadelphia by the late 1920s. Unlike the crosstown National League Phillies, who despite being the oldest, continuous sports franchise in American history even then — they were not the most popular team in Philadelphia. The team on Lehigh Avenue was all the baseball rage.

In fact, the crosstown Phillies who had already been in existence for 46 years had only one World Series appearance to show for it — a 1915 loss to the Boston Red Sox. By the time that the Phillies advanced to their first World Series — which took 32 years — the Athletics already had three championships.

The Philadelphia Athletics had been a dynasty before from 1910–1913. In Philadelphia they would win five World Championships in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930, and 9 American League Pennants in 1902, 1905, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1929, 1930, and 1931.

My grandfather — when he was a young Philadelphian — joined baseball faithful from across the city to watch them. Even hiding in the restroom to get a free second game of an afternoon double-header at Shibe Park.

This year marks 95 years since the 1929 Athletics began yet another three-year run of near baseball perfection in Philadelphia in 1929–1931. The Athletics star-studded lineup included pitcher Lefty Grove and Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx, who were both responsible for hitting 77 home runs between them while guiding the team to a record of 104–46 and by season’s end, had captured the 1929 AL Pennant by an astounding 18 games. In the 1929 World Series at Shibe Park, they would become World Champions by beating the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 1.

In 1996 Sports Illustrated Magazine featured them as “The Greatest MLB Team That History Forgot.” Thirty miles north of the City in Horsham, the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society was established in 1996 and operated one of the finest collections of Athletics memorabilia in all of the world until it closed due to budgetary concerns in 2013.

The Athletics magical run came to an end in the 1931 World Series after a Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. A combination of financial problems, a crumbling Shibe Park, and family turmoil left Connie Mack with no option but sell the A’s, who were subsequently relocated to Kansas City in 1954. The Phillies would end up buying the stadium.

On a recent hot Sunday in South Philadelphia  —  a baseball team of Old Philadelphia put on an 18–3 show with eight home runs and 18 RBI’s. That team was the Athletics, and their roots run deep in Philadelphia.

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