Philadelphia Baseball History

When you look back at Connie Mack's time in Philadelphia, you see a lot of elephants.  There were elephant on the Athletics' uniforms.  There were elephants on the hats.  Connie Mack had elephant statues.  There was an elephant in the Athletics' logo.  The A's Christmas cards even had an elephant.  Now, most fans of Philadelphia baseball history can tell you that the elephant originated from a comment by John McGraw, the famous manager of the New York Giants.  He called the Philadelphia Athletics a white elephant.  Connie Mack was so amused by the comment, that he adopted the white elephant as the team's mascot.  But, what exactly does all of this mean? White elephants were revered in southeast Asian culture.  They were seen as a sign of wealth and opulence.  Rulers kept white elephants as a symbol of their power.  Because white elephants were revered, they were protected from performing labor.  But this meant that a g...

The middle infield positions are the key to a team's defense.  With the ball coming at you fast, the second baseman mus be quick on his feet, and sure with his glove.  Of course it helps if the second baseman is talented with the bat, too.  Here are our top five picks for the best Phillies second basemen of all time. 5.            Juan Samuel Juan Samuel was fast.  In his first full season with the Phillies, 1984, he stole 72 bases.  He also batted .272, and made the All-Star team.  Over the next three seasons, he batted .264, .266 and .272 respectively, stealing 53, 42 and 35 bases.  He was an All-Star again in 1987.  In 1988, The Phillies tried to switch Sammy to the outfield, and his offensive number suffered because of it.  He hit .243 in 1988 and .246 in 51 games in 1989.  With his offensive numbers dwindling, Samuel likely brought his greatest value to the team in 1989, when the Phillies traded h...

It may seem weird that a guy in his mid 40s is nostalgic about the Philadelphia Athletics. After all, the team had left Philadelphia a good decade and a half before I was even born. I had known about the A’s from the plaques that the Phillies put up at Veteran Stadium every year. Each season the Phillies honored both a Phillie and an Athletic on their Wall of Fame.  The practice of honoring a member of the A’s ended in 2004, and the A’s Wall of Fame inductees we’re relegated to a plaque on a statue of Connie Mack in the parking lot of Citizens Bank Park.  Still, as a child, I knew who Connie Mack was. I knew he had an impact on the city. But I had never seen a game Connie Mack managed. I had never seen Bobby Shantz throw a single pitch. I had never even seen Jimmy Foxx hit a home run. There were something romantic about the Athletics. Perhaps it was growing up in the 1970s as a Phillies fan. To this date, I can recite starting lineup of the 1977 Phillies.  I tu...

William J.Kovatch, Jr.             The first Philadelphia Athletics baseball club, according to star second baseman Alfred J. Reach, had its roots in music.   A group of music lovers, calling themselves the Handel and Haydn Music Society met regularly along Philadelphia’s Spring Garden Street.   In addition to their penchant for singing, the members also had a joy for playing ball.             In a meeting held in 1859, over which a coal merchant named John J. Heisler presided, the Philadelphia Athletic Ball Club was created.   Heisler became the club’s first treasurer and second baseman.   William Ernst was elected president.             When the club was formed, the popular ball game in the Philadelphia area was called town ball.   The game involved a bowler lobbing a ball to a batsman o...

William J. Kovatch, Jr.             In 1947, Jackie Robinson burst on the scene, breaking the color barrier that plagued the major leagues for seventy years.   Adept with the bat and quick on the base path, Robinson helped make the Dodgers perennial contenders and eventually World Champions in 1955.             Robinson’s accomplishments were made possible by Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey, one of the game’s greatest innovators.   Through Robinson, Rickey was exorcizing his own demons.   As the manager of the Ohio Wesleyan University baseball team in the early twentieth century, Rickey’s star catcher was Charles Thomas, the only black player on the team.   Rickey watched as Thomas encountered racism across the Midwest, and was refused lodging during the team’s road trips.   The memory of the mistreatment Thomas suffered haunted Rickey f...