The Athletics spent thirteen seasons in Kansas City before moving to Oakland - a colorful history despite one of the worst records in baseball history. Even so, many of the players who were part of the world championship teams in Oakland in the 1970s began their careers in Kansas City. This work presents the relatively short history of the Kansas City franchise from 1954, when Arnold Johnson purchased the Philadelphia Athletics and moved the team to Kansas City because of the financial benefits the city provided, to 1967, when Charles Finley moved to team to Oakland (after unsuccessful attempts to move it to Dallas, Atlanta, Louisville, Milwaukee and Seattle). In the 1950s, the team was called ""a Yankee farm team"" because of the numerous trades with the Yankees that favored the latter. The author re-evaluates these trades and concludes that they were not as one-sided as previously thought and really did benefit the team. The author also carefully considers Charles Finley's intentions to keep the team in Kansas City and his reasons for having to move them to Oakland.
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The Athletics spent 13 seasons in Kansas City before moving to Oakland - a colourful history despite one of the worst records in baseball history. This work presents the relatively short history of the Kansas City franchise from 1954 through to 1967.
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Table of Contents

Preface     

1. Big League Dreams     
2. A Clever Businessman     
3. Quest for the A’s     
4. Last-Minute Maneuvering     
5. Going to K.C.     
6. How to Buy a Ballclub for Peanuts     
7. Arnold Johnson’s Ultimate Plan     
8. The 90–Day Wonder     
9. 1955: Big League Baseball Comes to K.C.     
10. 1956: Listless and Bad     
11. 1957: Big Trades Bring New Faces     
12. 1958: Cerv’s Amazing Season     
13. 1959: Great Expectations     
14. 1960: A Very Difficult Year     
15. Who Will Buy the Team?     
16. Charles O. Finley—The “O” Stands for Owner     
17. Trying to Outdo Veeck     
18. 1961: Gordon, Lane and Charlie O.     
19. Courting Dallas     
20. 1962: Let Bygones Be Bygones     
21. 1963: Everything's Green and Gold     
22. Happiness Is Being Somewhere Else     
23. 1964: Rocky, Jim and a Pennant Porch     
24. 1965: Charlie O.—The Man or the Mule?     
25. 1966: The Dark Ages     
26. 1967: “A Menace to Baseball”     
27. “Luckiest City Since Hiroshima”     
28. A Bad Marriage     
29. Just a Yankees Farm Team     
30. No More Trades with the Yankees     
31. Crop Failure     
32. Growing a Championship Team     

Notes     
Bibliography     
Index     
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780786416103
Publisert
2003-10-31
Utgiver
Vendor
McFarland & Co Inc
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
352

Forfatter

Biographical note

John E. Peterson is senior pastor at Bensonvale Covenant Church in Omaha. His articles have appeared in the Covenant Companion, Passenger Train Journal, and the North Western Lines.