A short story of the elephant and athletics

Good Monday morning, uni -observer. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

With athletics – formerly in Philadelphia, Kansas City and Oakland – we moved to a temporary home in Sacramento this season and have found that the Elephant logo, which was published in the team's jerseys, seems to have disappeared for 2025.

The first signs that the elephant has disappeared from the uniforms of the A came when the team revealed a Sacramento patch that they will wear when they play in their new excavations. Shortly afterwards I was able to confirm that the A's would wear four jerseys (last year they only wore three), two of which will now read “athletics” instead of “Oakland”. In this piece I also posted the Style Guides for each of the 2025 uniforms of the A – interestingly, No patches were shown in the SG graphic.

Shortly afterwards, the A revealed a Rickey Henderson Memorial Patch, which is probably worn on all four jerseys. And a short time later, the A revealed its new golden jerseys, which were patchless. It is possible that the A simply shot this video before the Ricey patch was unveiled. But also in this article I found that the A's had taken their “photo day” pictures in their domestic white jerseys, and these were patchless -not the new Sacramento -Patch, not the Ricey -Patch … . So what gives? Did the A really thrown out of their jerseys?

It was very popular with fans – and indeed the elephant as a logo for the A over 100 years until athletics played in Philadelphia for the first time.

There are several excellent, detailed articles about the beginnings and the history of the elephant, including the MLB Hall of Fame and our buddy Todd Radom, both of which are worth reading.

But to keep this easy, the version of the history of history is this.

In 1902 John McGraw, manager of New York Giants, said reporters that the Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe, who had the controlling interest in athletics, had a “white elephant on his hands”. This was due to the A of the New American League, which made the headlines by buying up the contracts of some of the top players in the National League. McGraw was contemptuously about the new, stretched league, and when the A went its spending spree, McGraw thought that the team was bankrupt and he explained: “The Philadelphia Club will not make any money. You have a large white elephant in your hands. “

After Word had come back to him, AS Manager Connie Mack defiantly took over the white elephant as the team potion, and – the A's did it not Go bankrupt and instead do the World Series from 1905. His opponent? New York Giants managed by McGraw. Mack gave McGraw a stuffed toy elephant at the beginning of the series.

Until 1909, the A's wore an elephant logo on their sweaters …

… and until 1918 it appeared for the first time as a Jersey patch on the regular uniform jersey. It first appeared on the front of the uniform in 1920 and was updated for 1921-23.

The team then designed a beautiful white elephant, which it would use on their jerseys from 1924 to 27.

Then, rather suddenly, the A of the A. in 1928 dropped the white elephants out of the uniform. It would not be released until 1950 when the elephant appeared as part of a larger patch, which Connie Mack celebrated 50 years as a manager of the club, as can be seen in Todds is graphic:

While it did not appear in the 1928 uniforms, it occurred in the areas of scorecards, programs and other printed materials in the term in Philadelphia.

When the A traveled to Kansas City after the 1954 season, they stopped the elephants as an alternative logo, and it appeared in the 1955 uniform as a legumetes. The A's would keep the same uniform in the 1960 season. Charlie Finley bought the team in 1960, and in 1961 the team had new uniforms, and the Elephant logo was gone again. Of course, Finley rocked the uniform world in 1963 when he clad his team completely in green and gold uniforms. In the same year, Finley converted the TeamTascot from an elephant into a mule (the state animal of Missouri). According to rumors, Finley has changed the logo to address fans in the Kansas City region who were mostly democrats (the GOP symbol is an elephant while the democratic non -party logo is a donkey).

During Finley's remaining term as the owner, also when the team moved to Oakland in 1968, the elephant was not found anywhere. But it became a revival under the next owner, Walter Haas. From 1988, the 21st Athletics season in Oakland in Oakland in 2024 decorated an elephant logo of the left sleeve of the house and street uniforms of A in 2024. It was not always the same elephant logo-es in 1988-89 and then green from 1990 to 1992. From 1993 to 1994 a new “modern” version of the elephant appeared and returned to the more traditional elephant logo from 1995 to last season.

So is the elephant stain permanently gone? It is difficult to say – so far none of the three jerseys we have seen (white, green and golden day did not have the white jerseys either the new Sacramento patch; in fact, both the white and the golden jerseys were for Have seen in 2025. makes). these will be present after the game of the A game.

I have no insider information, but mine Idea It is quite possible that the SACTO patch will (at least) appear in the white jerseys for the 2025 season in the white jerseys, but if the team removed it for 2026, the elephant patch can also return. I will certainly not defend the owner of Current A, John Fisher (who has owned the team since 2005), but I can understand that the uniforms for their Sacramento debut in spring training are not quite “ready”. Perhaps the removal of the elephant is only a one-year thing, while the A of the newer Sacramento patch wear.

I hope – but it has a long and deep story with the team in three different cities. Hopefully it will be brought back to Las Vegas for the next step if it does not return for the temporary stay of the AS A Sacramento.

What do you think? Is it gone forever? And do you want to see that it returns to the uniforms, if not this year, then in the near future?

Probably from the scoreboard from the game

Rate the game …

… from the scoreboard

Today's scoreboard comes from Steven Ptucha.

The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I will publish a scoreboard and simply identify the game shown. In the past I don't know if I always You have completely amazed them (some are easier than others).

Here is the scoreboard. Try to identify the game (date and place as well as the end result) in the comments below. If something remarkable occurred during the game, please add this (and if you were in the game, bonus points for you!):

Please send them on! You are welcome to send me all the display panel photos (please answer), and I will continue to do it.

Probably the game from the uniform

Based on the proposal of a long -time reader/participant Jimmy CorcoranWe have introduced a new “game” at the University of Watch, which resembles the popular “the game from the scoreboard” (GTGFTS). Only this has asked readers to identify the game based on the uniforms carried by teams.

Like gtgfts, readers are asked to guess the date, place and end result of the game from the information provided in the photo. Sometimes the game should Be easy to determine, while in other cases it could be quite difficult. It will normally Be a visual note (something strange or unique for one or both uniforms), which enables positive identification of one and only one game. In other cases, the game in question can be somewhat meaning, like the last time that a certain uniform has ever been worn (one of Jimmy's original suggestions). It is up to you to find out the game and the date.

Today's GtgtU comes from our own Mike Engle.

Good luck and please post your guess/answer in the comments below.

And finally …

… it will do so for the early post. In addition to Jamie's ticker, I will have at least two additional items today, but will continue to look further. Unfortunately, I will do another family matter in the afternoon.

Everyone has a good Monday and I'll get you here tomorrow morning.

Until then …

Peace,

PH