In 1901 Connie Mack and his Philadelphia Athletics became one of the original founders of the American League. In 1902 New York Giants Manager John McGraw dismissed the A's with contempt, by calling them "The White Elephants." He meant to imply that Mack shouldn't be allowed to spend money without supervision. Connie Mack took up the gauntlet and defiantly adopted the White Elephant as the team insignia. The Oakland A's have had a total of 14 different logos dating back to their start in Philadelphia.
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1993 - Present
The current logo is large “A’s” in green with gold trim on a white background inside thick green circle with wordmark “OAKLAND ATHLETICS.”
1983 - 1992
In 1983 Oakland unveiled a new logo that was a yellow “A’s” inside a white background with a thick green border. On top the “A’s” is the wordmark “OAKLAND” and on the bottom “ATHLETICS.”
1971 - 1982
The next Oakland logo is a kelly green “A’s” on bright yellow baseball with a green border and with thick white seams from a baseball. A pair of white sneakers hanging to the left of the “A” and the wordmark “The Swingin’ A’s” in black and green.
1968 - 1970
The original Oakland logo, is a white baseball with yellow seams and a green outline. A large scripted “A’s” in green on top of the baseball.
Todd Radom Design: Sports Logo Case Study #10
The visual world of Major League Baseball in 1962 was a fairly drab affair. Home uniforms were uniformly white, all road uniforms were gray, and the core color for every one of the 20 MLB clubs was either black, blue, or red. Enter Kansas City Athletics' owner Charles O. Finley. Variously described as caustic, flamboyant, overbearing, and petty, he was also a self-made millionaire, a marketing genius, and a man with plenty of innovative ideas. In January 1963, Finley unveiled a plan that rocked the colorless world of professional sports and propelled it into the jet age, at least as far as aesthetics are concerned.. It's best to keep it short and sweet. Read More...
1955 - 1967
A carry over from Philadelphia and the final logo for Kansas City. A white with blue trim elephant standing on a white baseball holding a baseball bat with its trunk, a orange banner reading “A’s” in white on its back. The letter “A” stands for the team nickname Athletics.
1954
The final logo for Philadelphia Athletics is a white with blue outline elephant standing on a baseball with three legs. The elephant is holding a bat in it’s trunk. On the elephant’s back is “A’s” in white on a orange background. The baseball and elephant are on a orange diamond.
1939 - 1953
The 1939 logo featured a detailed black line drawing of an white elephant, holding a baseball in it’s trunk. With an emblem of “A’s” in white with a red background.
1930 - 1938
New design of the mascot elephant, now in white with a light blue thick outline. This elephant is on all four legs.
1928 - 1929
Back to the old english style letter “A” in light blue with a white and blue outline.
1924 - 1927
Another drawing of an elephant, now is white with black trim. Again on his hind legs.
1921 - 1923
New artist rendering of the an elephant up on his hind legs. Now in a lighter blue color.
1920
The 1920 logo featured the first drawing of an elephant as the logo, done in the color dark blue.
1902 - 1919
In 1902 the Athletics changed to an old english letter “A” in a dark blue.
1901
The original Philadelphia logo was a block letter “A” in the color blue.