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The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History, 1954-1967
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 the 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.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 26, 2018
John Peterson's book tells the sad tale of one of baseball's most bedraggled franchises, the Kansas
City Athletics who came to Philadelphia in 1955 and played their last season there in 1967. Then it
was on to Oakland and some real glory years there in the 70s. The Kansas City Athletics are just a
sad memory to Kansas City baseball fans who after a year without the Big Show were given the
expansion Royals who had some great years in the 70s and 80s and recently in the last decade won
a World Series.
It all begins with businessman Arnold Johnson purchasing the Philadelphia Athletics from the Shibe
family and the heirs of Connie Mack. In Philadelphia they hadn't been doing good of late and the
move to Kansas City didn't increase their game. The highest the A's ever finished was a stratospheric
6th place a couple of times. Several years they were in the cellar in either 8th or 10th place after
American League expansion in 1961.
What they didn't know at the time was the incestuous business relationship between Johnson and
New York Yankee owners Dan Topping and Del Webb. It was a relationship in business and baseball and Johnson turned the Athletics into a quadruple A franchise of the Yankees. For the
next six or seven years the Yankees rarely traded with anyone other than the A's, sending excess
players for seasoning and then getting them back in a year or two. Promising A's players also
eventually made it to the Big Apple like Clete Boyer, Bob Cerv, Bud Daley,Ralph Terry and the most
notorious of all Roger Maris. It was a joke and I feel that a stronger Commissioner like Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis would have halted that right at the beginning. But the owners did not
want another Landis, they had former sportswriter Ford Frick at the helm then and he presided
benignly over baseball and this particular farce through 1961.
At that point Arnold Johnson died and self made millionaire Charles O. Finley bought the team.
They were free of the incestuous Yankee connection but Finley was an oddball type owner. He
was a promoter like Bill Veeck was, but he also had the patience of a George Steinbrenner. Finley
did in fact hire some good baseball people to build a decent farm system. But he lacked the patience to see it gel. He spent the last few years trying to get out of Kansas City, eventually moving to
Oakland where he shared the northern California territory with the San Francisco Giants, The work
of the executives Finley hired paid off, but in Oakland where they were one powerhouse in the
early 70s.
Reading this book was like reading a gothic tragedy. Sad that the Kansas City baseball fans had to
suffer those years with the Kansas City Athletics.
City Athletics who came to Philadelphia in 1955 and played their last season there in 1967. Then it
was on to Oakland and some real glory years there in the 70s. The Kansas City Athletics are just a
sad memory to Kansas City baseball fans who after a year without the Big Show were given the
expansion Royals who had some great years in the 70s and 80s and recently in the last decade won
a World Series.
It all begins with businessman Arnold Johnson purchasing the Philadelphia Athletics from the Shibe
family and the heirs of Connie Mack. In Philadelphia they hadn't been doing good of late and the
move to Kansas City didn't increase their game. The highest the A's ever finished was a stratospheric
6th place a couple of times. Several years they were in the cellar in either 8th or 10th place after
American League expansion in 1961.
What they didn't know at the time was the incestuous business relationship between Johnson and
New York Yankee owners Dan Topping and Del Webb. It was a relationship in business and baseball and Johnson turned the Athletics into a quadruple A franchise of the Yankees. For the
next six or seven years the Yankees rarely traded with anyone other than the A's, sending excess
players for seasoning and then getting them back in a year or two. Promising A's players also
eventually made it to the Big Apple like Clete Boyer, Bob Cerv, Bud Daley,Ralph Terry and the most
notorious of all Roger Maris. It was a joke and I feel that a stronger Commissioner like Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis would have halted that right at the beginning. But the owners did not
want another Landis, they had former sportswriter Ford Frick at the helm then and he presided
benignly over baseball and this particular farce through 1961.
At that point Arnold Johnson died and self made millionaire Charles O. Finley bought the team.
They were free of the incestuous Yankee connection but Finley was an oddball type owner. He
was a promoter like Bill Veeck was, but he also had the patience of a George Steinbrenner. Finley
did in fact hire some good baseball people to build a decent farm system. But he lacked the patience to see it gel. He spent the last few years trying to get out of Kansas City, eventually moving to
Oakland where he shared the northern California territory with the San Francisco Giants, The work
of the executives Finley hired paid off, but in Oakland where they were one powerhouse in the
early 70s.
Reading this book was like reading a gothic tragedy. Sad that the Kansas City baseball fans had to
suffer those years with the Kansas City Athletics.
July 6, 2019
This is a very interesting, readable history. The author says that though the A's time in KC was brief and they never had a winning record, they had a colorful history -- and what he covers lives up to the billing. From the politics of the move from Philadelphia to the antics of Charlie O. Finley, the book explores the drama of each year one-by-one. Readers who aren't baseball fans may find the recitations of statistics a bit redundant, but for me this book was very readable and entertaining.
May 18, 2017
In truth this is not a very well-written book. Many parts are repetitive, or endless details of players and seasons are given. But the parts about Charles O Finley are fascinating; one wonders if Finley could have survived or thrived in the age of celebrity.
September 21, 2016
I've been a Royals fan, a Chiefs fan, and a resident of KC for more than thirty years. But this book left me yawning. The author has researched very deeply into since intricate times in KC sports history, but it reads mote like a stats book than prose. Too many names and charts, and not enough fun facts. I did learn some interesting things, but it was at the cost of forcing myself to finish the book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews