The Story of Oakland Athletics

The Story of Oakland Athletics — page 3
6 A t h l e t i c s THE TEAM TO BEAT he city of Oakland California has long been a destination for weary travelers During the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s prospectors arrived in the sunny city hoping to find their fortune After nearby San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake and subsequent fire in 1906 displaced refugees crossed the San Francisco Bay to build new homes in Oakland During the 1940s Oakland grew as naval shipbuilding operations for World War II took off Although many of those laborers left when the jobs disappeared in the years following the end of the war the city is now a bustling port and business center with a population of more than 400,000 Like many of Oakland’s residents the city’s professional baseball team traveled a long and circuitous route to the West Coast The Oakland Athletics which moved to California in 1968 began as the Indianapolis Indians a minor-league club that was part of the Western League in 1893 In 1901 the Indians moved to Philadelphia to become a charter member of the new American League AL Former catcher T