Oakland A's World Series History: The Championships Las Vegas Inherited

The Trophy Case Moves With the Franchise

When a franchise changes cities, the history goes with it. The championships won in Philadelphia belong to the Oakland A's. The championships won in Oakland belong to the Las Vegas Athletics. This is how it works in professional sports, and it means the city of Las Vegas inherited one of the most impressive winning legacies in the history of Major League Baseball.

Four World Series titles. Three separate dynasties. Players whose names define generations of baseball. All of it is now part of the Las Vegas story.

The Philadelphia Years: 1910, 1911, 1913

The Athletics were not always from Oakland. The franchise started in Philadelphia in 1901, and the early twentieth century Philadelphia A's were one of the dominant teams in baseball history. Connie Mack managed the club and built a dynasty around Hall of Famers including Eddie Collins, Frank "Home Run" Baker, and Rube Waddell.

The 1910 World Series title over the Cubs was the first. The 1911 repeat over the Giants was the second. A brief gap followed, then the 1913 title over the Giants again made it three in four years. These teams played in a different era -- the dead-ball era, before Babe Ruth changed baseball forever -- but they were the best team of their time, and that record stands regardless of what era you prefer.

Mack built a second dynasty in the late 1920s and early 1930s, winning again in 1929 and 1930. But for Las Vegas purposes, it is the Oakland years that feel most immediate.

The Oakland Dynasty: 1972, 1973, 1974

The franchise moved from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968, and within four years had assembled one of the most talented and colorful teams in baseball history. The Oakland A's of the early 1970s won three consecutive World Series championships, something only the Yankees had done in the modern era.

Owner Charlie Finley built a roster of genuine stars: Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Gene Tenace, and the MVP center fielder who defined the era, Reggie Jackson. These players had the kind of personality and individual identity that the buttoned-up game had rarely seen before. Mustaches were mandatory -- Finley actually paid bonuses for facial hair. Colorful yellow-and-green uniforms replaced the traditional white and gray. And they won.

The 1972 World Series win over the Reds was gritty and grinding, with a roster playing through injuries. The 1973 title came in seven games over the Mets, with Jackson returning from his injury and Catfish Hunter pitching brilliantly. The 1974 championship, a five-game victory over the Dodgers, completed the three-peat and cemented the Oakland A's as the dynasty of their era.

Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the deciding game of the 1977 World Series -- but by then he was a Yankee. He had left Oakland after the dynasty fractured under Finley's notoriously low payroll, a preview of the financial challenges that would define the franchise for decades.

The Late-80s Powerhouse: 1989

The A's won one more World Series title in 1989, defeating the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-interrupted series. Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire -- the Bash Brothers -- were the faces of that team, with Dave Stewart on the mound and Dennis Eckersley in the bullpen having the greatest closing season in history up to that point.

The 1989 championship was the last World Series title in franchise history. The team stayed competitive into the early 1990s, losing the 1990 Series to the Reds in a shocking sweep. Then the dynasty dissolved again as the payroll constraints that had ended the 1970s run returned to haunt the organization.

The Moneyball Era and What Came After

The A's never won another championship after 1989, but they remained competitive through periods that defined how modern baseball thinks about roster building. The early 2000s Moneyball teams went to the playoffs four consecutive years without spending what the big-market teams spent. The 2012 team came back from 13 games down in August to win the AL West in one of the greatest late-season runs in baseball history.

None of it produced a championship. The losing streaks that followed were painful for Oakland fans who had invested decades in this franchise. But the history of winning belongs to Las Vegas now, and new fans in the desert should know exactly what they inherited when the franchise crossed the Sierra Nevada.