The Oakland Athletics are a professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in McAfee Coliseum.
The "Athletics" name originates from the late 1800s "athletic clubs", specifically the Athletic of Philadelphia. They are most prominently nicknamed "the A's", in reference to the blackletter "A", a trademark of the team and the old Athletic of Philadelphia. This has gained very prominent use, and in some circles is used more frequently than the full "Athletics" name. They are also known as "the White Elephants" or simply "the Elephants", in reference to then New York Giants' manager John McGraw's calling the team a "white elephant". This was embraced by the team, who then made a white elephant the team's mascot, and often incorporated it into the logo or sleeve patches.
One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in . Then the Philadelphia Athletics, the team moved to Kansas City in and became the Kansas City Athletics. It was not until that the team moved to Oakland.
