One of Baseball's most dominant pitchers from 1970-76, Catfish Hunter was a member of five World Series championship teams and is often referred to as baseball's first big-money free agent. His number 27 was retired by the Oakland Athletics in a pre-game ceremony on June 9, 1991.

The Athletics signed Cobb for the 1928 season, his last in baseball.

Coombs' best season was 1910 when he led the American League in wins (31), games played (45), and shutouts (13).

One of the greatest pitchers in history, Grove also had the league's lowest earned run average a record nine times.

The 1910 Athletics defeated the Chicago Cubs in five games to earn their first World Series championship.

The use of an elephant to symbolize the Athletics dates from the early years of the franchise, when a group of Philadelphia businessmen, headed by industrialist Benjamin Shibe, became the team's first owners.

The A's posted winning records in their first seven seasons, including AL pennants in 1902 and 1905.

In addition to the A's finishing the 1925 season with their first winning record in a decade, that year saw three future Hall of Famers--first baseman Jimmie Foxx, pitcher Lefty Grove, and catcher Mickey Cochrane--make their debuts with the team, joining a solid core that already featured all-time great outfielder Al Simmons.

Competition from the newly formed Federal League forced owner Connie Mack to sell off his star players to other teams in order to keep the franchise solvent. As a result, the A's first period of dominance was immediately followed by a woeful stretch of seven consecutive last-place finishes from 1915 to 1921 (including a 117-loss season in 1916).

Although he never hit more than a dozen home runs in a season and only hit 93 homers in his career, Frank "Home Run" Baker has been called the "original home run king of the majors."