Biography"The Philadelphia Athletics are among the first teams in professional baseball. The Athletics turned professional in the late 1860s and helped establish the first league, National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA), which began play in 1871. The Athletics continued to play in the National league until 1901, when the American League was formed. Western League had been renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Bancroft (Ban) Johnson, and declared itself the second major league in 1901. Johnson created new franchises in the east and eliminated some franchises in the West.[1] Philadelphia had a new franchise created to compete with the National League's Philadelphia Phillies. Former catcher Connie Mack was recruited to manage the club. Mack in turn persuaded Phillies minority owner Ben Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack himself bought a 25% interest, while the remaining 25% was sold to Philadelphia sportswriters Sam Jones and Frank Hough.[2]"--Wikipedia, 2021
