BY TROY KIRK
When the major league baseball owners voted to turn down the San Francisco Giants planned move to Florida, the possibility of the first franchise move in 20 years disappeared. No major league baseball team has changed cities since 1972, when the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers.
The stability of franchises in recent years is a distinct change for baseball. Between 1953 and 1972, there were 10 franchise moves, with some teams moving twice. During that 20-year period, there was an average of one team shift every two years. Because of all this franchise movement, baseball card collectors have been left with an interesting historical record of all the defunct teams.
The Braves began the rush of team relocations by moving from their native Boston to Milwaukee for the 1953 season. This ended a 50-year period of no team movement. Prior to the Braves, the last team to change cities was the New York Yankees, when they relocated from Baltimore to New York for the 1903 season.
The Braves stayed in Milwaukee through 1965, then continued on to Atlanta in 1966. All-time home run leader Hank Aaron can be found on a mixture of Milwaukee Braves and Atlanta Braves cards. Five hundred home run slugger Eddie Mathews was the only one to play in all three Braves cities, as his cards indicate. Babe Ruth spent his final season in 1935 with the Boston Braves.
Collectors can go back in time and pick up a card of the New York Giants from 1957 or earlier. During the time they were in New York, the Giants won more pennants than any other National League team. Many stars played for the New York Giants, including such luminaries as Christy Mathewson, Mel Ott and Carl Hubbell. Willie Mays began his career in New York, then moved with the team in 1958 to San Francisco where he played for many more years. In 1972, Mays returned to New York with the Mets and finished his career with the team in 1973.
The Brooklyn Dodgers glory years of the 1950s can be recaptured through Topps and Bowman cards. Dodgers fans might want to forget the team’s earlier history, as the Dodgers never won a World Series until 1955. Like the Giants, Brooklyn moved to the West Coast following the 1957 season.
The Baltimore Orioles have been one of the most successful franchises in the American League since their arrival in Baltimore in 1954. The roots of the team go back to the St. Louis Browns, a team that is generally considered the worst in the American League for the first half of the 20th century.
Still, the Browns did win one pennant (in 1944) and employed Satchel Paige at the end of his brilliant career. Under owner Bill Veeck, the Browns were the only team to send a midget to the plate, when Eddie Gaedel batted in a 1951 game.
The A’s have been something of a nomadic team, with Oakland being their third city. They started their existence as the Philadelphia Athletics, and were owned and managed by Connie Mack from 1901 through 1950. The Philadelphia A’s were known for their great teams (nine pennants) and their terrible teams (18 last-place finishes). The A’s moved to Kansas City in 1955 and stayed there for 13 years with little success. During the Kansas City years, the team was known for trading star players such as Roger Maris to the New York Yankees for next to nothing. The A’s moved on to Oakland in 1968.
The Milwaukee Brewers began their existence as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, but quickly moved to Milwaukee in 1970. Topps issued Pilots cards in 1969 and 1970, but only the 1970 cards and six cards from the higher numbers in 1969 show players in Pilots uniforms. There are only a handful of other cards showing Seattle Pilots players.
There are two different versions of Washington Senators cards in existence. The cards from 1961 to 1971 feature the 1961 expansion franchise that is now the Texas Rangers. The top stars from this defunct team were home run king Frank Howard and manager Ted Williams.
Senators cards from 1960 and earlier belong to the original Washington American League franchise that is now the Minnesota Twins. The best Senators player of all time was pitching great Walter Johnson, who played during the early part of the century. Hall-of-Famer Harmon Killebrew played for both the Senators and the Twins.
There is a third Washington team featured on Topps cards, a team that never actually played in Washington. The San Diego Padres were on the verge of moving to Washington in 1974 and Topps printed early versions of some Padres players with their team designated as Washington “Nat’l Lea.”. When the team opted to remain in San Diego, these cards were quickly corrected in subsequent printings by Topps, but collectors were left with some interesting cards to collect.
A couple of expansion teams from the early 1960s stayed in the same basic area, but changed their name after a few years. The Los Angeles Angels became the California Angels when they moved a few miles down the road from Los Angeles to Anaheim in 1965. The Houston Colt .45s became the Houston Astros when they moved into the Astrodome, the first domed stadium in baseball. Early 1960s baseball cards can be found for both the Los Angeles Angels and the Houston Colt .45s.
A collection of common cards from these defunct teams won’t cost too much, and they provide an interesting historical picture of some forgotten teams.
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• Originally Published in June 1993 “Baseball Hobby News” •
THIS ARTICLE FROM “BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS” MAGAZINE IS REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF BOTH THE EDITOR/PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR. IT HAS BEEN RETYPED, BUT NO CONTENT HAS BEEN CHANGED (EXCEPT FOR VERY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS, CORRECTIONS TO TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND CHANGES TO GRAPHICS). COMMENTS OR INFORMATION IN THE ARTICLE MAY BE OUT-OF-DATE.
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