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A Battle of Old Philadelphia…Even in 2024
It’s Been 95 Years Since Connie Mack’s Athletics Were World Champions.
On a hot July Sunday in South Philadelphia — an old Philly baseball team annihilated its opponent 18–3 with eight home runs and eighteen RBIs.
Too bad it wasn’t the Phillies.
This year marks 95 years since the 1929 Athletics began yet another three-year run of near-baseball perfection in Philadelphia in 1929–1931.
That team, featured in the 1996 Sports Illustrated Magazine featured them as “The Greatest MLB Team That History Forgot,” was 104–46, complete with All-Stars like pitcher Lefty Grove and the combination of Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx, who hit 77 home runs between them.
That Athletics Team would go on a run of World Series victories in 1929 and 1930, which followed up with the first Athletics dynasty—the only one ever in Philadelphia (1910–1913).
Across town, the Phillies, who had already existed for 46 years, had only one World Series appearance to show for it — a 1915 loss to the Boston Red Sox. The draw in Philadelphia for baseball was the Athletics.
One day later, on Monday, the Phillies added talent in the MLB Draft, including:
- Dante Nori, Northville High School (MI)
- Griffin Burkholder, Freedom High School (VA)
- John Spikerman, Oklahoma (OK)
- Carson DeMartini, Virginia Tech (VA)
- Carter Mathison, Indiana (IN)
- Kodey Shojinaga, Kansas (KS)
- Joel Dragoo, Presbyterian College (SC)
- Camron Hill, Georgia Tech (GA)
- Marcus Morgan, Iowa (IA)
- Brady Day, Kansas State (KS)
- Titan Hayes, Austin Peay (TN)
- A.J. Wilson, UNC Charlotte (NC)
- Tegan Cain, Kansas (KS)
- Jared Spencer, Indiana State (IN)
- Luke Gabrysh, Saint Joseph’s (PA)
- Eli Trop, Pennsylvania (PA)
- Ryan Degges, UNC Charlotte (NC)
- Kevin Warunek, Longwood University (VA)
- Erik Ritchie, East Carolina (NC)
- Kyler Carmack, Ole Miss (MS.)
The Athletics added:
- Nick Kurtz from Wake Forest
- Tommy White from BLSU
- Gage Jump from LHPLSU
- Joshua Kuroda-Grauer from Rutgers
- Rodney Green from California
- Sam Stuhr from the University of Portland
- Josiah Romeo Mayfield from Florida State
- Dylan Fien from UCLA
- Davis Diaz from Vanderbilt
- Jared Sprague from Arkansas
- Cameron Leary from Boston College
- Kyle Robinson from Texas Tech
- Camarillo from Texas A&M
- Riley Huge from Winthrop
- Ryan Magdic from Missouri
- Blake Hammond from Santa Clara
- Connor Spencer from Ole Miss
- Aidan Layton from Seton Hill University
- Tucker Novotny from Minnesota
- Gunner Gouldsmith from Sacramento State
- Dylan Volantis from Westlake HS (CA)USC.
It’s doubtful that any of these 2024 MLB Draft Picks, with a mean age of 24, know the historical significance of the oldest, continuous sports franchise in the US vs. perhaps the best baseball team in Philly ever.
What made the outcome so striking (no pun intended) was that it’s now the Phillies who are at the top of MLB baseball with a record of 62–34, and the Athletics are at the bottom of the American League West with a record of 37–61.
Oh, and the game last Sunday? It was The Athletics who won in Philadelphia.
Imagine that.
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