There is simply too much going on in the world of Philly sports at the moment to keep up a grueling schedule like posting a simple fun story every Friday. Sometimes Fridays become Saturdays or even Mondays just like Athletics in Philadelphia sometimes become Athletics in Kansas City and eventually Las Vegas. These things happen. After showing you where all the National League teams came from and used to be called last week, it is now time for their American League counterparts.
(For the National League Edition, CLICK HERE)
The American League
- Philadelphia Athletics
- The A’s started in Philly back in 1901 and shared the city for 54 years. After the Braves fled to Milwaukee but before the Giants’ and Dodgers’ Californications, the A’s moved on to Kansas City where they spent just 13 seasons before moving on again to Oakland. Of course now Oakland is in Sacramento before moving again to Las Vegas. It’s crazy that maybe the most interesting team in baseball history has moved so much.
- Milwaukee Orioles
- Despite being around for year, the American League was formally founded as a competitor to the National League in 1901 with the Brewers as one of its 8 founding members. It didn’t workout. By 1902, they moved to St, Louis and became the Browns, which as we know was the original name for the Cardinals. Apparently, there was just something about St. Louis that screamed Browns. Well, that is until 1954 when they moved to Baltimore. For some reason while everyone was going west, they decided to go East. Maybe it’s just a Browns to Baltimore thing?
- Boston Red Sox
- ORIGINAL – Boston’s American League club was a charter member of the league in 1901, except they weren’t always known as the Red Sox. For the first 7 seasons, they were known as the Boston Americans before skipping the whole Red Stockings nonsense to go right to just the headline friendly Sox.
- Sioux City White Sox
- When the AL was formed, the White Stockings were one of the founding members and playing in Chicago. The organization began in the 1880s as the Sioux City Cornhuskers and then moved to St. Paul as the Saints. The Stockings only lasted a few years though and became the White Sox in 1903.
- Columbus Guardians
- I refuse to learn what a “buckeye” is but they are apparently an Ohio thing because not only do we have the University but also the original Columbus Buckeyes. In 1899, they – get this – swapped franchises with the team in Grand Rapids and became the Grand Rapids Prodigals which makes very little sense considering they were not returning from anything. The following year they moved to Cleveland to become the Lake Shores, then the Bluebirds, then the Broncos before a decade stretch where they were named after their own manager, Nap Lajoie. The Naps then became the Indians in 1915 and held the name for 107 years before becoming the Guardians. Should have gone back to being The Prodigals, now that would have made sense.
- Detroit Tigers
- ORIGINAL – Always has been the Detroit Tigers. Always will be the Detroit Tigers. Another charter AL member still around.
- Houston Astros
- ORIGINAL – Except they weren’t always named after their old stadium. Astros, Astrodome? It’s a little weird. Should still be named the Colt .45s like they were from 1962 to 1964.
- Kansas City Royals
- ORIGINAL – Kansas City had the Athletics for a short time, but they moved to Oakland in 1967 leaving Kansas City without baseball at all. Two years later, the Royals moved in and haven’t left even if they have flirted with moving across the river to Kansas City, Kansas rather than Kansas City, Missouri. I would LOVE to update this and strip them of the “ORIGINAL” title for that reason.
- Los Angeles Angels (of Los Angeles)
- NOT ORIGINAL – I’m sorry, despite having the same city and team name that they started with, I cannot give it to them. They started by sharing Chavez Ravine with the Dodgers as tenants in LA, but moved to Anaheim in 1965 taking on the California Angels moniker and eventually Anaheim Angels. Then things got stupid. They decided to name themselves the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which never made a lick of sense, and eventually went back to Los Angeles Angels despite very clearly being from Anaheim. I do like the idea of the Los Angeles Angels of Los Angeles though because it would translate to The Angels Angels of the Angels.
- Kansas City Twins
- This is cheating a little bit to put them in KC. They were a minor league team in 1894 known as the Kansas City Blues but then jumped at the chance to be a founding AL member in 1901 even though it involved moving to Washington DC where they would be known as the Senators then the Nationals for 50 years then back to the Senators. Regardless of the name, Washington DC baseball briefly died in 1960 when the team moved to Minnesota to become the Twins.
- Baltimore Yankees
- The Baltimore Orioles were one of the original members of the American League because the Giants refused to share New York. However, the Orioles went broke and disbanded after two seasons, eventually regrouping in New York in 1903 as the Highlanders. They wouldn’t become the Yankees until 1913.
- Seattle Mariners
- ORIGINAL – Baseball didn’t work out the first time in Seattle with the Pilots. One could argue that the Mariners have had a similar level of success, but that’s mean, especially with the Mariners routinely being one of the coolest, most likeable teams in baseball since they started in 1977.
- Tampa Bay Rays
- ORIGINAL – The Rays have been in that same crappy stadium in that same crappy city since 1998 when they started.
- Washington Rangers
- Washington baseball was granted an expansion team in 1961 right after the Twins left. They should have taken the hint because the new Washington Senators left just ten years later to move to Arlington, Texas where they have been ever since.
- Toronto Blue Jays
- ORIGINAL (as long as you don’t squint) – Yes, the Blue Jays started in 1977 and never officially left Toronto, however, they were forced to play games in both Buffalo and Dunedin, Florida during Covid.
Photo: Shibe Park
History: Baseball Reference and Wikipedia filling in the gaps
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Philly Front Office 
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