The 5 Greatest Philadelphia Athletics Players of All-Time
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The A's have had plenty of stops along their journey to Las Vegas, and Philadelphia is where it all began. Before Nick Kurtz in Sacramento. Before Rickey Henderson in Oakland. Before Roger Maris in Kansas City. For the first 54 years, the Philadelphia Athletics produced some of the greatest players the game has ever seen.
While they compare favorably to some of the modern greats, many of these Philadelphia A's have been lost to history, their records fading with each move.
Many of the A's greatest players in franchise history come from the Philadelphia era of the franchise, despite an extra few years with the team in Oakland (1968-2024).
Jimmie Foxx
Jimmie Foxx accumulated 101.4 career WAR in 2,317 games over the course of his career, and 64.4 of that WAR total came in his time with Philadelphia. That is the second-highest fWAR total in team history, behind just Rickey Henderson's 68.6.
Foxx's career began in 1925 when he was just 17 years old. He'd be the centerpiece of the A's World Series wins in 1929 and 1930, going 14-for-41 with three home runs and eight RBI in those two Series.
His 534 career home runs rank him 19th in MLB history, just ahead of Frank Thomas (521) and just behind Mickey Mantle (536) and David Ortiz (541). He was a three-time MVP (1932-33, 1938 with Boston), a Triple Crown winner in 1933, a nine-time All-Star, a two-time World Series winner and a Hall of Famer.
He was part of the first All-Star Game ever, on July 6, 1933 with his A's manager Connie Mack serving as manager of the team. Despite winning the MVP the year before and finishing as a Triple Crown winner that season, it was Lou Gehrig who earned the start for that game at first base.
Al Simmons, Jimmy Dykes and Lefty Grove also represented Philadelphia in the contest, with Simmons and Dykes earning starts.
Foxx's legend on the diamond extended to the silver screen as well, as the character of Jimmy Dugan, played by Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own," is loosely based upon Foxx, though the women who played for him from his time in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League remembered him being a "true gentleman in every way."
He was elected to the A's Hall of Fame in 2021.
Nickname: Double X, taken from the two X's in his last name
Modern comp: When looking at his overall production, Albert Pujols seems to fit the bill best as a slugging first baseman that also hit for average. Pujols needed 3,080 games to reach 89.9 WAR. Foxx did more with significantly fewer opportunities — and still ranks third all-time at first base behind only Lou Gehrig and Stan Musial.
Eddie Plank
Jimmie Foxx may be the most recognizable name on this list of former A's greats, but according to Baseball-Reference, it's actually Plank that holds the all-time WAR record — even above Rickey himself.
Plank's MLB career began on May 13, 1901, just a couple of weeks into the franchise's existence. He'd finish that debut season as the club's second-most valuable player behind Nap Lajoie, who would soon depart for Cleveland and become so beloved they renamed the franchise after him.
Plank would spend 14 years with the A's from 1901-1914, which is the third-longest tenure of any player with the franchise in 125 years. Harry Davis (1901-11, 1913-17) and Cy Perkins (1915, 1917-1930) are the only players to have spent more time in an A's uniform. For a team in transition from city to city and roster to roster, that longevity is tough to come by.
His 284 career wins are easily the most in franchise history, nearly 90 more than Lefty Grove's 195, which ranks second.
The Hall of Famer won three World Series titles, with his standout performance coming in 1913 when he totaled 19 innings across two games, and allowed just two earned runs to score, giving him a 0.95 ERA with a 0.632 WHIP.
According to Plank's bio, he didn't like to throw to first base to hold a runner close. Fellow pitcher Sad Sam Jones said, "I once heard Eddie Plank say, ‘There are only so many pitches in this old arm, and I don’t believe in wasting them throwing to first base.'"
Nickname: Gettysburg Eddie, being that he's a native of Gettysburg, PA.
Modern comp: In terms of career WAR, it's tough to get closer than fellow lefty, Andy Pettitte. The A's southpaw finished with 67.8 fWAR in 529 games started, while Pettitte earned 68.2 fWAR in his 521 starts.
Lefty Grove
Lefty Grove may be the most dominant pitcher on this list, but he spent only half of his career with Philadelphia before finishing with the Boston Red Sox. While he finished with 195 wins with the A's, he totaled 300 in his career, and his 87.4 fWAR total ranks him 12th all-time among pitchers.
Grove may have been the more dominant pitcher overall, but spending half his career in Boston means it's Plank who holds the franchise WAR record.
His MLB career began in 1925, and judging by that first season in the big leagues, it would have been tough to tell he'd end up being one of the best to ever throw a baseball.
He finished that season at 10-12 with a 4.75 ERA, which was roughly league average that year. He led the league in walks with 131 issued, but also led the way with 116 strikeouts. He racked up those free passes in just 197 innings, while the pitcher with the second-most walks issued, Jimmy Ring, walked 119 in 270 innings.
The strikeouts ended up fourth in baseball, ahead of a 37-year-old Walter Johnson (108), and just behind Rats Henderson (125) of the Negro Leagues. The following season he led the league in strikeouts again, but also dropped his ERA to a league-leading 2.51.
Grove would go on to lead the league in strikeouts for the first seven seasons of his career, ultimately winning the MVP award in 1931 after posting a 2.06 ERA. Grove led the league in ERA in four consecutive seasons, with his MVP run in 1931 being the third of those four. The lefty would lead the way in ERA nine times in his 17-year career, including in 1939 at the age of 39.
He won back-to-back World Series titles with the A's in 1929-30, coming out of the bullpen and tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs in 1929, and then weaving in and out of trouble against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1930. He ended up with a 1.75 World Series ERA.
Grove also won two pitcher's Triple Crowns, leading the way in wins, strikeouts and ERA in both of the A's World-Series-winning campaigns.
Nickname: "Lefty" — his real name is Robert Moses Grove. He throws left-handed, hence, "Lefty."
Modern comp: Justin Verlander. While they throw with different hands, their careers mirror one another in a couple of ways. First off, it's not very often that you see a modern pitcher with an innings total that rivals someone that pitched in the 1920's. Grove finished with 3,940 innings, while Verlander, still pitching at 43, is at 3,571 1/3.
Grove is also just 3.2 fWAR ahead of Verlander, so there is a chance they end up much closer to even when the Tigers righty retires. Finally, their career FIPs are almost dead even, with Grove at 3.43 and Verlander at 3.44.
Eddie Collins
Right behind Stan Musial and right above Lou Gehrig, you'll find the name Eddie Collins Sr. on the all-time FanGraphs WAR leaderboard, ranking No. 11.
Collins made his A's debut in 1906 and was a big piece of the team's first World Series win in 1910, posting a 9.7 fWAR campaign. He was also part of the A's "$100,000 Infield" during this stretch, along with "Home Run" Baker, Stuffy McInnis and Jack Barry. The quartet was split up when Collins was purchased by the Chicago White Sox in 1915 when ownership needed money.
He would stick with the White Sox from 1915-1926, his age 39 season. He'd return to the A's in 1927, playing four more seasons with the club, which included the A's World Series titles in 1929 and 1930. He ended up winning five World Series with the A's in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930, plus a sixth with the White Sox in 1917.
This leads to a fascinating debate for A's fans to consider: He played in just nine regular season games in 1929 and three in 1930, and did not play in the World Series either year. In those years he was more of a player-coach with the club.
That said, his five World Series rings are the most by a player in A's franchise history. The question is, do those last two count, or is he tied with everyone else at three?
Collins is also the all-time leader in sacrifice hits, with 512. Second on the list is Jake Daubert with 392, and not far behind him is another member of the $100,000 infield, Stuffy McInnis with 383. That specialty skill at such a high level is part of what made those early A's teams so special.
Following that World Series-winning 1930 season, Collins switched to a full-time coaching role with Philadelphia for two seasons, then joined the Boston Red Sox as vice president and general manager when former classmate Tom Yawkey bought the team.
Collins was also responsible for scouting, and signing, future Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr.
Nickname: "Cocky" — "Collins drew the resentment of teammates for his self-confidence and good breeding that at times seemed as though it belonged more in a ballroom than a baseball clubhouse."
Modern comp: Collins is a one-of-a-kind compared to today's players, but in terms of games played, wRC+ and WAR, Alex Rodríguez is the closest modern player to Collins' production. Collins played just 42 more games, led the way in wRC+ 144 to 141, and finished with 120.1 fWAR, while A-Rod was done at 113.6.
Al Simmons
Simmons made his MLB debut in 1924 at the age of 22, and immediately became an MVP candidate, finishing 11th in the voting in his rookie season. The following year he would lead the league in hits with 253 and total bases with 392.
The A's have only had one .400 hitter in franchise history, and that was Nap Lajoie (.426) in Philadelphia's inaugural season. The next three closest seasons were Al Simmons in 1931 (.390), Simmons in 1925 (.387) and Simmons once more in 1930 (.381).
On the A's all-time fWAR leaderboard, Simmons is ranked fourth behind Rickey Henderson, Foxx and Collins with 51.5 WAR in his time with the franchise. Over the course of his full career, he finished with 69.4 WAR, ranking him 60th among hitters in MLB history, tied with Mets and Expos legend Gary Carter.
He won two World Series titles with the A's in 1929 and 1930, going 14-for-42 (.333) with four home runs between the two championship runs.
In an all-too-familiar sequence in A's history, Simmons, Mule Haas and Jimmy Dykes were sold to the Chicago White Sox for the cruel price of $100,000.
Simmons won two batting titles, in 1930 and 1931, and was named to three All Star games (1933-35), with the 1933 affair being the first one ever. Unlike Foxx, Simmons didn't have a Yankee blocking his path, so he got the start in center field. What's funny is that he was predominantly a left fielder after 1927, and only started one regular season game in center in 1933.
His SABR bio is incredibly interesting, and it all stems from his nickname, Bucketfoot Al. The reason for the nickname is that his batting stance from the right-handed batter's box would have his left foot (the front foot) pointed towards third base, or "in the bucket."
From his SABR biography: "Theoretically, he should have had difficulty in hitting outside pitches solidly. But Simmons overcame this apparent weakness by using an unusually long bat and moving his left foot closer to home plate with the approach of an outside pitch. As Simmons explained, 'I’ve studied movies of myself batting. Although my left foot stabbed out toward third base, the rest of me, from the belt up, especially my wrists, arms, and shoulders, was swinging in a proper line over the plate.'"
He used to watch film of himself swinging, which is a significant technological advance that early in the game's history.
Nickname: Bucketfoot Al — explained above
Modern comp: The comp isn't quite modern day, but he's pretty well known, and that's Carl Yastrzemski, based on the profile. Yaz has him beat in games played by 1,093, but if Simmons had played longer, he would have been Yastrzemski.
Simmons hit for a higher average (.334 to .285) but their OBPs were in line at .380 for Simmons and .379 for Yaz. Simmons had more power with a .511 slugging%, but Yaz took the home run crown 452 to 307. Yaz also finished with a 130 wRC+ while Simmons was right behind at 129, making them both left fielders with tremendous offensive careers, while their defense was below average.
More Philadelphia A's fun facts
These are a few of the standouts in Philadelphia A's history. The names may sound familiar to baseball fans, but where they stack up and how truly great they were gets lost in the shuffle.
Eddie Collins is the only player in MLB history to have six World Series rings, and have zero of them come during a stint with the Yankees. Babe Ruth (7) and Herb Pennock (7) are the only two players with six or more that earned at least one of those rings outside of New York.
Ruth won three with Boston before cursing Beantown for nearly 100 years, and Pennock was on the roster for the 1913 season with Philadelphia, and then won two more with Boston in 1915 and 1916 before going to the Yankees.
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Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. Mason Miller once said he likes Jason's content.
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