Buying into the Athletics

Connie Mack

Connie Mack – a part-time owner and full-time manager of the Philadelphia Athletics since their inaugural season in 1901 – completes a deal 84 years ago today to acquire a controlling interest in the team from the family of the late Ben Shibe.

Shibe, a 50-percent owner when he and Mack start the Athletics at the turn of the 20th century, passes away in 1922 – 18 seasons before Mack finally gains total control of the franchise.

Ben Shibe

Mack stays on as manager through the 1950 season and as owner until 1954, when he sells the A’s to Chicago real estate mogul Arnold Johnson for $3.5 million.

Johnson, who promptly moves the team in 1955 to Kansas City, keeps the team until 1960, when he unexpectedly passes away and his estate sells a controlling interest in the franchise to Chicago insurance king Charlie Finley for $4 million.

The A’s, of course, continue to be a stock that exponentially grows as Finley moves the team to Oakland in 1968 and keeps it for another 12 years until 1980, when he unloads the franchise to Walter Haas for $12.7 million.

Charlie Finley

The money trail continues to grow as Haas holds on to the A’s until 1995, when he dies and his estate sells the team to Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann for $16 million.

That $16 million investment turns into $180 million by 2005, when Schott and Hofmann peddle the team to onetime Golden State Warriors owner Lewis Wolff.

Wolff, in turn, runs the A’s until his retirement in 2016, leaving the team in the control of part-owner John Fisher, the billionaire heir to the Gap clothing empire.

Fisher still owns the team today and plans to move the A’s in 2025 to West Sacramento, where they are expected to play for the next three seasons before moving – again – to its next permanent home in Las Vegas.

All the time, Fisher can keep watching his investment grow as Forbes Magazine in 2024 values the A’s at $1.2 billion and that number figures only to increase over time.

John Fisher