Getting ready to move

After 54 seasons in Philadelphia, the Athletics’ stay in the city all but ends 69 years ago Saturday as Major League Baseball's owners reject a bid from a local group to purchase the foundering franchise from the family of longtime manager and owner Connie Mack (also seen here with one of his first A’s teams from the early 1900s).

The A's – under control of Mack’s sons, Roy and Earle – will be sold within a week to Chicago realtor Arnold Johnson.

Johnson, quietly but firmly supported by the New York Yankees, pays Mack and his family $3.5 million for a team he will move to Kansas City in time for the 1955 season.

Connie Mack with sons Earle, left, and Roy