Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Philadelphia Athletics Melt into Obscurity


Demographics may doom the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/22/2011)

Excerpt: Not long ago, the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society had to cancel its annual fund-raising breakfasts, because most of the players who used to attend had died.

More recently, the passing of 1953 all-star Gus Zernial left the number of surviving ex-A's at either 36 or 37. No one was certain, because Max Silberman, the member tasked with keeping the count, died two years ago.

Like the last vestiges of a deep and memorable snow, those who played and rooted for Connie Mack's A's are gradually melting away. Soon, members of the historical society fear, the franchise which departed for Kansas City in 1954 after 53 years in Philadelphia and five world championships will be an increasingly obscure local memory, like Horn & Hardart's, Woodside Park, or Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak.

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