A Brief History of the Elephant and the Athletics

Good Monday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

With the Athletics — formerly of Philadelphia, Kansas City and Oakland — moving to a temporary home in Sacramento this season, we have noticed that the elephant logo, which had appeared on the team’s jerseys, seems to have disappeared for 2025.

The first indications that the elephant has disappeared from the A’s uniforms came when the team unveiled a Sacramento patch they will sport when they begin play in their new digs. Shortly thereafter, I was able to confirm the A’s would be wearing four jerseys (last year they only wore three), two of which will now read “Athletics” instead of “Oakland.” In that piece, I also posted the style guides for each of the A’s 2025 uniforms — interestingly, no patches were shown on the SG graphics.

Shortly thereafter, the A’s unveiled a Rickey Henderson memorial patch, which will presumably be worn on all four jerseys. And a short time after that, the A’s unveiled their new gold jerseys, which were patchless. It’s possible the A’s simply shot that video before the Rickey patch was unveiled. But also in that article, I noted the A’s had their “photo day” pictures taken, in their home white jerseys, and those too were patchless — not the new Sacramento patch, not the Rickey patch…nothing. So what gives? Have the A’s actually dumped the elephant from their jerseys?

It’s been extremely popular with fans — and in fact, the elephant as a logo for the A’s dates back over 100 years, to when the Athletics first played in Philadelphia.

There are several excellent, in-depth articles on the beginnings and the history of the elephant, including from the MLB Hall of Fame and our pal, Todd Radom, both of which are worth a read.

But to keep this simple, the “cliff’s notes” version of the story is this.

In 1902, New York Giants manager John McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the Athletics, had a “white elephant on his hands.” This was due to the A’s, of the new American League, making headlines by buying up the contracts of some of the top players in the National League. McGraw was contemptuous of the new, upstart league, and when the A’s went on their spending spree, McGraw thought it would bankrupt the team, and he stated, “The Philadelphia club will make no money. They have a big white elephant on their hands.”

After word got back to him, A’s manager Connie Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and — the A’s did not go bankrupt, instead making the 1905 World Series. His opponent? The New York Giants, managed by McGraw. Mack gave McGraw a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the Series.

By 1909, the A’s were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters…

… and by 1918 it turned up on the regular uniform jersey for the first time, as a jersey patch. It first appeared on the front of the uniform in 1920, and was updated for 1921-23.

The team then designed a gorgeous white elephant which they would use on their jerseys from 1924-27.

Then, rather suddenly, the A’s dropped the white elephant from the uniform in 1928. It would not appear again until 1950, when the elephant appeared as part of a larger patch celebrating Connie Mack’s 50 years as manager of the club, as seen in Todd’s graphic:

While it didn’t appear on the uniforms from 1928 on, it did make appearances on scorecards, programs and other printed material throughout the A’s tenure in Philadelphia.

When the A’s departed for Kansas City following the 1954 season, they kept the elephant as an alternate logo, and it appeared on the 1955 uniform as a sleeve patch. The A’s would keep this same uniform through the 1960 season. Charlie Finley bought the team in 1960, and by 1961, the team had new uniforms, and the elephant logo was gone again. Of course, in 1963, Finley rocked the uniform world when he dressed his team entirely in green and gold uniforms. That same year, Finley changed the team mascot from an elephant to a mule (the state animal of Missouri). Rumor has it Finley changed the logo in order to appeal to fans in the Kansas City area, who were predominantly Democrats (the GOP symbol is an elephant, while the Democratic Party logo is a donkey).

During Finley’s remaining tenure as owner, including when the team moved to Oakland in 1968, the elephant was nowhere to be found. But it got a revival under the next owner, Walter Haas. From 1988, the Athletics’ 21st season in Oakland, through their final season in Oakland in 2024, an elephant logo has adorned the left sleeve of the A’s home and road uniforms. It hasn’t always been the same elephant logo — it was white in 1988-89, then green from 1990-92. A new “modern” take on the elephant appeared from 1993-94, returning to the more traditional elephant logo from 1995 until last season.

So is the elephant patch permanently gone? It’s hard to say — so far, none of the three jerseys we’ve seen (white, green and gold) has the patch — but oddly, the Henderson patch hasn’t been seen on the gold or white jerseys, and for team photo day, the white jerseys didn’t have the new Sacramento patch either; in fact, both the white and gold jerseys we’ve seen for 2025 have been patchless. The style guide shows no patches (although the Henderson patch was announced long after the style guide was prepared, so that makes sense). It also makes sense the SG doesn’t have the new Sacramento patch — but both the Sacto AND the Henderson patches were announced prior to last week’s photo day — so it stands to reason those will be in place once the A’s begin play.

I have no inside information, but my hunch that the Sacto patch will be on (at least) the white jerseys for the 2025 season, but if the team removes it for 2026, it’s quite possible the elephant patch might return as well. I certainly won’t defend current A’s owner John Fisher (who has owned the team since 2005), but I can understand the uniforms not quite being “ready” for their Sacramento debut in spring training. Perhaps the removal of the elephant is just a one-year thing while the A’s wear the new Sacramento patch.

I certainly hope the elephant isn’t permanently gone — sure it’s been on and off the uniforms for long stretches since John McGraw first said the A’s had a “white elephant on their hands” and Connie Mack make the white elephant into a badge of honor — but it does have a long and deep history with the team in three different cities. Hopefully if it doesn’t return for the A’s temporary stay in Sacramento, it will be brought back for their next move to Las Vegas.

What do you guys think? Is it gone for good? And do you want to see it return to the uniforms, if not this year, then in the very near future?