MLB and St. Patrick’s Day: 5 Quick Looks

1. Significance of the Oakland Athletics

Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

It may seem odd, but the Oakland A’s are presently the only team in MLB to regularly incorporate the color green into their uniforms. Fellow AL West counterpart, the Seattle Mariners, come close with their “northwest green,” but this color is closer to aqua than anything and is not focal point of the clubs color ensemble as green is with the A’s.

In 1960, Charlie O’Finley purchased an interest in the franchise (then the Philadelphia Athletics) and changed their colors to kelly green, Fort Knox gold and wedding gown white.

But well before all this, the organization has much deeper ties to Irish American ancestry. One of the more influential builders of MLB in the 19th and 21st centuries was a man named Cornelius McGillicuddy Sr., better known as Connie Mack.

Mack was born in 1862 in East Brookfield, MA, to Irish immigrants Michael and Mary McKillop McGillicuddy as one of seven children. He began his playing career in 1886 with the Washington Nationals but was never really much of a catcher as a player. Instead he is more renowned for his creative innovations to the game and his legendary managerial career. Mack retired as a player in 1896 after having been a player-manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates for three seasons.

It was in 1901 when Mack began his historic career with the Philadelphia Athletics. He managed them for 50 seasons until 1950 and as a result is the winningest manager all time in MLB buy close to 1000 games. All said, Mack won five World Series Championships, spent a tremendous 71 years involved in pro baseball and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1937, well before his career came close to an end.

In 2008, Mack was an inaugural inductee to Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. Two of Mack’s direct descendants, his grandson and great grandson, both went on to be politicians in the United States House of Representatives.