Hall of Fame Thursday - The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics

1979 TCMA #58 Al Simmons
1931 W517 #17 Jack Quinn
1979 TCMA #55 Lefty Grove

For Hall of Fame Thursday we have another post from the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, It must be A's week here at Phungo as today we salute the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics.

The 1929 A's won 104 games and broke a string of three consecutive pennants won by the New York Yankees. The A's bested the Cubs 4-1 in the World Series. Hall of Famers Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane, Jimmy Foxx, and Al Simmons were all members of the 1929 Athletics who were led by Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack.

Phillies fans may be familiar with Jack Quinn's name. He is the pitcher mentioned by commentators when discussing Jamie Moyer as the second oldest pitcher to appear in Post Season and World Series games. During the '29 series Jimmy Foxx became the first player to homer in his first two World Series games. In game 4 the A's overcame an 8 run deficit to win the game with a 10 run 7th. This remains the largest comeback in playoff history. The A's would go on to win the 1930 World Series and the '31 AL Pennant, but after that Connie Mack would break up the team. Afterwards the A's would struggle until their rebirth in Oakland during the early 1970s.

As mentioned earlier this week the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society is located outside Philadelphia and their site has a lot of interesting items about the Athletics and Baseball history.