Oakland Athletics Trivia
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60 free Oakland Athletics trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Oakland Athletics trivia quiz follows the A's from Connie Mack's Philadelphia dynasties through 13 odd years in Kansas City to the Coliseum, and on to their temporary Sacramento home. There are questions on the white elephant and the Missouri mule, Charlie Finley's orange baseballs and mustache bonuses, Catfish Hunter's perfect game, Vida Blue, Reggie Jackson and the three straight titles of 1972-74, Billyball and Rickey Henderson's 130 steals, the Bash Brothers, Dennis Eckersley and Kirk Gibson, the earthquake World Series of 1989, and Billy Beane's 20-game winning streak that became Moneyball. The Coliseum gets a round too: the shared home with the Raiders, Mount Davis, the record foul territory and the final game in 2024, plus the uniforms, Stomper, retired numbers, the Bay Bridge Series and the planned move to Las Vegas. Easy questions suit any A's fan; the hard ones are for people who remember Harvey the mechanical rabbit. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The A's moved from Kansas City to Oakland ahead of which season?
1968
Their first Oakland game, on April 17, was a 4-1 loss to Baltimore in front of 50,164 fans.
Q 02How many World Series titles has the Athletics franchise won, tied for second-most in the AL?
9
9: five came in Philadelphia (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, 1930) and four in Oakland, the last the 1989 sweep of the Giants; only the Yankees have more in the American League, with the Red Sox also on nine.
Q 03Which manager ran the Athletics for their first 50 years, wearing a business suit in the dugout?
Connie Mack
Connie Mack managed the Athletics from 1901 to 1950, directing fielders with a rolled-up scorecard from the dugout in a suit; his 3,731 wins and 3,948 losses are both major-league records.
Q 04The A's white elephant mascot began as a jibe from which rival manager?
John McGraw
John McGraw, the Giants manager, sneered in 1902 that Ben Shibe had bought a 'white elephant'; the A's manager adopted the insult and handed McGraw a stuffed toy elephant before the 1905 World Series.
Q 05In Kansas City, Charlie Finley replaced the elephant with which animal, the state animal of Missouri?
A mule
A mule: Finley unveiled a live mule named Charlie O, after himself, in 1965 and paraded it at the ballpark; the mule became Missouri's official state animal in 1995.
Q 06The A's costumed elephant mascot was renamed what in 1997?
Stomper
Stomper, the costumed elephant introduced in 1997, replaced the earlier mascot Harry Elephante, whose name punned on singer Harry Belafonte; the elephant had been the club's symbol since the 1900s.
Q 07Which team colours did Charlie Finley introduce, replacing the traditional red, white and blue?
Kelly green and gold
He also insisted on white cleats, a tradition that outlived him by decades.
Q 08From 1972 to 1980 the club's official name was what, at Finley's insistence?
Oakland A's
Oakland A's: Finley disliked 'Athletics' as a relic of the club's Philadelphia past and made the nickname official from 1972; the new owners restored 'Athletics' in 1981 while keeping 'A's' for marketing.
Q 09Which pitcher threw a perfect game for the A's against Minnesota on May 8, 1968?
Catfish Hunter
Catfish Hunter, then 22, retired all 27 Twins in that game and drove in three of the A's four runs himself; it was the American League's first regular-season perfect game since Charlie Robertson's in 1922.
Q 10The A's won three consecutive World Series in which years?
1972, 1973 and 1974
1972, 1973 and 1974: the A's won three straight World Series under Dick Williams and then Alvin Dark, a three-peat matched since only by the 1998-2000 Yankees.
Q 11Which A's catcher hit four homers in the 1972 World Series after five all season?
Gene Tenace
Gene Tenace, who had hit five home runs all season, homered in his first two World Series at-bats and four times in all in the seven-game Series, winning the 1972 World Series MVP.
Q 12Charlie Finley offered his players $300 each to grow what by Father's Day 1972?
A mustache
A mustache: Finley paid $300 to every player who grew one by Father's Day 1972, and the whole roster did, earning the title 'Mustache Gang' used for Ron Bergman's 1973 book on the club.
Q 13Which A's pitcher won both the 1971 AL Cy Young Award and MVP at age 22?
Vida Blue
Q 21Rickey Henderson set the single-season stolen base record in 1982 with how many?
130
130: Henderson broke Lou Brock's 1974 record of 118 in 1982 and also stole 100 in 1980 and 108 in 1983, the only three 100-steal seasons in American League history.
Q 22Rickey Henderson retired with how many stolen bases, nearly 50% more than Lou Brock's record?
1,406
1,406: Henderson's career total is nearly half again Lou Brock's 938; he also scored a record 2,295 runs and drew 2,190 walks, the most ever by a player other than Barry Bonds.
Q 23Which family, of Levi Strauss & Co. fame, bought the A's from Charlie Finley in 1980?
Haas
Haas: Walter A. Haas Jr., chairman of Levi Strauss & Co., bought the club from Finley in 1980 and owned it until his death in 1995, a span that brought three straight pennants and the 1989 World Series title.
Vida Blue went 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA in 1971, sweeping the AL Cy Young Award and MVP at 22; his 1972 holdout was so bitter that Commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in to settle it.
Q 14Which reserve second baseman did Finley force to sign a false injury affidavit in the 1973 World Series?
Mike Andrews
Mike Andrews made two errors in the 12th inning of Game 2, and Finley had him sign a false injury affidavit to drop him; Commissioner Kuhn reinstated him, and Mets fans gave him a standing ovation in Game 4.
Q 15Which A's slugger was named AL MVP in 1973 and MVP of that year's World Series against the Mets?
Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson led the AL with 32 homers and 117 RBIs in 1973, winning the MVP unanimously, then hit .310 against the Mets for the Series MVP; in 1977 he became the first to win it with a second team.
Q 16The A's beat which team in the 1974 World Series to complete their three-peat?
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers: the A's won the 1974 Series in five games, four of them by 3-2 scores, under manager Alvin Dark, with Joe Rudi's seventh-inning homer in Game 5 breaking the final tie.
Q 17Which future rap star did Charlie Finley hire as a teen executive VP, his 'eyes and ears'?
MC Hammer
MC Hammer: Stanley Burrell was a Coliseum batboy whom Finley made an executive vice-president as a teenager; players nicknamed him 'Hammer' for his resemblance to Hank Aaron.
Q 18What was the mechanical rabbit that delivered balls to the umpire at Finley's ballparks named?
Harvey
Harvey, a mechanical rabbit, popped up beside home plate to hand the umpire fresh baseballs at Finley's ballparks; the owner also pushed orange baseballs, tried in 1973 spring training but never adopted.
Q 19One of Finley's ball girls later founded which famous cookie company?
Mrs. Fields
Mrs. Fields founder Debbi Fields worked as an A's ball girl as a teenager in the early 1970s; Finley's club was among the first to use ball girls at all, and she opened her first cookie store in 1977.
Q 20Which manager's aggressive style was marketed as 'Billyball' when the A's revived under him in 1980?
Billy Martin
Billy Martin, a Berkeley native, took over in 1980 and 'Billyball', built on steals, squeezes and complete games, lifted the A's from 108 losses to a winning record and, in 1981, a division title.
Q 24José Canseco and Mark McGwire were known collectively by what nickname?
The Bash Brothers
The Bash Brothers: Canseco and McGwire celebrated homers by bashing forearms, and the pair hit 42 and 32 home runs in 1988 as Canseco became the first 40-40 player.
Q 25Which manager led the A's to three straight pennants from 1988 to 1990?
Tony La Russa
Tony La Russa took over in mid-1986 and, with pitching coach Dave Duncan, turned starter Dennis Eckersley into the game's dominant closer after Jay Howell's injury in 1987, the core of three straight pennants.
Q 26Whose pinch-hit walk-off homer off Dennis Eckersley stunned the A's in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series?
Kirk Gibson
Kirk Gibson, hobbled by injuries to both legs, limped out to pinch-hit with two out in the ninth and hit a 3-2 backdoor slider into the right-field seats; Eckersley is credited with coining 'walk-off' for such homers.
Q 27The A's 1989 World Series sweep of the Giants was interrupted by what?
The Loma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake hit at 5:04 pm on October 17, 1989, minutes before Game 3 at Candlestick Park was due to start; the Series resumed ten days later and the A's completed the sweep.
Q 28The heavily favoured 1990 A's were swept in the World Series by which team?
Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds: Lou Piniella's underdogs swept the Series in four straight, with Billy Hatcher hitting .750 and José Rijo winning two games, the A's second Series upset in three years.
Q 29The 1988 A's, first of three straight pennant winners, won how many regular-season games?
104
104: the 1988 A's went 104-58, the franchise's most wins since 1931, then followed with 99 and 103 in the next two seasons, the best record in baseball all three years.
Q 30The A's 'Big Three' rotation of 1999-2006 was Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and whom?
Barry Zito
The trio went a combined 261-131, and the left-hander won 23 games and the Cy Young Award in 2002.