More on team histories

I had intended to continue the "contemplating" series today with an examination of the starting rotation, but after watching too much of Sunday's fiasco I can't bring myself to do it.

So I'll chase this minor tangent instead.

Last week I beefed here about the Twins paying short shrift to their Washington era roots, and specifically the legendary Walter Johnson. On Sunday evening this tweet crossed my timeline:

Bob Melvin won his 368th game with the A's, tying him for 3rd on team's all-time list with Ken Macha. Art Howe - 600, Tony La Russa - 798..

— TwinsRadio (@TwinsRadio) July 19, 2015

They're obviously just talking the Oakland era for the Athletics -- which is now a fairly lengthy one, since the A's have been there since 1968. Because the A's were also the team, in an era so long ago even I hadn't been born yet, of one Connie Mack. Mack managed the A's for 50 seasons, 1901 through 1950, winning 3,582 regular season games, copping nine pennants and five World Series titles.

It obviously helped Mack that he was the team owner down the stretch of his managerial run. He hung around a lot longer than he otherwise would have; his last truly good season was 1932, when he was already 69 years old and his three-time pennant winners fell to second place. Then came 18 seasons of, basically, lousy teams. They pulled his career record well below .500. (With three seasons as Pittsburgh manager before the American League was born, Mack has a record of 3,731 wins and 3,948 losses. Both are records that are unlikely to be approached.)

Connie Mack in his day was a legend, and to leave him off the franchise managerial list because the franchise was on the other side of the continent in his day is, again, to deny history.