The 1916 squad is sometimes referred to as the poorest team in the history of the American League, and its.235 winning % is still the lowest ever recorded by a contemporary (post-1900) major-league team.
1916 Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Red Sox 91 63 0.591 — 49–28 42–35
Chicago White Sox 89 65 0.578 2 49–28 40–37
Detroit Tigers 87 67 0.565 4 49–28 38–39
New York Yankees 80 74 0.519 11 46–31 34–43
St. Louis Browns 79 75 0.513 12 45–32 34–43
Cleveland Indians 77 77 0.500 14 44–33 33–44
Washington Senators 76 77 0.497 14½ 49–28 27–49
Philadelphia Athletics 36 117 0.235 54½ 23–53 13–64
The A’s, one of the original eight teams in the AL, were founded in 1901 and are headquartered in Philadelphia. Connie Mack was the A’s manager during the first 50 years of the team’s history, from the team’s inception until 1950.
During its first seven seasons, the Oakland A’s won AL championships in 1902 and 1905, the latter of which earned the team its first World Series trip, which they lost to the New York Giants in a five-game series in 1907.
Before the newly established Federal League compelled Mack to sell off his key players to other clubs in order to keep the franchise viable, the 1913 and 1914 core made it to two more World Series.
First, the A’s reign of terror from 1915 to 1921 was quickly followed by a seven-year run of last-place results (including a 117-loss season in 1916).
