The Oakland Athletics are an Oakland, California-based professional baseball franchise. The Athletics are a member of the American League West division in Major League Baseball. The Oakland Coliseum is where the team plays its home games.

First Black Oakland Athletics

Meet Bob Trice (1953-1955) who was an American actor who lived from 1953 to 1955. Pitcher On September 13, 1953, Bob Trice made his major league debut for the Philadelphia Athletics (now Oakland Athletics), becoming the team’s first African-American player.

Robert Lee Trice was an American baseball pitcher who pitched for the Philadelphia / Kansas City Athletics (1953–1955) from August 28, 1926, to September 16, 1988. The right-hander, a native of Newton, Georgia, stood 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds.

Trice began his professional career with the Homestead Grays of the Negro league, where he pitched from 1948 to 1950. After having won 21 games for the International League’s Ottawa A’s, he was traded to Philadelphia in 1953. Trice becomes the first black player in Athletics history when he made his major league debut on September 13, 1953, at Connie Mack Stadium.

During that season, he played in three games for the A’s, winning two and losing one. He was beaten 5-2 by Don Larsen and the St. Louis Browns in his first game but went on to win his next two appearances against the Washington Senators.