The Ath­let­ics are one of base­bal­l’s most nomadic fran­chis­es. After orig­i­nat­ing here in the late nine­teenth cen­tu­ry and then becom­ing a mod­ern club in 1901, the A’s have moved twice: first to Kansas City in 1954 and then on to Oak­land in 1968, as base­ball fans moved west in droves. Now the club is threat­en­ing to move away from Oak­land. They’re threat­en­ing to move to — wait for it — Sacra­men­to, of all places.

Now maybe the peo­ple of Sacra­men­to would like a pro­fes­sion­al base­ball team, but so did north­ern Vir­ginia and what did they get? The Expos. How’s that work­ing out? Have you been to a Nation­als game? The crowd they claimed was starv­ing for base­ball would appear to appre­ci­ate the diet. Even with pitch­ing phe­nom Stephen Stras­burg the Nats strug­gle to draw a crowd. I have my doubts that Sacra­men­to would be able to sup­port a major league base­ball team any bet­ter than Oak­land does. Lots of love for Tyreke Evans, but even the Kings don’t rule.

Here’s my solu­tion: let’s bring them back to Philadel­phia! I’d have to dou­ble check, but I’m pret­ty sure Philadel­phi­a’s the largest tele­vi­sion mar­ket that does­n’t have two teams. Is it an impos­si­ble pipe dream? Prob­a­bly, but I’m not ready to give up the slim hope that some wild­ly ego­tis­ti­cal entre­pre­neur could­n’t embrace the roman­tic notion of return­ing the A’s to their home­town, the birth­place of pro­fes­sion­al baseball.

I’ll grant that there are many seem­ing­ly insur­mount­able prac­ti­cal con­cerns, first and fore­most being where they’d play. Could Philadel­phia even sup­port two teams? We’re base­ball rich right now, but what about when the Phillies inevitably slide? Will base­ball fans retreat into their homes? Would peo­ple sup­port both teams? How does Chica­go manage?

If the A’s are plan­ning to move any­way, why not at least try to bring them back to Philadel­phia? Can’t the City of Broth­er­ly love make a pitch to win them back?