1927 A's field team with seven future Hall of Famers

It was a lineup built for Cooperstown – when Cooperstown had not yet become the home of baseball’s Hall of Fame.

It would take another three decades before they were all enshrined, but seven of the game’s greatest players took the field at one time for the Philadelphia A’s on June 11, 1927.

Athletics manager Connie Mack filled out a lineup card that day that started with five future Hall of Famers against the Tigers at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park. Leading off was Eddie Collins, followed by Zack Wheat, Ty Cobb, Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx.

Wheat and Cobb were finishing out their brilliant careers with the A’s, while Collins was in his second stint with the A’s at the end of his big league days. Simmons and Foxx were beginning stints in Philadelphia that would power Mack’s second A’s dynasty of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Later in the game, Mickey Cochrane entered as the Athletics’ catcher. And Lefty Grove relieved starter Howard Ehmke in the sixth inning.

Incredibly, the seven future Hall of Famers were unable to produce a victory as the Tigers won 6-5 behind another future Hall of Famer, Heinie Manush, who had three hits and two RBI.

The A’s were a Cooperstown “prequel” in those days, regularly fielding lineups with multiple future Hall of Famers. In 1928, Tris Speaker replaced Zack Wheat on the A’s roster and was part of a May 24 game with the Yankees that featured 13 future Hall of Famers – the most of any regular season game in big league history.

Collins, Cobb and Mack were all on hand on June 12, 1939 when the first Induction Ceremony was held in Cooperstown. Cochrane and Grove were elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947, with Foxx (1951), Simmons (1953) and Wheat (1959) all elected in the 1950s.