<P> In the late 1940s, a power struggle developed between Roy and Earle on one side and Connie Jr. on the other . Connie Jr., like many A's fans, had become disenchanted with his brothers' bargain - basement approach to running the team . However, Roy and Earle were not willing to modernize and refused to listen to their younger brother, whom they considered a mere child with no relevant opinion (Connie Jr. was almost 20 years younger than Roy and Earle). Compounding their disagreements was the fact that they had different mothers . When it was apparent that Roy and Earle would not consider making what he considered to be critical reforms, Connie Jr. and his mother (who was angered at Connie Sr.'s refusal to give Connie Jr.'s sisters any role in the team) made an alliance with the Shibe heirs . Connie Jr. began taking steps to upgrade the team and the park . One of the few things on which the two sides agreed was that it was time for Connie Sr. to step down as manager . </P> <P> Matters came to a head in July 1950, when Connie Jr. and the Shibes decided to sell the team . However, Roy and Earle insisted that they have a 30 - day option to buy out Connie Jr. and the Shibes before the team was put on the market . Connie Jr. didn't think Roy and Earle could get the $1.74 million required to buy him out, but Roy and Earle called their bluff by mortgaging the team to Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (now part of CIGNA) and pledging Shibe Park as collateral . The mortgage deal closed on August 26 . The shares of Connie Jr. and the Shibes were retired, ending the Shibes' half - century involvement with the A's and making Connie Sr., Roy and Earle the team's only shareholders . Although his father remained nominal owner and team president, Roy, who had been vice president since 1936, now became operating head of the franchise, sharing day - to - day control with Earle . However, under the terms of the mortgage, the A's were now saddled with payments of $200,000 over the first five years, depriving them of badly needed capital that could have been used on improving the team and the park . Unfortunately for the A's, the team continued to slide on the field . Although the 1949 team set a major league record for double plays which still stands, this was more a reflection of the team's poor pitching staff allowing too many base runners . They would have only one winning record from 1951 to 1954--a fourth - place finish in 1952 . The nadir came in 1954, when the A's finished with a ghastly 51 - 103 record, easily the worst record in baseball and 60 games out of first . Attendance plummeted and revenues continued to dwindle . </P> <P> At the same time, the Phillies, who had been the definition of baseball futility for over 30 years, began a surprisingly quick climb to respectability . The A's had always been the more popular team in Philadelphia for most of the first half of the century, even though for much of the last decade they had been as bad or worse than the Phillies . However, unlike the A's, the Phillies began spending lavishly on young prospects in the 1940s . The impact was immediate . In 1947, the A's finished fourth in the American League while the Phillies tied for the worst record in the National League . Only three years later, while the A's finished dead last in the majors, the Phillies went all the way to the 1950 World Series . It soon became obvious that the Phillies had passed the A's as Philadelphia's number - one team . </P> <P> In response, Roy and Earle began cutting costs even further . They turned over the rent from the Phillies to Connecticut General and took cash advances from their concessions contractor . The cost - cutting ramped up even further in the 1953--54 offseason, when they slashed over $100,000 off the player payroll, fired general manager Arthur Ehlers and replaced Dykes as manager with shortstop Eddie Joost . They also pared down the minor - league system to only six clubs . However, even with these measures, there wasn't nearly enough money coming in to service the mortgage debt, and Roy and Earle began feuding with each other . </P>

When did the philadelphia athletics become the phillies