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I posted this answer in good faith, but it's been deleted.

If you can't see it because you don't have sufficient rep to see deleted answers, it said the apostrophe in Oakland Athletics logo relates to the fact that A is a modern colloquial adjective/noun meaning of excellent quality/an excellent example.

The OP assumed A's in the logo specifically and only represented an "ungrammatical" abbreviation of Athletics - my answer said it was a plural collective descriptor for the team (who are all A's in the sense of excellent baseball players).

Some people might disagree this influenced the logo designer, but why should my answer deleted? Whether intended or not, that connotation will be present for some people (not just me, I'm sure).

I'll admit my link confirming the meaning of A was based on searching for "He's fucking A, man!", but since when did ELU get that prissy? That particular search string was an obvious one to choose if I wanted the modern slang definition; why should I have to delete the expletive before posting?

I suppose my question isn't really Why was this answer deleted? It's more Does anyone agree with me that this answer should not have been deleted? So upvote this question if you think it shouldn't.

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    Your answer was flagged as "Not an Answer", to which I responded by deleting. Your answer didn't really say whether or not the apostrophe was misused.
    – user10893
    Commented Aug 23, 2012 at 23:39
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    @simchona: It's been pointed out many times on ELU that the apostrophe is normal when pluralising "single-letter nouns", as in "Mind your p's and q's", or "I took a couple of e's at the party last night". If it's accepted that A might not be just an abbreviation for Athletic, that obviously makes the apostrophe legitimate. If anyone had needed clarification on that, I'd probably have dealt with it in a comment. OP asked for a justifiable reason, and I gave one.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 23, 2012 at 23:49
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    You should post that as an answer, @sim.
    – Shog9
    Commented Aug 24, 2012 at 4:08
  • Other than your answer (which I can't actually see) presumably being slightly incomplete for not addressing the Baltimore Orioles logo, I don't see why it should be deleted. That seems like a very drastic measure for an answer that is obviously of some relevance, though I would like to see evidence that the proposed meaning was in use when the logo was created.
    – Rachel
    Commented Aug 24, 2012 at 22:00
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    I see far more tangential and unresponsive answers all over the place. Upvote for restoring the answer.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Aug 24, 2012 at 22:01
  • "I'll admit my link confirming the meaning of A was based on searching for 'He's fucking A, man!' That particular search string was an obvious one to choose if I wanted the modern slang definition..." FF, I've watched the Oakland A's play since the days of Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue, and it's never occurred to me to associate the name of the team with that phrase. I'll be honest: when I saw that answer yesterday, it was so far out in left field that I thought, "OMG, somebody must've hacked into FumbleFingers' account" – I really did.
    – J.R.
    Commented Aug 25, 2012 at 9:25
  • @J.R.: To repeat - OP asked for a justifiable reason, and I gave one. I'd never heard of the Oakland A's before seeing that question, so perhaps my mind was more open to possibilities. I remember "The A team" tv series - it wouldn't be ridiculous for those guys to have said "We're all A's, man!".
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 25, 2012 at 12:44

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Simchona said:

Your answer was flagged as "Not an Answer", to which I responded by deleting. Your answer didn't really say whether or not the apostrophe was misused.

Here's the answer in question:

It means each and every one of the team is an A - as in "He's fucking A, man!"

Andrew Grimm commented on the answer:

I wasn't the original person who downvoted and flagged for deletion. However, this is not a serious answer - it's a joke, and ought to be a comment. That this non-answer had profanity in it may not have helped.

Also, th eanswer was very short and your question here includes more explanation that I think would have been useful in the original answer:

... the apostrophe in Oakland Athletics logo relates to the fact that A is a modern colloquial adjective/ noun meaning of excellent quality/an excellent example.

The OP assumed A's in the logo specifically and only represented an "ungrammatical" abbreviation of Athletics - my answer said it was a plural collective descriptor for the team (who are all A's in the sense of excellent baseball players). ...

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