Killing the Oakland A’s: Major League Baseball’s White Flight in the 21st Century

Killing the Oakland A’s: Major League Baseball’s White Flight in the 21st Century

“I am committed to Oakland as a major league site.  If we were to leave Oakland, I think 10 years from now, we would be more likely than not looking backward, saying we made a mistake.”1            

Rob Manfred, July 12, 2016

“We hate to move. We did everything we could possibly do to keep the club in Oakland. Unfortunately, one night doesn’t change a decade worth of inaction.”2

                                                                                                            Rob Manfred, June 23, 2023

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”3

                                                                                                            Jackie Robinson

hings aren’t adding up in Oakland.

Major League Baseball is leaving town for drier pastures.  In deserting the lucrative East Bay market and 57-year home of the A’s, MLB is destroying one of its most storied franchises and one of its best brands.  Forget about the damage the move will cause to the Oakland community—that is academic.  What is stunning is the fact that MLB is leaving cold hard cash on the table by approving the move.  Why is MLB sanctioning John Fisher’s abandonment of long-term viability on the Oakland waterfront for a desert pittance?  Why is MLB sanctioning a relocation that will make the A’s a permanent drain on MLB revenues? Why is MLB killing one of its most compelling franchises for the sake of the man who didn’t invest a dime in it?  In short, why is MLB fleeing Oakland?

The powers that be haven’t given a logical explanation yet, so we’re left looking for answers.  Does MLB have an ulterior motive for supporting the relocation?  Or is there some innocent explanation?  Perhaps MLB simply isn’t good at math and therefore doesn’t realize that relocating the A’s to Las Vegas will hurt its bottom line.  To be fair, who doesn’t struggle with math from time to time?  But it is remedial arithmetic that MLB is failing.  And the stakes couldn’t be higher.  The Oakland A’s have an appointment with death in 2025—assuming the players union rubber stamps the stopgap Sacramento relocation.  This is no time to have to remind MLB of its mission statement—more money.  The relocation of the A’s from Oakland to Las Vegas will mean less money for MLB, so why is Commissioner Rob Manfred championing the move?  What is it about Oakland that doesn’t fit MLB’s paradigm?

Manfred has valiantly tried to distract the little people from raising this awkward question, offering the false narrative that the Oakland fans and the City of Oakland are to blame for the relocation of the A’s.  This is simply not the case.

By the time the June 13, 2023 Reverse Boycott was in the books, the contention that the Oakland fan base was subpar was in tatters, and Manfred was left with only his snark to prop himself up: “It’s great to see what is this year almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night.”4  Say, Mr. Commissioner, has there ever been a louder crowd in history to watch a team 32 games under .500 in mid-June?  And what are we to make of the record-breaking crowd of 54,000 who showed up at the Coliseum to watch the 2019 wildcard playoff game between the A’s and the Rays?5  The peasants really crawled out of the woodwork that night.

The myth that the City of Oakland is to blame is in the capable hands of Manfred, so allow us to introduce some facts to the discussion. We put the blame where it belongs most—on A’s ownership.  And we have the historical record to back us up.  We’ve even footnoted some of our assertions lest we be dismissed as undisciplined brutes.  We’re from Oakland, after all.  Guilty until proven innocent.  But make no mistake about it, neither sleet nor snow nor Manfred’s torrential BS is going to stop us.

It is clear why Manfred is so vehement in blaming the ballpark failures on Oakland.  He wants to head off the truth at the pass.  Closer inspection of the A’s ballpark saga shines an embarrassing light on MLB’s old boys club—a group that has shamefully bought into Bud Selig’s decades-old vision of eliminating baseball in Oakland.  One can’t be certain why Selig carried a torch for the demise of the Oakland A’s, but there is no denying that he did. In his words, the existence of the Oakland A’s was a “horrible mistake.”6 

Selig hasn’t been commissioner since 2015, but the old boys club is still doing old things.  That includes taking aim at the Oakland A’s, one of baseball’s most historically and culturally significant franchises over the last 57 years.  Why is Oakland in the crosshairs?  We hope we’re on the wrong path here, but it may be that Oakland is just too Black for MLB’s taste.  Then again, it’s the third decade of the 21st century.  Is MLB fine with its brand being identified with flight from the inner city to whiter pastures?  Is this a mischaracterization of MLB’s position?  Let’s see what math and history have to say.

MLB MATH

OAKLANDLAS VEGAS
Population7 8  
Alameda County + Contra Costa County: 2,848,280		Population9 
Clark County: 2,265,461
Television Market10 
10th Largest		Television Market11 
40th Largest
Median Household Income12 13  
Alameda County: $122,159
Contra Costa County: $120,061		Median Household Income14 
Clark County: $70,797
space
Average high temperature (June-September)15 
72°		Average high temperature (June-September)16 
100°
Public Funding17 
$400 million		Public Funding18 
$380 million
Stadium Site
110 acres at the Coliseum site, with existing infrastructure (freeway, subway, train, and airport connector)
* or 55 waterfront acres at the Howard Terminal site		Stadium Site
9 acres at the Tropicana Hotel site
space
space
Enviable 57-year franchise history that isn’t transferable
Loud and loyal fan base (Ask the 2012 Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers how loud.19)

If you put any stock in data, Oakland is the runaway winner as the best location for the A’s.  So why is MLB determined to move the A’s out of Oakland?  Maybe our table is incomplete.  Sure, Oakland has money, location, enviable temperatures, tradition, and a rabid fan base, but it must be missing some key ingredient.  Or maybe it has an ingredient MLB isn’t too thrilled about. 

Given the inexplicability of MLB’s proposed flight from Oakland, we can’t help but wonder if MLB prefers cities that are a bit whiter than ours.  Only 32% of Oakland’s population is white, whereas 52% of Las Vegas’s population is white.20  Maybe we should parse things further.  Perhaps, in the eyes of MLB, Oakland’s non-whiteness isn’t the culprit as much as its corollary—Oakland is too Black.  Oakland’s Black demographic, though shrinking, is almost twice that of Las Vegas and Sacramento—22% compared to 12%.21  The Black demographic in John Fisher’s hometown of San Francisco is 5%.22  The Black demographic in Lew Wolff’s adopted hometown of San Jose is 3%.23  The Black demographic in Wolff’s nearly-adopted hometown of Fremont is also 3%.24

We can’t be certain of Rob Manfred’s motive for supporting the relocation, but his uncritical, enthusiastic endorsement of Fisher’s folly raises eyebrows.  His flippant answers to the softball questions laid before him just haven’t done the trick for people with a pulse.  If he could answer just this one question satisfactorily, we would go away:  Why the hell is the commissioner, who’s supposed to look out for the good of the game, aiding and abetting the flight of the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas? 

And what is Fisher’s motive for the relocation?  Is he driven by prejudice against Oakland or sheer boneheadedness?  Fisher, who admits Oakland has a “passionate” fan base, can’t seem to connect the dots.25  The great sports city of Oakland has been reduced to one last major league team (no more Raiders, no more Warriors).  Fisher could have the entire East Bay sports market to himself—a tremendous windfall if his instinct were to invest in his team instead of using it to leverage a real estate empire he doesn’t have the balls to pull the trigger on.  He’s sitting on gold.  It’s as if someone handed him a Bay Area treasure map free of charge.  X marks the spot, and it is Oakland.  The Oakland market should be writing revenue-sharing checks, not receiving them.  Fisher is too narrow-minded and shortsighted to figure it out. 

As the MLB owners convened in Arlington ten months ago, the question was whether or not they too were too shortsighted to figure it out.  Or had they figured it out but lacked the courage to vote their wallets?  November 16 , 2023—the relocation vote.  30 yeas and 0 nays.26  In a gutless, unanimous party-line vote worthy of a communist politburo, the owners chose Fisher’s redlining of Oakland over their own bottom line.  Fisher now has cover to put a comfortable distance between Oakland and his team.  A sad day for baseball in America, and an even sadder day for balls.

HEIR UNAPPARENT

“It would be the intent of our group to move the A’s to the level that they had in their glory years of 1987 through 1992. . .You have to give the fans a team that they believe has a chance to compete for the championship.”27

Andy Dolich, October 27, 1998

Though John Fisher is a legitimate heir to his family’s fortune, he is not the rightful successor to the Haas family’s legacy of civic-minded ownership of the A’s.  In 1999, an ownership group that was bullish on Oakland tried to buy the A’s with legal tender.  Though they offered asking price, Commissioner Bud Selig—who six years later endorsed the sale of the A’s to his fraternity brother Lew Wolff and Fisher—quashed this unwarranted free market activity.28

It probably comes as no surprise that this woe-is-not-me ownership group was composed mostly of principals aligned with the East Bay:  Andy Dolich – former A’s executive and marketing guru during the Haas ownership; Robert Piccinini – owner of the Save Mart supermarket chain based in Modesto; George Zimmer – founder and CEO of the Men’s Wearhouse; Joe Morgan – Hall of Fame second baseman and baseball broadcaster who grew up in Oakland; the Oakland Tribune; and Jeff Goodby – San Francisco advertising executive who worked on the A’s award-winning Billy Ball (Billy Martin) marketing campaign in 1981.29  (Joe Morgan eventually dropped out of the group.)  With Dolich leading the way, here was a group that was poised to do the unthinkable—market the Oakland A’s and not whine about it.  Nay, they were actually enthusiastic about it.  These loose cannons clearly had no business being part of the old boys club.

They weren’t alone. After Selig’s rejection of the Dolich group, Reggie Jackson tried to buy the A’s before they were sold to Wolff and Fisher in 2005.30  With Microsoft in his corner, Jackson clearly had the resources to buy the team.  But being the highest bidder wasn’t enough to win a seat at the table.  Though Jackson had dollars aplenty, they never gained currency with Selig.  Jackson wasn’t part of the old boys club.  And, in hindsight, it’s a safe bet he never stood a chance of joining it.

REIGN OF ERROR (2005 –  )

“If I was going to pursue a ballpark, I would certainly do it in San Jose…It’s the difference between a big-league city and a non-big-league city.  I wouldn’t spend five minutes on any other city besides San Jose.”31

                                                                                                              Lew Wolff, March 19, 1998

Here’s a question.  How do you not get a ballpark built in Oakland?  You turn the reins over to a guy who doesn’t want to be in Oakland.

Lew Wolff was the hitman Bud Selig brought in to kill Oakland baseball.  There was no way Selig was going to let Reggie Jackson own the Oakland A’s.  Not in a million years.  There was a job to be done, and Wolff was the guy to do it.  His resume was impeccable—a San Jose partisan with real-estate-developer credentials and wisdom-colored hair who could flash a soothing smile while stabbing Oakland baseball in the back.  And he was Selig’s fraternity brother to boot.  If you can’t trust your frat brother to kill the Oakland A’s, who can you trust?

When part owner Wolff rode in on his horse to solve the A’s ballpark problem, he tried his best to put the ballpark in just about any Bay Area city but Oakland.  His greatest hope was to move the A’s to San Jose.  We know this because he divulged as much in a franker moment seven years earlier—before becoming an owner of the A’s.  To his credit, Wolff spent a whole year looking for a ballpark solution in Oakland, far longer than the five minutes he had prescribed. 

Let’s take a look at his exhaustive effort to build a ballpark in Oakland.  The path of least resistance, naturally, was to build at the existing 110-acre Coliseum site.  But Wolff’s plan for the Coliseum site wasn’t at the Coliseum site at all.  It was a block north of the Coliseum, on property not owned by the A’s or the City and County.32  A curious choice.  Some cynical sorts have characterized this ballpark effort as a deliberate attempt to fail.  Who’s to say?  Interestingly enough, Wolff’s next ballpark efforts were in Fremont and San Jose, which, as their names imply, aren’t Oakland. 

Wolff was thinking way outside the box when he came up with the ingenious solution of relocating to Fremont—a ballpark site within the A’s territory but closer to San Jose than Oakland.  Demographically speaking, it was light years from Oakland.  One can only imagine Wolff’s excitement at stumbling on the Fremont solution.  No matter that the site was miles from the nearest BART station.33  The foremost goal wasn’t creating a first-rate fan experience but making money from developing real estate. 

Thankfully, Wolff’s attempt to relocate the A’s to San Jose-Lite failed.  As did his attempt to relocate to San Jose proper—after the courts finally disposed of the City of San Jose’s antitrust lawsuit against MLB in 2015.  Three strikes and you’re out.  Time for Wolff to go.  Enter Dave Kaval as president of the A’s. 

It was apparently around this time that someone pointed out to John Fisher that Oakland real estate prices were pretty damn high.  Coincidentally, the A’s came to the realization they were “rooted in Oakland.”  More bumbling ensued.  In a nod to Wolff, Kaval picked an Oakland ballpark site that wasn’t owned by the A’s or the City of Oakland (Laney College site).34  When that choice flopped, he, to his credit, kept looking in Oakland.  At the end of 2018, the A’s announced their intention to build a ballpark at Howard Terminal—on land that belonged to the Port of Oakland and wasn’t yet zoned for a stadium, housing, and retail.  Less than a year-and-a-half later, the pandemic hit—not Oakland’s fault, by the way—which slowed the timeline by a year.  By the spring of 2021—presumably fearful about the uncertainty of commercial real estate prices—Fisher had moved on from Oakland (parallel paths with Las Vegas).  Alas, it turned out his rootedness was just an interlude before regressing to his comfort zone of prejudice against Oakland.

Anywhere but Oakland.  Fremont and San Jose—brave attempts to save the Oakland A’s by moving them out of Oakland.  Sound familiar?  Nevertheless, Kaval and Manfred portray Fisher’s 20 years of lurching about the Bay Area as the fault of the City of Oakland.  “We’ve been working almost 20 years as an organization to find a permanent home for the A’s,” Kaval laments.35  “A decade worth of inaction,” Manfred cries.36  Sorry, guys—nice try, but no dice.  The common denominator in the 20 years of missteps is the A’s, not Oakland.

If we take Kaval at his word, we should be grateful for the exhaustive effort of the A’s to get a ballpark deal done in the Bay Area.  In actuality, the process has been exhausting for Oakland fans, who have demonstrated more patience toward idiot ownerships than any population in modern times.  Fisher could teach a master class in stadium bungling—if he weren’t a recluse.  Sorry, Dave—that talk of a heroic 20-year effort by the A’s isn’t going to fly.  We’re Oaklanders, yes, but we have brains in our heads.    

By our math, the A’s made one bona fide effort to put a ballpark in Oakland—starting six years ago—during which time they embarked on parallel paths with Las Vegas.  In other words, they gave Oakland only three years of their full attention—one of which was hamstrung by the Covid-19 pandemic.  At best, three years of good faith effort to get a ballpark deal done in Oakland.  Hardly a long time compared to the franchise’s 57 years in Oakland.

And it hasn’t exactly been a run-of-the-mill 57-year existence in Oakland.  The Oakland A’s, in terms of their contributions to the culture of today’s game, may very well be baseball’s most important franchise over that span.  Their entrenched status as the renegades of baseball gives Fisher a marketing advantage in the Bay Area. Sadly, he has failed to understand and exploit this advantage. Instead of simply building a new ballpark—a living monument to Oakland’s great brand and history—he tried to build an $11 billion real estate development in Oakland.  Having been slain by his delusions of grandeur on the Oakland waterfront, he has pivoted to building a boutique ballpark on nine acres—in Las Vegas.  A friend might have intervened earlier and bitch-slapped him with the memo that the Oakland A’s are a baseball franchise, not a real estate empire.  Regrettably, he didn’t get that memo until it was too late. 

It really is a pity that Fisher left the fate of Oakland’s great baseball heritage in the hands of a couple of fly-by-night warlocks from parts known—thousands of miles from Oakland.  Wolff is from St. Louis.  Kaval is from Cleveland.  But a tip of the cap to Kaval for failing only twice to get a ballpark done compared to Wolff’s three whiffs.  Of course, there once was a guy who didn’t fail in the least, who completed an award-winning ballpark in Oakland on the first try—Robert Nahas, the godfather of the Oakland Coliseum.37 

You’ll never hear Kaval or Fisher mention Robert Nahas. Best not to invite comparison to the man who actually completed a ballpark in Oakland.  Also, best not to open a window to Nahas’s soul, as there is no place for his way of thinking today.  You see, Nahas said some pretty troubling things when reflecting on the Oakland Coliseum at its 20th anniversary.  For starters, he said that “money is the cheapest kind of reward.”38  He preferred “the satisfaction of doing something that is useful and beautiful and contributes to life around us.”39  And in a final embarrassment, he showed gratitude for his good fortune in life and his East Bay home. “I’ve been prosperous.  My children have gone to school here.  I’m the luckiest guy in the world.  Why not give something back?”40  You can bet Fisher, Kaval, and Manfred don’t want you to know about this guy and his incomprehensible, unconditional love for Oakland.  Isn’t it telling that the one guy who accomplished a ballpark in Oakland wasn’t after personal riches?

If made aware of Nahas, most MLB owners would dismiss him as a quaint, naive guy from the pages of history.  But they better tread carefully when they relegate Nahas to the funny farm.  His words are a spot-on echo of the man who said it best, Jackie Robinson.  “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”  Are MLB owners prepared to ridicule Robinson’s creed?  Of course not.  That would give the lie to their once-a-year celebration of Robinson’s sacrifice for equality and justice.  In reality, most MLB owners don’t care about the great contribution of African Americans to baseball any further than they can make money from it.  If you don’t believe that, just look at their unanimous vote to move the A’s out of Oakland.

AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Having endured John Fisher’s ownership for 20 years, some fans are left to imagine what the A’s would be like under good management.  There’s no need to imagine.  From 1981 through 1995 the Haas family operated the A’s franchise with utter class, something younger A’s fans have never had the fortune to experience from an A’s ownership.  At the outset, Roy Eisenhardt, the son-in-law of owner Walter A. Haas Jr., emphasized the family’s commitment to the Oakland community.  “We are dedicated to what a sports organization should be in a community, the type of organization people are entitled to.”41  The Haas family demonstrated their commitment to Oakland through deeds that went beyond gimmicky slogans.  They didn’t need to say they were rooted in Oakland, as no one questioned their commitment to the community. 

It should come as no surprise that the A’s enjoyed on-field success and strong attendance during the Haas tenure.  It’s a phenomenon called return on investment.  During the six winning seasons of the Haas ownership, the A’s averaged 30,758 fans per game.42  They were in the top half of the league in home attendance each of those years, including two years in which they had the second highest home attendance.  Not only did the A’s make three straight World Series appearances from 1988 to 1990, they were the rock stars of baseball.  The A’s, who drew 2.9 million fans to the Coliseum in 1990, were equally popular on the road, where fans turned out to see the Bash Brothers—Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire—and Rickey Henderson, who combined speed, power, and style unlike any player in the game. 

Some have characterized the Haas family as the exception to the rule—an outlier ownership insofar as it drew well in Oakland.  That’s a super low-energy interpretation of events.  Actually, the Haas family proved an important rule—if you invest in the A’s franchise and the community, an appreciative and large turnout awaits you.

Rob Manfred would have us believe that John Fisher is a good owner.  Wouldn’t we know if Fisher were a good owner?  We’re sentient beings, for crying out loud.  Fisher scored no brownie points with fans for trying to build a real estate empire instead of a ballpark—no matter how much money he wasted on the folly.  This is a simple concept, but one the commissioner is miffed by.

As MLB continues to digest the fact that it posted its smallest World Series TV ratings ever in 2023, the owners should think twice about destroying the Oakland A’s product. The Oakland A’s—that quirky team out west—are a brand with national appeal.  In 1990 and 1991, the A’s led the majors in road attendance.43  Simply put, the Oakland A’s were the most popular team in the country at the pinnacle of the Haas ownership.  When the Oakland A’s do Oakland things, they draw well—both at home and on the road.  The stalwarts at the helm right now are a San Francisco billionaire and his Silicon Valley task master.  Nobody with an Oakland mindset is fooled by these johnny-come-latelies.  It’s a pity Manfred can’t spot the difference between imposters and the genuine article.

UNDER THE BANNER OF GREEN AND GOLD

“It’s just not right.  They have so much history in Oakland…I see the A’s as Oakland.  I don’t see them as Vegas.”44   

Bryce Harper, Las Vegas native and Philadelphia Phillies first baseman, June 15, 2023

Some will be surprised to learn that the Oakland A’s are one of only two franchises to win three World Series in a row—the other being the New York Yankees.  Most will be surprised to learn that the city of Oakland—at the time that John Fisher pulled up stakes—had produced more first-ballot Hall of Fame players than any other city in the world: Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, and Rickey Henderson.45  This is to say nothing of the other All-Stars and major leaguers who grew up in Oakland.  The list is too long to go into here. The World Series three-peat and the Hall of Fame careers aren’t San Francisco accomplishments. They aren’t Fisher family accomplishments. They are civic points of pride belonging to Oakland.

And let’s not forget the enormous cultural contribution the Oakland A’s have made to baseball, a body of work that puts them in a class of their own.  Long hair, colorful uniforms, clubhouse brawling, forearm bashing, winning on a shoestring—you name it.  Reggie Jackson and Rickey Henderson—the sultans of swagger—made names for themselves playing baseball in Oakland.  In short, the Oakland A’s are the counterculture franchise whose corrupting influence has made baseball better.  Yeah, let’s get rid of that brand—that’s a fine idea, Mr. Commissioner.  MLB is pissing on the crown jewel of its baseball cities.  This is the sort of thing that causes the baseball gods to pull their hair out.  Bald gods.  Things have gone too far.

JOHN THE BASTARD

“We did an awful lot to really reach out and be a good steward of the franchise for the fans.  And, you know, I’m sorry that it hasn’t worked out.”46

John Fisher, August 23, 2023

John J. Fisher.  The illegitimate owner of the Oakland A’s.  The man who bought the franchise in 2005 even though the Dolich group posted the asking price in 1999.  The man who Bud Selig certified to destroy Oakland baseball. 

For the past 20 years, Fisher has squatted on the A’s franchise, failing to invest in baseball’s favorite oddball brand.  In the past three years, he has unleashed the full fury of his stinginess on the fan base—discarding all-star players, slicing payroll, and charging unconscionably high prices for hard-on-the-eyes baseball.  Heroic maneuvers in the eyes of baseball’s deadbeat owners, but rather deplorable acts in most circles.  Despite his failure to invest in and promote his baseball business, the franchise has appreciated by a billion dollars during his reign.  Not a bad return on the investment of sitting on his ass for 20 years.

John J. Fisher.  A cheap bastard.  Fisher isn’t simply cheap, he’s a trailblazer in cheapness.  During the onset of Covid-19, he was the only owner to halt stipend payments to his minor league players.47  Thankfully, the rest of the owners did not go along with his groundbreaking cheapness.  Imagine running a business and it having to be pointed out to you that the employees are an integral part of it.  And what was the deal with those cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches he was serving to his minor leaguers?48  Does iceberg lettuce have protein?

Rob Manfred points out the fantastic sum Fisher spent on his decades-long quest for a Bay Area ballpark—as if it were a badge of honor.49  Evidently, it’s a badge of incompetence.  Forgive us for our reluctance to bestow a participation award on a billionaire who stacked ballpark failures like cord wood.  Mr. Bastard, with all due respect, you didn’t get the job done.

Manfred also points out the success the A’s have had on the playing field under Fisher—which includes 7 postseason appearances in 20 seasons.50  He fails to point out that this success is not because of Fisher but in spite of him.  Fisher didn’t build the front office apparatus.  He didn’t discover Billy Beane and David Forst.  Just as he inherited his fortune, he inherited the A’s front office staff, the heroes who have somehow made the A’s palatable on a shoestring.

John J. Fisher.  The man who would rather have the trappings of success than the battle scars won in creating it.  The accomplishments of the Oakland A’s aren’t Fisher accomplishments.  In 13 seasons in Oakland, Charlie Finley won three World Series.  In 15 seasons in Oakland, Walter Haas won three pennants and one World Series.  In 20 seasons in Oakland, Fisher has yet to make a World Series appearance.  He can boast two seasons of 100+ losses—and the worst season in the history of the Oakland A’s.  He has had no role whatsoever in Oakland’s championship heritage.  But don’t expect him to donate the four World Series trophies to the Oakland Museum as he heads out of town.  He specializes in acquiring the masterpieces of others—be they paintings or championship seasons.

John J. Fisher.  The walking embodiment of the phrase “You can’t buy class.”

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Reputable businesses go to great lengths to prevent even the appearance of a conflict of interest.  Needless to say, MLB doesn’t worry about conflicts of interest—big or small.  John Fisher’s ownership of the A’s is a fox-guarding-the-henhouse conflict of interest.  And the hens aren’t thriving.

Fisher grew up a San Francisco Giants fan, following the lead of his grandparents who went to every game after the Giants’ arrival in 1958.51  In 1992, the specter of his beloved boyhood team leaving town put a rare pep in his step; he joined with the group of businessmen who bought the Giants to keep them in San Francisco.52 It isn’t necessarily a problem that the Giants are Fisher’s first love.  It becomes a problem, however, when he shows no love toward the franchise across the Bay—the one he owns.  Sometimes things are what they appear to be, and sadly, Fisher’s ownership of the A’s is one such case.  An antisocial billionaire from San Francisco—the enemy, if you will—is behind Oakland’s lines and destroying its great baseball heritage from within.  It’s little wonder his interest in the wellbeing of the Oakland A’s took flight instead of root.       

When Fisher took ownership of the franchise, the Oakland A’s had four World Series titles under their belt.  Under his penny-pinching stewardship, the A’s haven’t won squat.  Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants have won three World Series titles.  That the A’s were left at the mercy of a lifelong Giants fan is especially galling when you realize they should’ve been in the caring hands of a proudly East Bay ownership at the time.  Did Fisher care whether or not the Oakland A’s won another World Series?  Given his San Francisco pedigree, did he just as soon they didn’t?

Who was Fisher rooting for when the A’s and Giants squared off in the 1989 World Series?  How did he feel when Rickey Henderson stole bases at will against San Francisco?  How did he feel when Dave Stewart shut down the San Francisco bats?  It must’ve been upsetting for the San Francisco lad to witness two Oakland dudes manhandle his beloved San Francisco team.  Not to worry.  If you can’t beat the Oakland A’s, just buy them.  And run them into the ground.  And when they get within range of winning another championship, trade their all-stars for scrap.  Rinse and repeat.

CLEVELAND KAVALIER

It’s hard to say exactly where Dave Kaval is from.  Is he from Cleveland?  Silicon Valley?  Las Vegas?  What a liberating position to be in—no ties to a community.  The one thing we can be certain of, he sure as hell isn’t from Oakland.  For someone who beat the “Rooted in Oakland” drum ad nauseum, he has been remarkably consolable about leaving the town where he’s rooted.  In fact, he has been chillingly indifferent about the whole thing.  That’s some stiff upper lip on that guy.   

People from Oakland recognized Kaval as an imposter early on.  What did this guy ever know about being rooted in Oakland?  People from Oakland don’t run around saying they’re rooted in Oakland—they just are.  Fisher and Kaval’s Rooted campaign wasn’t so much about convincing us of their Oakland rootedness as convincing themselves.  An ownership that needed convincing to stay in Oakland never should’ve owned the franchise to begin with.

Kaval is in the throes of a midlife crisis.  He turns 50 in a couple of years; Las Vegas is his trophy wife.  We have no choice but to write him off.  By the time he gets the help he needs and snaps out of his mania, the A’s will be heading out of town.  That’s an unacceptable price for Oakland to pay for one man’s circumnavigation to age-appropriate behavior.  And there is also the little matter of his credibility being completely shot to hell.  Dave, what was the price to buy your soul?  Is there any money left to buy a moral compass, or have you already made the down payment on the bicep implants?

Neither here nor there, Oakland—and the Bay Area—would be a better place if Kaval were sent back to Cleveland in a gondola.  That he thinks he can waltz his twig ass into Oakland and steal 57 years of A’s history doesn’t sit right somehow.  In fairness, he made a Herculean effort to get the Howard Terminal project near the finish line.  Too bad he didn’t have the moral stamina to see it through.  Kaval could’ve been an Oakland hero if he had pushed the project across the finish line, but the Stanford embarrassment revealed himself to be nothing more than a billionaire’s errand boy.  Shame on us.  His pencil neck and noodlely arms should’ve reminded us that his was just a speaking part.

COMMISSIONER JOHN FISHER

John Fisher is the de facto commissioner of MLB.  He stepped into this role when Rob Manfred abandoned the duties of the office.  The commissioner is charged with looking out for the good of the game.  Instead of taking that responsibility seriously, Manfred has become the blackhole of baseball morality.  His dereliction of duty has allowed Fisher to step into the breach.

Why is Manfred working in lockstep with Fisher, who has only his own narrow interest in mind?  Are Manfred and Fisher one and the same?  Has anyone seen them in a room at the same time?  More than likely, they are different people—and Fisher is simply the happy beneficiary of Manfred’s inability to cut the umbilical cord to Bud Selig. 

Manfred is incapable of independent thought.  He and Selig are part of the same human continuum—a single mind with two bodies and counting.  You can bet there’s already a successor stooge in the works, biding his time for the day Manfred turns in his horns.  Who is Manfred’s understudy, by the way?  It doesn’t really matter.  We know he is of the same mind as his predecessors and only too happy to attach to the Selig-Manfred centipede of unbridled greed.

Fisher’s ascension to the role of commissioner is one of the great passive heists in the history of the world.  Not only was the coup bloodless, it was damn near pulseless.  Fisher didn’t do anything other than lounge around and let his franchise run into the ground.  That was enough.  Not a single owner stood up to Fisher, and in the end, he was the only man left standing.  The silence of his peers is the lifeblood of his tyranny.  MLB owners are bending over backwards to appease the man who they’ve been subsidizing for years.  Kudos to Fisher.  In one of the great feats of lethargy ever, he has become the alpha dog in ownership circles.

It’s not too late for the owners.  The shovels haven’t gone into the ground yet.  Please, someone switch on the distress signal.  Get Tony Robbins in a room with these roly-poly, saggy-spirited men; let them know they’re worth something.  They owe it to themselves to be more than Fisher’s attendants.  If they don’t stand up to Fisher, they will reveal themselves as one of the biggest collections of low-testosterone men assembled at any time and place in history.  The jury is still out.  Hopefully, they will right the ship and safeguard baseball’s place as America’s pastime.

COMMON SENSE REIGNS SUPREME (TBD)

It is apparent to everyone—except Rob Manfred and John Fisher—that the A’s should stay in Oakland and Las Vegas should get an expansion team.  Relocating the A’s to Las Vegas is such an inelegant transaction, it is clearly the wrong move:

  • The Las Vegas ballpark won’t open until 2028 at the earliest, which means A’s players face a three-to-four-year stint as refugees in a minor league ballpark far from their fan base.
  • The Nevada taxpayers will likely have to pick up the tab for bonds based on unrealistic attendance projections.  To be fair, MLB owners view this sort of unwitting public subsidy as a welcome turn of events.
  • The combination of a tiny Las Vegas site and cheap-ass owner mandates a fixed-roof ballpark—a regression to the 1980s when stadiums such as the Metrodome, the Kingdome, and the Astrodome blocked out the sun.
  • The exorbitant air conditioning bill means less disposable income for Fisher to spend on player salaries.
  • The relocation demonstrates that MLB is fine with white flight from the inner city.  This probably isn’t a smart brand move as the country gets further and further away from the 1950s.
  • The relocation will destroy the Oakland A’s brand, the anti-establishment brand of baseball for 57 years.  The New York Yankees are the empire; the Oakland A’s are the rebellion.  For crying out loud, Hollywood made a movie about the Oakland A’s beating the odds.  In the right hands, the Oakland-East Bay market is tremendously lucrative.  The Oakland A’s are an enviable brand for anyone who is willing to put in an ounce of work.  The Las Vegas A’s would never have the grit and swagger synonymous with the Oakland A’s, no matter what the scrawny guy says.
  • Let’s keep it simple.  There’s probably no better baseball weather in the country than a day game in Oakland. 

For Pete’s sake, Rob, keep the A’s in Oakland and put an expansion team in Las Vegas.  Force Fisher to stay in Oakland, and cut off his revenue-sharing checks.  Fisher can decide whether he wants to invest in his product or sell the team.  Las Vegas will get to start fresh with its own franchise, its own heritage, and hopefully, a first-rate owner. 

Don’t eradicate one of baseball’s greatest brands—57 years in the making—to accommodate a bungling idiot.  If the A’s move to Las Vegas, the storied history of the Oakland A’s gets flushed away.  It isn’t transferable to Las Vegas.  Not that MLB cares about such things, but 57 years of A’s history is pretty important to the people of Oakland.  Though the names on the backs of the Oakland jerseys are all too fleeting, they are stitched on our hearts forever.  Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, Campy Campaneris, Catfish Hunter, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace, Ray Fosse, Billy North, Mike Norris, Billy Martin, Rickey Henderson, Dwayne Murphy, Dave Stewart, Carney Lansford, Hendu, Dennis Eckersley, Terry Steinbach, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Tim Hudson, Ramon Hernandez, Dallas Braden, Coco Crisp, Grant Balfour, Khris Davis. Too many to name.  And let’s not forget Bill King and Kool & the Gang.  An unduplicable list of greats that Las Vegas couldn’t care less about.  All this great history will be vaporized if the A’s move to Las Vegas.  No one from Oakland will travel to Las Vegas to see an A’s Hall of Fame.  Too heartbreaking.  Better just to take a trip to Hawaii.

Fisher says he wants to build a winner in Las Vegas.53  Is this his attempt at deadpan humor, or is he serious?  Do Las Vegans really think Fisher is going to spend money once he gets to Nevada?  Counting on Fisher to open his checkbook is like counting on a wasp to be a model picnic guest.  This is the guy who perfected the CLT sandwich.  Even a wasp wants no part of that.

No, Fisher isn’t going to turn over a new leaf when he gets to Las Vegas.  He has never had the entrepreneurial drive to build a winner, and it’s too late for him to develop one now.  As long as his franchise appreciates in value, that will be enough for him.  He turned 63 years old in June, and the Las Vegas ballpark isn’t slated to open for at least four years.  He isn’t going to stumble on newfound vigor when he gets to Las Vegas, no matter how much Nugenix he takes.

Stupidity has its own momentum, so we’ll just have to wait and see whether this Las Vegas misadventure crosses the finish line or careens off the path into failure.  With Fisher’s past failures squarely in the spotlight now, his ego is no doubt fully engorged.  He may work harder than he ever has to bring this fiasco to fruition—a rare instance of cutting off the nose to save face.

PARTING WORDS FOR ROB MANFRED

A few final words for Rob Manfred before we retire to our hovels:

Dear Mr. Manfred,

The proposed relocation of the A’s to Las Vegas looks grotesque no matter the lighting or angle.  If it comes to pass, the community of Oakland, baseball fans at large, Las Vegas taxpayers, and the owners writing larger-than-ever revenue-sharing checks to the A’s will come to regret the decision.  Even Las Vegas fans will be dissatisfied with their cut-rate baseball experience.  All of this for the sake of John Fisher, the guy who had no business owning the A’s in the first place.  You may very well be retired before the full fallout hits the Oakland and Las Vegas communities, but do you really want this to be your legacy?  Destroying the Oakland A’s for the sake of a billionaire’s pipe dream hundreds of miles from his San Francisco home? 

With the A’s releasing their “spherical armadillo” design in March—and the Tampa Bay Rays having proposed an indoor stadium last September—MLB is hastily laying the groundwork for expansion via a body of work featuring two antiseptic grassless shelters and the annihilation of the Oakland A’s.54  Think about that for a second.  Are you trying to cement your place as the most uncultured commissioner in the history of the game?  Or do you hold out hope of someday being more sophisticated than the guy who called the World Series trophy a “piece of metal?”55

You hope Oaklanders “stay baseball fans…whatever team they decide to affiliate with.”56  How could we stay fans?  There’s no other franchise like the Oakland A’s in baseball.  Oakland may not be the vanilla city MLB prefers, but it has as strong a claim as any to being the all-American city.  The Oakland A’s are the franchise that free spirits across the country have been drawn to for 57 years.  It doesn’t get more American than that.

We don’t pretend to know what’s in your heart—we can base our judgments only on your actions.  Your actions are horrendous.  But we believe in redemption.  And we applaud the brave people in history who have humbly changed course for the sake of what’s right.  Some actions are redeemable—and a franchise relocation that has yet to occur certainly is.  In your best moment, you didn’t view Oakland the way you do today.  You saw it for what it was and still is—a major league market to be embraced, not abandoned.  We’re not asking you to be an entirely new person.  We’re just asking you to embrace your better half—the 2016 version.  Have the courage of your convictions, not John Fisher’s convictions.  In other words, act like the commissioner of baseball.

There’s a happy ending here for everyone.  Leave Fisher with the options of retaining the A’s in the lucrative Oakland-East Bay market or selling the team.  No revenue sharing for the Oakland A’s.  If MLB wants to be in Las Vegas, that’s great, but don’t do it on the backs of Oakland fans and Nevada taxpayers.  Do it in the name of what’s good for the game and the communities of Oakland and Las Vegas.  That’s hardly an outlandish proposition if we keep in mind Jackie Robinson’s advice.

—E. A. Presley
Oakland, California
September 30, 2024

  1. Rob Manfred, as quoted in Bill Shaikin, “Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says MLB would regret it if Athletics left Oakland,” latimes.com, 12 July 2016,  Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says MLB would regret it if Athletics left Oakland – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com). ↩︎
  2. Rob Manfred, as quoted in Associated Press, “Rob Manfred: A’s protest lags behind ‘decade worth of inaction,’” espn.com, 23 June 2023, Rob Manfred – A’s protest lags behind ‘decade worth of inaction’ – ESPN. ↩︎
  3. Jackie Robinson, as quoted at https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/robinson-jackie. ↩︎
  4. Rob Manfred, as quoted in Miles Schachner, “Rob Manfred trades barbs with Oakland mayor over A’s stadium,” nypost.com, 15 June 2023, Rob Manfred spars with Oakland mayor over stadium deal (nypost.com). ↩︎
  5. Scott Strazzante, “A’s set record for biggest crowd at a wild-card game,” sfchronicle.com, 2 October 2019, A’s set record for biggest crowd at a wild-card game (sfchronicle.com). ↩︎
  6. Bud Selig, as quoted in CatfishVidaReggie, “Selig Disses Oakland,” July 24, 2009, YouTube video, 2:14, Selig Disses Oakland (youtube.com). ↩︎
  7. www.census.gov, Alameda County – Census Bureau Search. ↩︎
  8. www.census.gov, Contra Costa County – Census Bureau Search. ↩︎
  9. www.census.gov, Clark County, Nevada – Census Bureau Search. ↩︎
  10. Eno Sarris and Steve Berman, “Is a Las Vegas move really what MLB should want for the Oakland A’s,” theathletic.com, 18 May 2023, Is a Las Vegas move really what MLB should want for the Oakland A’s? – The Athletic. ↩︎
  11. Ibid. ↩︎
  12. www.census.gov, Alameda County – Census Bureau Search. ↩︎
  13. www.census.gov, Contra Costa County – Census Bureau Search. ↩︎
  14. www.census.gov, Clark County, Nevada – Census Bureau Search. ↩︎
  15. www.usclimatedata.com, Climate Oakland – California and Weather averages Oakland (usclimatedata.com). ↩︎
  16. www.usclimatedata.com, Climate Las Vegas – Nevada and Weather averages Las Vegas (usclimatedata.com). ↩︎
  17. Sarah Ravani, “’This is our team’: Oakland mayor urges MLB to reject A’s Las Vegas relocation,” sfchronicle.com, 8 November 2023, Oakland mayor urges MLB to reject A’s bid to relocate to Las Vegas (sfchronicle.com). ↩︎
  18. Associated Press, “Athletics stadium deal wins final legislative approval in Nevada,” espn.com, 14 June 2023, Athletics stadium deal wins final legislative approval in Nevada – ESPN. ↩︎
  19. Ann Killion, “A’s head off to another offseason of questions,” sfgate.com, 12 October 2012, A’s head off to another offseason of questions (sfgate.com); Jason Beck and Paul Hagen, “Leyland, Tigers prepare for noise level in Oakland,” mlb.com, 3 October 2013, Leyland, Tigers prepare for noise level in Oakland | MLB.com. ↩︎
  20. www.census.gov, U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Oakland city, California; Las Vegas city, Nevada; Sacramento city, California. ↩︎
  21. Ibid.; In 2006, when Lew Wolff and John Fisher resolved to get the hell out of Dodge, Oakland’s Black demographic was approximately 30%.  Bay Area Census — City of Oakland (ca.gov). ↩︎
  22. www.census.gov, U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: San Francisco city, California; San Jose city, California; Fremont city, California. ↩︎
  23. Ibid. ↩︎
  24. Ibid. ↩︎
  25. John Fisher, as quoted in NBC Bay Area staff, “The John Fisher interview: Oakland owner talks Vegas, backlash and future plans,” nbcbayarea.com, 23 August 2023, Oakland A’s owner John Fisher goes on record in rare interview – NBC Bay Area. ↩︎
  26. Mark Feinsand, “Owners’ vote approves A’s relocation to Las Vegas for 2028,” mlb.com, 16 November 2023, Owners approve A’s relocation to Las Vegas (mlb.com). ↩︎
  27. Andy Dolich, as quoted in Michael Dougan, “Big-name investors seek to buy A’s,” sfgate.com, 27 October 1998, Big-name investors seek to buy A’s (sfgate.com).  ↩︎
  28. Brian Murphy, “Owners balk at sale of A’s,” sfgate.com, 16 September 1999, Owners balk at sale of A’s (sfgate.com). ↩︎
  29. Larry D. Hatfield and Zachary Coile, “Oakland Council backs local A’s buyers,” sfgate.com, 10 May 1999, Oakland Council backs local A’s buyers (sfgate.com); Dale Tafoya, Billy Ball: Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland A’s (Guilford: Lyons Press, 2020), 156. ↩︎
  30. Nicholas McEntyre, “Reggie Jackson claims Bud Selig blocked him from purchasing Oakland A’s,” nypost.com, 24 March 2023, Reggie Jackson claims Bud Selig blocked him from purchasing Oakland A’s (nypost.com). ↩︎
  31. Lew Wolff as quoted in Steve Kettmann, “Developer: San Jose is ‘Big-League’ Option for A’s,” sfgate.com, 20 March 1998, Developer: San Jose Is `Big-League’ Option for A’s (sfgate.com). ↩︎
  32. Glenn Dickey, “A’s owner unveils stadium plans,” sfgate.com, 12 August 2005, A’s owner unveils stadium plans (sfgate.com). ↩︎
  33. Patrick Hoge, “A’s announce plan to buy land, move to Fremont,” sfgate.com, 14 November 2006, A’s announce plan to buy land, move to Fremont (sfgate.com). ↩︎
  34. Joe Stiglich and Robert Handa, “A’s Ballpark Plans Left in Limbo After Peralta Site Falls Through,”  nbcbayarea.com, 6 December 2017, A’s Ballpark Plans Left in Limbo After Peralta Site Falls Through – NBC Bay Area. ↩︎
  35. Dave Kaval, as quoted in NBC Bay Area staff, “Exclusive Local TV Interview: Oakland A’s President Addresses Las Vegas Stadium Land Deal,” nbcbayarea.com, 21 April 2023, Oakland A’s President Dave Kaval on Las Vegas Land Deal – NBC Bay Area. ↩︎
  36. Rob Manfred, as quoted in Associated Press, “Rob Manfred: A’s protest lags behind ‘decade worth of inaction,’” espn.com, 23 June 2023, Rob Manfred – A’s protest lags behind ‘decade worth of inaction’ – ESPN. ↩︎
  37. “Engineering Award Made to Coliseum,” Oakland Tribune, 4 May 1967; Rick DelVecchio, “Robert Nahas—He brought Coliseum and A’s to Oakland,” sfgate.com, 26 February 2002, Robert Nahas — He brought Coliseum and A’s to Oakland (sfgate.com). ↩︎
  38. Robert Nahas, as quoted in Ed Schoenfeld, “Nahas: The man who made Eastbay dream a reality,” Oakland Tribune, 14 September 1986, H-10. ↩︎
  39. Ibid. ↩︎
  40. Ibid. ↩︎
  41. Roy Eisenhardt, as quoted in Kit Stier, “Color A’s ledger red, as in deficit,” Oakland Tribune, 1 February 1984, F-6. ↩︎
  42. baseball-reference.com, Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors | Baseball-Reference.com. ↩︎
  43. Rickey Henderson with John Shea.  Off Base: Confessions of a Thief (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992), 11. ↩︎
  44. Bryce Harper, as quoted in Joon Lee, “MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred feels ‘sorry’ for A’s fans in Oakland,” espn.com, 15 June 2023, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred feels ‘sorry’ for A’s fans in Oakland – ESPN. ↩︎
  45. With the recent induction of Joe Mauer into the Hall of Fame, St. Paul, Minnesota is the only other city to produce three first-ballot Hall of Fame players: Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, and Joe Mauer.  Daniel Kramer and Do-Hyoung Park, “Every first-ballot Hall of Hamer in MLB history,” mlb.com, 25 January 2022, First Ballot MLB Hall of Famers. ↩︎
  46. NBC Bay Area staff, “The John Fisher interview: Oakland owner talks Vegas, backlash and future plans” nbcbayarea.com, 23 August 2023, Oakland A’s owner John Fisher goes on record in rare interview – NBC Bay Area. ↩︎
  47. Susan Slusser, “A’s owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: Team will pay minor-leaguers,” sfchronicle.com, 5 June 2020, A’s owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: Team will pay minor-leaguers (sfchronicle.com). ↩︎
  48. Matt Kawahara, “A’s promise changes for minor leaguers after sandwich snafu,” sfchronicle.com, 2 June 2021, A’s promise changes for minor leaguers after sandwich snafu (sfchronicle.com). ↩︎
  49. Dayn Perry, “Rob Manfred ‘sorry’ for A’s fans, but says ‘attendance has never been outstanding’ in defense of possible move,” cbssports.com, 24 April 2023, Rob Manfred ‘sorry’ for A’s fans, but says ‘attendance has never been outstanding’ in defense of possible move – CBSSports.com. ↩︎
  50. “Manfred praises Athletics’ Fisher, says owner had ‘sub-standard’ support in Oakland,” November 16, 2023, sportsnet.ca video, 1:20, Manfred praises Athletics’ Fisher, says owner had ‘sub-standard’ support in Oakland (sportsnet.ca). ↩︎
  51. Steve Kettmann, “’Now, pitching for San Jose…,’” San Francisco (December 2009), 52-53. ↩︎
  52. Todd Wallack, “A’s NEW ERA / JOHN FISHER / Son of Gap founder is the money behind the deal,” sfgate.com, 31 March 2005 A’s NEW ERA / JOHN FISHER / Son of Gap founder is the money behind the deal (sfgate.com). ↩︎
  53. NBC Bay Area staff, “The John Fisher interview: Oakland owner talks Vegas, backlash and future plans” nbcbayarea.com, 23 August 2023, Oakland A’s owner John Fisher goes on record in rare interview – NBC Bay Area. ↩︎
  54. Scott Ostler, “A’s new Las Vegas ballpark renderings lack key details, take on Mother Nature,”sfchronicle.com, 05 March 2024, A’s Las Vegas ballpark renderings lack details, take on Mother Nature (sfchronicle.com); Adam Berry, “Rays announce deal for St. Petersburg ballpark,” mlb.com, 19 September 2023, Rays announce new ballpark agreement (mlb.com). ↩︎
  55. Rob Manfred, as quoted in Andy Nesbitt, “MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spit in the face of all baseball fans on Sunday,” ftw.usatoday.com, 17 February 2020, MLB: Rob Manfred calls World Series trophy just a ‘piece of metal’ (usatoday.com). ↩︎
  56. Rob Manfred, as quoted in Joon Lee, “MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred feels ‘sorry’ for A’s fans in Oakland,” espn.com, 15 June 2023, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred feels ‘sorry’ for A’s fans in Oakland – ESPN. ↩︎