The long saga of the Athletics in Oakland is about to come to an end. Today, the team announced it will be leaving Oakland after the season and heading to Sacramento. The Athletics will play their next three seasons there, with an option for a fourth, in their Triple-A affiliate Sacramento RiverCats’ home park. As an aside, Vivek Ranadivé, who owns the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association coincidently also owns the RiverCats.
Sutter Health Park only has 14,000 seats, so the team will be squeezed into a small space in the years preceding its move to Las Vegas. When asked about the move, A’s owner and managing partner John Fisher said in a statement. “We extend our appreciation to the Kings and the city of West Sacramento for hosting the A’s while we work to complete our new ballpark in Las Vegas.”
Manfred in on the Plot
And MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred added, “On behalf of all of MLB, I want to express my appreciation to West Sacramento, Sutter Health Park, the Kings, and the greater Sacramento region for their excitement to host the A’s for interim play, as the A’s new permanent home is built in Las Vegas.”
It is fitting to hear from those two today as they are most responsible for the exodus of baseball from Oakland. Fisher for dropping the Athletics salaries so low that they were basically fielding a triple-A team. And also for negotiating in bad faith with the City of Oakland who worked very hard to keep the Athletics home in Oakland.
As for Manfred. He took every opportunity he could to besmirch Oakland and its fans. Meanwhile, he was coaxing all MLB owners to go along with the swindle to move the team to Las Vegas. Even Las Vegas’ mayor has stated that the Athletics would be better off staying in Oakland.
Former Athletics Owner and Former Baseball Commissioner
Today, there are at least two people who are spinning on their graves regarding this decision. The first one is former Athletics owner Walter Haas Jr. He was the last Athletics owner who made an investment in the team. He also deeply cared about the fans of the Athletics and the people of Oakland.
The second person is former MLB Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. He and Faye Vincent were the last two legitimate Commissioners of Baseball. Chicanery like this would not have been tolerated by these two gentlemen. Today, I shed a tear in their honor and their memory.
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Greg Simbeck covers a variety of sports for Total Apex Sports. He specializes in MLB coverage. Greg has covered various sports for numerous other publications over the years.
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