Trevor May: Passion vs Greed

Previously, we pointed out here and here that John Fisher of the Oakland Athletics is one of the worst baseball owners in all of baseball.  If you thought that opinion was strictly our own here at BP, then think again.  Trevor May, an A’s relief pitcher had a few choice words for Mr. Fisher upon his recent retirement announcement that confirmed our belief that he is pretty much the worst of the worst when it comes to MLB owners.

In his retirement announcement, May noted, “Now that it’s official, to the A’s organization and every single person a part of it, I love all of you, every single one of you except for,” May said, then taking a long pause, “one guy. And we all know who that guy is. Sell the team, dude. … Sell it man, let someone who actually, like, takes pride in the things they own, own something. … Take mommy and daddy’s money somewhere else, dork.”

May continued, calling Fisher “greedy”, and criticized him for avoiding the media during a period in which the owner is trying to uproot the team from Oakland and move it to Las Vegas, calling for Fisher to “own” his actions.

You can find the full retirement announcement by Trevor May on this Twitch stream.  What we find interesting is not just May’s take on Fisher’s failure as an owner.  Yes, it is nice to hear confirmation from those inside the game, not just from the fans of what a blundering owner is Fisher.  What was equally refreshing to hear was his thoughts on what is truly wrong with the game and something that we have touched on here regularly at BP, which is greed.

Per May he spoke passionately in answering one streamers questions when he stated, “This is sad but true.  I hate to tell you this.  GMs (General Managers) are becoming CEOs.  They go to an owner and they pitch this is how I plan to keep your costs stable and produce a good enough product to make you a good profit year after year.  If we win the World Series, obviously that profit will go up, but if we don’t get to the playoffs we will still be around and we’ll still get a bump (in profits).  That is literally, what is going on.  Great (answer to the GMs proposal by the owner).  In that equation, do you hear anything about the joy or romance about baseball?  No.”

We agree with May’s thoughts.  We have preached many times in other posts here at BP that greed is not good for baseball, despite that famous line to the contrary uttered by Gordon Gecko in the movie Wall Street.  Yes, Fisher is a symptom of what is wrong in baseball, but he is not the only owner focused mostly on profits rather than passion (for the game).  That includes the baseball commissioner Rob Manfred.  A focus on sanitizing the rules, all for the sake of supposedly increasing attendance and profits instead of emphasizing the joy, romance and fun of baseball is sadly the goal of most owners and MLB.   

In the case of the Oakland A’s, a cheap, disinterested owner who cares nothing for the fan base was able to take this once proud franchise and drive it straight into the ground.  An owner who along with MLB sold out the fans of Oakland, by robbing this loyal fan base of their team for the sake of short term profits in Las Vegas.   Way to go John Fisher and MLB to steal this team and the joy from their fans all for greed.

Finally, although familiar with Trevor May the pitcher, we here at BP were not in terms of his personality, which certainly came out in his Twitch streaming session.  We look forward to hearing more from May online in his post retirement career on all things baseball going forward, since he has not just an insight into the game, but also a true passion and someone who tells it like it is.  Great job Trevor and enjoy the next phase of your career!