Sadly We Once Again Revisit the Oakland A’s john fisher

We never imagined when we started this site that one person would provide so much content, but unfortunately for Oakland A’s fans that is the case with their owner john fisher.

In sad and not surprising fashion, MLB approved the move of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas.  As we mentioned in prior posts (here and here) it is truly disheartening that the city of Oakland was saddled with such a train wreck of an owner as Fisher.  Instead of rejecting Fisher’s application to move the club from a city that has loyally and passionately supported their team for years, MLB decided to reward one of the cheapest and worst owners in baseball history by absconding with Oakland’s baseball franchise.

It is not just us here at BP that is outraged at the actions of this owner, but recently retired A’s pitcher Trevor May, who bluntly said of Fisher, “….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.”

This story does not include one villain, but also MLB and the rest of the owners.  Instead of pushing Fisher to make a deal with the city they allowed him to simply ignore an A’s franchise that has called Oakland home for the past 55 years.  A franchise that has a rich tradition and loyal fan following, and a franchise that has won four World Series, six Pennants, 21 playoff appearances, and 17 first place division finishes during their time in Northern California.

In the greater context of what we cover here at BP, the problem with baseball is how little regard they have for their fans.  Loyalty comes a distant second to greed for MLB and the Commissioner.  We are not sure of all the bells and whistles attached to the package submitted by Las Vegas, but the owners made it clear that money trumps everything in allowing Fisher to pack up and leave.  We have nothing against Las Vegas, but moving a team to one of the most transient states and cities in the US and expecting the same level of loyalty and passion that Oakland exuded seems ludicrous.

Ultimately, owners were never going to reject this move, since they look at themselves and probably think what happens when I need to shake down my city for a new stadium deal and want to leave?  Therefore, they have to support their fellow owners or as we like to refer to them here, their co-conspirators.

Baseball in terms of Playoff TV ratings were lower this year, and World Series TV ratings continue their downward historical trajectory.  In the short term MLB will continue to fool themselves by thinking that pitch clocks and shorter games will reverse that trend, but the reality is that looking at themselves in the mirror and deciding that not every strategic move should be made by chasing the all mighty dollar.

As noted, we have written a lot about the A’s and their horrible owner.  Full disclosure though, the writers and editorial staff of BP are not from Oakland.  We just feel for our fellow baseball purist fans there and want them to know we are just as outraged.  We would therefore like to say on behalf of Oakland A’s fans everywhere, to hell with the rest of the owners, Rob Manfred, the baseball hierarchy and of course john fisher (his name doesn’t deserve capitalization).