We’ve been told Oakland’s going to release some information this week in conjunction with a renewed show of support from the City of Oakland, business leaders, and fans. Matier & Ross have the sites, two of which are completely new.
- The current Oakland Coliseum site.
- Oak and Third streets, just south of Jack London Square. [OFD Training]
- The old Howard Street terminal on the waterfront, a bit north of the Coliseum and on the other side of the Nimitz Freeway.
- Howard Street on the northeast side of the Embarcadero.
The fascinating thing is that while many – including myself – thought Howard Terminal would be one of the sites, the group is focusing instead on two sites along Howard Street, near High Street and 880. The area is in the vicinity of the site pitched by Chris Kidd, called Jingletown.
newballpark.org 
Just FYI, but my very close and reliable source is indicating that MLB’s stadium committee is finding all sorts of problems with the site in San Jose. Also it is my understanding that the real site that they are looking at is in fact the OFD training site due to the close proximity of Lake Merrritt BART, JLS, downtown Oakland and the Estuary.
OA’s,
I also know a guy who knows a guy, and (as admin. 1103 stated) they said that MLB was extremely impressed with SJ and that the meeting between them and SJ Pols went very well. By the way, can you name all the “problems” with the SJ site? Or is that some kind of secret? Let’s see: completed/being revised EIR, almost completely acquired by city of SJ, located adjacent to the future transit hub of NorCal, and neighbors being included in the planning process. I won’t trash the Oakland sites, but based on the aformentioned, they clearly don’t stack up to Diridon South.
From the article: “We have the site, we have the community and business support, and we have the political unity to get the job done.”
I am completely underwhelmed. This is totally the lackluster garbage I expected. Let’s take the message above and rework it a bit with a truth filter:
“”We have the site (or at least we have four potential sites where we don’t own enough land to build a ballpark at any of them outside of the Coliseum parking lot), we have the community (a facebook group with members who openly question whether the team should be in San Jose or Sacramento instead of Oakland) and business support, and we have the political unity to get the job done.”
Geez let’s hope for the Oakland Only guys that there is more to this than the trial balloon floated today… please.
And… Chris Kidd is one day going to be a visionary planner. Let’s hope when he is done at USC that the City of Oakland calls him.
Thanks for the kind words!
So, I just don’t care about a pissing match between Oakland and SJ. Anyone here can slam Oakland all they like, but I’m still going to work towards, and support, the A’s staying in Oakland. Maybe I’m naive (probably), but that’s just the way it is.
Thanks for the scoop, ML. It’s so indicative of our era that I read the news here first as opposed to in the Chron. I’ll try to remain optimistic about an Oakland stadium, but it does seem like Wolff and MLB are hell-bent on the San Jose plan. I think it will take some catalyzing event that mucks up the SJ deal for Oakland to re-emerge as an option. Even if the city can prove it has as good a plan as San Jose, or would be as good for the A’s, I do not see Wolff doing an about-face on the stadium issue. If he were to sell his interest…well then maybe we can talk.
So Dellums is going to tell them, “”We have the site, we have the community and business support, and we have the political unity to get the job done.”
Ok if that’s true, have you started purchasing site? Do you know how much it is going to cost? Have you done and EIR? Do you even know what an EIR is Ron? If it’s one thing Dellums is good at, it’s talking. In fact it seems to be the only thing he’s any good at.
Interesting, the next step would be to do an HOK-Like study similar to what Oakland did in 2001/2002 and What San Jose did in 2006 to show how they can work. Dont know if it will be enough to keep the team, but at least it may create some controversy around the move. The people who claim “Lew Wolff is teh suck!!111!!!” will at least feel better if Oakland can show that it has the site and political will to get things done.
I like that the coliseum site is still on, because i still think that its a fine site for a ballpark, it has the parking and transit already in place, and would require minimal need for major infrastructure improvements.
Actually I’d say the fact they still have the Coliseum site as one of their “sites” shows just how little Oakland understands. The site is unacceptable, period. Yes it has decent transit access, but that’s all it has going for it. The site is unacceptable otherwise. It’s in a depressed industrial section of the city on the south side surrounded in close by nothing but a slurry sealed parking lot. There are no real bars, resturants or anything else around it that makes modern stadiums great places to visit. The only way that will happen is in a downtown setting, period. Now the Lake Merritt site has promise, but it also is not currently large enough if I’m not mistake, and also if I’m not mistaken it is still used by the OPD right now.
That is OFD, not OPD.
OAKLANDathletics –
I’ve heard otherwise, that MLB is very impressed with the San Jose site. Who to believe? Everyone has an agenda.
The site in SJ has problems? You have got to find it more than intriguing that the BRC is even in SJ to check on the site—wasn’t their intent to identify a site in Oakland and/or why things won’t work in Oakland. I don’t believe SJ was in their original objectives….which should tell you something about the Oakland v. SJ site.
More proof that shows how hard EVIL Lew Wolff and Co. have been planning since day one to sabotage the franchise by alienating the “home” fans of Oakland…
No O in A’s: Talk about playing the Grinch.
The Oakland A’s have just announced their “2009 A’s Holiday Caravan” lineup – four days of meet and greets with players and the team’s mascot at hospitals, holiday parades and malls – with not a single one of the events taking place in the team’s hometown.
“The schedule of the caravan’s stops from Dec. 3 to Dec. 6 shows outfielder Rajai Davis, pitcher Brad Ziegler and team mascot Stomper are headed to Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Emeryville and Pleasanton.
The big finale: Three appearances in San Jose, including taking part in the San Jose Holiday Parade.
Get the hint?
For the record, a team rep says there was no slight of Oakland intended – but there’s also no plan to add an Oakland event.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/29/BA701ARFS4.DTL
Let’s not be too quick to condemn what Oakland is doing. As much as I’ve tried to research sites, I’m not going to pretend I’ve plumbed the depths of everything there is to know. So let’s see what Oakland has to offer and whether or not it passes the smell test. That’s the least any A’s fan, wherever you are located, can do.
R.M.,
Are you “admin?” I won’t trash the Oak sites. In fact, taking my SJ partisan hat off, if I had to choose, I like the Jingletown site myself. It’s better than the other sites and probably has the best potential for development. It’s also not far from Fruitvale BART.
This all being said, Diridon is ahead of all the sites (IMHO) based on the points presented in my previous post. And that’s all I say about that; no trashing necessary.
Yep, I’m admin.
you really need to rename it to your alias.
Or at least, give your alias admin abilities.
I’ve been keeping trying to keep the admin activities to one browser while the comments go through another browser (and the alias). So far I haven’t gotten used to the rigor of it.
Here, here.
I really hope it isn’t some smorgasbord of potential sites. Pick your best card and play it Oakland.
+1
If I had to pick a site which would capture the essence of Oakland, it would be a site just south of Lake Merritt next to the Oakland Unified School District Administration Building. That building has been on the market in the past. There’s also a small public park right next to the closed Henry J Kaiser Convention Center. A ballpark at this location would have a fabulous view of Lake Merritt, the hills, and the downtown skyline over the center field fence. Anyone whose ever walked around Lake Merritt knows that view from the 12th Street Dam side of the Lake is spectacular and the best view in all of Oakland. This is the original proposed site for Christ the Light Cathedral which eventually ended up on the other side of the Lake, at Harrison & Grand. There was also a proposal at one point for 1,000 units of high rise housing at the site. This site, from an aesthetic point of view, is stunning and would compete favorably with At&T Park in San Francisco. Also, the Lake Merritt Bart Station is just down the street on Oak Street.
That area is part of the Measure DD makeover. There’s no way you’re getting dedicated open space turned into ballpark land. CALM, OHA, and all the other community activist groups would flip their lid.
Can’t wait to see the actual proposals, but I just can’t imagine how Oakland can make this work.
Nav,
I see why many people like that Kaiser Convention Center site (in between the Oakland Museum and Peralta Park), however I’m pretty sure that it’s just a little too small for a ballpark.
Oakland ahtlethics,
You maybe right. But man, what a view over the center field fence. Perhaps Marinelayer can verify.
Unfortunately, it is too small, about 450 feet from 10th St to 11th St. Plus – I’ve mentioned this before – the preservationists would be up in arms over HJKCC.
Marine Layer,
Perhaps with the planned reconfiguration of 12th Street, with the Measure DD improvements currently going on, the ballpark site could extend closer to 12th Street. The measure DD plans call for turning that 12 lane highway just south of the Lake into 6 lanes and building a 4 acre park at the Lake Merritt waterfront where the current massive concrete wall now stands. Also, the H. J. Kaiser Convention Center could be incorporated into a ballpark related venue while keeping it’s historic integrity intact. I know that it’s along shot but with a little creativity, who knows. The batters eye would be the green Oakland hills with Lake Merritt in the forefront. It doesn’t get much better then that. The jingle town site doesn’t provide enough bang for th buck as far as stimulating economic development for the city of Oakland. The ballpark needs to be either near Jack London Square or Lake Merritt in order to enhance what’s already in place.
Nope, I’ve factored in the reconfiguration. 12th St bows in towards HJK in the design, removing at least 50 feet of potentially available width.
Come on Navigator, you have to know better than that. Anyone who has paid any attention to development issues in Oakland, like, ever knows that a Lake Merritt ballpark is a complete non-starter.
Personally, I think Oakland is just coming into the game too late for any of this to matter – all this should have been done like three years ago. But if they were to stay here, I’ve always been partial to the Central waterfront as a ballpark location.
Would Carlos Plazola and friends be willing to surrender the Tidewater to Lew for building a ballpark, V?
I think everything south of Howard St. in the Tidewater is more acreage than my Jingletown Stadium idea. On the other hand, the access to Fruitvale BART wouldn’t be as good as the Owens Brockway site.
A year after Fremont died and Oakland is still trying to figure out a “potential” ballpark site! Imagine if SJ wasn’t on the table–nothing new would have been done—not that anything really has. I can’t even stomache revisiting Oakland sites—if MLB doesn’t take some action near term we will be in this same vicious cycle 4 years from now–instead of enjoying a new ballpark.
Hasn’t Lew Wolff already made it clear he’s not interested in Oakland?
He has lots of San Jose ties, he wants Cisco to be involved, etc.
Wolff wants out of the East Bay. I don’t think he was ever that hot on Fremont, to be honest.
All the momentum is going San Jose’s way, and I think that’s how he intends to keep it.
Just a heads up that Wolff will be interviewed on Chonicle Live tomorrow. Glad to see the Oakland sites were leaked before his appearance.
Actually he’ll be on Chronicle Live on Thursday at 5/11pm.
Oops, you’re right. Should have double checked that.
V Smoothe,
I find your position on this issue very disappointing. While so many people in Oakland and throughout the Bay Area fight to keep the A’s in Oakland, your position is basically to allow the A’s to move to San Jose because, “It would be better for everyone, except Oakland.” I have news for you, people from throughout the Bay Area, who grew up with the Oakland A’s, value the tradition and legacy of the team in Oakland. We have over 21,000 people who are signing a petition to keep the A’s in Oakland.
V Smoothe, the A’s in Oakland make for “A Better Oakland.” You should be fighting to keep the team in Oakland. Once the Oakland A’s are gone, MLB is gone forever in Oakland. A new ballpark near Jack London Square or Lake Merritt would re energize those areas. Downtown Oakland has come a long way in the last ten years but it still needs a catalyst to bring the various neighborhoods together. Jack London Square still needs more vibrancy. A ballpark near the waterfront would bring 30,000 fans to the area 81 dates a year.
V, Instead of aligning yourself with San Jose interests and knocking down any ideas to keep the team in Oakland, you should be joining us in this fight to keep this great asset in Oakland. This is part of our quality of life. This brings our town together. Sports teams engender themselves to a community by taking a town’s moniker and by showing commitment and loyalty to said community. Unfortunately, right now we have an ownership which doesn’t listen to its customers. We have an ownership who has lost its way and lost touch with the fans.
V, I like you and respect what you’ve done with your site. We have a few issues where we don’t agree. On this issue, you’re on the wrong side of history. We will keep the Oakland A’s in Oakland with your help, or with out it.
You have 21,000 people who joined a facebook group. 21,000 people whom could come from anywhere, could be duplicates of people, and who do not uniformly want the A’s to stay in Oakland. Many of your 21,000 have made it clear they’d like to keep the A’s in SJ, or the Bay Area in general, not Oakland. How about you get real registered voters to sign a petition. Or better yet, get them to vote for a public subsidy to buy land around Jack London Square for a stadium… until then color me unimpressed.
“We will keep the Oakland A’s in Oakland with your help, or with out it.”
Who is this “we” anyway? Oakland has had YEARS to get its act together. Its not about keeping the A’s in Oakland, its about keeping them in the Bay Area. V sees this. You, unfortunately, do not.
“We have over 21,000 people who are signing a petition to keep the A’s in Oakland. ”
OTOH, you have about 2.5 million residents of Alameda and Contra Costa counties who aren’t signing a petition to keep the A’s in Oakland.
Please Bud—put an end to this joke that has gone on for way too long—allow the A’s to move to SJ so that we keep them in the Bay Area and have a chance to compete in a real ballpark on a regular basis—
It is easy to knock the Facebook petition, but at the same time where are the “Bring The A’s to San Jose” fans? I sense a great deal of indifference from the South Bay on this matter and it seems presumptuous on the A’s part to think that a shiny new stadium will instantly fill up with NEW fans when the ballpark opens (if it ever does).
I assume Wolff and co. have factored into their plans the fact that attendance will drop to all time lows once any SJ deal is announced. 5 years of historic low attendance can’t be a good outcome for any team, owner or fan.
Of course i would rather see the A’s stay in the bay area rather than leave the state all together, but I seriously doubt there is enough passion in a SJ market full of Giants fans and those who just don’t care to make this a really viable long term decision. Moving to SJ is an easy gamble for continued mediocrity, while rebuilding in Oakland has the potential to be a once in a lifetime chance for Oakland to regain it’s swagger.
1. It’s a lot easier to rally people around something that exists than something that doesn’t. Even so, city hall was packed with baseball fans when the council was discussing plans to move forward. Plus, as has been stated, many in the Facebook group are lobbying for San Jose or even Sacramento.
2. More of this “SJ is full of Giants fans” stuff? Where are your figures on this matter?
San Jose is a nice town, but the Diridon plan for shoehorned 32,000 seat facility way far away from the center of the Bay Area’s population just isn’t getting my blood pumping. The A’s deserve a bigger venue where fans from all 9 counties can get there, and public transit for the 4+ million folks in the core can get there in a reasonable time. I’ve lived all over the Bay Area, and this location way south of 17 and miles west of 280/680 is really remote for the vast majority of Bay Area residents and A’s fans. It’ll be a pretty significant slog even for folks from Redwood City or Fremont. Pretty awesome for the folks in Morgan Hill and Los Gatos though.
Isn’t 280 about 3 blocks south of the site?
Sorry, by 280/680 I was clumsily referring to the intersection at 101 where 280 _becomes_ 680. This always seemed like the very bottom of the Bay Area, nothing further south or east or west of there of interest, except maybe the Winchester Mystery House…
The point about Fremont is that no great advantage is gained from there by moving to San Jose, though you are upgrading the access for hordes of fans from Scott’s Valley and Gilroy, who will hopefully fill in for the uber distanced A’s fans in Richmond, Berkely, Concord, Walnut Creek, Vallejo, San Rafael, etc.
280/680 runs east-west through that area and it’s a couple blocks south of the site. Also, the population center of the region is not the same as the geographic center. Oakland may be central on a map, but there are a lot more people south of it than north.
Actually, you are incorrect. The Bay Area _population_ IS roughly centered at Oakland. Research the numbers yourself at http://www.census.gov.
Nothing will likely occur the remainder of this century to change this.
So you’re saying that there are as many people north of Oakland as there are south of it? Do your math again.
Since it would be impossible for anyone to mess up this math, I can only assume you’ve not actually done any research before joining the conversation. Here is what you would find from US Census estimates for 2008:
Marin: 248k
Sonoma: 466k
Napa: 133k
Solano: 407k
Contra Costa: 1,029k
San Francisco: 808k
The above 6 Bay Area counties at or above the latitude of Oakland, and 100% of the people living there are closer to Oakland than San Jose. Subtotal 3,091k
San Mateo: 712k
Alameda 1,474k
The majority of residents in these two counties are closer to Oakland than San Jose, and have BART access. For this discussion, we’ll just toss them out as being equidistant just to keep it really simple and crystal clear. Subtotal: 2,186k
Santa Clara: 1,764k
And here is where the new A’s fanbase will be primarily drawn from. With very little additional/nearby population in San Benito and Santa Cruz, no BART access to Alameda County (for 9 to 14 years depending on which estimate), and (at bare minimum) a current 50-50 split of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties with the Giants, the demographics just don’t look that great for San Jose. No matter what anyone in this forum claims.
Replying to myself since I apparently cannot reply to you…
San Francisco is not north of Oakland. Much of Contra Costa is not, either. Most of Alameda is certainly not. That part of the Bay Area is certainly dense but the pull from Santa Clara Valley is much stronger than the sparsely populated north. The weighted population center of the Bay Area would most definitely be a south of Oakland, not in it. With that area already dominated by the Giants and their new park, it leaves little for the A’s outside of their dedicated fanbase.
Looks like the ‘reply’ link is a little wonky. Well, let’s play whack-a-mole with these numbers then. This dense population at the heart is itself the primary weighting factor. For instance, if you hypothesize the population centerline of latitude to an actual spot, further south than, oh, JLS, to let’s say, Oakland International Airport, you’ll see that due west you’re staring at the northern tip of San Mateo County. The entire city of San Francisco IS north of this spot. And every soul in Contra Costa County is north of this spot. As are all of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, etc. So, in addition to the 3+ million I noted before, let’s add the roughly 600,000 from Alameda County that are clearly north of here, and estimate the “North of OAK” figure to roughly 3.6 million and the South of OAK figure to roughly 3.4 million. I think we can safefy say there very definitely are more people north of Oakland International than south of it, and a move from anywhere in Oakland to anywhere in San Jose is a huge departure from the “Bay Area’s center of population” as I said.
The inner ring of the bay, south of Oakland, would be about 3.1 million people. That’s Daly City, San Leandro and south. The point is not that Oakland/San Francisco is not a dense core in itself, but that there are many more people currently going to the Coliseum from the south than the north. The pull is greater, thus shifting the weighted population center to probably somewhere around Hayward or Union City. Think of it as an ellipse, not a circle.
“there are many more people currently going to the Coliseum from the south than the north.”
Again, incorrect. According to the A’s own ticket sales data (economic report for the Fremont plan), the counties entirely north of OAK accounted for 40.3% of all A’s ticket sales in 2005. San Mateo and Santa Clara County accounted for 13.8%. Alameda County is of course split north and south, but the A’s provided sample by-city numbers for the county that show Oakland, Berkely, Albany, and Alameda, to the north of OAK, accounted for 14.1%, leaving 13.2% from the rest of Alameda County. That comes to 54.4% north of OAK vs. 27.0% south of OAK (with 18.6% listed as outside the Bay Area, presumably a blend of Sacto, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, as well as visiting teams travelling fans).
Considering the population distribution, the biggest problem for the A’s attendance is the complete lack of per-capita or commensurate support from the south. From Daly City and San Leandro southward, as you put it. One obvious reason for this is the significantly higher fan support for the Giants in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. It’s just not clear to me how attempting to wrest _that_ support from the Giants by distancing themselves from their stronger central and northern fanbase will be the overwhelming cure all for their attendance problems that San Jose supporters assume.
The Coliseum is the same from my house in Fremont than the proposed ballpark site at Diridon. So, it’s a slog either way.
My only question is this. People keep bringing up “tradition” with the A’s, and the tradition in Oakland. What traditions are we speaking about? The tradition of the team to move (From Phil to KC to Oak)? The tradition of the team for horrible attendance? The tradition of the team to win World Series and get Rookies of the Year every now and then? The thing is, only the last of those 3 are positive, and its the one of those three that has no bearing on where the team actually plays.
I just want to know what the Tradition in Oakland is that’s worth keeping, or at least, is a positive thing, that has a direct correlation to Oakland.
Zonis I am a bit surprised by your comment. I have read you as a regular on AN and have often admired your thoughtful comments. The questions you raise here are puzzling however, you seem to not associate yourself at all with the passion of being an A’s fan but rather some outside observer.
So is being an A’s fan so bizarre to you? is the idea that a city with an MLB franchise like Oakland should in somehow act differently towards its team? Should the kids in Oakland not look up to the A’s as a team to rally behind? just like kids in Major league cities do everyday? I grew up rooting loving the A’s from afar, raised on the east coast. After moving to Oakland in ’84 I was in love with the A’s, much like fans of the Indians, Mariners, Mets, etc were with their home teams. I am not sure why there must be some sort of ‘special” love for the A’s as if that is a not natural thing.
Do kids in other baseball cities need to answer to “why do you like the baseball team”?
The reality is that any sports franchise will have its dedicated fans, and through the generations these fans will grow. The traditions will grow. The passion will grow. Now in my 40’s I am more passionate about the A’s then ever, and to see them ripped away from me, my friends, family and city is not something I will take lightly. I love Oakland and most people I know feel the same way, We are the people in the stands wearing vintage A’s gear, yelling loudly to support our team and our city. We go to dollar beer nights and home openers, we go to Tuesday night Mariner games and Thursday Rangers games, We love Oakland and the A’s and sadly we are the people who will be burnt the most when this team leaves us.
You can sabremetrix this stuff all you want, but too many low key (yet hard core) A’s fans, this is a huge let down. losing the A’s is almost like Oakland giving it’s last breath. I love Oakland and I do not want to see that happen.
As a rabid A’s fan as well, I want to keep the A’s too. But my goal is “in the Bay Area”. I am in Albany, so a move to San Jose would be farther away rather than closer. My only point I am trying to make there was that people always cite tradition as one of the main reasons why the A’s should not move to San Jose. I just want that term defined.
I just want to know what is the tradition that would change if the A’s metaphorically speaking, moved down the block.
I see the A’s having a tradition, through out its franchise history, of having low attendance, claiming to be a small market team, and moving. I am hoping that a move to San Jose would break that tradition.
For me, the A’s would lose their underdog/rebel tradition if they moved from Oakland to San Jose. The Oakland A’s have a tradition of being the counterculture team of baseball–the fighting A’s of the 70s, running wild under Billy Martin in the early 80s, the bash brothers of the late 80s, and winning on a shoestring earlier this decade to the chagrin of Bud Selig. If they move to San Jose, they become just another faceless franchise following the same unimaginative business model–a new ballpark. The A’s can be competitive right now if they want–there are only three other teams in their division for crying out loud. A new manager would do more to make the A’s competitive than a new ballpark. The “we need a new ballpark to compete” line is a talking point of the baseball establishment. All things being equal, a new ballpark would help, but the A’s could be more competitive today if they simply marketed themselves and reached out to the local community instead of insulting it.
You value your blue collar image over the team’s success? What a fan.
Nam Turk,
You need to understand that with our blue collar image, we have in fact been successful in the past as I already indicated in my previous post. Yes, I am a true fan that attends 35+ games a year whether we’re winning or loosing.
Take a look at the Giants with their “successful” new ballpark with zero titles…I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that type of tradition happening in San Jose.
It seems you think the blueness of one’s collar and on-field success are inversely proportional. Are you actually saying that a boost in revenue would keep the team from winning? The Oakland contingent has often cited that the Giants were no better off than the A’s in the Candlestick era, but there are no titles for them in those years. How do you rationalize this now?
That’s an easy answer, the Giants have and will always suck!!
I think many people citing the Oakland tradition simply mean they know how to get to the Coliseum, while they’ve been to San Jose twice and got lost there both times.
I agree with Reggiejax on this one…
Zonis,I too am a bit disappointed with your comments and you sound like you’re clueless to what the A’s have actually done while playing in Oakland. You only see the bad and seem to over look all of the good like the rest of the pro-San Jose fans. I think you really need to read up on some of the accomplishments that the A’s have done since moving to Oakland in 1968. Very few teams in the entire league can match what we’ve done in the past 40 years and I doubt they will be easily matched anywhere else.
“There are very few teams that come close to having the number of accomplishments the Oakland athletics have had, to start we can mention that they earned a wildcard Berth in 2001, they have made 15 postseason appearances and have captured four World Series championships, six American League pennants along with 14 West Division titles. The A’s have compiled the fourth best winning percentage in all of baseball over the past 40 seasons and only the New York Yankees (6) have won more world championships. A’s players have also been well-decorated over the past 40 years, winning seven Most Valuable Player awards, five Cy Young awards, six Rookie of the Year awards and 20 Gold Glove awards. In addition, four players-Jim “Catfish” Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson and Dennis Eckersley-along with manager Dick Williams, paved their paths to the Hall of Fame through Oakland.
And last but not least, to top this impressive number of accomplishments they have also had four successful participations in the world series in the years of 1972, 1973, 1974, 1989 and the Yankees are the only other team to have ever won three in a row.”
The A’s won 5 world championships in Philadelphia. If the home city makes that much of a difference to the quality of the team on the field, maybe they should move back there.
Interesting, OA, that you spend so much time detailing the A’s on-field accomplishments, but say not a word about attendance. This blog is not about fan-talk, it’s about stadium issues.
.
Here are some relevant facts: In the last 17 years, the A’s have finished last in AL attendance 3 times, next to last 3 times, 12th 4 times, 11th twice, 8th twice, 7th twice, and 6th once.
Their average rank has been 11th in a 14-team league. They never once finished in the upper 40% during that period.
.
If the team is so good, why is the attendance so bad? Maybe the fans are not as loyal and enthusiastic as claimed. (Oakland has never led the league in attendance.) Maybe the park location is not as wonderful as claimed, either. In any case, Oakland has had its shot. It trashed the Coliseum as a baseball venue in favor of football. It is unable to propose a desirable ballpark package, and now the team is headed down the freeway. I can’t blame them.
It amazes me that fans will continually call out other fans without knowing the first thing about them. It’s divisive and disgusting. There’s not only one way to be an A’s fan. Take off your Oakland-colored glasses and start seeing the world for what it really is.
There’s a certain amount of pride which comes from having a pro sports team in your city. The pro-Oakland supporters no doubt have this pride. Their fight to keep the team in Oakland is rooted in their love for the A’s and their city. For those of us who don’t live in or around Oakland, we probably can’t fully appreciate what the “Oakland” fans are feeling. I get that…
However, the pro-Oakland group must not let their love for their city get in the way of what’s best for the A’s. Sure, there are no guarantees that a ballpark in San Jose will be a success. No guarantees that one in Oakland will be one either. But I think that a ballpark in the South Bay will allow the team to be on a better financial footing vs. if they remained in Oakland.
Bottom line here is that as A’s fans, we must all take a step or two back and look at what would be best for the A’s, not necessarily ourselves.
It seems to me that the “passionate” Oakland-city-limits boosters here are out of touch with reality and have been reduced to noisily grasping at straws. Telling us about the great A’s teams of 37 years ago has no bearing on what’s going on now and will go on in the near future. The Brooklyn Dodgers, the NL’s great dynasty of the ’40s and ’50s, was an extraordinarily successful team at the gate and on the field, but they left town just two years after winning a WS, and a year after winning a pennant, because their owner was unable to get access to a site for a new ballpark that he was willing to pay for himself.
You only have a team in Oakland because owners had the freedom to relocate, first from Philadelphia, and then from Kansas City. Now it’s your turn to see a team pack up. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
If Facebook polls had any sihnificance, Sarah Palin would be president.
Be realistic and realize that your city and fanbase has missed the boat as far as a new ballpark goes. Be thankful for the nice run that the A’s had in Oaktown, and that the team is only moving 45 miles, not 2,500. You can still see them in San Jose, in a nicer park that you were able to provide.
The repetitious emotional arguments here have gotten very tiresome. Let’s stick to reality-based convo, please.
Uh what are you talking about Connie Mack?? We had a great team during this decade up until only a couple of years ago. Did you not attend any of the playoff games we were fortunate enough to make?
Are you saying that the 1970’s teams weren’t being conspicuously bragged about in this thread?
Just three hours ago, somebody posted: “And last but not least, to top this impressive number of accomplishments they have also had four successful participations in the world series in the years of 1972, 1973, 1974, 1989 and the Yankees are the only other team to have ever won three in a row.” And also kept talking about the A’s accomplishments in the last 40 years.
That sure looks like nostalgic fan-talk to me.
So what if that was said? That doesn’t take away from anything we’ve done over the past 10 years now does it? Maybe to you, but not to me. Geez, to pick at what some say was the best MLB team (yeah, the OAKLAND A’s of the 70s…so what if some people have nostalgic fan-talk about the past) in the history of the game!
History is history whether you like it or not and most of it was accomplished in Oakland. Can you see the future? Do you know for sure that the A’s will be successful anywhere else? Do you even know for sure that the A’s are going anywhere to begin with?
So yeah I brag about our great past when it comes to the game of baseball and what we’ve done. What do you talk about? Or do you just hate on low attendance and a crappy ballpark?? Are you some fair weather fan or something?
You ignore the fundamental changes to baseball economics that have occurred since the 70’s as fi they don’t matter.
The point of this website, is you know, the stadium. What the hell else do you expect people to talk about?
This website is a complete waste of space … the A’s do not need a new ballpark. They have a perfectly good site at the coliseum.
Then go to another one and talk of unicorns, leprechauns and bigfoot on your own time.
lol…yeah, maybe for Fred Flintstone
You San Jose boosters need to understand that those 21,000 fans on Facebook are Oakland A’s fans who won’t be going down to San Jose to support the team that slapped them in the face. Do you understand this? Also, if you read the comments on that site you’ll see very few mentions of fans wanting the team to relocate to San Jose. Very very few. Let’s be honest here. Also, I’m sure 100% of the fans who signed the “Let’s Keep the A’s in Oakland” petition actually favor keeping the A’s in Oakland. Enough of your demeaning attitude towards passionate Oakland A’s fans. How many fans on the pro San Jose site?
Also, these people are Oakland A’s fans. Oakland & A’s together. Not “A’s” fans. Not Lew Wolff A’s fans. Not San Jose A’s fans. Oakland isn’t coming after the Sharks. Keep your hands off our team!
No offense to Jefferey because I know you mean well with them staying in the Bay,
But the “Keep the A’s in the Bay Area” facebook group has also been holding steady at about 40 or so fans since it was created several weeks ago. People think that facebook numbers don’t mean squat, but in all honesty it’s the largest social media site in the world with over 300 million members. Why has “Baseball San Jose” been stuck at about 900 for so long? Why hasn’t the “Keep the A’s in the Bay Area” group been growing? Because most of the A’s fans in the BAY AREA would like to see them stay in OAKLAND.
It might have something to do with the owners of those two Facebook groups not constantly spamming every single site in creation, including this one.
I have done absolutely no “marketing” of the Keep the A’s in the Bay Area site. Spam or otherwise, no offense is taken. I don’t intend to do any marketing. The people who have joined found it from others who joined. Completely viral and I honestly don’t care if it gets any bigger.
The claim of 21,000 supporters who want to keep the A’s in Oakland (exclusively) is patently false, for one… many of the people on this very site are members of Let’s Go Oakland… Including me 🙂 Not to mention that people on that site have commented on support for other cities. I support the A’s staying in Oakland as long as it is good for both the A’s and Oakland. I subscribe to the idea that Oakland rocks with or without a baseball team.
I wonder how come the OAFC has been around for about a decade and never gotten any real traction? Perhaps because the A’s have a regional fanbase that doesn’t identify with Oakland as much as the Bay Area in general? I am speculating of course, but so are you when you make ridiculous claims based on a facebook group. Hey, I was once one of a trillion people for the destruction of the Death Star on facebook!
So let me ask you guys this…do you really believe that the people who created the facebook group spamed that many people/sites all over the Bay Area to get over 21K members to join?? I seriously doubt that. It’s called spreading the word and a little bit of passion. Even though you say you’ve done absolutely no “marketing” (which we all know is BS because you do in fact push your group on the Oakland page…I’ve read your comments on there and I’m not even a FB memeber myself for that matter.) for your facebook group, obviously people aren’t paying much attention to them since it’s barely gaining any kind of recognition for days at a time and that pretty much goes the same for the San Jose group as well…it has pretty much plateaued. You can say all you want about the different people who have joined the Oakland group wanting them to just stay in the Bay Area for that matter, but the bottom line is they joined that group knowing the purpose is to KEEP THE A’s IN OAKLAND. Even if it’s true, I’ll bet it’s a small percentage of the 21K members who feel the same way you all do.
If I recall, you started that group Jefferey after the Oakland group was formed out of curiosity to see how many people would actually be on board and join your cause, didn’t you?
What comment did I say that pushed the Keep the A’s in the Bay Area facebook page? When have I ever linked the group for people to join? You taqlk out fo your ass entirely too much.
FWIW, I just looked at this ‘Let’s Go Oakland’ facebook page, and the comments I saw there are quite overwhelmingly and unambiguously “Keep the A’s in Oakland.” There does not seem to be any real confusion over what the people there are signing up for.
Any Oakland boosters also need to read the comments by some of their supposed “keep the A’s in Oakland” members. Many of them are proponents of keeping the A’s in the Bay Area (not just Oakland) or moving them to San Jose outright. Trying to ignore that just make it look like ill informed spin.
Yeah “some” meaning very few out of the hundreds of other comments people are leaving each and every day. Like I said above….a small percentage. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same small group of people on the San Jose or Bay Area group commenting. If they wanted to keep the A’s in the Bay Area, then why haven’t they been joining your group with the same passion that’s been keep the Oakland group going strong and counting?
My group? Sorry but what group is that?
Oakland went after the Warriors after the Civic wasn’t considered good enough anymore. Oakland went after the A’s after Kansas City wasn’t considered good enough anymore. There’s nothing wrong either of those moves. Why? Because it’s fair game.
The political weight of the Facebook petition is just slightly more than the pieces of paper stacked on my desk. There are no pledges, no $, nothing that requires significant or consistent effort. It’s a feel-good move that neither the MLB panel, nor Selig nor Wolff are going to take into serious account.
If all of those Facebook group members went to every single home game, the team would still finish 27th in attendance. The significance of people clicking “Become a Fan” is vastly overstated. Get a grip.
any word on the official release of Oakland Docs? I’d like to see how detailed they got. It appears they have a bunch of work to catch up on if they want a chance.
I’ve read all the jibber jabber amongst all the A’s fans on this site 8million times already. I can’t wait till the puffery and posturing ends.
either that or we devise a systematic test to determine REAL FAN STATUS ™ via a sabermetric method.
It’s all about money and influence, right Marine Layer? The fans don’t count. What the fans want isn’t important. What’s important is what Wolff, Selig, Fisher, Stone, and Reed want. Baseball is committing suicide with that type of mind-set. It’s never a good thing to alienate your customers. This entire thing has always been about relocating the A’s out of Oakland. It’s now being disguised as a search for a new ballpark. Remember how Lew Wolff lied about working on finding a site in Oakland? I guess at that point in time, Oakland must have been farther away from San Francisco. In recent years the San Andrea’s Fault has moved Oakland “too close to San Francisco.” This is why Wolff and Fisher now have to run away. The fans know they’ve been sucker punched. Whose going to fill this shiny new ballpark in San Jose? It won’t be Oakland A’s fans. Hopefully they can get more people in the place than the San Jose Earthquakes and the San Jose State Spartans get for their home games.
If the fans were of one mind and unified, then they would count for much more. They aren’t in this case. Many, many area fans aren’t interested in Oakland the city one way or another, but they care about the A’s.
When an expansion candidate city tries to get a team, they don’t just get a petition going. They get pledges for season tickets. Thousands of pledges and deposits. That kind of effort carries weight. I wrote previously that Oakland shouldn’t treat their hold on the A’s like an incumbent, they need to dazzle the powers that be. We’ll see if what’s being released is dazzling or is a mere token effort.
It’s still possible for the A’s to stay in Oakland but it’s going to take a herculean effort from the City of Oakland and it’s citizens to do it.
First they have to change their mind set, it’s not what the A’s can do for the city of Oakland, it’s what the city of Oakland can do FOR the A’s. So far what has Oakland done for the A’s franchise in the past 40 years, maintaining a lower than average attendance throughout their stay in Oakland. And what have the A’s done for Oakland? I dont want to get into this debate because it will be a endless argument.
Here are some ideas that I have to keep the A’s in Oakland
– Donate(give…yes GIVE) the A’s a few plausible sites for a new ballpark
– Help finance 25% of the ballpark construction costs.
I’ll let the rest of you guys take over on ideas…
Let’s face it, with this horrible economy no city is going to give the A’s, or Forty Niners for that matter, anything. It will be voted down.
Mark my words. Both the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco 49ers will remain in their respected cities for the foreseeable future. And, I totally support this. I’m not a 49ers fan and I’m a big supporter of Oakland, but I want the 49ers to stay in San Francisco. It’s not right to be shopping these franchises, which become a part of the fabric of their communities, around. The fact that the Forty Niners will keep the moniker “San Francisco” while playing in Santa Clara, has no benefit at all as far as exposure for that city. Also, San Jose has to feel somewhat humiliated by having an NFL franchise called “San Francisco” playing on its border. What both of these ownerships are attempting to do is wrong.
There’s also heavy weight political opposition in both cities against these moves. Both California Senators are against these moves. You factor in a horrible economy, along with voters hesitance to subsidize billionaire pro sports owners, and the fact that the fanbase of at least the Oakland A’s is very much against this, it doesn’t bode well for the relocation of these franchises to the South Bay. Before Wolff and Fisher scuttle the ship in Oakland they better be careful because they may end up needing a lifeline back to solid ground.
Well Nav,
If Santa Clara does not pan out for the 49ers (or Raiders for that matter), and SJ is a doomed effort for the A’s, forcing them to remain in the Coliseum for the foreseeable future, it’s quite likely the 49ers will move to the city of Industry, with the Raiders following suit a couple years later.
I fear you’re right. If SJ and SC don’t work out for their respective teams I fear both Oakland and SF will stop work because they’ll feel the “threat” has passed. In which case Industry will benefit from one or both Bay Area football team, and Oakland will eventually lose the A’s anyway. Until I see actual movement on one of these sites Oakland is just using smoke and mirrors to try and make it look like they’re doing something.
Where are the A’s going to go, if not somewhere in the Bay Area? MLB has tapped out
all the reasonable markets, and then some. Portland, San Antonio, Sacramento? Too
small. Las Vegas? Gambling and a huge real estate bust right now. Northern NJ?
The Yankees wouldn’t have it, and besides, what owner wants to go up against the Yanks in their own market? What’s sad is that the A’s play in the 5th largest market in the country, but
they are forced to act like a small market team because of their stadium. Look accross
the Bay- the Giants suck because they spend their money unwisely, but they HAVE
money to spend, and they play in the same market as the A’s. The difference?
The ballpark. Imagine Billy Bean with the Gaints payroll! Realistically, the A’s aren’t
leaving the Bay Area any time soon- the choice is between building a new stadium
in Oakland/San Jose/Fremont/anywhere else in the Bay Area, or wasting away at the
Coliseum for ever and ever until we eventually become the Kansas City A’s redux.
Should San Jose be embarrassed the same way Oakland is over the name “Golden State Warriors”? After all, it’s one thing to be a neighbor, another for the W’s to play in the city while not adopting the city. On Thursday they’ll be putting out yet another “Hardwood Classics” San Francisco jersey. Nav, you should protest this vociferously outside the Oracle Arena main entrance. I mean really, the W’s are besmirching Oakland’s honor! Repeatedly! For profit!
You keep mentioning the senators, as if their feeble and largely forgotten initial statements will translate into some kind of arm-twisting. Do you honestly think these ownership groups will take those statements seriously?
Jesus, how fucking clueless are you? If not for Facebook proving you’re old, I’d think you were barely a teenager with bullshit like this. The A’s and 49ers situations are hardly alike. One is attached to an urban core, privately funded, hosting 81 games and not hinging on a vote. The other is not.
BTW,
There is nothing – zero, zilch, nada that the politicians of the various cities and the state can do to prevent a move south to the City of Industry. Completed EIR, the land purchased, and a very ready and willing city government…
End the end, keeping the A’s in the Coli will probably lose the Raiders and the Niners, as that really is the best spot for a stadium for both football teams, and ML has some great posts on refurbishing the rest of the coliseum for football…
Don’t even put the Oakland Raiders into the conversation. They would never move to San Jose. Oakland A’s has a lot of history with the Coliseum, and just because the attendance records are at all time lows year to year, you expect to solve that by having the team relocate in San Jose with a better stadium? Sure, San Jose has about 1 million residents, but how surely can you guarantee that a lot of them will attend the games? I understand having to move to San Jose for the team’s financial benefits, because the new stadium has a lot of corporate suites, but will that be enough to bring back the A’s fans?
Actually the A’s are no where near their all time lows of the late 70’s. And aren’t even as low right now as their attendances of the mid-90’s. Actually if I’m not mistaken right now the A’s with 1.4 million are still well above their historic average in Oakland.
Read a bit more closely; I am talking about a move by the Raiders (and Niners) a bit further south than San Jose; Southern California – City Of Industry.
Nav,
Your post from 4:20 this afternoon tells it all. You’re a fan of Oakland, and a fan of the A’s. Nothing wrong with that. But it’s unfortuante that you’re allowing your love for your city to cloud your view of what’s best for the A’s.
We’ll just wait and see what Lew Wolff has to say about whatever he has tomorrow on the Chronicle Live. I hope he does address this fiasco or at the very least, have some information for us about this situation. The longer it takes, the less likely it will happen if he truly wants a new stadium,
Thanks for giving my post a little more facetime, ML. I really appreciate it. I kinda wish I had written it earlier and went more in depth. If I had really gotten some consensus and consideration of it as a legitimate site earlier in the central estuary specific plan process, we might have been looking at an EIR for an Oakland stadium site coming down the pipe in 8 months or so (when the EIR for the CESP is scheduled to drop, if I remember correctly).
and might add, to all the haters in my first post who mocked me and said that it was impossible to even consider such a site for a stadium: nya-nya nya-nya nyanya, ha-ha ha-ha haha.
hahaha! best response ever.
Marine Layer, I’ve communicated my feelings to the Warriors many times about that silly “Golden State” moniker. It’s wrong, they play in Oakland and therefore should be called the Oakland Warriors. What would be even worse is if they played in Oakland and were called the “San Francisco Warriors.” At least Oakland held out for a little self-respect. That’s basically what will happen to San Jose with the San Francisco Forty Niners playing just across the border in Santa Clara. I’m just pointing out a fact which I’m sure bothers many civic minded people in San Jose. I know that it would bother me. Do you think that maybe San Jose would allow the A’s to also keep their Oakland moniker? I think that’s part of the reason you see such an uproar from Oakland A’s fans and very little opposition from San Francisco Forty Niner fans. Well, that’s not going to happen because the Oakland A’s are going to stay in Oakland where their fans want them to remain.
If the A’s relocated to San Jose for the financial benefit of the team and kept the name the “Oakland A’s” just like the 9ers would do, I guess I would have no problem with that…but we all know that San Jose residents would not be trying to hear that…or would they??
And yes…I am an Oakland native for life and would want nothing more than for them to stay at home.
Being an Oakland resident, I think a compromise to call the Warriors the “Bay Area Warriors” would be OK with practically everyone!
Nav- the ‘9ers are proposing to move to Santa Clara–city of about 100,000 people–SJ is providing nothing to this effort—but recognizes the benefits regardless of the team name–if it was to be located in SJ the name would be an issue. I don’t understand why this would bother anyway in SJ to have the SF 49’ers 40 miles closer to the SJ border and located in the city of SC rather than south SF–people I interact with are excited about the proposal–
If the A’s move to SJ you are moving from a city of 400,000 people to the 10th largest city in the US–population of more than 1M–so why would you keep the Oakland city name?
Because like many people state, they’re not moving far away, just “down the block.” Well if that’s the case then they should remain the Oakland A’s and keep the name they’ve had for 40 years since they would still remain in the Bay Area. But obviously San Jose residents would have a problem with the Oakland moniker. It appears that it is in fact all in the name after all.
Sorry Anon–your logic doesn;t work for me—I want a new ballpark so that we can compete on and off the field–the fact that they stay in the bay area and become the San Jose A’s is just fine by me—they are still the A’s and they are still in the Bay Area!!
Having the Forty Niners playing next to San Jose and still taking the moniker “San Francisco” will only reinforce San Jose’s inferiority complex. Isn’t San Jose always fighting to get away from San Francisco’s shadow? Now we’ll have shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline while the San Francisco team is a stones throw away from a city of one million people. A city which is actually bigger than San Francisco. Now I get it. This is the part where Oakland is suppose to lose its team and have it called the San Jose A’s. It’s not going to happen. The fans are speaking loud and clear with nearly 22,000 fans supporting keeping the team in Oakland. If the pro San Jose site had 22,000 supporters many of you would be ecstatic and would be trumpeting this as proof that the A’s belong in San Jose. This would be sent to MLB to verify the incredible interest in the A’s in San Jose. The fact of the matter is that the passion and interest for this team is for them to remain the Oakland A’s and to remain in Oakland.
Nav–your definitely a piece of work–BRC is so impressed with the face book deal that they have made a few visits to SJ–remember—SJ wasn’t in their original scope!!! Keep on riding the facebook joke—that has been the problem with Oakland all along–no actions–just alot of meaningless BS–
now what would be meaningful to the BRC would be a deposit of $1000/season tix for each of these folks showing their commitment to a new ballpark in Oakland–but no—we have a meaningless face book total that may mean something to you…but it doesn’t mean jack to MLB, the BRC or LW–
When the deal is done in SJ and the ballpark is open you can come down and I will take you to a game–which I am sure will be sold out—
How so? The Niners won’t be playing in San Jose. They’ll be playing in Santa Clara a stones throw from Sunnyvale. Not in San Jose.
– Even if the stadium is voted into reality, said venue will not be in San Jose. Teams actually in San Jose will still carry the appropriate moniker. Boundaries are still pretty clear.
– The stadium vote likely won’t pass. Just my opinion, but I notice that I’m not alone.
– The San Francisco 49ers are a noted brand. The letters S and F are tied to the identity via the logo on the helmets. That’s a lot more to ditch than the wordmark on an away jersey for the A’s. If there were an expansion team proposed to take root in Santa Clara, I doubt they’d be called “San Francisco.”
– This is all talk before the matter. I don’t think they’d suggest both a move and a name-change at once. There have been enough tears shed as is.
Go A’s,
I’ll take you to the new ballpark near Jack London Square. BTW, I like the San Jose Sharks and the San Jose Earthquakes. San Jose is lucky to have two of the most exciting sports in the World. It would be nice if we would just respect each other’s towns and be happy with what we each have. Don’t you think?
You keep making this assumption that San Jose is gunning for other people’s teams, like a bully on the playground. It is the obligation of SJ pols to look out for the best interests of their city. If a downtown baseball stadium can become reality without public funds for construction and still aid local business in the neighborhood, you better believe they’re going to be open to such an opportunity.
Chuck Reed, as a person, has remained relatively mum on the matter. He is doing his job as mayor to play the game and see how things work out. There is no coveting or bitterness involved in this. Conversely, Jerry Brown did his duty as mayor to opt for housing in uptown Oakland over a potential stadium. That doesn’t mean he wants the A’s to leave Oakland anymore than Reed does. It’s just the business side of things.
Nav–you know its useless to play this victim card as both the A;s and Warriors and more recently Raiders came from other cities/states—I have nothing against Oakland,,,I wish that they had done the deal…lord knows they had the time and the team but couldn’t deliever…but I am done with the lack of movement on a new ballpark and in all honesty–frustrated by the “territorial” attitude such as yours. I firmly believe that if it doesn’t happen in SJ than the A’s wont be in the Bay Area for much longer–which would be a crime for those of us that are A’s fans regardless of where they are in the Bay Area
@GoA’s, I hope you know the Raiders Organization history. They started in Oakland in 1960. They DID NOT come from another city/state.
San Jose is a nice place don’t get me wrong, but a population of 1 million or more does not guarantee a sold out stadium for Cisco Fields. You have no idea how bad it feels for a team to leave it’s city, especially when your a resident of that city. For the Warriors, they may have not chosen Oakland as their moniker, but they at the very least have shown some respect for Oakland. If you watch the Warriors, and follow their recent activities. Than you can agree with me on that. Oakland has been improving a lot, and keeping their current professional sports team with new stadiums would be a catalyst for Oakland in finally changing it’s image around for the better. Just because Oakland hasn’t shown much evidence of interest towards keeping the A’s in Oakland, doesn’t mean nothing is happening. You will just have to wait and see when the BRC will release it’s studies.
How much respect is being shown to Oakland with these “The City” jerseys tonight?
Yikes, nevermind. Their jerseys explicitly read “San Francisco!” Yeah, that’s some respect….
Ok This is my first comment. I’ve been reading this Blog for about four years and always enjoyed it and never really had the urge of leaving a post but after over 100 comments saying the same old shit over and over and over and over again I thought well hey if you guys can beat to death the same old ramblings about how the A’s are selling out “Oakland” Then I guess I can leave a reply Myself.
Nav, & OAKLAND. is it really just love of the name before the game? You care more about the name of OAKLAND then the A’s themselves. I mean why would you CAP Oakland and not the Athletics shouldn’t be the other way around?
I grew up in San Jose all my life but guess what I still loved the A’s and always will! what ever name is on the front San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, Whatever because when you really think about what are we watching when we watch Baseball? We are watching a Baseball game we’re not watching people form San Jose VS Oakland to see who’s shit smells better, You realizes that don’t you?
(Well Probably not but lets pretend that you do High Five!)
To me honestly I would love the A’s to come to San Jose,
1: Better Stadium
2: Better Free Agents,
( And please don’t tell me that Type A free agents do want to come to Oakland, I know it is sad very sad but it is true. Look at the Warriors the best five players of the last 20 years all either came from trades or the draft and guess what they all left as soon as it was possible. No one but no one thinks it a dream come true to play in Oak-Town I am sorry once again but it is true I mean I wish they did I am tired of losing lol But it doesn’t help when the Oakland Riots happened BEFORE THE SUPER BOWL I can see if it was after when the Raiders tanked but before the game is pretty ruff do you see my point? No Type A free agents wants to bring there families to a home game, And when you’re a pro ball player seeing them at the game is about all the time when you do get to see them when you’re playing 162 games a year)
3: I am a homer and would love to see them with SAN JOSE on the front of there Jerseys but my gosh even I know if they had to be called the San Francisco A’s to be a better team have better attendance a more marketable team I would have to say ok.
It is sad that you don’t care about the team and it will be a shame to lose you
but what you do not realizes is if they don’t go to San Jose they will be out of the whole Bay Area. I don’t think Bart go’s to Sacramento or Portland or anywhere else our of the Bay Area.
But you know what bothers me the most is that you blame the low attendance because they might move away well that is just a Bandwagon Bitch you leave your team because they “might” move?
Before the Year started we had a pretty good team on paper but was the fans there? No they wasn’t. You put all your blame on Wolf, Bean, and even Holliday ( I wonder if he would have been a little more enthusiastic playing here if there was more then 10 people in the stands well it seems like it when he went to the Cardinals) you would have had a better chance of keeping them if you actually showed the MLB that you gave a shit . I wonder if the 49ers fans said they will stop going to games now and never go to another game because they might go to Santa Clara I wonder?
That’s all I have to say Fans of the “OAKLAND A’s” where was you?
Vincent, you seem a little pissed off by trying to call me out cuz of my frickin’ name??? Yes I capped OAKLAND because I was born and raised here and have lived here my entire life and absolutely love it. Don’t get me wrong, but I also love the Athletics too…more so than any other franchise in the Bay Area by far, but I will always love the city I am from more so than any baseball, football or basketball team. Understand???
And secondly, are you seriously trying to compare the Warriors to the A’s when it comes to where they want to play?? They (Warriors) didn’t leave because they hated the city or the fans. They left due to shitty ownership. Do you even watch basketball or even follow the Warriors?? They left because of Cohan and company basically dismantled such a great team we had in almost a year. We had probably the best attendance in the league when we had Baron, Jax, J Rich, and so on and so on. The Oracle Arena was rockin’ every single night! Baron didn’t leave cuz he didn’t like the city you fool….he left because are stupid basketball owners strategically had Mullin fired and didn’t want to give baron the extension he was looking for which then caused a chain reaction of having our star players sign with other teams such as the Clippers. If you knew anything, everyone wanted to play for the Warriors when we were putting together a good team on the floor and were in playoff contention. Athletes want to play for a team that can compete and has good ownership….and yes also great fan support. The Warriors had all that until Cohan ruined the party. With the A’s it goes the same frickin’ way. We only don’t have the fan support because everyone knows that Lew Wolff is a carpetbagger who cares only about money and nothing else.
Look at the Raiders right now. Fans are starting to boycott and attendance is starting to hit all time lows because of Al Davis and the on-field performance. The same exact thing can be said about the A’s and the Warriors. Yes I understand the A’s attendance sucks, but can you blame them with the owner who wants nothing to do with Oakland and wants to move out of the city? You kept your mouth shut for 4 years, maybe it’s time you continue to do so until you learn some facts about where player would like to play and why. If you think it’s because the city, then you are seriously trippin’. It might be Oakland, but it’s still part of the Bay Area which most people around the entire country would love to live in and be a part of.
Anon–you don’t need to give me a freaking Raiders lesson–I grew up in the Bay Area–the fact is they move to LA and were lured back to Oakland with a revamp of the Colisieum that ultimately doomed the A;s–you and the other posters here that are hung up on names in the Bay Area are a joke–of course the Warriors should be Oakland–and of course the A’s should be SJ if they move there—who gives a flying f___I don’t use the name Oakland or Golden State when I refer to either–I talk about the A’s and the Warriors–they are Bay Area teams–
And please dont say well who knows if people will go to a game in San Jose or be guarantee a sold out stadium (Because Besides from the Yanks The Red Soxs and the Cubs no one is guaranteed)
San Jose has one of the best attendance records in the NHL so please stop wasting your time.
San Jose will have even more of the casual fan then San Fran( Of course they will all be wearing khakis and botton down shirts from the GAP but thats just San Jose
GoA’s – I wouldn’t had to give you that fact if you hadn’t listed the Raiders amongst other teams that came from another city. We’re up in arms with this relocating thing, because the A’s have history with Oakland. You strongly support the team as a Bay Area team, but you seem to only support San Jose in their endeavor to get the A’s which makes Oakland the city that can’t keep the team in the Bay Area? Oakland has the same chances of keeping the team in Oakland, not just San Jose. So don’t leave Oakland out of the picture.
Anon—not going to go around in circles with you–this is not an open ended relationship with Oakland–Raiders returned in 1995–15 years in a non-baseball stadium with no viable plan in place–and by viable I mean land acquired, EIR complete, on and on and on—I was all for Oakland building a new ballpark…when it was obvious that they couldn’t do it I was all for Fremont…with this falling apart–all for San Jose now—because it will keep the A’s in the Bay Area-
Lets be honest here–the city of Oakland…with all of its problems—is going to build a new stadium for the Raiders ($1B) and at minimum acquire the land and pay for infrastructure improvements for the A’s (minimum of $100M) while still paying $20M a year for the horrible remodel on the Coli?
A logical individual would agree that both can’t happen….and in fact…just doing the $100M investment to keep the A’s is going to be a challenge—-I prefer to look at facts rather than emotion—-because that’s what is going to get a ballpark built to keep the A’s in the Bay Area
Oak Thxs buddy for making my point for me! You said- but I also love the Athletics too…- Well high five lil buddy! You love the A’s too! but just as long as they stay in Oakland? What would happen if lets say they went to Concord? or Pleasanton/Dublin? or Walnut Creek? I guess you would stop loving the A’s then right? So you love them too but just as long as they stay where they are at you love them too. Wow you don’t even know what love is my friend.
And as for the Warriors I am not trying to make this a pissing contest but listen to me I love the Warriors more then…. Anyteam now that I think about it and guess what you can’t blame everything on ownership and coaching ( I know that have a lot of blame but its more 50-50) for not landing a big free agent in the last 20 via signing him no trades. Think about that there has been a lot of players in that time that has made a lot of bad decisions about joining teams why wasnt we that bad decision
We have the best fans in the league.
but why don’t free agents come?
todays day and age everything is about endorsements above winning why do you think no one joined the party in the 2007/2008 year after we knocked out Dallas when we was one of the hottest teams and won 48 games because when Baron was hitting game winning 3’s what time do think we would show up on ESPNs Sportscenter about mid way thru the show and 2nd or last of the days NBA highlights.(And don’t give me that (PST) BS because The Suns The Lakers and Spurs The Nuggets The Mavricks and even the Clippers would show up first and we would have better highlights. Thats why Baron left if he really wanted to stay he would have he just thought that was as far he could go as being a public figure if he stayed with us. That why Elton didnt come either but that kind if worked out for us( No not really Fucking Corey Maggette )
PS the clippers have worst Ownership amd management