I was ten when the A's moved to Oakland. In my mind they will forever be the Oakland A's. I can't see Las Vegas as a baseball town. We'll see, personally I think everybody will be sorry.
OFWG, I’m about your age, and I can’t think of them other than the Oakland A’s, either. Yes, Paul, another great report! I just love your writing and especially your imagery: “Conversations were easy to overhear that night. Elsewhere in the quiet park, the thwock of pitches into the catchers’ gloves reverberated in the upper levels, where isolated packs of kids hunted foul balls.” I can just hear the “THWOCK…” Wonderful! I’m sorry I’m so late reading yesterday’s newsletter. Meg
Thanks Meg! I really appreciate hearing the little sections that land with readers. Baseball can be really good for onomatopoeia, I think. You aren't on a clock here, but as always thanks for reading and sharing your feedback!
I loved this story so much. I know there has been an avalanche of negativity surrounding the As leaving (again), and justifiably so. But am I the only one excited for a Las Vegas baseball team? I realize it’s very sad for Oakland, but Northern California still has a fine baseball club, and now Nevada gets a baseball team.
I think the dark cloud for Las Vegas is the reality that it will be a small market and the A's ownership has demonstrated, vividly, that they will not put a lot of money into making a team successful. Las Vegas deserves a team, in my view, but I am not sure anyone deserves this particular owner and I wish he had sold the team to someone willing to help keep it in Oakland, allowing Las Vegas to get an expansion team and a clean slate with a new and motivated ownership group. I also wish Las Vegas got to come up with its own unique iconography as the fit between that city, a team name from the 1800s and a set of colors from the 1960s seems pretty clashing.
Now that the A's are moving, the best thing is for the match with Vegas to be a good one. This team really needs a forever home!
I’ve heard people say CA has too many teams. It is a huge state but are there too many teams? Owners can do what they want for the most part I guess; or does MLB have final say? I’m not a lawyer, I assume it’s not as easy as it seems.
NY once had teams only miles apart separating them but ended up as far as possible. The Mets & Yanks now have their loyal fan base & thrive very well. I believe the Yanks draw this year was over 3 million.
Time will tell if Vegas will be successful for the franchise. Unhappy owners will always be moving so fans have no choice but accept, it all comes down to $$$$.
The collective owners actually do have the final say, but these day's it's mostly a rubber stamp and the individual owners can do as they please. Certain sales from owner to potential owner have been vetoed over the years, but I can't think of an instance when a relocation was actually blocked, but won't say it never happened. Bowie Kuhn actually fought to keep the 1971 Washington Senators from being moved to Texas (becoming the Rangers) because he had several reasons to feel that move was bad for the sport at broadest. He actually defended the "Remain" side when nobody else would. He got a few votes but was ultimately overruled; it's a really fascinating moment where it seemed like a commissioner was actually fighting for something not clearly just about money and acting like there was a higher responsibility than enabling the individuals who owned the teams.
You are of course correct that it's always just a business, Jeff, but it's also a particular shame in this case. I certainly didn't see the owner do very much to try and make it work. It is naive, but I wish the burden to relocate was much higher than it seems to be (the option to sell to local buyers should be incentivized). After 57 years there, Oakland had a far longer relationship with that team than Fisher does.
Well, it’ll be interesting to see how the peripatetic A’s do, once they land in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, here in Pittsburgh, Bob Nutting gives Jerry Reinsdorf in Chicago and the A’s owners a run for their money as ”worst MLB owner.”
Excellent use of "peripatetic." You certainly have the right trinity of bad baseball owners. Competing for that title is really the only thing any of those three will put "their money" towards. It's been about 40 years since Reinsdorf last tried to move the White Sox, so I'd say we're due, especially in the wake of this calamitous season.
I was ten when the A's moved to Oakland. In my mind they will forever be the Oakland A's. I can't see Las Vegas as a baseball town. We'll see, personally I think everybody will be sorry.
Thanks for another great report.
OFWG, I’m about your age, and I can’t think of them other than the Oakland A’s, either. Yes, Paul, another great report! I just love your writing and especially your imagery: “Conversations were easy to overhear that night. Elsewhere in the quiet park, the thwock of pitches into the catchers’ gloves reverberated in the upper levels, where isolated packs of kids hunted foul balls.” I can just hear the “THWOCK…” Wonderful! I’m sorry I’m so late reading yesterday’s newsletter. Meg
Thanks Meg! I really appreciate hearing the little sections that land with readers. Baseball can be really good for onomatopoeia, I think. You aren't on a clock here, but as always thanks for reading and sharing your feedback!
I loved this story so much. I know there has been an avalanche of negativity surrounding the As leaving (again), and justifiably so. But am I the only one excited for a Las Vegas baseball team? I realize it’s very sad for Oakland, but Northern California still has a fine baseball club, and now Nevada gets a baseball team.
I think the dark cloud for Las Vegas is the reality that it will be a small market and the A's ownership has demonstrated, vividly, that they will not put a lot of money into making a team successful. Las Vegas deserves a team, in my view, but I am not sure anyone deserves this particular owner and I wish he had sold the team to someone willing to help keep it in Oakland, allowing Las Vegas to get an expansion team and a clean slate with a new and motivated ownership group. I also wish Las Vegas got to come up with its own unique iconography as the fit between that city, a team name from the 1800s and a set of colors from the 1960s seems pretty clashing.
Now that the A's are moving, the best thing is for the match with Vegas to be a good one. This team really needs a forever home!
I’ve heard people say CA has too many teams. It is a huge state but are there too many teams? Owners can do what they want for the most part I guess; or does MLB have final say? I’m not a lawyer, I assume it’s not as easy as it seems.
NY once had teams only miles apart separating them but ended up as far as possible. The Mets & Yanks now have their loyal fan base & thrive very well. I believe the Yanks draw this year was over 3 million.
Time will tell if Vegas will be successful for the franchise. Unhappy owners will always be moving so fans have no choice but accept, it all comes down to $$$$.
Never forget it’s still a business.
The collective owners actually do have the final say, but these day's it's mostly a rubber stamp and the individual owners can do as they please. Certain sales from owner to potential owner have been vetoed over the years, but I can't think of an instance when a relocation was actually blocked, but won't say it never happened. Bowie Kuhn actually fought to keep the 1971 Washington Senators from being moved to Texas (becoming the Rangers) because he had several reasons to feel that move was bad for the sport at broadest. He actually defended the "Remain" side when nobody else would. He got a few votes but was ultimately overruled; it's a really fascinating moment where it seemed like a commissioner was actually fighting for something not clearly just about money and acting like there was a higher responsibility than enabling the individuals who owned the teams.
You are of course correct that it's always just a business, Jeff, but it's also a particular shame in this case. I certainly didn't see the owner do very much to try and make it work. It is naive, but I wish the burden to relocate was much higher than it seems to be (the option to sell to local buyers should be incentivized). After 57 years there, Oakland had a far longer relationship with that team than Fisher does.
Next up, it seems, the White Sox?
Well, it’ll be interesting to see how the peripatetic A’s do, once they land in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, here in Pittsburgh, Bob Nutting gives Jerry Reinsdorf in Chicago and the A’s owners a run for their money as ”worst MLB owner.”
Excellent use of "peripatetic." You certainly have the right trinity of bad baseball owners. Competing for that title is really the only thing any of those three will put "their money" towards. It's been about 40 years since Reinsdorf last tried to move the White Sox, so I'd say we're due, especially in the wake of this calamitous season.