Joe Serrato
Period 2
March 24, 2016
Senior Thesis
If baseball was simple, the Oakland Athletics would’ve won. The final score would flash
“Athletics win 47-45 over Giants,” and that would be all. Four World Series would be played,
with the Athletics winning three. But baseball’s not that simple. Harry Wright, the original
baseball magnate, once said, “Baseball is business now.” As portrayed by dwindling attendance,
the wishes of a dying man, and a multitude of shrewd businessmen, Wright’s conjecture is
proven true several generations later. Baseball is now equal parts business and leisure. This is
where the Oakland Athletics are caught. The Athletics, a professionally oppressed baseball club,
are at the mercy of Major League Baseball. They are being forced to move yet again. It would
be the fourth home for the Athletics franchise, having already ransacked through Philadelphia,
Kansas City, and Oakland. Any move would be approved by Bud Selig, a commissioner who
has the “best interests of baseball” in his heart. The only thing in the way of a move would be
the San Francisco Giants, longtime rival of the Athletics.
As early as 1905, there has been a rivalry between Giants franchise and the Athletics.
That year, John McGraw’s New York Giants took on Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics in
the second ever World Series. McGraw was asked what he thought of the Philadelphia ball club,
and he quickly replied, “White elephants! Mr. B.F. Shibe (co-owner of Philadelphia) has a white
elephant on his hands.” McGraw’s Giants won the series, with Christy Mathewson delivering a
World Series record 27 scoreless innings. But, the elephant nickname stuck, as to this day, an
elephant is used by the Athletics as their logo. The New York Giants declared themselves
World’s Champions, even going as far as wearing the phrase on their jerseys for one season.
The very boisterous move was allowed by Major League Baseball at the time due to the lack of a
singular governing body. However, even with a governing body, teams still aren’t guaranteed
basic staples, such as survival.
Primitive baseball history is littered with teams who operated for a short time, then
fizzled out. This is nearly irrelevant now, as base ball in the 19th century is not baseball in the
21st century. A prime example of a 21st century failure is the Montreal Expos. The sad story of
the Montreal Expos begins in 1969, the same year the Royals, Padres, and the Brewers were
created. Montreal never won much of anything; the closest they ever got to a world series was in
1994, a year more famous for a player’s strike than the Expos’ expository play. Things went
downhill at a galloping pace after the strike. Only four years later, rising stars such as Larry
Walker and Pedro Martinez, among many others, were let go. They were no longer affordable.
For the rest of the Expos existence, they never sniffed 90 wins again (save for 1996) and finished
with 90 losses five times. The feared 1994 team was reduced to rubble, with Jose Vidro and
Brad Wilkerson leading the invasion hit (and miss) parade. The 2003 team, the second to last
Expos team, could not afford the cost of September call-ups, players added to the roster to get
experience and help rest veteran players. MLB owned the team as a placeholder for a real
owner. Bud Selig decided that it would be a “conflict of interest” to supply the Expos with the
money needed to have the call-ups. The Expos would sink to the bottom, finishing 8 games out
of a wild card spot. In less than 10 years, Montreal went from the best young team in baseball to
one best symbolized by their last third baseman, Tony Batista. Batista was an all-or-nothing type
of hitter who got nothing much more often than he made contact. 2004 was the final chapter of
the sad story of the Expos. Montreal was one of the worst teams in baseball in their final season,
and also one of the least profitable. In 2005, the Expos moved to Washington, D.C., where they
have found success as one of the best young teams in baseball. The decay and death of the
Expos could have been prevented. When MLB took the Expos away, they ripped the battered
and bruised Expo fan hearts out too. The Expos fan base knew by MLB’s actions that they were
not welcomed by MLB anymore. Montreal’s downfall serves as a precedent for a lack of action
by MLB.
“Yeah, I'd feel very badly if you didn't ask it. You aren't going to get a fucking answer.”
This is a quote from Bud Selig, not a late night comedian making fun of baseball’s “fearless”
leader. Truth be told, Selig has been answering questions about the Athletics since his Blue
Ribbon committee was formed in 2009 to decide the Athletics fate. It’s about time Selig gave an
answer other than “no” or “not yet”. The Athletics need a new home, and the only person who
can grant their wish, Selig, wishes not to. The ironically named Blue Ribbon Committee has
been posturing for four years now. In the meantime, the equally impoverished Minnesota Twins
and Miami Marlins have received new ballparks. Their cross-town rivals, the San Francisco
Giants, have won two World Series titles with payrolls inflated slightly larger than Barry Bonds’
head. While the Athletics have languished financially in the fifth oldest major league stadium,
other teams have fared very well. Oakland hadn’t had top-half attendance in their league since
they were sixth in 2003, and only once in the last 20 seasons (1992, fourth). Even in 2012,
where they had the second best record in their league, they were seventh, just barely scratching
the surface of average. Unfortunately for the Athletics, their history of being too poor for MLB
stretches back to the days of Connie Mack.
“It is more profitable for me to have a team that is in contention for most of the season
but finishes about fourth. A team like that will draw well enough during the first part of the
season to show a profit for the year, and you don't have to give the players raises when they don't
win.” Connie Mack should have been more careful. His Philadelphia Athletics finished near
fourth regularly, but mostly worse than that. From 1934 to 1950, Mack’s clubs hovered around
eighth place (out of 8), never finishing in fourth place. This was the aftermath of Mack’s second
club deconstruction, a tradition that Oakland pertains to today. After making three straight
World Series from 1929-1931, the Athletics finished second in 1932, and then sold off talent in a
grand fire sale. Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove would become Red Sox.
“Bucketfoot” Al Simmons, he of the 2,927 career hits, was sold to the White Sox. The 1934
Athletics went 68-82, the first of thirteen consecutive losing seasons.
It was the second time Mack’s Athletics had failed in such a dramatic fashion. In 1914,
the Athletics were American League champions, going 99-53. By the next year, they slipped to
43-109, then, to show that the Baseball Gods don’t give mercy, a 1916 record of 36-117. Mack
sold off Hall of Famers left and right. Chief Bender and Eddie Plank, their two aces, were gone
for the new Federal League. The Federal League survived for only two seasons as a direct
competitor to MLB. MLB may have won, but in the process, their ineptness from stopping
player transfers cost Philadelphia dearly. Although Plank and Bender were aging hurlers, they
were still effective. The losses of Plank and Bender, combined with the loss of the Hall of Fame
portion of Mack’s “$100,000 infield” sunk the Athletics. Second baseman Eddie Collins and
third baseman Frank “Home Run” Baker left for the White Sox and the Yankees, respectively.
Mack had to let them go. It was no fault of his own, but he had no other choice. Mack’s
livelihood was baseball. Unlike other owners, Mack made his money in baseball, meaning onthe-field failure hit him hard. It wasn’t until after Mack’s death that MLB made it illegal for an
owner to manage his team. The conflict of interest between winning and making money is easier
to see today, but in Mack’s time, the problem wasn’t as vivid. Mack’s second sale was the end
of the Philadelphia Athletics. The Phillies, who had existed for years as the Athletics
subordinate, would become the chic team in town. Going against young stars such as Chuck
Klein and Robin Roberts in the Philadelphia market, the Athletics couldn’t compete. The best
player the Athletics could muster in their last years was Bob Johnson, a ballplayer as nondescript
(however consistent) as there ever was. Mack would sell the Athletics in 1954, passing away two
years later.
When Mack sold his Athletics in 1954, the buyer was Arnold Johnson. Johnson’s first
move was to pack the Athletics up and shift them to Kansas City, where they subsided from 1955
to 1967. Johnson was close with the New York Yankees, who had a minor league team in
Kansas City from 1946 until 1954, the year the Athletics moved into Kansas City. The
culmination of Johnson’s friendship with the Yankees made the Athletics a “minor league”
Yankee team, even though they were still a major league team. They would never finish with
more than 74 wins, while topping out at four 100 loss seasons. In the same time period, the New
York Yankees, perennial second place to the Athletics in the late 1920’s, won four World Series
titles and nine American League pennants. From 1955 to 1961, the two teams made fifteen
trades, with legendary players such as Don Larsen, Ralph Terry, Roger Maris, and the burnt out
ends of Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter changing hands. Almost all fifteen trades were lopsided to
the Yankees favor. There was, of course, no action by MLB. What could they do? The Yankees
were baseball’s biggest draw, as they are today. To take action against them would brand the
1950’s Yankees as fraudulent. Still, the Kansas City Athletics moved along. They were
powerless to the Yankee aurora. Arnold Johnson died in 1960, which brought a swift end to the
Yankee-Athletics trades. A new owner would come in, one without Yankee ties. The new
owner was equal parts eccentric businessman and penny-pinching scrooge.
In December 1960, Charlie Finley bought the Kansas City Athletics. By 1968, Finley
would lead the Athletics into abandoning another fan base, this time leaving Kansas City for the
greener pastures of Oakland, California. Oakland, at the time, was one of only four teams west
of Missouri. Despite ongoing recovery from the Kansas City years, the Athletics were able to
build a dynasty fairly quickly. Most of this had to do with a strong young core of Reggie
Jackson and Catfish Hunter, among others. The years of 1972, 1973 and 1974 brought three
straight World Series titles, a feat only duplicated by the Yankees. But, as the tragic pattern calls
for, the Athletics would be forced to sell. Once 1976 came, Oakland lost Catfish Hunter, the first
ever free agent. Reggie Jackson and many others would leave soon after. Charlie Finley did not
give many raises, and this backfired when his star pitcher, Hunter, helped create the start of free
agency. Finley would have to outbid other teams for his homegrown talent, which he neglected
to do. Hunter got his free agency by fighting against MLB government and the reserve clause.
Because MLB did not hold up the reserve clause, in the case of Hunter, the floodgates for players
leaving were opened, making the Athletics suffer yet again (side note: this is not a case for the
reserve clause, a now-illicit ball and chain that stuck players to their teams for life). One of the
stars for the 1972-1974 Athletics, Vida Blue, was the only free agent Finley bothered to keep.
However, Blue would find his way out of Oakland soon after his former teammates. The
Athletics had proposed trades to the Reds and their old friend, the New York Yankees. A trade
that would have sent Blue to the Yankees was vetoed, much unlike the many Athletics-Yankees
trades in the 1950’s. Blue would end up with the crosstown Giants. There is great significance
in the veto. It marks a significant shift in the veto power of MLB. From 1960 to 1978, when
Blue was traded, the commissioner(s) decided/realized that they could dissuade white flag trades;
the earlier tactic of a fire sale was made harder for the selling team. By eliminating potential
buyers by vetoing, MLB made it easier for potential buyers to give Oakland a lesser offer. As
the market dried up, Oakland would have to settle for the lesser offer because the market didn’t
exist to create competition. Alternatively, a trade with the San Francisco Giants is not
preferable; they share a market. In fact, the Athletics and Giants haven’t traded with each other
on the major league level since 1990, when Darren Lewis was traded to the Giants. But, because
of the restrictions placed by MLB, Oakland accepted the San Francisco trade offer. Finley
wouldn’t last much longer after the trade. He guided the team from Kansas City all the way to
1980, but, like Mack, his time had passed. Finley sold to Walter A. Haas Jr., one of the most
generous owners in baseball’s storied history.
Walter Haas Jr. was destined for greatness. One of Haas’ ancestors was Levi Strauss;
founder of the jean company Walter would eventually run. Haas was a philanthropist. His
family had a great deal of wealth; they decided to share it. The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. fund
started in 1953. The fund “provides fundamental rights and opportunities so that all people can
live, work, and raise their families with dignity.” With Haas’s monetary supply as support,
Oakland built another strong core. A World Series win over the Giants in 1989 put Oakland in
the center of baseball’s eye, partially because of the earthquake that tore the series in two.
Regardless of the earthquake, the 1989 win was a watershed moment, as they had beaten the
Giants in the first Bay Bridge series. The new owner, Walter Haas Jr., wasn’t afraid to spend to
build a winning team. Young stars such as Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco were mixed with
star veterans such as Dennis Eckersley and Dave Stewart. Rickey Henderson was reacquired in
June 1989 after four and a half years of Yankee exile, a direct contrast from Roger Maris’s career
with the Athletics. After 87 years of struggling, Oakland could finally flourish. They were
second in attendance, and the Raiders were in Los Angeles, leaving the Oakland-Alameda
County Coliseum as a baseball-only venue. In a relatively short time, the Athletics became the
team of choice for Bay Area baseball fans.
The San Francisco Giants were struggling. Trapped in Candlestick Park with the 49ers,
they fell to third in the NL West the year after the World Series. They also had the fifth worst
attendance in the National League. The franchise was preliminarily sold in 1992 to a group who
would move the team to Tampa, Florida. However, National League owners voted the proposal
down. As an act of kindness in a time of need, Walter Haas Jr. gave the Giants rights to San
Jose. The Giants had fielded a minor league team in San Jose since 1988, but now it was
official. Haas had given San Jose up. Haas would pass away in 1995, never knowing what harm
his generosity would cause his beloved Athletics.
What a difference twenty years makes. In the last twenty years, the stalwarts of the 1989
Athletics, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, traded their bats in for suits and guilt. Barry Bonds
signed a large free agent contract with San Francisco, and became infatuated with a laboratory in
the Bay Area. Twenty years later, the Giants are still in San Francisco, in a brand new ballpark,
while the Athletics share O.co Coliseum with the Raiders and Mt. Davis’s shadow. The
Coliseum is now a concrete ring of crushed dreams and repressed memories; a green-tarped
symbol of eternal damnation. Bud Selig, the man who let the All-Star Game end in a tie, is
letting this happen. Captain Bud’s Blue Ribbon crew has been drifting near Midway Island since
2009. In his words, we shouldn’t expect a “fucking answer”. He holds a very busy position, but
it’s a position with a five-month offseason. How, in that timeframe, has a compromise not been
reached? Lew Wolff, current Athletics owner and a fraternity brother with Selig, has even given
up hope. Wolff sent a letter to Coliseum authority, requesting five more years in Oakland.
Wolff cited the jobs that Oakland games bring to the community. Because of this, the Athletics
can’t move away (without breaking their Coliseum lease) until 2018 at the earliest, nine years
after the forming of the Blue Ribbon Committee. By then, Selig is rumored to be retired. His
successor will have to clean the Oakland/San Francisco/San Jose mess up. Selig will be long
gone, but the aftermath of the Athletics melodrama will still have to be settled.
The 2012 Athletics had many similarities to other Athletics champions. A young core
was crafted carefully like Jenga pieces by general manager Billy Beane, famous for the
Moneyball theory. Young rising stars like Josh Reddick, Yoenis Cespedes and Jarrod Parker led
then to an AL West crown, wowing fans and gaining supporters along the way. One could say
that the walkoff win pies, Bernie leans, and Balfour rages were the face of this team. While
that’s very fun, the face of this team is Bob Melvin, staring out the dugout across thirty feet of
foul territory. He is watching Derek Norris, the rookie catcher pushed into regular duty, take a
Foxx-ian hack. Norris connects and hits a drive into left field. Melvin looks over to see the ball
falling, fans ecstatic but frozen in time, perpetually waiting for a future that may never come.
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