The Oakland Athletics are not currently for sale, which is a disgrace to the players, fans, citizens of Oakland and East Bay, the MLB and the A’s humanity.
But what if team owner John Fisher went through a Grinch-like personality shift and decided to sell his ball club to someone to take care of it?
It could happen. Fisher and his trusty sidekick Dave Kaval have given up Oakland and are trying to conquer Las Vegas for a great deal. If this plan continues to fail like a fish plucked from the crystal clear waters of San Francisco Bay and thrown onto the scorching hot desert sands of Nevada, perhaps Fisher will do humanity a favor and sell him.
theirs? Let’s try some possibilities, real and surreal.
Golden State Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob is the most likely candidate to become the first A’s team owner with heart since the Haas family sold the franchise in 1995. We’re not saying that Lacob doesn’t like making money from his sports investments, but on the scale of ownership motivation, from naked greed to outright altruism, Lacob is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Fisher. He also told The Chronicle’s John Shea that he was still ready to get started.
“I’ve had a standing offer for I don’t know how long to buy the A’s by John Fisher. Over a decade,” Lacob said. “It’s up to him; it is his business.”
The change in ownership from a slouching penny squeezer to an enlightened team builder would come as a shock to the system of fans, but they would recover quickly – and rejoice. Lacob would quickly build a ballpark and pay real salaries, plus he would take the opportunity to rebuild his sports legacy in Oakland, where he is considered a team sleeper.
Tech billionaire Larry Ellison could be lurking in the dark. A few years ago there were rumors that Ellison wanted to buy the A’s and not just build a new ballpark on the Coliseum lot, but build an entire city on thousands of surrounding acres. Unfortunately, Fisher didn’t sell.
Lacob may want to team up with Reggie Jackson and create a partnership of people who were barred from buying the A’s in 2005, when then-commissioner Bud Selig staged a sale to his college buddy Lew Wolff, then Fisher’s minority partner.
Jackson recently claimed his group was turned away despite making the winning bid. Lacob claims he actually struck a deal with the previous owners just to get Selig to go through with the plan. So Joe and Reggie have been waiting for years to revive this team.
One willing buyer is Oakland-based African American Sports and Entertainment Group. Negotiations are under way to purchase a 50% interest in the Coliseum property (Fisher buys the other 50% from Alameda County). AASEG has the money, strong local leadership, big plans and political flair. And god knows, MLB could use minority representation.
Sports heroes and stars are an increasingly attractive group for sports ownership. Some possibilities:
Stephen Curry. Magic Johnson, formerly a minority owner of the Lakers, owns smaller stakes (2.3%) in the Dodgers and owns portions of a football team and a WNBA team. Who is the Magic of the Bay Area? steph
The Warriors did not leave Oakland, however, Curry and his wife Ayesha. You have made a huge contribution to Oakland’s fight against hunger and the promotion of children’s literacy and physical activity. Buying the A’s, or at least leading a group, would cement the Curries as Oakland Saints.
Music drives Oakland, so why shouldn’t music makers own the A’s? Lots of big names with local ties like rappers Too Short, Del the Funky Homosapien, E-40 and G-Eazy. And don’t forget MC Hammer, who started out as a youthful team “manager” for the A’s in the final years of the Charles Finley regime. (Finley nicknamed young Stanley “Hammer”.)
How about this: Create a Legends of Baysball ownership group. Joe Morgan was part of a syndicate that tried to buy the A’s in 2000, another deal that was torpedoed by Selig at the last minute. Morgan is no longer with us, but Reggie and Rickey Henderson are. Bring along baysball heroes from different ball sports like Marshawn Lynch, Gary Payton, Rick Barry and Damian Lillard.
Here’s another fantasy ownership combo: Kevin Costner and Don Johnson. Johnson received his acting training from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He played the role of a San Francisco police officer on the television series Nash Bridges. Costner has been in five (!) baseball movies, so you know where his heart lies. He would be the only MLB owner to wear a full uniform and sit in the dugout.
Last and stupidest idea: Donald Trump. He once owned a USFL team before single-handedly destroying that league. He’s been trying to buy an NFL team for a long time. And he was a star baseball player in high school, if by his own (unconfirmed) testimony you call that what it’s worth.
Pros: Trump would be so busy building a winner after his image that he wouldn’t have time to dabble in politics. He could destroy the A’s, but the world would be saved.
Also, he would replace the Oakland Coliseum’s old plumbing fixtures with gold fixtures.
All candidate owners have one thing in common: any one of them would be an upgrade.
Reach Scott Ostler: sostler@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @scottostler
