A’s owner John Fisher posts farewell letter to Oakland fans; “I am genuinely sorry”
By Dave Pehling
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OAKLAND, California (KPIX) — Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher posted an contrite open letter to fans of the team Monday, saying that management tried to keep the A’s in Oakland and failed.
The letter, which posted on the A’s official MLB.com site Monday afternoon, was addressed to “our Oakland Athletics Fans” ahead of this week’s “final games of the A’s storied 57 years in Oakland” that will be played against the Texas Rangers.
Fans have made no secret of blaming Fisher for the team’s plans to relocate the to Las Vegas after interim plans to call Sacramento home until the A’s can get their new stadium built, hanging banners and wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Sell the Team” or in some cases simply “SELL” at games all year.
They have been venting their frustration ever since the team’s temporary home of Sacramento was announced last April. Thousands of fans crowded the Coliseum to see the team face the New York Yankees this past Saturday and Sunday for the last round of weekend games prior to the move.
The letter noted that while the team had been based in both Philadelphia and Kansas City prior to arriving in Oakland in 1968, the East Bay city “has been home for the greatest era in the franchise’s more than 123-year history.”
Fisher went on to detail some of the team’s achievements and favorite moments over the decades stretching from the A’s dominance during the early ’70s when they won three of their four World Series championships through the team’s continuing success in the ’90s and beyond.
“And that, I know, is what makes our departure so very hard,” the letter read.
Fisher continued, detailing the efforts that he and co-owner Lew Wolff have made to find get the A’s their own stadium since purchasing the team in 2005: “Our dream was to win world championships and build a new ballpark in Oakland. Over the next 18 years, we did our very best to make that happen. We proposed and pursued five different locations in the Bay Area. And despite mutual and ongoing efforts to get a deal done for the Howard Terminal project, we came up short.”
The letter said the team turned to Las Vegas as an option only “after 16 years of working exclusively on developing a home in the Bay Area and faced with a binding MLB agreement to find a new home by 2024.”
Fisher acknowledged the loss and impact that fans, Oakland Athletics staff and Coliseum employees must be going through during the team’s final days in the Bay Area.
“I know there is great disappointment, even bitterness. Though I wish I could speak to each one of you individually, I can tell you this from the heart: we tried,” the letter said. “Staying in Oakland was our goal, it was our mission, and we failed to achieve it. And for that I am genuinely sorry.”
The team will begin playing at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park starting next year with plans for the A’s inaugural season in Las Vegas in 2028. While tickets for the final game on Thursday have been sold out for weeks, there are still seats available for the games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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