Key Takeaways
Former Oakland A’s slugger Reggie Jackson says he’s “embarrassed for baseball” by the Oakland Athletics’ planned relocation to Las Vegas.
Reggie Jackson carries his 1973 World Series trophy during a pregame ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of the 1973 World Series team at the Oakland Coliseum in 2023. (Image: Sports Illustrated)The five-time World Series winner and two-time World Series MVP shared his distaste for his former team on the New York Post’s “The Show” podcast this week.
John Fisher. (Image: Sports Illustrated)“I feel terrible for the city,” he told hosts Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, referring to Oakland, going on to say that, though he doesn’t know current team owner John Fisher personally, he thought that when he bought the team, he did so to save it for the city.
I m so disappointed in the way the family has interacted with the city and just let the team go to shambles,” Mr. October said. “They re a 4-A team. They re not a Major League team.
They ve abandoned the city.
Jackson also noted that he spoke with Fisher, whose wealth derives from his parents’ co-founding of the GAP chain, in person about purchasing 20%-25% of the team for $300 million. That offer would have purchased Jackson a stake in the team, but no decision-making clout.
During his career with the Oakland A s, Reggie Jackson batted .262 with 1,228 hits, 269 home runs, and 776 RBIs. (Image: baseballhall.org.)This was while Jackson was in Oakland helping the team celebrate the anniversary of its 1973 World Series win against the New York Mets.
Jackson said Fisher’s rebuff of his fair valuation for the team, which Forbes says is worth $1.2 billion, hurt. But it didn’t hurt as much as learning later on that, by this time, Fisher already knew the team was abandoning Oakland for Las Vegas and didn’t let on.
Fisher is currently fishing for investors to fork up half a billion for a team share that would help finance its proposed $1.5 billion ballpark on nine acres of the soon-to-be imploded Tropicana resort casino site on the Las Vegas Strip.
Fisher has said that in a worst-case scenario, he and his family can pony up that amount themselves.
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