With everything else that’s been going on (like me getting ready to be on the teevee), I utterly failed to welcome new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who officially took over from commissioner-since-the-last-millennium Bud Selig last weekend. (Yes, he’s finally gone. Yes, you are now invited to dance a bit on his grave.) And Manfred immediately showed that he knows what his job is, chiming in about how the Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays need new stadiums, and he’s gonna help them get ’em, by gum:
“I share your view that Tampa and Oakland are situations that need to be addressed, and believe me I will be making myself available to both owners, both clubs to play whatever role they want me to play in helping them get their situations resolved because I do think both of them are really important to the game.”
I’d give that about a B-minus as commissioner rhetoric goes — it hits all the usual points (teams need new stadiums, the league will throw its weight around to help get them) but without the flair of his predecessor: It’s no “Don’t make me come in there,” that’s for sure. Manfred should know that the job of a blackmailer commissioner is to always include at least an implicit threat, to let cities know who’s boss and—
“I think Montreal helped itself as a candidate for Major League Baseball with the Toronto games that they had up there last year. It’s hard to miss how many people showed up for those exhibition games. It was a strong showing. Montreal’s a great city. I think with the right set of circumstances and the right facility, it’s possible.”
Well, it’s a start, anyway.
Manfred is the one that, during lease extension negotiations at the Oakland Coliseum, threatened to immediately seek to grant the A’s request to move to San Jose if the city didn’t approve the extension without making last minute changes. I think that qualifies as a “crazy-ass threat”, although he obviously wasn’t commissioner at the time.
How or why did the A’s give the Giants the rights to Santa Clara county? This whole thing seems crazy.
It was in the late ’80s when the A’s owners were hoping the Giants would move south and leave the SF/East Bay area to them. Yes, they should have asked for something in return, or put a time limit on it, or something, but MLB has a longstanding “no backsies” policy.
Santa Clara County was previously a neutral territory. Walter Haas basically ceded rights to the area when the Giants were looking for a new stadium in the Bay Area (also in the Tampa area). The understanding was that this gesture was to allow the Giants to have a better shot at staying in the Bay Area. The implication was that if the Giants didn’t end up building in Santa Clara County (which they obviously didn’t), the territory would revert to its previous status. That didn’t happen however. It is my understanding that the A’s never agreed to give the Giants permanent rights to the area if they didn’t end up moving there.
The more basic problem is that the Bay Area territorial division is inconsistent with other 2-team markets. The Dodgers and Angels share a single territorial market. So do the Yankees and Mets, and so do the Cubs and White Sox. There is ZERO reason why the Bay Area should be different.
Ever hear of “common law marriage”?
The SC co. territory situation is much like that.