The day before the Oakland A’s were set to begin their final homestand prior to leaving town, owner John Fisher posted a letter to fans, apologizing for the franchise’s departure.
“When Lew Wolff bought 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,” Fisher says in his letter. “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 A’s open a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday at Oakland Coliseum, before departing for Las Vegas. There will be a temporary three-year stay in West Sacramento, Calif., while a new ballpark in Sin City is being built, but the franchise’s tenure in Oakland, which began in 1968, will end after the final pitch is thrown this season.
“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,” Fisher writes. “Staying in Oakland was our goal, our mission, and we failed to achieve it. And for that I am genuinely sorry.”
The Athletics franchise began in Philadelphia in 1901 before moving to Kansas City in 1955. The team moved to the Bay Area in 1968, and has played at Oakland Coliseum ever since.
Major League Baseball approved the move of the team last November, but with the Oakland Stadium lease expiring at the end of the season, a temporary home needed to be found. The A’s will play at Sutter Health Park, which has 10,624 permanent seats. Lawn seating and standing room can increase capacity to 14,014.