"Baseball Awkwardness" in Reggie Jackson's "A's Vegas Plans"
Former Oakland Athletics slugger Reggie Jackson says he's "embarrassed by baseball" as the Athletics plan to move to Las Vegas.
The five-time World Series champion and two-time World Series MVP expressed his dissatisfaction with his former team this week on The New York Post's "The Show" podcast.
"I feel terrible about this city," he told hosts Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, referring to Oakland. He added that while he doesn't personally know current team owner John Fisher, when he bought the team he thought he was doing it to save the city.
"I'm very disappointed in the way this family has handled the city and left the team in disarray," Mr. October said. "They're a 4-A team. They're not a major league team.
"They left town."
Jackson also noted that he had personally spoken with Fisher, whose wealth comes from the GAP chain his parents co-founded, and that Fisher paid $300 million for a 20-25% stake in the team. The offer would give Jackson a stake in the team but no influence on decision-making.
When it happened, Jackson was in Oakland helping the team celebrate the anniversary of their 1973 World Series victory over the New York Mets.
Jackson said it was painful that Fisher rejected his fair valuation of the team, which Forbes said was worth $1.2 billion. But it wasn't as big of a deal as later learning Fisher already knew the team was leaving Oakland for Las Vegas but didn't reveal it.
Fisher is currently looking for investors to put up $500 million for a stake in the team, which would help fund his planned $1.5 billion 9-acre casino site on the Las Vegas Strip at the crumbling Tropicana Resort. Baseball Park.
Fisher said in a worst-case scenario, he and his family could raise the money themselves.
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Source: www.casino.org
