Diamonds For Women

[dodgerblue6]

There will be no MLB there, either.

Silicon Valley "A"s? Well, that sure rolls off the tongue.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

Perhaps there IS a "there" there, in New York. The Mets' new ballpark will be named CitiField, thanks to its sponsorship by CitiCorp.

So now we'll have CitiField and Cisco Field.

Thank "heavens" for good old Dodger Stadium.
And keep praying she retains her maiden name.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgersramsguy]

[Harpo]

[dodgerblue6]

Sorry, but putting $20 into player payroll and becoming the laughingstock of everyone still doesn't guarantee a championship. You might be able to buy talent, but you can't put a price on heart.

And as you've noticed in recent years, payroll means very little when it comes to world championships. The All-Star Yankees with their huge payroll and high-caliber players at virtually every position have gotten where? One postseason win this year--no further than the Dodgers.

I'd hate to finish second or third in the division and still have to put up with "Prep H Stadium." A place so beautiful deserves a better moniker.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

Not to mention, poor old Vinnie deserves more dignity than that.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgersramsguy]

[dodgerblue6]

There still is no "there" there.

Last month, Commissioner Bud Selig determined that it is not feasible for the Athletics to continue playing in Oakland, and appointed a committee to analyze all ballpark proposals in an attempt to keep the team in the Bay Area.

While for the past two years the East Bay community of Fremont seemed to be the "A"s' future home, those plans were scrapped a couple of months ago, and San Jose, which has long been considered Giants' territory, is now most likely to woo the team--which would create an interesting quandary in terms of fan support.

Also, given that San Jose is the tenth-largest city in the U.S., the "A"s might, like the Angels, be considered as playing more in a city established in its own right, rather than playing in a suburb of a large city (see "Los Angeles Angels").
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[sunnyblue]

[dodgerblue6]

In the early '90s they were going to move to "either" San Jose, or Tampa, until the new ownership group rescued the Giants and kept them in San Francisco.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

Update:

Giants' territorial rights claimed and concern expressed by City of San Francisco about Athletics' potential move to San Jose.

From MLB.com:

[dodgerblue6]

First update in this thread in nearly two years!

And still they keep slicing into Jints territory! The Athletics have taken further steps to leave the East Bay for the Silicon Valley, as the San Jose City Council voted to give them a land purchase option.

From MLB.com:

[dodgerblue6]

The latest on this topic is that there still isn't much to say, other than that the Jints and "A"s are still bickering about territorial rights.

From MLB.com:

[GilHodgesFan]

My thoughts are, it would be a great move for the A's and will make more of a competition between the Giants and A's but of course the greedy Giants won't want to give any concessions.
_________________
"If you had a son it would be a great thing for him to grow up to be just like Gil Hodges" -Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn Dodgers)

[forloveofthegame]

Exactly. If you will notice, the map is peppered with cities that are homes to Internet companies. Oakland should use their clout (if they have any) on line, Lol.

I don't know that the 2 teams would be any more competitive. They are located close right now, I can't see them being any bigger rivals just because one of them moves down the road a bit.

I just wish the small market As well against the team we all love to hate.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

[GilHodgesFan]

Ditto for me Forloveofthegame
_________________
"If you had a son it would be a great thing for him to grow up to be just like Gil Hodges" -Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn Dodgers)

[forloveofthegame]

Linda - Lol! at the David comment a few posts up. If I didn't post I know Harpo would wonder if anyone on this board had a sense of humor again!


_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

[dodgerblue6]

[forloveofthegame]

I am going to work on finding some new posters who have a sense of humor.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

[GilHodgesFan]

I saw the reference to Beane but I didn't know what it meant.
_________________
"If you had a son it would be a great thing for him to grow up to be just like Gil Hodges" -Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn Dodgers)

[dodgerblue6]

Back in the '60s there was a popular song written by Hal David, "Do you know the way to San Jose?" I just thought Beane might use a GPS navigator device to get his team there. (Ironically, much of the GPS navigation system software currently in use was developed in and around San Jose.) I thought it tied in handily.


_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[GilHodgesFan]

I did not realize the tie-in but I see now what you mean It is sad that so many things have to be explained to me out here in Iowa
_________________
"If you had a son it would be a great thing for him to grow up to be just like Gil Hodges" -Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn Dodgers)

[dodgerblue6]

From the L.A. Times:

BILL SHAIKIN / ON BASEBALL

"Bud Selig needs to take a stance on Athletics' stadium issue"

Baseball commissioner has been putting off a decision on whether the team can move from Oakland to a new facility in San Jose, which the San Francisco Giants claim as their territory. Selig has to settle the situation once and for all.


May 12, 2012, 4:00 p.m.

Of all the indignities visited upon Frank McCourt over the last couple years — fan boycotts, pickets outside Dodger Stadium, "Frankrupt" T-shirts — McCourt never had to pick up a copy of the Los Angeles Times and stare at a full-page advertisement in which fans demanded he mind his manners or sell the Dodgers.

But, hundreds of miles to the north, another fed-up fan base had its say last week. In a full-page ad in the Oakland Tribune, under the headline "An Open Letter to John Fisher, Majority Owner of the Oakland "A"s," Fisher was urged to commit to a new stadium in Oakland or sell the team to someone who would.

It has been three years and two months since Commissioner Bud Selig told the Athletics to stand down and let him handle their stadium dilemma. The fans have lost patience. The "A"s have lost patience.

The perception is that the franchise rots while Selig fiddles. The reality is that the eternally patient Selig has lost patience too.

Baseball's owners gather this week in New York, with the Dodgers sold and McCourt gone. That leaves a resolution for the "A"s — and their antagonists, the San Francisco Giants — as perhaps the most pressing league issue.

The "A"s want to move to San Jose. The Giants claim San Jose as their territory and want the "A"s to stay in Oakland. The "A"s say they long ago exhausted their options for a new ballpark in Oakland.

Selig is in his third decade as commissioner because he forges consensus among the owners. He appointed a task force as his fact-finders, then hoped he could sit down with the "A"s and Giants and lead the teams toward a solution.

The "A"s say a San Jose ballpark would revitalize their franchise, while moving 35 miles farther from San Francisco. The Giants say their rights to San Jose should be enforced because their business model depends on revenue from fans and businesses there.

"Everybody has a good story to sell," said a person who has spoken with Selig but is not authorized to discuss the issue. "No one wants to solve the problem."

The problem, understandably, has been distilled to a yes or no question: Should the "A"s be allowed to move to San Jose? The optimum solution is not a one-word answer but a multiple choice.

Take, for instance, what appears to be a logical solution — let the "A"s move to San Jose, and compensate the Giants for any resulting financial damages.

If the "A"s had to pay the damages, how much better off would they be than if they could get a new ballpark in Oakland? And, if the "A"s started winning in San Jose, and if the Giants started losing, how would the effects of on-field performance be separated from the effects of the "A"s' move?

Selig has not abandoned the idea of a new ballpark in Oakland, even if the "A"s have. He is not convinced the money would be there, although he also is not convinced a new park in San Jose would be a done deal if he would just say yes to the "A"s. How long would he give either city to deliver?

There are broader issues in play for Oakland too. The "A"s, Raiders and NBA's Golden State Warriors all play on the same property. The Athletics are looking to San Jose, the Warriors are taking a look at San Francisco and the Raiders could be looking at Los Angeles. How hard should Oakland fight to keep its teams when pro sports might not be the best economic use of the property? Is there a role for baseball in that discussion?

In L.A., we spent years wondering how the Dodgers' saga could be resolved, so long as Selig insisted that McCourt sell the team and McCourt refused. McCourt eventually got a great deal — to Selig's chagrin — and agreed to sell.

In the Bay Area, Selig apparently has yet to hear a sufficiently creative solution — a win-win, if you will — from the "A"s or Giants.

"No one has had the guts to do that," said the person who has spoken with him.

It is past time for Selig to do that, to make a decision, to impose a solution.

He has good reason to be wary, and not just of angering the "A"s and/or Giants, or of setting a precedent that could offend other owners. No matter how he rules, he could find himself a defendant in court, perhaps fighting off a challenge to baseball's antitrust exemption.

The advertisement in the Oakland Tribune closed by telling A's ownership: "The time has come to do the right thing." We would say the

time has come for Selig to decide the right thing, then just do it.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

twitter.com/BillShaikin
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

And four months after Bill Shaikin's last article on this topic, here is his latest...from yesterday's L.A. Times:

BILL SHAIKIN /ON BASEBALL

"Oakland 'A's Rise, While New Ballpark Stalls"

Commissioner still hasn't ruled on team's proposed move to San Jose

September 15, 2012|By Bill Shaikin

It's not Moneyball, but the "A"s have thrived this season. Now all they need is a new stadium.

This is absurdity on so many levels: The Oakland Athletics will start selling playoff tickets Monday.

Tickets start at $10.

You can't get into Angel Stadium for $10 during the regular season, even for a crummy mid-week game against the Cleveland Indians, at least based on the prices posted on the team website.

Think back to how the teams did business last winter. The Angels threw a third of a billion dollars at Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. The "A"s traded perhaps their three best pitchers — Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and closer Andrew Bailey — none of whom were older than 27.

The Angels were playing to win now. The "A"s were playing to win later — that is, to stockpile prospects for the new ballpark in San Jose, with the anticipation that Commissioner Bud Selig finally would approve the move from Oakland.

A funny thing happened on the way to San Jose. The Angels are just about eliminated from contention for the division title, and they might not get into the playoffs at all. The "A"s have a better pitching staff this season than last, and a better record than every team in the American League except the Texas Rangers.

The "A"s' fans, beaten down for so long by the ghosts of "Moneyball," the perpetual departure of top players and the eternal wait for deliverance of a new ballpark, even rewarded the team with a rare sellout Friday.

This is where what could be a pretty nice story could turn pretty ugly.

In a season in which so much has gone so right for the Athletics — pitcher Brandon McCarthy nearly gets killed by a line drive, then comes out of surgery cracking jokes despite a cracked skull — the Hollywood ending would have Selig attending their playoff opener and putting on a San Jose "A"s cap. Good team, new ballpark, done deal.

That ain't going to happen. But something could happen, and soon.

It has been three years and six months since Selig said he would decide if the "A"s could move to San Jose. The "A"s have waited for Selig to say yes, to approve the new ballpark that they say would revitalize their franchise, in what they call the best available spot in the Bay Area. The Giants have waited for Selig to say no, to uphold the territorial rights that would force the "A"s to stay out of San Jose and build their new ballpark in or near Oakland.

Selig has waited for the Athletics and Giants to forge a compromise. That ain't going to happen, either.

There are indications Selig might rule by the end of the year. Yet, rather than say yes or no, Selig appears to be considering a ruling that could challenge both the "A"s and Giants to fulfill certain criteria.

"I think there will be an effort to be Solomonesque," said someone who has spoken with Selig but declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. "This is not a 'yes or no' sort of thing."

The status quo works just fine for the Giants, but it is corroding the "A"s.

Lew Wolff, Oakland's owner, won't say much about the process. But he will say this: If Selig puts conditions on his ruling that require a year or so to fulfill, the waiting game is over.

"That would be a no," Wolff said. "They might as well just tell us no."

For instance, the burden could be put on the "A"s to guarantee their financial projections. If they move to San Jose, pay to build the ballpark, and come off baseball's welfare system of revenue sharing, how can the "A"s ensure the long-term sustainability of a championship-caliber club?

As Selig and his lieutenants learned the hard way in their bruising battle to oust Frank McCourt, cash is the best guarantee. Wolff might have to try to tap deeper into the pockets of the majority owners — the Fisher family, the founders of the Gap — and Cisco, the company that has committed to buy naming rights for the new ballpark.

It is unclear what kind of time frame Selig might have in mind, or what conditions he might consider imposing upon the Giants. It also is unclear how Selig might rule on Oakland, where Wolff says there are no viable sites for a new ballpark. Selig apparently believes otherwise, but city funding has all but disappeared with the extinction of redevelopment agencies, and Wolff has committed no McCourtian sins that would compel the commissioner to push for a sale of the team.

The wild card is legal action — by the Athletics or Giants, by Oakland or San Jose, or by third parties — that could stall the issue in court for years. If the "A"s and Giants meet in the World Series, Selig might be better off letting the teams play for the championship, and for the rights to San Jose.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

Five months later, there's an update:

Major League Baseball has provided guidelines for a potential move.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

Trying to catch up on some topics on which I've gotten behind in recent weeks:

On the need for a new ballpark for the "A"s.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

So, as the "A"s head into the postseason and the Jints stay home, here's the reality on what happens next regardless of how they fare.

From the L.A. Times:

"Homecoming Blues"

This might be the most awkward story line of the postseason: The Oakland Athletics have no place to play next year.

Their Oakland Coliseum lease expires after the season. As of now, the "A"s have no lease for next season and no contingency agreement to play elsewhere.

The "A"s and Coliseum officials are negotiating a five-year extension, with three one-year options. Neither the team nor the league appears concerned the deal might collapse, although we can imagine how heartily the San Francisco Giants would laugh if the "A"s asked to share AT&T Park.

The Giants have succeeded in keeping the "A"s out of San Jose, at least so far. If the "A"s get that Coliseum extension, the San Jose move they announced in 2009 would not take place until 2019 — at the earliest. The never-say-quit Bartolo Colon would turn 46 that year.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[forloveofthegame]

Go A's wherever you end up playing - maybe winning something this year will force them to find you a (better) home! I think they must be the last team that shares a football stadium.
_________________
"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

[dodgerblue6]

A U.S. district judge has dismissed several claims in a lawsuit by the City of San Jose which alleged that antitrust laws had been violated.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

[dodgerblue6]

According to "A"s owner Lew Wolff, the team will extend its lease at the Coliseum, although this has not officially taken place yet.
_________________
"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame