Sacramento, meet the Oakland A’s: Proud history, hard times and baseball’s lowest payroll
The Oakland A’s will make Sacramento their temporary home as the organization awaits its planned move to Las Vegas.
The A’s will relocate to Sutter Health Park, home of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, for three seasons beginning in 2025 with an option for a fourth year. The news generated excitement in the Sacramento region, but there are a few things fans should know as they prepare to welcome Major League Baseball to the capital city.
The once-proud A’s organization has fallen on hard times under the ownership of Gap heir John Fisher, who purchased the team in 2005. The A’s have the lowest payroll in baseball at $60.5 million, a fraction of the $300-million payrolls of the New York Yankees and New York Mets. Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who recently signed a 10-year, $700 million contract, will earn more this season than all of the A’s combined.
The A’s (1-6) as of Thursday were tied with the Colorado Rockies for the worst record in baseball. They became the first team in 29 years to commit 13 fielding errors in the first five games of the season.
The highest-paid players are starting pitchers Ross Stripling ($12.5 million), Alex Wood ($8.5 million) and Paul Blackburn ($3.45 million). Offensively, the A’s are led by J.D. Davis, who is hitting .364, and JJ Bleday, who is hitting .333.
The A’s went 50-112 last season, the worst record in franchise history since the Philadelphia Athletics went 36-104 in 1919. They have made the playoffs three times since 2014, reaching the postseason as a wild card team in 2018 and 2019 before winning the American League West in 2020.
The A’s have won the World Series nine times, including three in a row from 1972-74. Their last World Series championship came in 1989, when the A’s swept the San Francisco Giants in the Bay Bridge Series. The A’s have produced 15 Hall of Fame players, including Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers and Catfish Hunter.
Who’s in charge
The A’s are led by Fisher, team president Dave Kaval, president of baseball operations Billy Beane, general manager David Forst and manager Mark Kotsay.
Fisher is the son of Gap co-founders Don and Doris Feigenbaum Fisher. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton and a master’s degree from Stanford. He once owned a share of the Giants but sold that stake when he purchased the A’s.
Kaval served as president of Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes before the A’s hired him in 2016. Beane is a former major-league player who popularized Oakland’s “Moneyball” approach during his time as general manager from 1997-2015. Forst was named general manager when Beane was promoted to executive vice president of baseball operations.
Kotsay played more than 1,900 games for seven teams, including the A’s, during his big-league career. The A’s made Kotsay their manager in 2022 when current Giants manager Bob Melvin left to manage the San Diego Padres.
Relocation history
Founded in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics, the A’s were one of the American League’s eight charter franchises. They won World Series championships in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930 under team owner and manager Connie Mack.
The A’s left Philadelphia in 1955 to become the Kansas City Athletics. They struggled over 13 seasons in Kansas City, never finishing higher than sixth in the American League while failing to make the playoffs every year.
The A’s moved to Oakland in 1968. They won the World Series in 1972, 1973 and 1974 with stars such as Fingers, Hunter, Jackson and Vida Blue. They returned to prominence in the late 1980s with manager Tony La Russa and a new generation of stars, including Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dave Stewart, Henderson and Eckersley.
