Back in the early 1990s, the Oakland Athletics were the envy of every other team in baseball: they won three straight American League pennants; they were second in the AL for attendance in both 1989 and 1990; and they were paying their stars—namely outfielder Rickey Henderson and starting pitcher Dave Stewart—the highest salaries in the game. But then Camden Yards opened in Baltimore, and everything changed fast.

New ballparks and regional sports TV networks became the thing, and the A’s didn’t have a corner of any of those developments. The team owners at the time, Walter A. Haas and his family, decided to sell the club, and the current cycle of A’s on-and-off again success began. What fans are seeing now with John Fisher is not new to the franchise—whether in Oakland or Philadelphia/Kansas City, actually. History matters.

It also repeats: This is like the tenth time in the history of the A’s that the team ownership has sold off its talent before it got too expensive and rebuilt the team again from scratch. It happened twice in Philadelphia after multiple World Series titles in the 1910s and 1930s. It happened in Oakland during the late 1970s after the A’s won three straight MLB championships. It happened in the 1980s, too, and it’s happening again.

Remember the Richard Gere character in Pretty Woman? Buying companies and selling off parts for profit, before yearning to build something of his own? Same idea, really. This is business, and MLB has been a business for a long time now—not a civic entity. If sports teams were a civic treasure, then the public funds would be made available for them to use. We know that’s not often the case anymore, despite exceptions.

But since sports teams are private businesses, then the owners have every right to pursue profits however and whenever. Which is it? You can’t have both—unless you’re the Green Bay Packers, of course. The Athletics MLB franchise is not the Green Bay Packers, although the A’s have won nine World Series to tie for third among all professional baseball organizations (five in Philly, four in Oaktown). That’s a fine tradition.

Let’s look at the facts:

  • The A’s won the 1910, 1911, and 1913 World Series, but after losing the 1914 World Series in a big upset, the ownership sold off the team’s talent and went into the basement—the historically bad basement.
  • Philadelphia then returned later to win the 1929 and 1930 World Series, but after losing the 1931 Fall Classic in a mild upset, the same thing happened: sell the talent and rebuild from scratch.
  • After Oakland won three straight World Series from 1972-1974 and five straight AL West Division crowns from 1971-1975, the ownership didn’t like the impending free-agency era and sold off assets.
  • When Camden Yards and TV deals changed baseball’s economics in the early 1990s, the A’s ownership let its most valuable players go via free agency or trade, and the team was rebuilt again.
  • After Oakland made the playoffs five times from 2000-2006, it was time once more to rebuild the team from scratch, and the same thing happened like it had happened before this quite often.
  • When the A’s made three straight postseason appearances from 2012-2014, the owners—including then-minority owner Fisher—made the same choice: sell the assets and rebuild.
  • By 2018, the team was good enough to again make it to the playoffs three straight seasons (2018, 2019, 2020), but after missing the postseason in 2021, Fisher decided it was economically sound to rebuild.

See what we mean? Oakland fans know the score; when they whine about this time, it’s emotional only. This is just what the A’s have always done, and we’re not even discussing the Kansas City years when the team would send all its talent to the New York Yankees in exchange for money and scraps. Guess what the A’s got back for Roger Maris after the 1959 season? Marv Throneberry, among others. Marvelous Marv. Fact!

The point is clear: the A’s are down right now, but they’ll be back—because this is what they do. If they move to Vegas in 2025 after the current Coliseum lease ends, the team will be a lot better than it is today, and by the time the new ballpark opens in 2027 or 2028, the team will be ready to push for a playoff spot again. How many teams have the track record of the A’s in the twenty-first century? With 11 Octobers, not many.

And that’s been on a shoestring budget—which should change with the projected Vegas revenues. So, place your bets now on the Las Vegas Athletics being good—probably very good, in fact—by the time that stadium opens on the Strip. The city will love those A’s even if they don’t like the idea of these A’s right now coming to town any time soon. The odds are definitely in the Athletics franchise’s favor, historically so.