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When the A’s Moved to Oakland, They Ripened into World Champions, Now Some Wonder if They Are Rotten to This City

Oakland has been lucky for the A’s. Fans cheered them to victory in three consecutive World Series in the 1970s and stood by their side through many less than stellar years more recently.

Published

4 years ago

October 9, 2021

Isabelle Price

Left to right: Joun "Blue Moon" Odom, Vida Blue, Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart celebrated Jackie Robinson by wearing number 42.

The Oakland Coliseum is imperiled.

The last of the three Oakland-based professional sports teams to play at the Coliseum, the Oakland A’s, is heading for the exit. The A’s have demanded that Oakland pave the way to build a new waterfront stadium at Howard Terminal, or they will follow the Raiders and the Warriors out of town.

Construction was completed on the state-of-the-art Oakland Coliseum in 1966. The Raiders were the first team to play at the Coliseum in 1966. The A’s relocated from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968. Despite numerous attempts to leave the city throughout the years, the A’s have remained in Oakland until now.

Oakland has been lucky for the A’s. Fans cheered them to victory in three consecutive World Series in the 1970s and stood by their side through many less than stellar years more recently.

The Oakland Coliseum and its companion Oakland Arena have been the site of many jubilant celebrations throughout the years. But now, many Oakland residents question whether corporate greed will drive the team away from the loyal fans who have supported them in good and bad times.

The A’s threaten that they will leave unless they are given public funds that are desperately needed to fill potholes, fix playgrounds and help with a variety of services needed in East Oakland and other low-income areas of the city.

The monolithic gray structure – albeit not the most attractive piece of architecture today – has brought feelings of pride and victory to many an Oakland resident. But now the A’s say the Coliseum area is not fit for development.

Rickey Henderson, who lived in my neighborhood and attended school with my brother, stole our hearts and made us love going to the games with my family and friends. Not anymore. They told us that the Coliseum was unfit for the A’s and then they doubled the price of tickets.

Despite its perfect location, with a BART station, proximity to the airport, easy freeway access, ample parking and space for epic tailgate parties, the A’s have publicly stated time and time again that the Coliseum is not a suitable location for the team.

By stark contrast, Howard Terminal is located on prime industrial land in the heart of the Port of Oakland. There will be no access to public transportation and no space for parking. The list of hurdles that the A’s will have to jump to make this site work is long, including an extensive toxic clean-up, necessary after decades of industrial use.

When I hear that the A’s refuse to rebuild at the Coliseum and want to move across town to the port so they can build luxury condos, I think they just don’t want to be near an African American neighborhood anymore. They say they are rooted in Oakland but what they are doing sounds like they are rotten for Oakland.

The coliseum is an Oakland jewel and as singer Joe Tex’s song “Hold What You’ve Got” goes “you’d better hold on to what you got ’cause if you think nobody wants it, just throw it away and you will see someone will have it before you can count one, two, three”

Major League Baseball has a race problem. The number of Black baseball players has declined by more than 50% and in Oakland, many of the local parks and schools that helped serve as feeder networks of ball fields to fulfill the dreams of many kids and helped produce A’s Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Vida Blue, and Dave Stewart have long dried up like raisins in the sun. It was Oaklander Curt Flood who changed sports salaries forever when he sued for athletic freedom. Now, as Blacks are displaced from baseball and neighborhoods, salaries and prices of homes have increased dramatically.

Major League Baseball is aware of the problem and has pledged $150 million to a non-profit organization, Player Alliance, dedicated to attracting African American players back to baseball. The perception that the A’s don’t want to continue to play baseball in a Black neighborhood will not help that effort.

Building a new ballpark at the Coliseum would be the ultimate community benefit, say many speakers who have attended public hearings, and would provide a much-needed economic boost to East Oakland. Everything they say they want to build at Howard Terminal can be built at the Coliseum.

So why don’t they? It would be the ultimate Centrification move to stem the tide of economic gentrification of Oakland.

This summer, the A’s leadership doubled down and gave Oakland an ultimatum: approve a new stadium at Howard Terminal and give the A’s public funds to help with related construction cost or they will leave. Ironically, the costs of their demands and the proposed usage of taxpayers’ dollars could’ve been deployed to rebuild Oakland’s rich parks and recreation history. When it comes to Oakland’s budget, the A’s want to be raiders.

While many are debating the merits of teaching Critical Race Theory, I recommend Langston Hughes’s poem entitled “Harlem” — What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore—And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

A team that makes these kinds of threats is not rooted in Oakland. They could be considered rotten for Oakland.

Isabelle Price

Posts by Isabelle Price

Related Topics:Coliseum featured Oakland Oakland A's Paul Cobb

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#NNPA BlackPress

COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

7 hours ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Congresswoman Simon Votes Against Department of Homeland Security, ICE Funding

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

Published

8 hours ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12). File photo.

By Post Staff

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) released a statement after voting against legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB).

“Today, I voted NO on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, 2026.

“ICE and CBP do not need more funding to terrorize communities or kill more people,” she said in the media release.

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

“The American people are demanding change. Poll after poll of Americans’ opinions show overwhelming support for requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras and prohibiting them from hiding their faces during enforcement actions. This is the bare minimum transparency standard, and this funding legislation does not even meet this low bar,” Simon said.

“Republicans in Congress are not serious about reining in these lawless agencies. Their refusal to make meaningful changes to the DHS funding bill has consequences that go beyond immigration enforcement. TSA agents who keep our airports safe and FEMA workers who help our communities recover from disasters are stuck in limbo due to Republican inaction.

“The Constitution does not have an exception for immigrants. Every person on American soil has rights, and federal agencies must respect them. The East Bay has made clear at the Alameda County and city level that we will hold the line against a violent ICE force and support our immigrant communities – I will continue to hold the line and our values with my votes in Congress.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

8 hours ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.