MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred seen here on Thu Nov 16, 2023 addressing the media during an owners meeting in Orlando Fla. Manfred has been questioned about his stance on leaving Oakland a very diversified region for Las Vegas. Some have asked why Manfred is leaving a diverse community after saying baseball is trying to be more diverse and improve it’s minority fans, players and employees. (AP file photo)

Diversity and Inclusion? Giants voted Yes for A’s to leave

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–In 1989, the same year the Athletics swept the Giants in four games in the World Series with the Loma Prieta Earthquake, Oakland A’s owner Wally Haas ceded the San José territorial rights to the San Francisco Giants.

Giants owner Bob Lurie was frustrated in getting a new stadium for the Giants in San Francisco. At the time, a group of investors led by Vince Naimoli and a group of investors from St. Petersburg had agreed with the Giants to move them to the Tampa Bay Area.

However, the National League owners voted against the acquisition. Answering some fans’ questions: Owners can vote Yes or No when another team plans to move. Last November, the League 30 owners voted unanimously in favor of the Oakland A’s moving to Las Vegas, exceeding the 75% approval requirement.

Among these owners was the signature of Charles P. Johnson (or another Giants top executive with the blessings of Mr.Johnson, owner of the San Francisco Giants). Had the Giants voted “No,” that would at least have been a symbolic act of courage that I believe Bay Area baseball fans had respected and appreciated, keeping the rivalry with the team that plays in Oakland and the importance of keeping the Bay Area a two-team Major League market, which it is.

But that was not the case; the Giants swallowed the relocation pill the Commissioner had served all the owners in baseball. After all, from the beginning of this ordeal, one of the leading proponents of the A’s leaving Oakland is Mr.Rob Manfred, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.

The two Bay Area teams have won 7 World Series combined while playing in this great area we love called The Bay Area. The Giants have won three since moving from New York, and the A’s have won four since moving from Kansas City.

Diversity and Inclusion (something the MLB Commissioner’s Office in New York professes all the time) obviously won’t apply to “inclusion” for the A’s in the two-team Bay Area baseball market. So much for Diversity and Inclusion. How about Deception and Hypocrisy? Cynics will quote this famous line from The Godfather: “It is not personal; it’s just business.”

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play voice on the Oakland A’s Spanish radio network at 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD Pittsburg and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com