Oakland Ballers Get Straight A's on Community Message

Oakland's new baseball team, the B's, is focused on serving the community as the other team prepares to leave for Las Vegas

On Tuesday, a baseball team was unveiled that will actually be rooted in Oakland. The Oakland Ballers (or Oakland B's) are set to join the Pioneer League in 2024 when the schedule kicks off in May. The league will announce its schedule next week, and fans will be able to start purchasing tickets soon, too. 

While many from the outside will be looking at Oakland's new baseball franchise as a step down, given the A's impending departure for Las Vegas, that's not how the people that spoke at Tuesday's press conference see it. Instead, every speaker talked about community, and the community benefits of having a baseball team in Oakland. 

Jorge Leon of the Oakland 68's mentioned that baseball had existed in The Town before the A's, with the Oakland Larks and the Oakland Oaks, and with the addition of the Ballers, baseball will exist in Oakland after they leave too. "Every time a reporter would ask me how I feel about the A's leaving, I've always said that we would be alright. A little bit heartbroken, but the people of Oakland are resilient, and we would survive. I didn't think it was gonna happen this fast though."

Bay Area rap icon Mistah F.A.B. perhaps touched on the sense of community and the importance of having a baseball team in Oakland the best, talking about how him and his mother used to bond by going to A's games at the Coliseum and how affordable going to a game used to be. 

"For our community, we got a chance to look around and people could afford games....Seventh inning stretch. Laughing, joking. Seeing a lot of underserved communities being privileged the opportunity to build and enjoy sports. Baseball was something that saved many of our lives because it gave us something to do. We knew that every Saturday, those Babe Ruth games we would be out there, people from all parts of the city would be there. Which is funny how later on in life, those same relationships that we built on that diamond would be some of the things that saved our lives." 

Former Seattle Mariners manager and Hayward native Don Wakamatsu will be serving as the EVP of Baseball Operations for the Ballers, and San Francisco native Micah Franklin will be the team's manager. Both men talked about the importance of giving back to the community being a big reason why they are with the B's. 

Said Wakamatsu, "For me, when [co-founders] Paul and Bryan called me up a couple months ago and said 'would you want to be a part of this?' it wasn't about baseball for me. I've had an opportunity to do a lot of things in this game. It was about me having the opportunity to pay back." He also talked about when he was nine years old, he got to go to a game at the Coliseum in 1972 and fell in love with baseball. "For me this is really full circle." 

Franklin's excitement for this team at the press conference was palpable. His first words were "I'm pumped!" He also talked about growing up going to the boy's club and playing baseball and how the coaches were a big influence on him. "This is something that's truly special to me." 

He also mentioned how the 1985 NL MVP and S.F. native being a reason why he is set to manager the B's. "I met somebody in my life. His name was Willie McGee, and we talk about special people. This is a person that's touched so many lives. He touched my life, and he changed my life. He told me one day 'give back.' This is a chance for me to give back to the community." 

Being in Oakland is a big deal. Not only for the Pioneer League and the players, who will both get more exposure in such a big city, but also for the community itself. Since the A's announced that they were leaving on April 20, the fans have been hurt. The team that they have grown up rooting for and have stuck with through good times and bad was officially turning their backs on them. 

On Tuesday, with the announcement of the Oakland Ballers and the focus on bringing the community together, you could see some of those scars starting to heal. The people will have an outlet for their passion. A place to bring their drums. They may also have a team that loves them back. It may not be the big leagues, but it will be hella Oakland.