Reggie Jackson was Ready to Take Legal Action Against MLB--What Went Wrong?
Back in March, A's legend and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson appeared on the Howard Stern show and talked about his bid to buy the Oakland A's when they were last up for sale in 2005. According to Jackson, he was willing to go $25 million higher than any other offer, and part of the ownership group he'd assembled also included Bill Gates.
"In writing, I sent a letter to Ken Hoffman, who owned the A's, that I'm willing to pay $25 million more than any bid that you get. Bud [Selig] said to me, he said 'Reggie, stay with me. I'll guide you through. I'll get this done for you. Don't worry about it. Then all of a sudden it came out that the A's were sold to a guy by the name of Lew Wolff."
Wolff just so happened to be a friend of the MLB Commissioner in college.
About a month after the Stern appearance, Reggie was in Oakland for the 1973 World Series reunion and spoke to reporters briefly about his bid to purchase the A's nearly 20 years ago.
"It's too bad for the team, the city, me, the game. To have a minority involved would have been tremendous. To have me own this team, the city would have rallied around it and been supportive. Jumping for joy. It would have been a groundswell.
"I made a mistake by not talking to the people that owned the team, because I had the money. I trusted Bud and it didn't work. By the time I talked to Hoffman, the deal was done with this Lew Wolff. I've got documentation of all of it."
Fast forward to September 7 when Casey Pratt of ABC 7 tweeted out, "Hearing MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson is gearing up to take a big swing. This involves legislation, a lawsuit, and potentially more. Expecting it to drop as early as tomorrow."
A's Twitter perked up quite a bit there for a moment. Everyone was asking what Reggie could be up to. What was his plan? Was he going to save the A's in Oakland, or was this more about his previous bid to buy the club?
There wasn't really an update on the matter, other than Reggie's legislation was going to be tabled until 2024 and that effectively would delay any announcement he had to make. A's fans still didn't have answers as to what he had planned, however.
Then on Wednesday Casey Pratt joined an A's podcast, The Rickey Henderson of Pods, and went into more detail about what he knew about the situation and why it was tabled.
"They were going to announce something, where basically Reggie was going to sue Major League Baseball for not getting the A's back in 2005 when he was trying to buy the team...Reggie Jackson could not sue or do anything about this because the statute of limitations had expired. When they were getting ready to announce this whole thing happening, there was going to be legislation enacted that was going to amend a law that was going to extend the statute of limitations for Reggie."
So what happened?
"The night before the announcement was the legislative deadline in California, and they just simply ran out of time."
Could this be something that circles back when the legislature opens up in 2024? Sure. Will it have much of an impact on the A's and Oakland? Unlikely.
The best bet to attempt to keep the A's in Oakland is still likely the Schools over Stadiums route, which is targeting the financing of the ballpark project in Las Vegas by trying to get it on the ballot next November. They are accepting donations to help them collect the signatures needed to let the people decide the fate of the A's in Vegas.