In January 2021, an investment group led by Oakland A’s legend Dave Stewart made an unsuccessful $115 million bid to buy half of the Coliseum Complex site, home to the baseball stadium home to the A’s and the arena formerly known as Oracle Arena, which housed the Golden State Warriors.
As the A’s 20-plus year saga of trying to find a new home drag on, Stewart weighed in with some sharp comments toward the City of Oakland. Stew grew up in The Town and played sandlot games with fellow A’s legend Rickey Henderson before starring on the green and gold from 1986-92 with before finishing his career in Oakland in 1995.
Stewart joined 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” Wednesday to discuss the Bay Bridge Series and the Oakland A’s situation at large. You can hear the full interview above.
“I put in a bid for a city portion of Coliseum land,” Stewart told hosts Mark Willard and Dan Dibley. “Through that process, I realized how difficult it is to work with the City of Oakland. Quite frankly, I still don’t understand to this point why that land was not awarded to me. It definitely wasn’t based on what they told me – which is that I’m no longer connected to the community. That couldn’t be the real reason for them not awarding that land to me. Going through the process, being involved in the process and understanding that they don’t understand it and they don’t get it. I look at it from this point, I’m not pointing the fingers at the A’s in this particular case. I’m pointing the fingers at the City that they just don’t get it.”
The A’s are trying to develop a new waterfront ballpark district centered around a $1 billion privately-financed 34,000-seat stadium at Howard Terminal, which sits on the Bay just west of Jack London Square. Simultaneously, the A’s brass has made some very public trips to Las Vegas while doing homework for potential stadium sites.
Stewart was named World Series MVP in 1989 when the A’s swept the Giants in a World Series that was interrupted by a 6.9-maginitude earthquake. Following the disaster, Stewart helped out fellow citizens in the East Bay while still wearing his game uniform.
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Stew said it would be “heartbreaking” for Oakland to lose another sports franchise, especially the A’s, which have the third-most World Series titles (nine) in MLB history. Stewart also mentioned the canon of all-time baseball greats like Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson, Curt Flood and Vada Pinson who have hailed from The Town.
“There’s a rich history of baseball here in Oakland,” Stewart said. “To not have a team in this city is unimaginable and I think it would just be a travesty.”
If the A’s left, that’d also be the end of the Bay Bridge Series.
“In my opinion, the rivalry will never be better than it is with two cities that are 20 minutes apart,” Stewart said. “Two teams that are sitting 20 minutes. This is the rivalry. We faced these guys in the World Series. We faced them in spring training and when we faced these guys – even when we were in spring training and getting ourselves ready to play – I believe the Giants got fired up to play. I know they did back in my time. And I believe the A’s get fired up to play.”
Game 2 between the A’s and the Giants is set for 6:45 p.m. PT on Wednesday night at Oracle Park.
Before signing off, Stewart wanted to dispel any rumors he’s seen on Twitter that he’s trying to buy the team from John Fisher and relocate the franchise to Nashville.
“I want this to be clear – I would never,” Stewart said. “As a person who grew up in Oakland, as a person who love the city. I would never take the responsibility of taking the Oakland A’s out of Oakland. I would never do it. If I had the fortune that John Fisher came to me today and said Dave, ‘I want to sell the team to you today,’ I would keep this team in Oakland until the day I died.”
