Goodbye, Oakland: Winning, Wanderlust, and a Sports Town's Fight for Survival

by Andy Dolich, Dave Newhouse

A fascinating tour of Oakland sports history and a look toward the future of professional sports in the East Bay.

Oakland is a sports city like no other. It is the only city in America to be abandoned by the same team twice, with the Raiders most recently leaving for Las Vegas. The Golden State Warriors, who crossed the bay in 1971 in search of better digs, have now returned to San Francisco with trophies in tow. The long-fought battle to keep the Oakland Athletics in the East Bay may narrowly save the city from a hat trick of departures.

And yet, Oakland has produced more than its share of success in the form of 10 national titles across the NFL, NBA, and MLB. The city is gritty, gutsy, and self-preserving, with a blue-collar mentality and a gold standard under that collar. Bolstered by the Silicon Valley tech boom, Oakland has become one of the most desirable places to live in the entire country, all while its sports fans increasingly find that, in the famous words of Gertrude Stein, "There is no there there."

What is it about Oakland that inspires such wanderlust in its professional teams? Featuring numerous conversations with luminaries across sports, politics, and economics, this new book explores Oakland's fascinating and paradoxical identity as a sports town while illuminating a cast of characters as diverse as the city itself: rogues, superstars, movers and shakers operating on and off the field, and, of course, the fans.

Through the insight of venerated Oakland Tribune scribe Dave Newhouse and sports business leader Andy Dolich, readers will come to appreciate the many quirks and challenges that define "The Town."

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Baseball

256 pages, Hardcover

Published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 2 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: WRITING STYLE BOUNCES AROUND AS UNCONTROLLABLY AS PROFESSIONAL TEAMS IN OAKLAND BERMUDA TRIANGLE!
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Being that I was one of the original Oakland Raider PSL holders that helped finance the Raiders coming back to Oakland from Los Angeles… and my name is forever engraved on the Oakland Raider Fan Hall of Fame engraved remembrance in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum… and never missed a game for their first fifteen years back in Oaktown… I was very excited when I heard about this book! I couldn’t wait to get it and start reading.

Then it arrived… and opened it… and started to read THE VERY FIRST PAGE OF THE FORWARD… was it written by one of the myriad of Raider… or A’s… or Warrior (i.e. DUDS)… Hall of Famers????

No… it was written by a freakin politician! Repeat a freakin politician! (Barbara Lee). And as bad as that is… what didn’t seem possible… it gets worse from there! On the very first page of this supposed Oakland sports … miraculous… and wondrous… expose’… of the history of the undoing of the entire Oakland professional sports pantheon…

I will quote the declaration made by the aforementioned politician… ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE OF THIS OUT OF RHTHYM… MISGUIDED… OFF TO THE LEFT OF THE LITERARY GOAL POST WITH THE GAME/BOOK ON THE LINE FOR POTENTIAL READERS…

*** “WE HAVE BEEN AHEAD OF THE REST OF THE COUNTRY ON ENDING PROHIBITION AGAINST CANNABIS, WHICH WAS ALWAYS ROOTED IN RACISM” ***

So in a book… hyped as a glorious history... of local success…and ultimate decimation of Big League professional sports in Oakland… the author’s… publishers… editors… etc. … feel the very first page should shout out that THE EAST BAY IS RACIST… BECAUSE IT WAS LATE ON LEGALIZING WEED! I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when these literary board of director’s geniuses decided on this brainchild!

Perhaps they never heard of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt allowing baseball to continue during World War II because he felt the citizens needed the entertainment and relaxation from working in factories and worrying about their loved ones… or how sports were eventually allowed to return in increments during the recent covid epidemic. Well… I… and I imagine many other sports fans… were considering this book… would be educational entertainment… and instead got racism thrown in their face on page one. I immediately got “buyer’s remorse”… and had to think quite deeply if I even wanted to continue reading this supposed “sports” book.

After deciding to continue… I found a book that had no logical chronological path. It went back in time… it went forward in time… it went from one sport to another… to another… in no preconceived logical order. It was as if they put subjects on slips of paper and put them in a blender and then spilled them out and wrote chapters in the blender’s desired un-scientific whimsical pattern.
Then there is the head scratching historical-mathematical impossibility. The author states “One American city---five national titles in three sports in a TWO-YEAR SPAN.” (Oakland) Stating the A’s won the World Series in 1972, 1973, 1974… the Warriors were NBA champions in 1975… and the Raiders won the Super Bowl during the 1976 season.

Now… let’s see here??? 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976… That adds up to five years… not two years… at least on me and my buddy Einstein’s fingers!

The author’s also state that the Oakland Raiders came back from Los Angeles in 1996. As I stated before… I went to every game for the first fifteen years of their return. I’ve kept every ticket stub… and the very first regular season game was SEPTEMBER 3, 1995 AGAINST THE SAN DIEGO CHARGERS… 1995 NOT 1996!

Among the chapters in the book there are chapters on Al Davis, Charles Finley, Rick Barry, Franklin Mieuli, Dave Stewart, Jim Otto, Andre Ward, Billy Ball, lawyers, and more Oakland politicians… among others. And one chapter on Tony La Russa… tells as much if not more about his time spent in St. Louis and Chicago… as it does Oakland… and still tries to minimize the lack of integrity in his covering up and defending two of the worst steroid CHEATS of all-time… Canseco and McGuire… certainly not a glowing reflection on Oakland. Perhaps an off-beat politician can brag about that.

Believe it or not… the two best… coherent… and logical chapters are on 1) Mike Jacob… PORT OF OAKLAND MARITIME EXECUTIVE… who tells it like it is… as to why the A’s proposed ballpark at Howard Terminal… could never be justified or approved… despite the insincere smokescreens being shoveled by the A’s and lying politicians. When a team says all the jobs it would save regarding hourly stadium seasonal employees as compared to “OAKLAND HAS THE SIXTH LARGEST CONTAINER PORT IN THE UNITED STATES, AND IT’S VALUED PORT IS THE ECONOMIC ENGINE THAT DRIVES NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. NOW THERE IS A HOMERUN HITTER! THE PORT’S WORLD-CLASS FACILITY PROVIDES UNION JOBS, ***EIGHTY-FOUR-THOUSAND*** IN ITS LOGISTIC CHAIN, STRETCHING TO CHINA. NOW THAT’S A SLAM DUNK!

2) The other excellent chapter is on the vagabond and all-time great Hall of Famer Rick Barry… who holds nothing back… and answers his critics… and emphasizes his greatness… as expertly as he made his underhand free throws!

It’s a shame that a book that supposedly set out to tell of the greatness and dismantling of a great professional sports town… was put together in such a helter skelter manner… and opened with demoralizing political screed.
Note: SIMULTANEOUSLY AS I WROTE THIS REVIEW… THE SOON TO BE FORMER OAKLAND A’S SIGNED A BINDING AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE LAS VEGAS REAL ESTATE TO BUILD THEIR NEW STADIUM AND MOVE FROM OAKLAND. A VIRTUAL “HAT-TRICK” IN ***OAKLAND -THE-BERMUDA-TRIANGLE-OF-PROFESSIONAL-SPORTS-CITIES***

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let’s be clear about one thing here: Oakland is in no danger of economic collapse just because the Raiders, Warriors, and the A’s have moved to other cities. The loss of these teams is primarily an emotional one. Dan Siegel, a civil rights attorney in Oakland who just passed away, wrote a chapter for this book. His opening sentence sums it up: “Support for your community’s competitive athletic teams is deeply rooted in human civilization, going back thousands of years.” When those teams abandon their fans for pecuniary and other ego-enhancing reasons, the betrayal is deeply felt.

Matt Levine is a sports strategist. He observes that acquiring a sports franchise “feeds an owner’s ego in a more satisfying manner than do their other businesses, for now they get to show off.” Furthermore he says “It’s amazing how many owners care what their friends think about where they are playing, and how these friends will react when they become the owners’ guests in the front row or in a suite.” He sums up with “Oakland isn’t fully appreciated, but you can’t blame Oakland, because this goes back to … [o]wnerships’s motivations, which are ego-driven.”

Dan Rascher has a doctorate in economics and actually consulted for the Raiders before representing Oakland and working against the team in anti-trust cases; he also successfully represented Oakland against the Warriors, who owe Oakland $40 million. He says “[T]he financial impact on Oakland isn’t that huge. Having a sports team is more of a cultural impact. So it’s more of a moral issue than an economic issue.” He hopes that “Some day, perhaps because of antitrust considerations, owners won’t have as much power to move.” In the meantime, he insisted that cities and counties have to stand up to the owners more.

This book jointly written by a sports journalist and a sports executive / consultant, was a disjointed read. The history of Oakland’s athletic teams and dozens of exceptional homegrown players is documented somewhat haphazardly. The reporting of game scores and team standings was the stuff of a sports columnist and belonged in a newspaper, not in this book. The chronology was somewhat spotty and at times confusing, which was surprising to this lifelong Oakland resident who lived through the arrivals and departures of the three teams under discussion. The various team owners were thoroughly pilloried, and with good reason. The one exception was the Haas family, who owned the A’s for 15 (good) years; they believed it was a responsibility for a business to give back to a community some of what it takes out.

The best chapters were about three separate coaches and mentors; their dedication and commitment to disadvantaged youths, helping not only with athletics but also with life skills, made my eyes well up. The chapter where Mike Jacob described just why the A’s idea of a new ballpark at the Howard Terminal was such a BAD idea was gratifying to me as I was lonely in my opposition to that proposal. The chapter written by Dan Siegel and the chapter on economics (Levine and Rascher interviews) were also good. I quoted heavily from those three men because they said it better than I could have. And I’ll end with one last quote, from Siegel (parentheses are mine):

“As this book demonstrates, allowing unaccountable, self-interested businessmen like John Fisher (A’s owner), Joe Lacob (Warriors), and Al and Mark Davis (Raiders) to exploit our emotions and loyalties is bad social policy and unacceptable. These business owners have no more concern for the health, happiness, and well-being of their customers than do the owners of oil companies and cigarette makers. Their model of sports ownership should be unlawful.”

[Kevin J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving this book three stars and that is being generous. This book has a lot of flaws. Namely, it is more like an opinion column than an expository book about Oakland sports. The writers' disdain for Al Davis, the former owner of the Oakland Raiders (and now deceased), and Al's son, Mark, reaches almost ludicrous levels. Rather than tell the story with restraint, the authors Andy Dolich and Dave Newhouse lash out at several figures.

I feel that non-fiction books should present facts in a way that allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about the morality of the people in the book. But the authors just went after certain people right from the get-go. The only reason I am giving this book three stars is that when the authors told the stories of some of Oakland's greatest sports stars, and reserved their judgements, the book was fascinating. The chapter about Jim Otto, center for the Oakland Raiders, was great. The chapter about Oakland boxer Andre Ward was good. The chapter about Rick Barry, the NBA star who played for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA and the Oakland Oaks in the ABA, was excellent. There is also an interesting chapter about the Oakland Clippers, a soccer team that won a championship in Oakland. The chapter about A's manager Tony LaRussa is also solid.

Unfortunately, the book is written thematically, so it is not told in chronological order. This makes for a lot of redundancy about certain events, such as when the Oakland Raiders leave for Los Angeles in the 1980s, and then when the team leaves again for Las Vegas, which happened in 2019. This story is talked about over and over in different chapters. It's as if the authors wrote each chapter separately without taking into account these overlapping narratives. There is also a lot of speculative talk about the Oakland A's and whether they will stay in Oakland or move to Las Vegas. And the tone the writers convey is angry in many instances. The tone is irate right from the first few pages of the book, and this lack of impartiality really negatively impacted the book for me.

When the writers tell the stories without bringing their own opinions into it, the book is extremely interesting. As someone who only recently moved to the Bay Area, I appreciated the history lesson about so many Oakland sports icons. But I wanted to make my own conclusions about the athletes, managers, owners and fans in this book. Having the authors write in a heavyhanded, almost vitriolic way, really downgraded the book for me.

(Quick aside, the forward at the beginning of the book by Barbara Lee, U.S. Congresswoman from Oakland, is excellent, and not to be missed. She does not shy away from discussing Oakland's flaws as well as the current challenges the city faces, but she also captures the ethos of all that makes Oakland great, in particular its diversity. Bravo!)

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Oakland is tough, compassionate, fearless, and enlightened.” - Congresswoman Barbara Lee

“Oakland is America’s most abused sports city, and there is no close second.”

"There is no there there" - Gertrude Stein wrote about Oakland, upon learning that the neighborhood where she lived as a child had been torn down to make way for an industrial park. (The quote is usually misconstrued to refer to Oakland as a whole.)

The foreword by Congresswoman Lee is AWESOME and should be given out to anyone and everyone who criticizes The Town!!!

And then there is the Author’s Note:
“This book went to press in late 2022 before the future of the A’s - Oakland or Las Vegas - was resolved.” All the pride that pumped me up from the forward immediately drained from my soul…

4 World Series. 4 NBA titles. 2 Super Bowls. In the mid-1970s all 3 teams won league championships! The A’s won 3 World Series’ in a row in 1972, 1973, and 1974! The Warriors won their title in 1975, and the Raiders won the Super Bowl in 1976! “One American city - five national titles in three sports in a two-year span, in Oakland, California.” (during that era, this reader was ages 2 to 6! Lucky little me!)
“… and the wordy Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Complex then received the justified distinction of ’House of Champions.”

Chapter Two, “House of Champions: Hometown Memories” is a really good read! It lays out the rich, deep sports legacy of Oakland, detailing the different teams’ successes! It also lists the homegrown sports greats that came from The Town, a list that includes some of the greatest athletes to ever play in their respective sports! Oakland ruled!!!

I also loved this, from chapter 7: “Dave Stewart is Oakland, and Oakland is Dave Stewart.” Fun fact for me - he beat Roger Clemens 9 out of 10 times! He, and his Death Stare, should be in Cooperstown!

“Three things can’t stay hidden for long: the sun, the moon, and the truth. Fisher is doing a fantastic job of hiding his end game…”. “John Fisher is the ownership re-creation of Charles O. Finley.” Now contrarily, Franklin Mieuli (chapter 6) seems like my kind of owner! Totally the opposite of Fisher, in every way! I wish someone like him would wrest the A’s away from awful John… “money-grubbing sports owners who don’t give a hoot about Oakland.”

“A perfect epitaph on Oakland’s sports tombstone: FANS GAVE UNSELFISHLY, OWNERS ACCEPTED GREEDILY, AND FRANCHISES MOVED HEARTLESSLY.”

[Andrew Lourenco · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of one of the three main teams spoken of in the book (the A’s), I was intrigued to learn about the forces that led to all three major teams leaving Oakland. In that regard, I was not disappointed. The information in this book not only covers the three major teams, but also many other squads (and sports figures) from Oakland’s history. I loved learning about the many people involved in Oakland sports history, and the book’s A’s content was bittersweet, as it was released just before the A’s were announced to be leaving for Vegas, and some of the people interviewed for the book still had optimism that WOULDN’T happen.

The love for Oakland is apparent throughout the book, but that same level of emotion presented one of the book’s most troublesome issues: At times, the authors’ biases for the city and its teams overwhelm their arguments. Throughout the book, the authors insert their own opinions in such a strong-handed way as to make the reader question their objectivity in the matter, or their commitment to getting to the root of the issue without letting their biases get in the way. As an A’s fan, I side with them when it comes to holding Fisher’s atrocious ownership accountable, but even I found myself rolling my eyes at times while being overloaded with opinion after opinion. Oakland sports owners’ actions are bad enough to warrant disdain—we don’t need to be sold on it.

Overall, I’d say the book is a 3.5 for me, rounded up to a 4 because the information in it truly was well-researched and reeled me in.

[Humza Agha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Oakland, lived there for years and all the people there are some of the greatest I have ever met. You truly become part of the Oakland family in an instant. What happened with all these franchises abandoning their loyal fans for corporate greed is what’s wrong with the sports.

Loved the section on the local Oakland hero’s and fans who have seen this place grow beyond their wildest dreams.

However the author here really comes across as a jaded fan who is getting out their punches on the owners. You should be able to do that but when you are telling the story of the history of sports in Oakland, the constant name calling and pettiness really takes you out. You go to Ricky’s for that kind of dialogue.

[Frank Murtaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book about a depressing tale. The closer you live to Oakland, California, the more painful this reading experience will be. Raiders to Las Vegas. Warriors across the Bay to San Francisco. A's to Vegas(?). Few cities enjoyed the kind of success Oakland did across three major sports in the 1970s. And other memorable teams in the late Eighties, right up to the Golden State dynasty of 2010s NBA. But good things come to an end, they say. A good warning for those who feel a team makes their city. It's quite the other way around.

[Griffin Ansel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but ultimately couldn’t get over the numerous factual errors (for example, the Raiders relocation vote was 31-1, not 33-1. There aren’t 34 NFL teams, and it was Miami not Tampa that voted no) nor the poor writing. As a spurned Oakland fan I’m also angry, but this book came across as poorly written hate mail with very little organization or goals. I hoped for better, and if it wasn’t about Oakland, it wouldn’t have gotten 3 stars.

[Lennart · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Andy Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great telling of the legacy of Oakland sports. Does get a little dry, but great narratives throughout.

[Claire Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly so sad that Oakland gets a bad rep and lost its sports teams. Don’t believe the media when they hate on Oakland!

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking at the sad state of affairs of Oakland today, it’s hard to believe they were a perineal powerhouse of sport city, sharing something like 9 world championships between the 3 main sporting leagues of football, baseball, basketball.

It’s actually pretty depressing that a city that at one time fielded 10 different professional sports teams over the years is now, in 2024, down to exactly one, the Oakland A’s, which will also fold up shop and spend a few miserable years in Sacramento while Jeff Fisher, the owner fleeces the citizens of Vegas for a new stadium.

As a fan of the Athletics, reading this book was incredibly heartbreaking and a huge bummer that a great franchise has been so mismanaged by one terrible owner after another, all to conclude in an ill advised and basically transparent money grab. But it’s not exclusive to the A’s.

In Goodbye, Oakland Dolich and Newhouse don’t blame the city, but rather the selfish owners of these teams that have packed up their proverbial tents and booked it to other cities that have more glitz and glamour, deserting the fans and the city that made their teams famous. The Raiders, the Warriors, the A’s, and a myriad of other franchises have either all left or folded due to one misstep after another. I’m no fan of Oakland’s progressive policies, but for city that prided itself on athletic prowess over so many strong franchises, and now to be the only city in America to lose all four of the major sports franchises, it’s a sad state of affairs that they’re left with nothing. I

totally understand why some readers won’t find this book essentially enlightening as it’s mostly 21 chapters of opinions or interviews, rather than a full history of any of the teams mentioned, however any book that bashes Al Davis and Jeff Fisher with any chance it gets, is going to receive a passing grade from me!