In a new memoir, giants baseball is back in the spotlight as Lew Wolff argues the Oakland Athletics left the Bay Area because of the San Francisco Giants’ opposition. Wolff, 90, says the team’s exit was driven by the Giants’ refusal to give up territorial rights tied to Santa Clara County and San Jose. The remarks reopen one of the most painful chapters in Bay Area sports history.
Wolff places the blame on the Giants
Wolff writes in his 128-page book, “Moments, ” that the A’s are no longer in the Bay Area “100 percent due to the nasty, shameful, and continuing opposition of the Giants. ” He says the Giants blocked the team’s effort to move toward San Jose, the most populous city in the Bay Area, where the A’s had hoped to land. That argument sits at the center of the new memoir and gives giants baseball an unusually personal and political edge.
Wolff owned a partial share of the Oakland Athletics for about a decade and was the most publicly visible member of the ownership group from 2005 to 2015. He said in a phone interview with The Athletic that he wanted to set the record straight after years of debate about how the franchise ended up leaving Oakland. He also said he still owns a reduced share of the club, even though he is no longer involved in day-to-day operations.
Reaction from fans remains bitter
The Giants declined comment for this story. For many A’s supporters, the memoir is unlikely to ease the anger that has followed the club’s move. Jorge Leon, a longtime A’s season-ticket holder in Oakland and president of the Oakland 68’s sports booster group, said there is little that ownership can say to repair the damage.
“If they really cared and they really wanted to get something done here, they could assemble an ownership group, local, that can either bring the A’s back or create an expansion franchise, ” Leon said. His reaction reflects the frustration still surrounding the departure and the years of failed efforts to find a new Bay Area stadium.
What the book leaves behind
Wolff says he thought the A’s had a strong run during his tenure and wanted to thank the people involved. He also said that the team had “no leverage” and that the Giants’ stance made negotiations with Oakland far more difficult. In his view, giants baseball is inseparable from the territorial fight that helped shape the A’s final Bay Area years.
The A’s are playing this season in a minor-league stadium in Sacramento for a second straight year, with at least one more season there planned before a move to Las Vegas. Current owner John Fisher has held the largest share of the team since 2005, bought out Wolff in 2016, and later pulled the club out of Oakland after the 2024 season. For now, Wolff’s memoir ensures that giants baseball will remain part of the argument over who bears responsibility for the franchise’s departure.
