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May 6, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Jose Earthquakes and Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher looks towards the pitch after a match against the Los Angeles FC at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Baseball Fans be Warned, John Fisher is in Charge

Originally posted on Oakland Athletics on SI
By Jason Burke | Last updated Feb 7, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Since John Fisher has been the owner of the Sacramento A's, he hasn't gotten a whole lot done. The A's magical front office has kept the team competitive more often than not was inherited from the previous regime. He hasn't had to sign too many big checks, since his strategy has been to send players away once they become too expensive for him.

He spent 20 years looking for a place to take his baseball team, and has chosen to take their talents to Sin City, though there are still plenty of doubts about whether that move will actually happen, given that it would mean Fisher himself paying well over $1 billion of his own money to make it happen. It could even be as much as $1.5 billion when all is said and done.

He made such a mess of the team's departure from Oakland that he is seeking sanctuary in Sacramento for three or four seasons, forcing his team, and all of the rest of 'em, to play in a minor-league facility.

Nothing Fisher has done since he bought the team in the early 2005 has been ideal, well thought out, or well executed. Yet, on Thursday he got a promotion.

MLB owners have elevated A’s owner John Fisher to their executive committee, Rob Manfred said.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) February 6, 2025

The executive committee oversees league business, such as the sale of a franchise, and economic matters, including revenue sharing between clubs. And they added John Fisher. Make it make sense.

Could a previous member of the committee be ready to sell, and they wanted to get Fisher trained up with how business is done before that sale goes through? That would be the most logical explanation, but it still doesn't explain why Fisher was the one chosen for the role given his entire track record. He's been around a fairly long time, with about half of the league's teams being sold since he bought the A's, so perhaps that played a role here?

It's also curious why they chose him, because he doesn't have any tricks that he could teach the other owners about relocation or building a fan base. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has done most of the heavy lifting, acting as a shield for Fisher throughout this process. The A's owner has only spoken in public a couple of times throughout the team's relocation because he hasn't needed to be the face of the operation. That has been Manfred, and the since-fired president of the team, Dave Kaval.

Remember, Fisher had a former employee, Trevor May, tell him to sell the team immediately after he wasn't under contract. There have been "Sell the team!" chants that have followed this club from city to city for the past two seasons (but they surely won't find their way to Sacramento). Fans of his soccer team, the San José Earthquakes, have also started chants of their own for his unwillingness to improve the club, despite getting the stadium he was after.

Ken Rosenthal named an award on his podcast the "John Fisher Dork of the Week" because of the amount of rakes that the A's owner has stepped on over the past two years. He earned the Dork of the Week award enough times that Rosenthal just decided to name it after him.

Through the relocation process, the public now views Fisher as the worst owner in professional sports.

And he got a promotion.

This article first appeared on Oakland Athletics on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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