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'Go A's' might not be a cheer
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Thursday, July 4, 2002

And speaking of independence, how 'bout A's owner Steve Schott? It has been awhile since we've seen anyone in sports more open to obtaining his independence from his own franchise -- and, by golly, we're beginning to think he'll get there.

Schott was moved by a phone call from the Washington Post this week to acknowledge that he has had conversations with yet another potential buyer for the A's, a D.C. businessman named Jonathan Ledecky, who is not to be confused with Jonathan Lipnicki, the kid who was so good in "Jerry Maguire," kind of good in "Stuart Little," and probably not as good from here on out. (Those Jodie Foster stories are pretty hard to find in Hollywood.)

Lipnicki is a prodigy. Ledecky is a former minority owner of the NHL's Washington Capitals and a man who, we're guessing, might not actually be all that interested in securing a long-term stadium deal for the A's in the Bay Area.

It turns out, in fact, that Schott and Ledecky have been talking on and off for more than a year, since Ledecky first approached the A's co-owner via baseball commissioner and would-be franchise-killer Bud Selig. (From this we may also deduce that Selig is not altogether opposed to a change of ownership for the Oakland bunch.)

But, at this point, shame on us if we're even slightly surprised. At this time a year ago, when Schott was first being contacted by Ledecky, the A's already were hip-deep in the fun, denying that they were in discussions with Los Angeles-based Mandalay Sports Entertainment, which owns the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s.

The thinking then was that the A's were desert-bound, yet somehow it never came to pass. Now, Schott says, "The team is not on the market," but he describes Ledecky as both a business acquaintance and a friend -- and the larger reality is that, many efforts notwithstanding, there has been virtually no movement on Oakland's attempt to gain a new ballpark for itself in Northern California.

Washington's quest to reclaim major-league baseball, of course, has been one of epic failures and spectacularly overblown promises. The D.C. gang has courted good franchises and horrible ones, most recently zeroing in on the poor Montreal Expos, who average something like 8,000 fans despite playing competitive baseball on a paper-clip budget.

But there's no question the A's are a more attractive property -- good on the top, in the middle and at the bottom of the farm system, run by competent and energetic people. Schott and fellow co-owner Ken Hofmann have been properly ridiculed for some of their hysterical penny-pinching in the past, but Schott in particular also has hung in long enough to see some memorable baseball recorded on his watch.

Oakland remains a shimmering example of how ingenuity and daring can outstrip raw dollars in the formula for winning, yet the A's never have felt more vulnerable as a franchise. Schott and Hofmann bought the club at a deep local-owner discount from the Haas family in 1995 and almost immediately set to complaining about the Coliseum's limitations as a baseball venue, practically inviting fans to stop showing up.

After years of painful rebuilding, the A's climbed back near the top and had a marquee player in Jason Giambi, whom they promptly gave up in free agency last winter after botching a contract negotiation the spring before. The stadium issue remains every bit as unresolved as the day the Schott-Hofmann partnership took over.

This hasn't been an unqualified success, is the thing. And in the midst of it all, Steve Schott has been amenable, more than once, to taking a call from someone with the financial wherewithal to amply compensate Schott for his years of stewardship.

Hard to say where it goes from here. There just is no momentum from any municipality to build the A's a new jewel box, and it's the longest stretch to imagine such momentum building in the Bay Area anytime soon. Sacramento, once seen as a possible soft landing for the A's, now seems much more intrigued with partnering up with the Kings over the long haul -- and has proved to be an almost ideal Triple-A baseball market, anyway.

The A's have made it clear they won't play in the Coliseum much longer. Schott and Hofmann have been traditionally uninterested in losing money, even in the short run. Last summer, the L.A. group came calling. Lately, it has been Jonathan Ledecky of Washington, D.C.

Again, shame on us if we allow whatever happens next to shock us. One way and another, Schott has made it plain that the status quo will not be permitted to thrive. As much as ever before, he seems one solid phone call away from his own personal independence.

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