Whatever Oakland A’s owner John Fisher was hoping to accomplish by publishing an open letter to fans as they conclude their time in the Bay Area, it doesn’t seem to have happened.
A’s fans chided Fisher, who will move the team to Sacramento for several years until their new stadium is built in Las Vegas, for trying to make it seem like he did everything in his power to keep the team in Oakland where they’ve played for 57 years.
Former SportsCenter anchor and current ABC7 broadcaster Larry Beil synthesized all of the anger, frustration, and pain that A’s fans are feeling in a scathing rant against Fisher on Monday, which included him literally ripping the letter into pieces. The clip invariably went viral.
Larry Beil of KGO (Bay Area’s ABC affiliate) read “a great work of fiction,” AKA John Fisher’s letter to Oakland A’s fans.
Then strongly reacted to it.
Well worth the time.
(H/T @LastDiveBar)pic.twitter.com/JJmyDVuKyY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 24, 2024
“John, you tried five different extremely flawed stadium proposals. You never got even close to a shovel in the ground. Yes, Oakland politics is often a mess, I will give you that. But John, you surround yourself with incompetent yes men. And because you were born into a billionaire family, apparently never learned you have to spend money to make money.
“John, you’re a serial penny pincher. You’ve destroyed your family’s great name and legacy because of your cheapness.”
Beil spoke with The San Francisco Standard’s Michael McLaughlin about the rant, saying his intention wasn’t to go viral.
“When I sat down to vent, I wasn’t trying to create something that went viral,” Beil told The Standard. “I was just trying to express the frustration of that letter.
“It shouldn’t be my personal feelings about John Fisher. It’s about the fans. I wouldn’t expect me ranting like a madman for four minutes was going to change anyone’s minds.”
Beil said that he’s been inundated with thanks and praise from A’s fans for what he said, though he hopes no one gets used to him doing this all the time.
“It’s been resounding and somewhat surprising,” he said. “I don’t yell and scream that much. That kind of commentary is reserved for pretty rare occasions.”
