Lew Wolff says the Athletics were forced out of the Bay Area “100 percent” because of the San Francisco Giants. In his new 128-page memoir, the 90-year-old former A’s owner called the Giants’ opposition to the club’s efforts to stay in Northern California “nasty,” “shameful” and continuing.
Wolff’s account lands now because the Athletics are already in their second straight year playing in a minor-league stadium in nearby Sacramento, Calif., after being pulled out of Oakland following the 2024 season. The temporary stopover is expected to last at least one more season before the club’s planned move to Las Vegas, and Wolff is using his book to argue that the years of fighting over territory helped shape that path. He dedicated the book to John Fisher and Bud Selig, even while insisting Fisher is often blamed unfairly for decisions that were constrained by forces outside his control.
Wolff owned a partial share of the Athletics for about a decade and was the most visible member of the ownership group from 2005 to 2015, when he served as a key club official. John Fisher has held the largest share of the team since 2005 and bought out Wolff in 2016. In the book, Wolff says he still owns a reduced share of the club and writes that he wanted to make the record clear because so much had been said about the A’s leaving California.
The central grievance is familiar to longtime Bay Area baseball followers, but Wolff’s telling is blunt: the Giants refused to give up territorial rights to Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, the city the Athletics wanted as a relocation destination. Wolff said that stance blocked meaningful progress with Oakland and left the A’s with almost no leverage. He said, “We tried everything we could think of, but the real key was we had no leverage. … The Giants’ position really, really messed us up in trying to even negotiate with Oakland.”
The Athletics played in Oakland for 57 seasons before leaving after the 2024 season, and the long search for a new Bay Area stadium ended without a deal. Wolff’s memoir does not reopen that history so much as pin blame on the obstacle he says mattered most. For him, the loss of the Bay Area was not just a failed stadium chase. It was the point at which the team’s future slipped beyond the reach of its own owners.