San Jose Rumblings

Here we go again, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales is making yet another pitch or a MLB team to move to San Jose. He would like an AL team to move to SJ and he knows that the Bay Area won't be able support three MLB franchises. It's yet another veiled attempt to lure the A's to SJ.

But wait, what about the Giant's terroritoral rights?

Referring to the Giants' territorial rights to San Jose, Gonzales said, "The people of San Jose, not (Giants owner) Peter Magowan, should determine if San Jose should have baseball.''

But MLB teams are franchises, not stand-alone businesses, you can't demand McDonalds to open a new location at a certain spot. The only way for SJ to lose the Giants terroritorial tag is for nice big payment to Peter Magowan, a la what hapen to Angelos with the Nats (even though there was no terroritorial rights involved). Hey Doesn't San Jose already have a baseball team? Yes, the Hi-A California League San Jose Giants. The SJ Giants just aren't getting any love. San Jose says they want baseball, but already have baseball in their city. If SJ wants the A's or any other big league team they must first get BART, so the fans don't have to drive the horrible freeways to the game and do something to keep the MLS San Jose Earthquakes from leaving. If you city can't possibly keep a soccer team, what makes you think that your city is MLB-ready.

"San Jose would be good for baseball,'' Gonzales said. "San Jose represents the future for baseball. ... San Jose is bigger, richer, safer and has better weather than most major-league cities.''

I think he just said "We're better than Oakland," without actually saying it. Despite the common images of Oakland being a really ghetto place Oakland is actually a vibrant community with many different neighborhoods, some of which I would love to live in some day. Sure, Oakland has it's problems, but it has a whole lot of character and I love it. These people love Oakland too.