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Background: Some Stories Deserve a Share Part 1

 "The combination of putting a great product on the field, giving a lot of young players a chance and keeping the team in the Bay Area," Schott said from an overstuffed leather chair at Citation Homes, the homebuilding company he owns in Santa Clara. "We never spoke of moving the team out of the area, and it feels good that we were able to keep that promise."

That promise was made to the Haas family, when they sold the A's to Schott and Hofmann for $72 million in November of 1995.

This was a promise made by former team owner Steve Schott to the long-time owners of the Oakland Athletics the Haas family when they bought the team in 1995. Now under the guise of the Fisher family something has changed, because that promise isn't in place anymore and clearly a desire for something new is more important than keeping a promise to a former owner. Steve Schott is the man who brought both Sandy Alderson and Billy Beane in as general managers of the organization and was at the helm when longtime slugger Mark McGwire was dealt to the Cardinals at the deadline in 1997. Schott was a big believer in building from within and fans would catch evidence of that at the turn of the century when the Athletics famous three headed monster finally reached the majors. Check out this quote from a losaltoonline.com article on Schott's time as Oakland team owner: 

"One of Schott's first moves was to reduce the payroll. It was out with the old players and in with the new. Schott believed younger players - particularly pitchers - were the way to build up the franchise.
"Before I came in, the team was bringing in a lot of older players," he said. "There weren't a lot of young players in the system. When I brought Billy Beane in as general manager in 1998 - and even before with Sandy Alderson in 1996 - I said, 'We have to bring in pitchers.'"


I am a firm believer in looking back at the past to know how the past shaped the future and this story with the Athletics is one of those times exactly. The Haas Family were the team owners that helped reestablish the team's reputation after rough years at the end of Charles Finley's reign as team owner. According to Baseballreference.com the Oakland Athletics averaged over two million fans per season from the late 1980's to the mid 1990's. Following longtime owner Walter Haas's passing in September 1995 his youngest son Wally would sell the team to the partnership of Steve Schott and Ken Hoffman. With the background out of the way we look back again to a quote Steve Schott said in regards to the recent departures of his top players. This article was published around the same time as when Schott sold the team to John Fisher and Lew Wolff reflection often changes perspective. The story will continue as we are only at the beginning.

Schott had his favorites, though.
"(Tim) Hudson I really respected," Schott said of the starting pitcher traded to the Atlanta Braves this past offseason. "He has the heart of a lion and the slyness of a fox. He's a very crafty pitcher. Tejada (now with the Baltimore Orioles) was a favorite. He was a great kid who wanted to play every day. He loved baseball so much."

Another Schott favorite is Giambi, who - like Tejada - left the A's for bigger bucks elsewhere.



Sources:
Source 1
Source 2 


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