Oakland sports fans have been abandoned by two major professional sports teams in recent years: the Golden State Warriors, who moved across the Bay to San Francisco, and the Raiders, who fled to Las Vegas. After this season, the beloved Oakland Athletics are set to follow suit.
Enter the Oakland Ballers, or the B’s, the city’s newest professional sports team, which has won significant buy-in from prominent members of Oakland’s Jewish community. They are following in the footsteps of a long tradition of Jewish community support for Oakland baseball.
Walter A. Haas Jr., the former president of Levi Strauss, bought the struggling Athletics in 1980, then helmed the organization for 15 years until his death, overseeing a golden age of Oakland baseball, during which the team won five division titles and made three World Series appearances, including a victory in the 1989 World Series.
Now Jesse Eisenhardt, Haas’ grandson, and Jennifer Haas, Haas’ brother’s granddaughter, are investing in the Ballers, hoping to establish a popular community amenity in the city and follow in their ancestor’s footsteps.
Eisenhardt, a filmmaker and philanthropist, has fond memories of watching the A’s from the owner’s suite with his grandfather.
“I remember vividly in 1988 when we were playing the Dodgers in the World Series and I was at the game where Orel Hershiser pitched a complete game to clinch victory in Oakland. I was so heartbroken,” Eisenhardt told J. “I remember my grandfather turning to me and saying, ‘There’s always next year.’ We won the whole thing in 1989.”
Several Bay Area Jews have invested in this new venture, including co-founders Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel.
They jumped into action after the A’s announced their forthcoming departure.
“We wholeheartedly rejected the idea that Oakland isn’t a pro-sports city,” Carmel told J., adding that their goal is to create an experience that counters the negative media attention that Oakland often garners.
At a B’s game, fans can enjoy “block parties around a baseball game,” he said.
Carmel has spent much of his career in the media industry and believes that producing live shows and baseball games is similar. The project is, in his words, a “love letter to Oakland.”
Their team motto highlights the importance of community: “Built by Oakland.”
I’m sure my grandfather would be very excited to know that I was involved in a local team. Jesse Eisenhardt, grandson of former A’s owner Walter Haas Jr.
Fan entertainment is at the center of the experience. As is common in minor league baseball, almost every home game has a different theme — such as Halloween in August, Oakland Symphony Night and Star Wars Night. And it’s always a family affair; kids’ games are played on the field in between innings, and on Sundays, kids get to run the bases and players sign autographs for them.
“When people come to these games, they have such a great time. Games have such a great local vibe,” said Eisenhardt.
The A’s have not won a World Series since Haas’ tenure, considered by many to have been the glory days for A’s baseball.
Haas was known for supporting hundreds of civic and cultural causes. He was a major donor to the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and was described by a former Federation president as “an unusually caring and generous human being.”
After Haas’ death in 1995, his sister, Rhoda Haas Goldman, told J. that her brother’s generosity stemmed from the tradition and example set by their parents and grandparents. “All of these were Jewish values that he inherited and lived by,” she said. “We all felt fortunate and we all wanted to give back.”
Eisenhardt believes that by investing in the Ballers, he is emulating his grandfather’s spirit. He sees his investment as giving back to the community by offering Oaklanders a team to cheer for and the ability to attend games that bring joy.
“I’m sure my grandfather would be very excited to know that I was involved in a local team,” Eisenhardt said.
The Ballers play in West Oakland at Raimondi Park, which was quickly transformed into a roughly 4,000 seat stadium earlier this year. Private donors contributed $1.6 million for construction.
The Ballers play in the Pioneer League, a partner league of Major League Baseball, and have been highly competitive so far. They rank second out of 12 teams in the league with a 47-33 record.
Other teams are based throughout Northern California and the Rocky Mountain region.
The founders hope that the Ballers become an enduring asset that brings diverse communities together to enjoy an American pastime.
Said Carmel, “We just want to make sure Oakland baseball has a future.”