If Sacramento gets Major League Baseball, be careful the deal doesn’t backfire | Opinion

Baltimore Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr. has the best way to describe baseball.

“You can be a kid as long as you want when you play baseball.”

The fondest memories of my childhood were when I went to a Hibbett Sports store to get my first glove. Being a lefty, I didn’t have the easiest time finding the right glove. I remember the store associate asked me to throw a ball with both my right and left hands to see if I could get a right-handed glove. But I really wanted a left-handed glove like my favorite pitcher, the “Big Unit” Randy Johnson. And thankfully I got it.

Playing in the outfield in a league for kids between the ages of 8 and 12, I would position myself, knees bent, eyes zeroed in at home plate, always waiting for the ball to be hit. In between pitches, I would sometimes cover my face with my glove, loving the smell of its leather exterior.

Each ball sent my way would be safely in my glove, whether a fly ball or a grounder.

In my heart, I’ll always be an Atlanta Braves fan, but I’m excited to be moving from Tennessee to Sacramento, where there will be Major League teams in the same state where I reside. There may eventually be an MLB team in Sacramento if the rumors about the Oakland Athletics relocating to the state capital prove true.

Vying for Expansion

I know what living in a place seeking an MLB team is like. Over the past three years, an ownership group has tried to bring MLB baseball to Nashville.

The Nashville Stars, an homage to an early 20th Century Negro League team of the same name, have sought to be one of the two expansion teams MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he wants to add to the 30-team league before his term ends in 2029.

In an ironic twist given Sacramento’s recent association with the Oakland Athletics, the Stars’ push in Nashville is led by Oakland A’s legend Dave Stewart. Nicknamed “Smoke,” Stewart was a four-time 20-game winner, and in 1989, when the A’s won the World Series, he was voted Most Valuable Player.

In my time in Nashville, I’ve written about the Stars and what I could tell is that Stewart, as well as the ownership team, want to do more than just put a baseball team in a city. They want to inspire a community.

“This project means everything to me,” Stewart said in a USA Today Sports article. “America is trying to be more cognizant of Black leadership in different businesses across the country. You look at baseball, which has been an industry for more than 100 years, and it has been behind in everything. This is big, not just for baseball, but for all industries in America.”

The team is currently eyeing land at Tennessee State University, one of four historically Black colleges in Nashville, located in the historically Black neighborhood of North Nashville.

Opinion

Equity is something that the Stars team addressed candidly when I spoke to them two years ago. They appeared to understand that a stadium means more than just a space to watch games.

“There’s a chance for us to be proactive for the location of a stadium in a part of town that traditionally has not been intentionally included in investments.,” Stewart told USA Today Sports. “To have a stadium in a traditional African-American neighborhood, you can bring in new affordable housing, shops and grocery stores.”

If Sacramento wants an MLB team, it should take note of what the Stars are doing and find out what this potential team can do to uplift surrounding communities.

Growth is bound to happen to cities and it is sometimes is needed for positive change. What can cause gentrification is when community investment is concentrated in some areas while vulnerable communities are left behind.

Ensure a good deal

If Sacramento does indeed get to host the A’s for three seasons beginning in 2025 before the team settles in Las Vegas in 2028, that could increase the chances of an MLB team settling in Sacramento for good one day.

It could also help MLB determine if other cities of comparable population, like Nashville, can draw fans and generate revenues large enough to compete with bigger markets.

Giving communities like Nashville and Sacramento an MLB team to rally around can be positive for either community as long as we don’t forget that baseball stadiums built with public subsidies don’t exactly result in prosperity for everyone.

If this venture blossoms into something bigger, meaning an MLB team, let’s make sure that the deal is sweetened for everyone in Sacramento.