Fans Convinced A’s Owner John Fisher Can’t Name Any Of His Own Players After Cringe-Inducing Press Conference

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Josh Fisher has spent the past few years firmly cementing himself as one of the worst owners the wide world of professional sports has to offer thanks to how he’s handled the Oakland Athletics, and he managed to make the abyss he’s dug himself into even deeper thanks to what unfolded on Thursday.

It’s been close to 20 years since John Fisher used some of the boatloads of money he “earned” by being an heir to the Gap clothing fortune to purchase a majority stake in the Oakland Athletics, a team he’s had full control of since his former partner offloaded his stake in 2016.

Fishers is the kind of owner who primarily views his franchise as a financial investment while largely eschewing the emotional investment possessed by the fans who’ve become increasingly disillusioned with the team under his watch—a divide that transformed into a chasm when he announced he was planning to move the A’s to Las Vegas in 2023 after failing to get the tax credit he wanted to build a new stadium in Oakland.

Things took a very interesting turn earlier this year when the mayor of Sin City strongly implied that plan might not actually come to fruition, and it was unclear what the future held for an Athletics team that will be forced to vacate Oakland Coliseum when the lease expires at the end of 2024.

This week, we got an answer when the team cemented its status as the MLB’s equivalent of the Arizona Coyotes by announcing it will play the next three seasons at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, a stadium that’s currently home to a Triple-A team and can hold around 14,000 fans (if you’re curious, Tropicana Field is currently the smallest MLB stadium and can accommodate 25,000 spectators).

On Thursday, Fisher made the trek to Sacramento for an introductory event at the A’s new venue where he channeled his inner real estate agent by describing it as “the most intimate ballpark in all of Major League Baseball.”

The most interesting moment of the day came just before that comment, as Fisher said he was looking forward to “being able to watch some of the greatest players in baseball—whether they be Athletics players, Aaron Judge, or others—launch home runs.”

You’d think someone who owns an MLB team would specifically single out some of the players on his own roster before uttering Aaron Judge’s name, and while it would be a bit of a stretch to suggest Fisher can’t actually identify any of the guys he pays to play baseball, there are plenty of fans who couldn’t ignore the fact that the Yankees’ slugger was the only person to get a specific shoutout.

My heart once again goes out to the A’s fans who’ve been forced to endure what Fisher has subjected them to.