San Benito County Sheriff rooted in Oakland even after Athletics reported move to Las Vegas
HOLLISTER, Calif. (KION-TV)- In Oakland, the highest law of the land is, or was, the Athletics up until they tore the hearts out of loyal fans Wednesday night by seemingly agreeing to move the team to Las Vegas.
One of those heartbroken fans is none other than the highest law of the land in San Benito County, Sheriff Eric Taylor. Sheriff Taylor spent two years as part of the Oakland Athletics sales department, moving up to Operating Manager for Game Day Services from 1997 to 1999.
He was coming back from a state Sheriff's Conference in Ventura County when he heard that the club had reached an agreement for 49 acres of land owned by Red Rock Resorts in Las Vegas.
"I started getting text messages from my friends that the A's were no longer considering Oakland, and that's when I found out," said Sheriff Taylor. "It's very sad to see the team leaving Oakland, as I've always had a really deep love for the City of Oakland."
This new stadium will give the A's the state-of-the-art stadium it has sought since Taylor was with the team three decades ago. The stadium will likely be built with a budget of over a billion dollars.
"I grew up an Oakland A's fan, I know we are in Giant's Country, but the only exposure I had to Major League Baseball when I was a kid was Rotary Day with the A's," said Sheriff Taylor. "Freedom Rotary from Watsonville would go to the A's games, so since I was a kid, I was an A's fan, and I was fortunate to be hired by the team and work for them a few years."
Taylor said that Oakland reminded him of growing up in Watsonville, and now it reminds him of San Benito County. It's not exactly the same, but the gritty, underfunded, and poor market that people are trying to survive in resonated with him.
He deals with it in his day-to-day operations as Sheriff of San Benito County. Trying to make a shoestring budget compete with the big boys Sheriff Taylor feels is why the Oakland A's were always so cool to root for, because of the parallels in his own life.
He was able to work with the former president of the Oakland Athletics, Sandy Alderson, and Billy Bean, of Moneyball fame, when he was the head scout for the club.
He said when he was with the team, the A's were looking to move where Levi's Stadium currently sits for the San Francisco 49ers. He says the MLB and the San Francisco Giants prevented that from happening as they did with a San Jose stadium deal.
"We had a lot of frustration back then trying to build something in the Bay Area and keep the team local," said Sheriff Taylor. "I watched as this team has tried and tried and tried to find something."
One after the other, the options fell through after that, from Livermore to Fremont to Howard Terminal in Oakland, the A's never agreed to a new home in the Bay Area. He says he will stay loyal to his boyhood baseball team despite that.
"Much to the disappointment of my wife and kids, who have urged me to be a Giants fan all these years, I will be following the team to Las Vegas," said Taylor." I have such a passion for seeing this team fulfill what was started a lot of years ago to rebuild this team into what it was in the late 70s. I was fortunate to be in high school during their runs at the world titles in the late 80s. Hopefully, this is the fire they needed to get them back in contention."
Taylor feels disappointed a deal couldn't be reached in Oakland and feels bad for the hundreds of people, some he once worked with, who work at the stadium and are now out of a job.
