The Most Misunderstood Man in Oakland:
Lew Wolff
By Blake Moran
By Blake Moran
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W
nice to meet you.” Going into the interview I had expected a stern, orld Series trophies were shinstuck up old man. Instead I got a ing on the wall as I flipped through welcoming, yet dry humored man the brochures placed in the lobby offering his hand warmly to me. of the Oakland A’s executive’s office, When I Googled Lew Wolff’s mulled over my thoughts. A woman name, one of the first things that opened the door of the lobby came up was an article titled Lew looking around.“Mr. Moran? Are Wolff: The Most Hated Man in you ready to set up?” I Oakland. As I began to search “He’s very determinded, when he grabbed all my equipment further, more of the same came and walked through the wants to get something done, he’s up. Sports writers were bashing door. “Mr. Wolff’s office is Wolff about his management of on the second floor on the going to get it done.” the team from the recent trade top level. Walk down this move regarding all-pro Yoenis hall and then up the stairs.” - Rick Doyle Cespedes, to his reputation of I carried my camera San Jose City Attorney wanting to relocate the team out equipment as I awkwardly of Oakland. However, based on walked through a maze of my meetings with Mr. Wolff and inlaid out in an orderly fashion and cubicles filled with young interns volving myself with the A’s and Mr. there was a suitcase open on the and executives working for the A’s. Wolff’s affairs over the last month, They stared at me with quirky warm couch with clothes neatly arranged it’s become clear to me that Wolff inside. The wall was decorated with smiles as my camera bags dragged and the A’s are much more than A’s legends such as Mark McGwire against the sides of the felt squares. what they appear to be. Through the and Jose Canseco. As I was setting I walked up the stairs leading to a media, Wolff’s reputation has been hallway of offices. As I walked down up my camera a man walked into polluted by stories of trying to turn the room. He was hunched over I saw offices protected by glass walls his back on Oakland and bashing with grey hair and thick eyebrows. separating the executives from the the fans of the A’s. However, Wolff is “What are you doing in here?” He noise of the interns downstairs. a risk taker, and in order to achieve said with a solemn face. For a moAs I stumbled passed the office of success he often finds himself in ment I was concerned, I wondered Billy Beane glancing inside to see a situations that jeopardize his popuif I was in the wrong place. Lew room filled with papers and clutter, larity and reputation. Wolff knows Wolff’s name was on the door, I was but still exerting a strange sense and realizes the tradeoff: in order to fairly certain this was his office. The of happiness from the pictures be successful in life, you have to take man then broke into a smile and and bright A’s decorations sheltering risks. stuck out his hand. “I’m Lew Wolff, the naked walls behind. I walked
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into a room at the very end of the hallway with a sign on the door reading “Lew Wolff”. As I walked in I noticed a wide window covering a whole side of the wall revealing the Oakland Coliseum outside of the window. The room was clean and well organized. The desk had papers
A’s. However, Wolff is a risk taker, and in order to achieve success he often finds himself in situations that jeopardize his popularity and reputation. Wolff knows and realizes the tradeoff: in order to be successful in life, you have to take risks. Lew Wolff grew up in a middle class family in the suburbs of St. Louis, which he describes as “a very comfortable environment”. “I went to grade school, middle school, and high school in three buildings that were all next to each other and I had the same principal that my mother had when she went there so it was pretty comfortable,” Wolff said with a grin. As a child Wolff always participated in sports, enjoying team sports
much more than individual sports. He thought of himself as just a regular child athlete and nothing special. Wolff attended the University of Wisconsin and found an interest in real estate through a real estate major offered at the university. After graduating he started off his career as an appraiser in St.Louis and worked through the ranks quickly. He started his own company, Wolff Urban Development, in 1968. His company has developed over 4,000,000 square feet of urban development, including hotels, parking structures, and town houses. He has owning interests in the Fairmont Hotels in both San Jose and San Francisco, and the
Four Seasons in Nevis and Toronto. Because of his success in real estate, Wolff has also had the opportunity to have owning interests in multiple major league sports teams. He has been the co- owner of the St. Louis Blues, the Golden State Warriors, and is currently the owner of the San Jose Earthquakes and, of course, the Oakland Athletics - his most successful franchise. Since Wolff took over the A’s in 2005, the Athletics have won the American League Western Division three times and have been to the playoffs four times. Wolff was a fraternity brother of MLB
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commissioner Bud Selig at the University of Wisconsin. When the Schotts, the previous owners of the A’s, were looking to sell the team, Selig called Wolff to see if he would be interested. When Wolff learned that both owners wanted to sell, he called John Fischer about purchasing the team together. Since his 180 million dollar purchase, the Oakland A’s have been quietly mastering the concept of moneyball, the analytical, evidence-based way to assemble a competitive baseball team as a small market team, quietly emerging as one of the top teams in baseball. Wolff attributes most of the teams to Billy Beane, the general manager. “I give most of the credit, obviously, to the players, but mainly to Billy Beane and his group,” Lew acknowledges. “We use a lot of statistical data and we use a lot of subjective judgement, it’s very intense. There’s a lot of thought that goes into every decision and its sort of fun to hear the thinking behind it.” Although he enjoys working with Billy Beane and his team, it’s not his favorite attribute of the job. “What I really like the most is dealing with young kids, some who are perfectly healthy some have some problems. I like taking them into the locker room, and remember our players are practically kids themselves, so I enjoy that part of it a lot.” With all of the benefits and perks of owning the A’s, there is one obstacle that has been a thorn in Wolff ’s side since the moment he took the job: “When we first bought the team we knew we needed a new ballpark. We play in what’s rated the worst stadium in baseball and it’s the only one that shares it with a football team.” The O.co Coliseum was built in 1966 and is one of the oldest stadiums in professional baseball in terms of not being renevated. On June 16, 2013, after a game with the Seattle Mariners, the stadium experienced a sewage leakage which spilled into the both dug4
outs and club level seats. The teams were forced to share the Oakland Raiders locker room which is located on the second floor. This just added to Wolff ’s argument for a new stadium, which to his point, would benefit the team. The stadium saga gets blurry when it comes to moving the team out of Oakland. “We spent the first 4 years trying to figure out how we could do one in Oakland, then Fremont, then possibly San Jose, but the territory is currently assigned to the Giants.” The media and fans continue to scrutinize Wolff for turning his back on the city of Oakland, however Wolff says this is not his intention. “Our first goal is to have a better fan experience. Our second is to stay in the Bay Area: Oakland is fine, San Jose, wherever we can go. I think it seems like we want to turn our back on Oakland but we’re not. It’s a regional business so as long as you’re in the area, most of our fans don’t even come from Oakland. As long as we stay in the region, we’re not really moving out.” Wolff has been criticized for wanting to move out but according to him this is not his intention. He wants a new stadium, in the Bay Area, wherever he can get it. “We just want a better fan experience. For our team, they like a filled up stadium. I think the crowd does impact the team, and we want to get the fans closer to the field.”From what Wolff told me, it does seem like he cares about the fans and the team. He appears to simply be frustrated by the process and the media involvement in the issue. “All you hear in the news is blogs and sound bytes and if you want to believe all that you can, if you don’t you don’t have to.” According to Wolff, the issue is not Oakland at all, it’s the stadium. While looking into this I found countless posts on social media and in the news saying “Lew Wolff Hates Oakland!”, “He’s turning his back on the city!”, “He lied he never tried!”. The stadium
issue summarizes Wolff ’s career as the owner of the Oakland Athletics: misunderstood and tedious. The media thrives on controversy. Wolff knows this as well. “Even our own station here, our own flagship station, I don’t like some of the things they falsely say about the A’s or about me. But when you talk to them they say, ‘Well you know we’re here to have controversy otherwise nobody is going to listen,’ That’s sad, but true.” The fact that Wolff does not care about the fans has become blindingly false. The number one reason he wants a new stadium is to have a better fan experience. As Eric Young from the San Francisco Business Times put it, “You can’t say ‘come over to my house even though my house is crappy.” Wolff knows the stadium is impacting fan attendance. Why would a fan choosing between teams choose to go to a game at a 48 year old, run down, dirty ballpark when they have the beautiful AT&T right across the bay? For Lew Wolff it’s not about the money- he has enough; it’s truly about the fans for him. “None of us are going to lose a meal over this team,” Wolff jokes. “Not that we’re so wealthy but that isn’t the goal here.” Unlike most conventional owners, Wolff would rather sit in the bleachers with the fans then up in his owner’s box. “Lately, because we’re a competitive team, I’ve been trying to sit in seats with the fans, sort of behind the catcher so I can see both pitchers, then I just sort of get up and go watch from different angles around the park.” I found this aspect of Wolff especially interesting. I have not heard of many owners opting out of their luxury seats to experience the game with the fans from their perspective.
behind the catcher so I can see both pitchers, then I just sort of get up and go watch from different angles around the park.” I found this aspect of Wolff especially interesting. I have not heard of many owners opting out of their luxury seats to experience the game with the fans from their perspective. Around the community Wolff is very active as well. He is involved with the JCC and very active in the charity Stand Up to Cancer. He’s a friendly guy who often works subtle humor into his dialogue. In his free time, which is not a lot, he enjoys to shoot basketballs by himself outside his home in Los Angeles. One of the sayings Wolff lives by is, “The cost of indecision is greater than the cost of making a decision.” Much like in the game of basketball his job requires
making quick decisions. One of his biggest pet peeves is people that take too long to make a decision. He believes in order to be successful in business and in life in general you need to make a decision and not look back, except to learn. “The world isn’t going come to an end if you make a mistake”(Wolff). When his career is over he has two things he hopes to be remembered by: he was not afraid to make a decision or to take a risk. He believes often taking risks lead to greater opportunities. This is something Wolff has always lived by, whether it be in real estate or in sports management. Even if these decisions lead to people p e rc e iv i ng him a certain way, Lew Wolff is willing to take the risk. “When it’s all over I’d like to be known as a person whose fair, first, and a person who is willing to take a little bit of risk to move forward. I think I’d be happy with that.”