Bud blocked Mr. October.
MLB legend Reggie Jackson claimed former commissioner Allan “Bud” Selig blocked his attempt to purchase the Oakland Athletics in the early 2000s.
“I absolutely believe that Bud was the guy involved that denied me from getting the team,” Jackson said on “The Howard Stern Show” Wednesday.
Jackson discussed his proposed deal that would’ve changed ownership for the Bay Area team.
“In writing, I sent a letter to Ken Hoffman, who owned the A’s, that I’m willing to pay $25 million more than any bid that you get,” Jackson said.
Jackson had formed a group of business and team owners that had enough money to buy almost anything.
“I put a group together with (Microsoft founders) Bill Gates, Paul Allen and John McCaw (former Vancouver Canucks owner). I could’ve bought the National League.”
The 14-time All-Star recalled Selig trying to help him out with the purchase before everything fell apart.
“Bud said to me, ‘Reggie stay with me I’ll guide you through, I’ll get this done for ya, don’t worry about it.’ Then all of a sudden it came out that the A’s were sold to a guy by the name of Lew Wolff.”
Wolff, a college friend of Selig’s, purchased the team in 2005 for $180 million dolllars stayed in the Athletics organization until 2016 when he sold his share of the team and is now the Chairman Emeritus.
Jackson nearly filed a lawsuit against the owners and commissioner for the failed bit, but the five-time World Champion backed away after several baseball figures told him off.
“I had a 100-page lawsuit drawn up. I still have the decks and text-messages of back-and-forth, I never filed it,” Jackson said.
“I got scared away by some people in baseball. They said Reggie, the first thing you’d have to do is resign from baseball, from the Yankees, you’d probably won’t get hired again,” he said when asked about why he didn’t sue.
“I should have sued, I didn’t and its obviously still in my craw. I get a chance to talk about it now,” Jackson said alluding to his appearance on the SiriusXM show.
Jackson, who was drafted by the then Kansas City Athletics in 1966, played for the team for nine seasons from 1967 to 1975, where he won three World Series titles and was named AL MVP in 1973.
Jackson then played for the Orioles, Yankees, and Angels before returning to the Athletics for his final season in 1987.
Controversy has surrounded the A’s over the past few seasons as they attempt to search for a better stadium then the 57-year-old RingCentral Coliseum.
Two main locations have been located — one on the water in Oakland at Howard’s Terminal while the second would send the team packing for sin-city and Las Vegas would get its first MLB team.
