Great meeting last night, thank you!

A huge thank you to everyone who showed up at our events last night, we were well represented and had a great time.

Michael Mulcahy was gracious enough to provide our group with some very good "eats" at Billy Berks, and his remarks at the city council meeting were well received. Marine Layer who writes the New A's Ballpark blog has a great "play by play" of the council meeting, and if you want to watch the speakers for yourself, click here to find the video when it is posted (as of this morning last nights meeting had not yet been archived.)

Here are some pictures from last night, you might recognize a few of the folks who were there. First, here are the pictures from Billy Berks:

From April 7 2009

From April 7 2009

From April 7 2009

From April 7 2009

From April 7 2009

From April 7 2009

After Billy Berks we walked over to City Hall as a group:

From April 7 2009

Filled an elevator at City Hall:

From April 7 2009

And here are some young A's fans in the audience:

From April 7 2009

And here is the blogger who writes "NewA'sBallPark:"

From April 7 2009

There were a number of people who spoke in favor of the stadium last night, including former mayors Janet Grey Hayes and Susan Hammer, County Assessor Larry Stone and Carl Guardino of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (click here to read the survey done by the SVLG). Additionally there were a number of people who voiced both opposition and concerns, but overall I would say that there were more people who spoke in favor of bringing MLB to San Jose.

All said, it was a great night and it was nice to meet so many of our facegroup folks in person.

And WOW! Our facebook group is almost at 700! Keep up the great work everyone. We need to keep growing our numbers so when the time comes we are ready to get to work and help our city become major league.

Play ball San Jose.

April 7th Rally and City Hall Council Meeting and some news

Join us at Billy Berks, 99 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95113, on Tuesday, April 7th at 5:30 p.m. for a pre City Council meeting rally. We will be joined by Michael Mulcahy, co-chair of the study group looking at the feasibility of bringing MLB to San Jose.

After a short meeting/rally we will walk over to city hall for the council meeting. If you are planning on attending either the pre meeting rally at Billy Berks or the city council meeting, please RSVP on facebook, or send me an email Jacquie at baseballsanjose.com.

Wear a hat to show your support for MLB in San Jose. Last, if you live near the proposed stadium (downtown San Jose, Willow Glen, Rosegarden, etc., please email me if you will be attending either of the meetings). Now, onto some news.

Lots of news appearing lately, first off the Giants buying an interest in the San Jose Giants:

Amid a threat to their territorial rights in Santa Clara County, the Giants are moving to fortify their baseball outpost in the region.

The major league club has reached agreement to purchase a 25 percent stake in its Class A minor league affiliate in San Jose, club and industry officials told the Mercury News on Wednesday.

Does this mean the Giants now "own" more of San Jose? No, and this move isn't going to help or hinder the current drive to bring MLB to San Jose.

And of course those ugly "territorial rights" keep popping up:

The geography is simple: Downtown San Jose sits 38 miles from the Oakland A's current stadium and 51 miles from the San Francisco Giants' popular bayfront ballpark.

But the calculus is far less clear: Exactly how much is the capital of Silicon Valley worth to the two big-league baseball teams — the A's, who hope to move here, and the Giants, who are fiercely guarding territorial rights to the city?

From the same article, a bit of history:

In many ways, the current tussle over Santa Clara County — handed to the Giants on June 14, 1990, with the A's blessing — reflects an ironic twist in the fortunes of the two teams.

Back then, before Barry Bonds and their retro ballpark on San Francisco's waterfront, it was the Giants who found themselves looking to the South Bay for salvation, desperate to escape a decrepit, sparsely attended stadium.

And it was the A's who reigned as the Bay Area's baseball darlings, flush with record turnout — some 2.9 million fans alone in 1990 — and owners, the Haas family, who spent heavily on players to keep those fans coming back.

But while the South Bay was already well on the way to becoming the economic powerhouse it is today, ceding it seemed a no-brainer for A's officials tempted by the prospect of having San Francisco and the North Bay all to themselves. It wasn't until years later, baseball sources say, that the A's realized what keeping a piece of Santa Clara County could have been worth.

Ultimately, the Giants never did make their way south, losing a fourth and final ballot measure in 1992 that would have committed San Jose tax money to a new stadium.

The bottom line is what makes the best business sense for all of MLB, not simply the Giants, and my guess is that moving the A's to San Jose is going to improve MLB's balance sheet.

Don't forget: RSVP for Tuesday, see you there!

Play ball San Jose.