The feud between the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants over the territorial rights of the South Bay Area are really starting to heat up after the A's released a statement earlier Wednesday voicing their side of what they believe is the Giants bullying them out of Santa Clara/San Jose. Well, the Giants fired back and the San Francisco Chronicles's John Shea caught all the juicy details.
#SFGiants say Fisher, Wolff were aware of Giants' territories "when they purchased the A's for just $172 million in 2005." Note the "just."
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 8, 2012
Hmm, that probably wasn't necessary, but the Giants don't seem to want to play soft toss here. Actually, they don't want to play ball at all:
#SFGiants say #Athletics "fail to mention (territorial rights) explicity re-affirmed by MLB on four separate occasions."
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 8, 2012
San Francisco isn't going to back off that they are in the right, and that legally the A's can't touch the South Bay. Not only that, the team is sticking to their guns that it's Giants country down South, not A's country:
#SFGiants also claim Santa Clara County "represents 43% of our territory." This little feud ain't going away.
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 8, 2012
It's probably only going to get uglier, let's see which team takes the gloves off first.
For more on the A's, head over to Athletics Nation. For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles.