The Oakland Athletics garnered some real attention during the MLB All-Star Game, but it was not for the best reasons. Their All-Star, pitcher Paul Blackburn, got a ride to Los Angeles with the Houston Astros on their charter jet.
According to Jon Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, Athletics traveling secretary Mickey Morabito booked Blackburn a first-class ticket but also reached out to the Astros to see if they had any room on their plane. Houston general manager James Click, manager Dusty Baker and Blackburn himself were all good with the plan.
“This happens all the time,” Morabito told Shea. “This has nothing to do with the Oakland A’s. All we do is facilitate the travel. This is in conjunction with Major League Baseball. If you call all 30 major-league teams, you’ll find more examples of this. Other teams have done this in the past.”
Shea notes that this arrangement has been done before in the past. The Athletics even provided a ride themselves to Daniel Vogelbach, the 2019 All-Star for the Seattle Mariners. Oakland had played the Astros in Houston before the All-Star break began, hence the plan to have Blackburn hitch a ride with his division rivals.
Although the Athletics' ride situation is within MLB rules and is not unheard of, it's a terrible look for one of the cheapest teams in the league. Their team's entire payroll rivals that of some individual players. To show for it, they have the worst record in the American League.
The 28-year-old Blackburn has a 3.62 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 97.0 innings this season, his sixth in the big leagues, all of which have come in Oakland.
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