The A's Were Going To Make Paul Blackburn Fly Commercial To The All-Star Game Until the Astros Found Out And Let Him Get On Their Private Jet
You have to tip your cap to the Oakland A's at this point. They've just fully embraced being the cheap assholes of Major League Baseball. In addition to playing in a crumbling garbage dump with attendance numbers that would make a Double-A front office upset, they tried to make Paul Blackburn fly commercial to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game. That's right, Paul, we've got you booked on a Delta flight with a connection in Albuquerque on Sunday night after we finish the series in Houston. Go get 'em!
Luckily, the Houston Astros had at least enough integrity to rescue a player from that terrible organization and let Blackburn fly with them on their chartered plane — even if they cheat and disrespect the game of baseball, but that's neither here nor there. Any of them could have had the misfortune of being on the A's, after all.
Do the A's truly feel no shame or embarrassment ever? Even if they were originally going to make Blackburn fly commercial, you'd think they would have sucked it up and paid for a private flight once they caught wind that a division rival was taking pity on their player and taking him on their plane. But nope.
You have to be pretty damn unlikable to make the Astros look like the good guys, but the A's have found a way to do it.