Oakland A's news: "SELL" tee makes Baseball Hall of Fame, relocation process started by Athletics, and more

Reverse Boycott "SELL" tee expected to make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame

The Oakland faithful held what came to be known as the "Reverse Boycott" on June 13 in the second game of the series against the Tampa Bay Rays played at the Oakland Coliseum last week.

Part of the now-famous event was the fan-funding campaign to pay for and distribute kelly-green t-shirts emblazoned with the word "SELL" across the chest in protest for the relocation of the team by franchise owner John Fisher and president Dave Kaval.

More than 7,000 shirts were claimed and distributed, and more than $30,000 were raised by the fans of the A's ahead of the game, with the stands packed full of fans clad in those beautiful pieces of garment.

Speaking to The Mercury News on Wednesday, Jon Shestakofsky (vice president of communications and education of the Baseball Hall of Fame), revealed that the "SELL" tee is headed to Cooperstown.

Shestakofsky said the HoF wants to "document history and preserve that history as it relates to baseball and it relates to the game.”

He didn't enter the discussion of whether or not the Hall is siding with the fans of the A's from Oakland trying to prevent the relocation of the team, though, saying that the HoF is "not trying to be encyclopedic with the stories we tell, but just make sure we are able to tell historically significant stories as time goes on.”

Oakland Athletics' application for relocating to Las Vegas already in progress

The A's are going to keep playing baseball in Oakland for the remainder of this season and through 2024 according to a team spokeperson, as it was revealed a few days ago.

The move to Las Vegas can now be considered a fait accompli after the Nevada vote passed the Las Vegas Strip new stadium bill by mid-June, with all main hurdles already cleared by the A's and only one more pending: another round of votes by the other 29 MLB owners that the A's must past in order for the relocation to go through.

Before that happens, thouhg, Oakland A's president and owner will need to put together a comprehensive application to be handed to the MLB before that voting takes place.

According to Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the A's are already progressing in the submission of the aforementioned application to get the relocation kickstarted and going as soon as possible.

Akers wrote that the A's "officially began the relocation application process with MLB," according to a person with knowledge of the process.

As Akers explains in his note, the application will require the A's "to talk about Oakland and why they are planning to leave the market," as well as "why Las Vegas would be a better home for the team." That last point has raised many doubts among fans of the franchise and Oakland residents, as well as Las Vegas natives, considering the long-tenured fandom the A's have built in the Bay Area and their impressively rich community.

At the time of this writing, and as commissioner Rob Manfred said in the meetings held last week, there is no set date nor timeline (h/t Front Office Sports) for the MLB owners' vote about the relocation of the A's to Las Vegas yet.

A's claim Angel Felipe off waivers from the San Diego Padres

On a final note, the A's claimed right-hander pitcher Angel Felipe off waivers from the San Diego Padres. The team announced the move on Wednesday on their official social network accounts.

Felipe, as expressed by the own MLB Pipeline account on Twitter, was no. 29 on San Diego's list of prospects.

In order to make accommodate Felipe, the A's assigned the Dominican Republic native to Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas Aviators. Along with that move, the A's also moved Zach Jackson from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL, thus creating an open spot on their 40-man roster.

Born in August 1997, Felipe will turn 26 years old before the end of the season. The right-handed hurler has yet to make it to the Show, though, having appeared in different teams while being part of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Padres organizations in the past.

Felipe had already reached Triple-A levels of play, as he got assigned to the Padres' Pacific Coast League El Paso Chihuahuas affiliate earlier this year, back in March.

In seven professional seasons of play, Felipe has appeared in 169 games starting six of them (although he hasn't started a single outing since he did it back in 2016 for the last time).

Felipe holds a 14-20 record and he's finished 71 games through his career, getting 25 total saves. He has racked up 250.1 innings through his pro career in which he's gotten an ERA of 4.71. This season in the PCL alone he'd pitched 24.2 innings with an ERA of 6.20 allowing 17 runs on 26 hits to go with 39 strikeouts while walking 18 batters.