SWIMMING WITH SHARKS: A'S BEING COURTED BY SAN JOSE?

          The San Jose Sports Authority "has approached" the A's
     "about the possibility of building the team a new stadium in
     the South Bay," according to Steve Kettman of the S.F.
     CHRONICLE.  The team's lease at the Oakland Coliseum gives
     Owners Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann the "option of leaving
     after next season," and "both have hinted publicly that they
     are prepared to move the team elsewhere in the Bay Area if a
     new stadium were available."  But the CHRONICLE's Kettman
     writes that there would be "numerous obstacles" to building a
     new ballpark in San Jose, as any facility "would need to be
     funded at least in part by public money," and South Bay
     voters defeated ballpark initiatives in '90 and '92. 
     Potential San Jose Mayoral candidate Ron Gonzales, "whom many
     expect to succeed Susan Hammer as mayor ... will push for
     baseball" to come to San Jose.  Gonzales: "[P]rofessional
     sports have been a high point of San Jose rebuilding itself
     and will be in the future" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/14).