A'S ON MARKET AND FOUR MONTH SEARCH FOR LOCAL BUYER BEGINS

          A's co-Owners Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann on Friday
     exercised a clause in the team's lease which puts the
     franchise up for sale and allows East Bay officials a four-
     month search for a local buyer, according to DelVecchio &
     Walker of the S.F. CHRONICLE.  The owners said they gave the
     city "a fair asking price for the team -- a number that ...
     reportedly ranges from" $120-140M.  But City Manager Robert
     Bobb said the asking price is "off the scale."  Schott said
     that the A's will "definitely play in Oakland for the next
     two seasons," and remain in Oakland "for the foreseeable
     future" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/24).  Oakland Vice Mayor Ignacio
     De La Fuente said that the team's asking price was "a hell
     of a lot more than we expected."  Bobb said he agreed with
     the team on the merits of a new ballpark, "At some point in
     the future we are going to have to look at a baseball-only
     stadium in downtown Oakland.  But so far, the message they
     are giving is 'we're out of here'" (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 10/24).