How often have the A’s threatened to leave?

The A’s may be rooted in Oakland, but those roots never have run very deep during their 53 years in the city. Counting this week’s threat via Major League Baseball, there’s been at least nine times when it seemed plausible the franchise could be dug up and replanted elsewhere.

With the A’s efforts to secure a multi-billion dollar waterfront stadium project at Howard Terminal moving slower than they’d like, MLB has given the A’s permission to pursue relocation. The team is expected to explore its options in cities such as Las Vegas, Portland, Montreal, Nashville, Charlotte and Vancouver.

How real the threat is of the A’s leaving town is open to interpretation. After all, there have been multiple efforts by the A’s over the past 20 years to move out of the decrepit Coliseum. What’s clear is this latest effort marks the most direct power play yet to get the A’s out of their crumbling home ASAP.

The irony, of course, is that there never would have been baseball in Oakland had it not been for that drab, concrete monstrosity sitting off 66th Ave. Once considered a state-of-the-art building when it opened in 1966, A’s owner Charlie Finley only chose to move his team from Kansas City to Oakland because it had a new, move-in-ready stadium, which contending cities Dallas, Milwaukee and Seattle lacked.

It didn’t take long, however, for the A’s flamboyant and irascible owner to seek even greener pastures. Just two years after moving to Oakland in 1968, Finley reportedly met with representatives in Toronto to explore playing in Canada.

What followed during Finley’s 12year ownership run was a string of close calls when it seemed the A’s time in Oakland was up. There was none closer than in 1978, when Finley had an agreement to sell the club to oilman Marvin Davis, who would move the team to Denver.

Finley advised players and coaches not to rent an apartment or home in Oakland because the A’s would probably be playing their second homestand in Denver. Finally, a deal seemed real — the Coliseum board and Oakland officials would allow the A’s out of their lease in exchange for $4 million and a pledge by the Giants to play half their home games at the Coliseum.

The A’s were literally at a crossroads after their moving trucks left spring training and the drivers were instructed to stop in Las Vegas to await further instruction. They’d either be told to go left on I-15 toward Oakland or turn right and head to Denver.

Finally, the phone call came. Finley’s deal had fallen through because Coliseum officials would not be allowed to use the money from the lease buyout to build luxury suites to entice Al Davis and the Raiders to stay in Oakland.

Here’s a look at the timeline of Oakland’s often tenuous hold on their baseball team:

1970: Two years after moving the A’s from Kansas City to Oakland, owner Charlie Finley reportedly talks with Toronto representatives about moving the team to Canada.

1975: Finley, the absentee owner who lived in Chicago, was hoping to be in the middle of a three-city city “trade” that would send the A’s to Chicago and leave Oakland empty handed. The Chicago Tribune reported the plan would see the White Sox would move to Seattle and the A’s would relocate to Chicago to become the White Sox.

1978: Finley arranges to sell the A’s for $12 million to Colorado oilman Marvin Davis, who would move the team to Denver. Coliseum and Oakland officials reportedly agree to allow the A’s to break their stadium lease — which had 10 years remaining — on two conditions: Oakland would have to be bought out of the lease for $4 million and the Giants would have to agree to play half of their games at the Coliseum for 10 years for the right to be the Bay Area’s only team. Oakland planned on using the $4 million to build luxury suites at the Coliseum for Al Davis in order to keep the Raiders in town. The deal fell through when it was discovered earmarking the funds directly to the Raiders’ project would be a misappropriation of public funds.

1979: Still desperate to sell the A’s, Finley begins negotiating with Eddie DeBartolo Sr., who two years earlier purchased the 49ers and put his son Eddie Jr. in charge. Finley’s hopes of selling were dashed again by the Coliseum lease as well as baseball’s reluctance to sell a team to DeBartolo, who had gambling ties (he owned casinos and horse tracks).

1979: Finley once again agrees to sell the A’s to Marvin Davis for $12 million. The Oakland City Council, though, prevents the A’s from leaving for Denver by voting to keep the Coliseum lease intact.

1980: Finally fed up with trying to get approval on a sale that would send the A’s out of Oakland, Finley sells the A’s to a local group led by ex-Levi Strauss CEO Walter Haas Jr. that pledges to stay at the Coliseum.

1996: The A’s sign a deal to move to Las Vegas ... sort of. The A’s agree to open the season with a six-game homestand at Cashman Field in Vegas while worker put the finishing touches on Mt. Davis at the Coliseum.

2000: MLB lawyers discuss the Oakland A’s as a possible contraction candidate. One proposal was to disband the A’s and have Oakland ownership take over ownership of the Angels. Another concept was to disband the Angels and have the A’s players move to Anaheim to become the Angels.

2000: A’s owners Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann broach the possibility of moving to San Jose with Major League Baseball.

2002: A’s begin exploring possibility of a downtown ballpark in Oakland near City Hall.

2004: Ownership begins looking into building a new stadium on Coliseum property in the north parking lot.

2005: New majority owner Lew Wolff announces his group will focus on building a new stadium somewhere in Oakland.

2006: Wolff says A’s will build a new ballpark at Fremont’s Warm Springs district. The planned movein date at the 32,000-seat Cisco Field would be as early as 2010.

2009: A’s abandon plans to relocate to Fremont, citing “real and threatened” delays to their proposed project. The hurdles included local opposition to the increased traffic and diminished property values the new ballpark would cause.

2009: City of San Jose leaders begin courting the A’s, who later announce they’ll shift their focus to building a stadium in downtown San Jose. Commissioner Bud Selig later appoints a Blue Ribbon Panel to navigate stadium possibilities, including dealing with San Francisco Giants’ territorial rights in South Bay. It would turn out to be a sixyear battle.

2009: City of Oakland officials propose a waterfront ballpark near Jack London Square and along the Oakland Estuary called Victory Court.

2011: Oakland leaders shelve the Victory Court plans and instead propose a new development at the 66th Ave. site called Coliseum City.

2012: Cisco Field is proposed to be built in downtown San Jose, next to SAP Center and San Jose Diridon Station.

2013: MLB’s lawyers deny the A’s request to move to San Jose. San Jose city officials file a lawsuit that eventually makes its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

2014: The A’s sign a 10-year lease to remain playing at the Coliseum.

2015: The U.S. Supreme Court rejects San Jose’s bid to overrule MLB’s decision to deny the team’s proposed move to the South Bay.

2016: Wolff resigns as majority owner and John Fisher becomes new majority owner. He hires Dave Kaval as team president and head of stadium project.