Well, it’s one, two, $300 mill at the old ballgame.

My lyrics are less than crackerjack, but the sentiment rings true. After a seven-day special session of the Nevada Legislature that briefly bordered on acrimony, the Oakland A’s secured a public financing package worth up to $380 million to help fund a $1.5 billion baseball stadium home on some of the most recognizable real estate on the planet.

Despite a stunning lack of excitement from Las Vegas sports fans, a roar of clever if ill-fated protest from jilted A’s supporters, and a stadium development plan whose lofty financial projections raised lawmakers’ eyebrows, SB1 passed with amendments this past week. Super fan Gov. Joe Lombardo on Thursday autographed it like a Big League game program.

The ink is dry, and in the end the score wasn’t close. Once the cement dries in 2028, the Las Vegas A’s will play ball on the Strip in the former home of the legendary Folies Bergere. Ooh là là!

I could lament that public financing for private stadiums is terrible policy for taxpayers, but frankly I’m getting tired of hearing myself jeer. I could remind you that the construction employment for Allegiant Stadium was about 30 percent of projections, and the work predictions for the baseball park build-out seem juiced, but you could respond by saying some jobs are better than no jobs.

In Las Vegas, where the casino-tourism economy traditionally thrives in a perpetual steroid era, thanks to the generosity of Nevada elected officials hired to watch over the state’s tax dollars, the baseball stadium is bound to make money for a lot of people who don’t lose sleep over public education, health and social services. And, yes, I’m tired of hearing A’s executives try to portray themselves as community partners at a time the team’s fan base is chanting epithets from the grandstands at owner John Fisher.

Win or lose, in the first few seasons the Strip A’s will enjoy a honeymoon in Vegas. Locals may hate a loser, and the team has been doing plenty of that this season, but everyone loves that new-stadium smell.

The league itself is not without its problems. Compared to other sports, the average age of baseball’s fan base resembles God’s waiting room. It’s fallen and it can’t get up. I’m hearing they’re considering outlawing the seventh-inning stretch because too many people were experiencing dizzy spells.

It’s Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred’s job to do something about it, but let’s just say he’s having a messaging problem. This summer is the season of Major League Baseball’s discontent, and Manfred is taking a pistol-whipping in the sports press. He was quick to write off much of the tumult and grousing to his view that the sport’s popularity is “cyclical,” but there’s economic trouble brewing in multiple markets. In Milwaukee, for example, the team’s owners are being pressured to make $443 million in stadium repairs under the threat of being moved by the league.

In that light, the A’s ask seems almost quaint. 

Manfred hasn’t helped himself by chiding diehard A’s enthusiasts for staging a remarkable “reverse boycott” of the team and drawing 27,759 loyalists — the largest crowd of a sorry season — to the Oakland Coliseum this past week. Those on social media might have caught snippets of the crowd imploring Fisher to fuck off and sell the team. Some observers have predicted Oakland fans’ sorrow will take generations to heal, but they can always hate Fisher from afar.

Fisher has been accused of “owner malpractice” in a sport that once had Marge Schott in a front office, but all the acrimony in Mudville won’t change the final score. Fisher’s A’s won, and he swears he’s bringing $1.1 billion to Las Vegas for the stadium deal. The ballclub gave a little in special session negotiations and got a lot in return. One day the A’s will play their home games somewhere the toilets don’t back up and flood the dugout.

But even if the A’s ownership is as weird as it’s appeared, if financial analyst Jeremy Aguero’s home run job-creation prediction turns out to be a pop fly, and if the worst financial puffery ends up a swing and a miss, it’s a safe bet that few of those responsible will be around to take the heat.

For example. By the time Republican Lombardo throws out the first pitch, he will be in the twilight of his second term as governor. And no one in his fiscally conservative party — sometimes I just crack myself up — is making much more than a peep of protest about it.

Tax set asides and public financing for wealthy private developers? That’s the real great American pastime. Say it ain’t so, Joe.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.