On Thursday, Sept. 30, the Oakland Athletics faced a bittersweet end as they completed their last Major League Baseball season in the Oakland Coliseum. Due to stadium issues and declining attendance and revenue, the search for a new playing location began back in 2021 and has spurred a lot of controversy.
Currently, the team plans to play the next three seasons in Sacramento at Sutter Health Park until their permanent stadium is completed in Las Vegas. As the A’s’ time in Oakland has concluded, David Lengel, a writer for “The Guardian,” described the ending as a collective loss for everyone despite the team winning their last home game.
With a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers, the Oakland Athletics managed to depart from their home stadium with a performance victory. Filled with tributes to the team’s history and memories of the Oakland Coliseum, several baseball lovers and Bay Area residents attended the game. Many sat in the stands split by the bittersweet conclusion of the team’s tenure and frustrated with the decisions of the MLB, booing and chanting at the field.
Several individuals held signs in protest, with one attacking the Oakland’s Athletics predominant owner, John Fisher, reading: “John Fisher can Burn at Hell.” Moving past several angered devotees, fans watched Rickey Henderson, a past baseball player, take the field for the first pitch while former player Barry Zito sang the anthem. With the beloved local team moving onto new things, Bay Area fans express sadness and loss as they’re left behind.
Oscar award-winning actor Tom Hanks was saddened to hear the news of the Athletics departure.
“When the A’s were in the World Series, the world came to Oakland,” Hanks wrote in an email to The Athletic. “Not San Francisco. Oakland.”
In the eyes of Hanks and several other fans, the A’s have provided a sense of community for Oakland that will be deeply missed moving forward.
Sharing his disappointment towards this move, Hanks’ expression of loss is a shared sentiment across several local Oakland fans. Shawn Maloney, a dedicated Bay Area baseball enthusiast, expressed his dedication towards the team.
“I was there, win or lose. Every game. And I’m going to miss that,” Maloney said in an interview with The Beacon. “My favorite thing about being an A’s fan is that it wasn’t about winning the championship, it was about winning the next game and only that.”
The sense of community that came from the Oakland A’s is treasured by many, including lifelong fan Jackie Tincher who emphasized the diverse community that the team brought together.
“I thought the A’s were a meaningful part of what Oakland is or could be again,” Tincher told The Beacon. The A’s coliseum provided “a melting pot of cultures and fans but also brought access to all socioeconomic levels.”
The loss many fans experience extends past the simple attendance of baseball and to the opportunity of cultural connectedness that the sports games provided. Losing the Raiders football team to Las Vegas in 2020, Oakland has watched their environment shift rapidly and several hope to maintain the community these teams provided. For now, baseball fans can expect to see the Athletics in their new arena, located on the former Tropicana Las Vegas resort, in 2028.