I attended my first Oakland A’s game on May 17th 2010, just a few months after moving to San Francisco. I wrote about it here: Art and Baseball and the A’s won 8 to 4. A friend of mine I met through the Ubuntu community brought me along and hooked me up with the opportunity to get a baseball signed by several players and the manager of the team. I was still learning the rules of the game and it was a great experience, My fondness for the team and baseball in general grew in the past 14 years I’ve lived here, especially since we moved to the east bay several years ago.
My first A’s game!
Over the years we’ve gone with friends several times, and made date outings as well. In the fall of 2021, one of the first big outings we had was taking the boys to their first MLB game there at the Coliseum in a rented suite. Sometimes when I just needed an afternoon off and some fresh air I’d grab some last minute tickets and take myself out to a ball game.
We celebrated my 40th birthday there, ran the bases on Father’s Day, and generally really enjoyed having a connection to the team and the stadium.
It’s been clear for several years that the owner wanted to move the team, and after rounds of negotiations, the deal was sealed earlier this year, the A’s would be moving to Las Vegas. This was their last season in Oakland. It’s been sad difficult to accept, but as the end of this era of Oakland baseball is upon us, we decided to see one final game at the Coliseum. On the afternoon of September 8th we took BART over to see the A’s play the Detroit Tigers.
We snagged seats in Section 122 and invited our friend James out to join us. Gaby also came with us, so the six of us ate helmet nachos and ice cream as we watched the game and took in our final laps around the stadium.
The boys definitely had their patience wear out toward the end of the game, but I get it, they’re young and an entire baseball game is quite long to them. They were kept slightly engaged only by the promise of walking the bases at the end of the game, one last time. That was a lot of fun too, even if there was a very long line for it.
We weren’t multi-generational fans, but there are memories and we’ll miss going to games so close to home. It’s not an end of baseball for us though. We enjoy the San Francisco Giants, and we’ve spent much of this season following the Phillies. Still, it’s sad for us and Oakland lose the last major sporting team.
Farewell, Oakland Athletics.