The Heartbreak of an Unexpected Oakland A’s Fan
It is official. The MLB owners have unanimously voted to relocate the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas. I am heartbroken and for every logical reason I should not be.
Most importantly, I should have never become an Oakland A’s fan. It does not make any sense that I did. Despite everything, I can wholeheartedly say that I am an Oakland A’s fan and my heart aches so much personally but I know it aches even more for so many other Oakland fans.
I moved to the East Bay in the Spring of 2021 from Seattle - during a global pandemic when you could only attend baseball games under strict social distancing requirements. I moved to the East Bay completely sight unseen. Sure I had visited the San Francisco peninsula side of the Bay Area a few times and had even been to a San Francisco Giants game during one of those visits (and had a great time at the ballpark) but arriving in the East Bay in the Spring of 2021 was different. This was beginning a new chapter of my life with a brand new place to live and building up a new sense of community from scratch.
Going to baseball games has been a part of building that sense of community and place while making memories for as long as I remember. I grew up a Seattle Mariners fan - going to at least one game at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) nearly every season with my parents. I did attend a couple of games at the Kingdome but my memories there are a little less clear - though I do remember that we went to the bat Beanie Baby giveaway game there. As a family we enjoyed even more games at the AAA affiliate, Tacoma Rainiers, at Cheney Stadium. I remember standing in the long lines of the heyday of the Mariners train car giveaway days and being so excited once I got the train car (that I spent a lot of the game playing with versus watching the game on the field - I was little, okay?) My dad remembers how my mother always complained that despite all the games we went to, Ken Griffey Jr. never hit a homerun at a game we attended in person. I experienced Fan Fest during All-Star week in 2001. I remember sitting in the sun on the long metal bleachers at Cheney Stadium and then staying to see the post-game fireworks. I can go on and on with little and big memories from trips to the ballpark.
Obviously I have a lot of memories with the Seattle Mariners organization and am pretty attached to them.
Now let’s move back to the start of my East Bay chapter. In late June 2021, after getting a little bit settled from the move and wanting to get out and do things, I attended two games at Oracle Park to see the San Francisco Giants. Now remember, this was socially-distanced ballpark baseball at this time and as fans we could not attend any games during the previous season so this was my first baseball game attended in 630 days. Oracle Park was mostly like I remembered it from my one previous visit. Very pretty ballpark. Decadent (overpriced) Ghirardelli sundaes. A new and improved scoreboard from my last visit. I had a good time but was mostly just excited to get back into a ballpark - no matter where it was.
Celebrating the Fourth of July 2021, I attended my first game at the Oakland Coliseum. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day in Oakland. Took BART to the Coliseum and walked across the pedestrian bridge for the first (of many times), taking in the sights and smells of the hot dog cart vendors, unofficial merchandise sales, and people with coolers filled with Modellos that they will sell to you for your pre-game needs. Once in the stadium, did the standard lap around to scope it all out and ended up standing in the Treehouse to watch the game versus sitting in whatever section our seats had been purchased for. Back in Seattle in 2019, I had standing room only tickets for most of the season and through taking in over thirty games that season in almost exclusively standing room only areas, I now gravitate towards scoping out great places to stand and watch a game. I left the ballpark that day sun-kissed and happy, not realizing that I was beginning my journey of (painfully) falling in love with the Oakland Athletics.
It is hard to say exactly when in the summer of 2021 I realized that I had chosen Oakland over San Francisco as my Bay Area baseball team. This season I experienced a number of games at both stadiums - including a Battle of the Bay games in Oakland and San Francisco. Seeing as I now had easy access to two Major League Baseball teams was such a strong point in the win column for me personally in the move from Seattle. I was so excited about that specific prospect of this move that I thought I would feel more evenly balanced about the teams and just enjoy going to baseball games in general. But if you go to enough games for a team, you’ll likely catch feelings which is what I did.
Even though I do not remember at what time my tipping point went to Oakland, I was just enjoying the overall ballpark experience more in Oakland than I was in San Francisco. In Oakland… you see people tailgating before the game. There is a section of passionate fans drumming. You could get a hot dog from Hal. You had the opportunity to meet Stomper as he did his rounds throughout the stadium. Enjoy the game by standing in the Treehouse instead of sitting in your seat for the game. Snack on delicious foods from local food trucks most games. See pitchers warming up during the game in live foul territory. Play along with the games on the scoreboard between innings. All of these things and so much more. Going to a game at the Coliseum wasn’t as glamorous and picturesque as it was in San Francisco but all of these little things contributed to the vibes that left my heart feeling much more warm, content, and happy when going to a game on the bright side of the Bay.
For the 2022 season, I attended seven games at the Coliseum. At this point I had fully adopted the Oakland A’s into my fold of fandom. I had purchased some A’s merch to wear. I was thoroughly cheering for them (unless I was attending a game versus the Mariners.) I was taking in more information to learn more about the history of the organization and what the future may look like. I understood (and loved) The Lonely Island’s The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience so much better now. It was a great summer of attending some games at the Coliseum. But for those paying attention things were not as golden in Oakland as they might have seemed.
I am not here to go through the entire timeline of events that have brought us to today (Thursday, November 16, 2023) - the day that the MLB owners unanimously voted to approve the move from Oakland to Las Vegas. (If you want to brush up on the overall timeline of the major points to get us here, check this out.) From here I just want to say despite it all, I have had the best time going to games in Oakland (a total of twenty-nine games from three seasons (‘21-’23)) and falling for this team that I had absolutely no reason to love. I couldn’t help it. For so many little reasons - and despite getting more and more informed for reasons that I should distance myself from this team - I loved it.
Despite everything, the Oakland A’s (keyword - Oakland) will forever hold a special place in my heart. I do not think I will ever fully be able to articulate the how and why behind it - I just accept it. Now I have to accept being heartbroken and moving on, even though we all saw today’s news coming.
Against everything, Oakland forever. 💚💛⚾