The Athletics bid farewell to Oakland in an emotional 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday at the Coliseum, where one fan celebrated a remarkable milestone.
The unidentified man in green Oakland A’s gear was pictured on X with his back to the field and a homemade sign in his hands.
‘I was here for the 1st pitch in 1968!’ the message began. ‘I’m here for the last pitch in 2024!’
Not everyone at the Coliseum on Thursday was feeling so sentimental. The ninth inning featured two fans jumping the fences to run onto the grass, bottles being thrown into center field and smoke bombs set off and tossed into right.
In the end, though, A’s diehards were all on their feet as closer Mason Miller secured the final out before manager Mark Kotsay thanked the city for its support.
‘I want to thank you guys for coming out today and sharing this moment with a club I’m so proud of,’ said Kotsay, a former A’s outfielder, as his team fell to 69-90 on the year. ‘We played our a**es off.’
On a celebrity-filled day in which Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart threw out ceremonial first pitches and Barry Zito sang the National Anthem, A’s fans marked the historic event by recording the largest attendance – 46,889 – in major-league history for a team playing its final game in its home city. The Montreal Expos held the previous mark of 31,395 in 2004.
Thursday was the club’s final game in Oakland, where fans have enjoyed some of dizzying highs and lows across 56 years.
There were, of course, the clubs four World Series Crowns over that time, not to mention a bevy of Hall of Famers including Ricky Henderson, Reggie Jackson and Dennis Eckersley. Even rap legend MC Hammer, a former clubhouse attendant, and cookie mogul Mrs. Fields, a glamorous former bat girl, got their start at Oakland’s soon-to-be empty Coliseum.
Now, though, the A’s will play the next three years in Sacramento with hopes of opening a new ballpark in Las Vegas ahead of the 2028 season.
Kotsay has treated this moment, this daunting day, like the World Series he has never had as a player or manager.
He fought tears, just like so many others Thursday, as the A’s bid an emotional farewell to their beloved Coliseum they’ve called home since 1968, complete with all its quirks like plumbing problems and rally possums — and those stray cats who helped inspire Hall of Famer Tony La Russa’s former Animal Rescue Foundation.
‘I’ve never been to a World Series before,’ Kotsay said. ‘But I feel like today is one of those days that you can kind of experience the emotion of that, the magnitude of it. Driving in the gates today and seeing the fullness of a parking lot, feeling the energy and the emotion is something I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.’
Longtime supporters and kids alike stole away from work or school to be here for the matinee finale.
Kotsay made one request for a memento: He’s taking home three bases, which were changed out every inning so 27 were available as keepsakes — with longtime, outgoing groundskeeper Clay Wood gifted the first-inning bags.
From Kotsay’s days of playing outfield and way back to the 1989 earthquake-interrupted World Series when the A’s swept the Giants, to Bash Brothers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire and that special 20-game winning streak of 2002 and the Big Three of Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito before ‘I Believe in Stephen Vogt’ later became a battle cry, this building has been home to so many glory moments transcending eras and spanning stars of different generations.
Zito sang the national anthem to huge applause, while Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart tossed out ceremonial first pitches.
Not far from the A’s dugout, Kelly Mattson of the grounds crew let fans scoop dirt right out of his shovel.
Hours before first pitch, A’s bullpen catcher Dustin Hughes and his Oakland scout father John played catch in left field before hiking up to Mount Davis and then exploring the inside of the scoreboard and other hidden spots below the center-field stands.
Hundreds of fans spent recent days walking through the concourse snapping photos or taking videos of all the pictures and memories spanning the decades. The parking lots were filled before breakfast with tailgaters taking it all in just once more.
Former A’s fan favorite and current Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien expected 10 to 15 family and friends — including his parents and grandparents — in the stands for the special occasion.
‘Thank you to all the security guards, concession workers everyone who made this place a major league stadium,’ Semien said on the field. ‘I really appreciate you welcoming me as an East Bay kid to your place of work. I feel very sorry for anybody who can’t continue on with Oakland but keep on grinding like you always have been.’
