Sights and sounds from A's last game at Oakland Coliseum, place they called home since 1968
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland is losing the Athletics after this year but got to celebrate one last win Thursday with the A's 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers in front of a sellout crowd that came to witness the final Major League Baseball game at the Coliseum.
Many clad in green and gold came to the Coliseum's parking lot to tailgate hours before first pitch Thursday afternoon and filled the ballpark with cheers for the team and jeers for A's owner John Fisher, who is moving a team that came to Oakland in 1968 and won four World Series during its time in the Bay Area.
The A's are moving for at least three years starting in 2025 to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, the home of the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A minor league affiliate Sacramento River Cats, before a planned move to Las Vegas for a stadium the team hopes will be ready by 2028.
Fisher, son of the founders of the Gap clothing store chain, in a letter to fans earlier this week acknowledged "there is great disappointment, even bitterness" about the last major professional sports team leaving Oakland, joining the Raiders who moved to Las Vegas and the Golden State Warriors basketball team that moved across the Bay to San Francisco.
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"Staying in Oakland was our goal, it was our mission, and we failed to achieve it. And for that I am genuinely sorry," Fisher said in the letter.
Pregame Thursday, A's former Cy Young-winning pitcher Barry Zito sang the national anthem and the rowdy crowd made sustained chants of "sell the team" toward Fisher throughout the game.
Oakland took a 3-0 lead in the early innings and held on for the victory with All-Star closer Mason Miller getting the save with a groundout to end the A's tenure in Oakland. After the game, the players and coaches all came out on the field to raise their caps to the fans and stadium staff.
A's manager Mark Kotsay said, "To the staff who have dedicated their lives to the Oakland A's, especially those who aren't coming with us, I am forever grateful. And to all of you, on behalf of my staff, myself, this team, all the past players and coaches, everyone who has worn the green and gold, there are no better fans than you guys."
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Longtime supporters and kids alike stole away from work or school to be here for the matinee finale under a cloudless September blue sky. Oakland's last team standing, the A's follow the NFL Raiders and Golden State Warriors basketball team out of town.
Spontaneously, third baseman Max Schuemann grabbed the flag held by mascot Stomper moments earlier, and took off running.
"I wanted to enjoy it with them, for sure," he said of the fans.
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.
The team, which is 69-90 on the season, still has three games left but they are on the road against the Seattle Mariners from Friday through Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
