Later today, the Oakland (by way of Philadelphia and Kansas City) Athletics will play their last game in Oakland. The team will be moving to a temporary home in Sacramento, California beginning next season while awaiting construction of their new venue in Las Vegas.
I don’t really follow baseball anymore. However, I must admit some bad feelings still remain towards the A’s. I gave them everything I had for ten years and then was tossed aside, without warning, like last week’s Chinese food. If you prick us do we not bleed, etc.
I was actually working for the team as a Baseball Operations/Player Personnel consultant while Michael Lewis was writing Moneyball. You wouldn’t know it from reading the book, however, even though I am mentioned once, but not in connection with the A’s. This picture that was formerly in the About page for this blog shows my copy of Moneyball autographed by Michael with the inscription, “For [ ], Who Led The Way, Best, Michael.”
I feel sorry for the A’s fans, though. As someone who lost a hometown team through relocation (the Baltimore Colts sneaking out of town in the middle of the night in March, 1984) I can appreciate the feelings of loss, even though the team has been awful the last three seasons as the owner has forced the baseball operations staff to pare payroll to the bone, which necessitated trading away star players.
When the Colts left, I stopped following the NFL for a few seasons except to root against the Colts. The fact that they were 12-36 in the first three seasons in their new home was a small measure of consolation. The fact that the Baltimore Ravens won a Super Bowl before the Indianapolis Colts is also of solace.
Gary Trujillo, who publishes a baseball and a football blog and who has been a regular reader of my blog, wrote this amazing piece about the end of A’s tenure in Oakland on Substack. (He is transitioning away from WordPress. That is something I would do if WordPress removes the Classic Editor.) The piece is titled, “Goodbye, Oakland. I’m Heart Broken.” Obviously, Gary has been an A’s fan.
While rumors abounded about a potential Colts move for months, the actual move was formally announced only after the fact. A’s fans have known since last November that the team was moving when Major League Baseball officially approved the relocation.
Of course, Oakland is hardly a paradise. In 2023, violent crime and other felonies declined in frequency in the biggest cities in the US. In Oakland, however, robberies grew 38% according to police data while burglaries increased 23%. Motor vehicle theft jumped 44%. Roughly one of every 30 Oakland residents had a car stolen last year (!), according to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis.
I haven’t been to Oakland since 2009, but it was hardly a safe place even then. The venue where the A’s play/played is moribund. However, the realities don’t do much, if anything, to lessen the sense of loss A’s fans are experiencing.
Yes, the only constant in the world is change and sometimes change is not for the better. I would show you the A’s uniform top I have had since I was consulting for them, but my last name is on the back and, technically, this blog is still anonymous. Actually, I’m not even sure where the top is. We do know where the A’s will be and it won’t be in Oakland.
#TheLastGame