The Athletics are wrapping up their time in Oakland.
They moved to Oakland in 1968 but will soon head to Sacramento for a few years before settling in Las Vegas. The 2024 season marks their last games at the Oakland Coliseum, with the final home game set for Thursday. Ahead of this farewell, owner John Fisher shared a heartfelt letter with fans.
Here’s Fisher’s letter:
> To our Oakland Athletics Fans:
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> This upcoming series with the Texas Rangers will be the final games of the A’s storied 57 years in Oakland. And while the A’s previously played in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Oakland has been home for the greatest era in the franchise’s more than 123-year history.
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> Four World Series Championships. Six pennants and 17 division titles. Seven Baseball Hall of Famers. Charlie Finley and his mule. Billy Ball. Reggie and his incomparable swagger. Rollie and his handlebar mustache. Dave Stewart and the stare. Bill King’s “Holy Toledo.” Rickey, the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. The list goes on and on.
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> Triumphs, near misses, the 1989 Loma Preita earthquake in Game 3 of the Bay Bridge Series, the 20-game win streak, a Hollywood movie, and an unmatched cast of players, coaches, and fans. We’ve had it all.
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> And that, I know, is what makes our departure so very hard.
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> The A’s are part of the fabric of Oakland, the East Bay, and the entire Bay Area. When Lew Wolff and I bought the team in 2005 our dream was to win world championships and build a new ballpark in Oakland. Over these past 18 years we did our very best to make that happen by proposing five different locations within this area but fell short every time.
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> Only after working exclusively on developing a home here for over sixteen years did we start looking into Las Vegas as an option due to MLB’s binding agreement requiring us to find a new home by 2024.
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> There are millions of dedicated fans worldwide who have supported us along with countless staff members pouring their hearts into this team which means so much to our community despite great disappointment or bitterness felt now; from my heart: we tried staying here was always our goal yet failed achieving it – genuinely sorry about that!
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> Looking ahead hopefully you’ll join beloved A’s moving forward onto amazing journey making proud once again wearing Green & Gold!
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> John Fisher
A History Rich With Memories:
The Athletics’ journey began in Philadelphia (1901-54), where they won nine pennants and five World Series titles despite losing more games than they won (3,886 wins vs 4,248 losses). Then came Kansas City (1955-67), where they struggled without any postseason appearances.
Since arriving in Oakland back in ’68 until now—holding onto .513 winning percentage—they’ve made playoffs twenty-one times winning six pennants plus four World Series titles most recently during ’89 season!
But beyond records lies something deeper: local fans being left behind as Fisher moves team away from them towards Las Vegas—hardly comforting hearing billionaire say how tough leaving Bay Area is…
Fans might feel betrayed by this move.
The plan involves moving into new ballpark located along Las Vegas Strip starting from ’28 season onwards while using Sacramento temporarily between ’25-’27 seasons even though there’re concerns regarding stadium conditions there https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-says-as-games-in-sacramento-are-a-certainty-despite-concerns-about-stadium-playing-conditions/.
What do you think about all these changes happening?
