\u201cWhen the A\u2019s were in the World Series, the world came to Oakland,\u201d Hanks wrote in an email to The Athletic. \u201cNot San Francisco. Oakland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanks watched the TV broadcast and peered out the window as storm clouds rolled in. \u201cA freak storm that featured the stub of a funnel cloud, like a tornado forming,\u201d he recalled. First pitch was delayed as the Coliseum and the Hanks house were soaked with rain and pelted with sleet. That the game was postponed only extended Oakland\u2019s moment at the center of the baseball universe.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200bThe A\u2019s won three World Series while Hanks was in high school. He went to \u201cHot Pants Day.\u201d He witnessed Willie Mays\u2019 final at-bat. He served as a Coliseum vendor, selling popcorn in the stands and sweating profusely on Opening Day when Vida Blue dazzled (\u201cphee-nom\u201d). Those A\u2019s and the memories they gave him remain imprinted in Hanks\u2019 memory. \u201cVida Blue. Joe Rudi. Mudcat Grant,\u201d he wrote. \u201cCampy Campaneris. Sal Bando. Ray Fosse. The original Reggie Jackson. Thank you, boys!\u201d<\/p>\n
Now the team Hanks loves is leaving Oakland. They\u2019ll play their final game at the Coliseum on Thursday afternoon, then head to Sacramento<\/a> and, sometime down the road, Las Vegas. The sense of finality has hit the same for so many A\u2019s fans, from the diehards in the right-field bleachers to Hanks himself.<\/p>\n In the last days of the Oakland A\u2019s<\/a>, The Athletic contacted former A\u2019s and notable fans \u2014 athletes, actors, musicians and politicians \u2014 to hear their favorite A\u2019s memories and what it\u2019s like saying goodbye.<\/p>\n Those short on time sent short missives. Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard, who wears No. 0 in part to represent Oakland, replied, \u201cIt\u2019s devastating for Oakland. Another sports team gone, another loss for the entire Oakland\/Alameda (East Bay) communities. It\u2019s sad to see the entire Coliseum complex empty.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh lived his boyhood baseball dream coaching first base for the A\u2019s in spring training. \u201cThat\u2019s one of my most cherished memories, no doubt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Others elaborated in conversations that went down memory lane and often alternated between therapy session and anger management. For so long, Oakland at least had the A\u2019s. Now there will be nothing left.<\/p>\n Hanks throwing out the first pitch before a Yomiuri Giants game in Tokyo in 2009. (AP Photo \/ Koji Sasahara)<\/p>\n \u201cHow in the world,\u201d Hanks wrote, \u201cdoes Major League Baseball turn inside-out one of the most storied franchises in the history of the game? The Oakland A\u2019s \u2014 not the East Bay Athletics or the California Golden A\u2019s \u2014 the Oakland A\u2019s could have\/should have been the Northern California version of the the Cubs<\/a> in Wrigley, the BoSox in Fenway, Pittsburgh<\/a>\u2019s Buccos on the Allegheny, Cleveland<\/a>\u2019s Guardians on the shores of Erie \u2014 beloved ball-teams with eternal hope every Opening Day until the millennium comes.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t blame that loss on the city managers of Oakland, nor the taxpayers of Alameda County. The owners and baseball blew the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Tony La Russa was a Hall of Fame manager, he was a light-hitting 23-year-old infielder who made the A\u2019s Opening Day roster in 1968. He appeared in the first major league game at the Coliseum, with 50,164 filling the stadium, and roped a pinch-hit single to left field in the ninth inning.<\/p>\n \u201cComing to Oakland,\u201d La Russa recalled, \u201cthey came in with a lot of (hope for the) future. And you\u2019d put their history against anybody\u2019s during that period. I think everyone that\u2019s been a part of this is a combination of sad and angry.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a common refrain from former A\u2019s.<\/p>\n Dennis Eckersley, the Hall of Fame closer who had 320 saves and won a World Series win with the A\u2019s, moved back to the Bay Area a few years ago. If he hadn\u2019t, Eckersley said, \u201cit wouldn\u2019t hurt so much. But the closer we get, where we\u2019re (living), it\u2019s gotten uglier inside. I\u2019ve taken it on. Like, you can\u2019t throw it all away. Whatever happened happened, memories and that sort of thing.<\/p>\n \u201cBut still, it hurts. I used to think, \u2018Oh, no big deal. They\u2019re leaving.\u2019 But, oh my God, it\u2019s the end! It sure does feel ugly inside.\u201d<\/p>\n Rickey Henderson grew up in Oakland and became one of the most celebrated players in franchise history. Dave Stewart was a dominant postseason presence, winning World Series MVP in 1989. Both lamented the departure to the San Francisco Chronicle in March<\/a>, though they placed more emphasis on the city\u2019s role rather than on A\u2019s owner John Fisher.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing to see the A\u2019s leaving,\u201d Henderson, a special assistant to the A\u2019s president, said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve gone through so much with all the teams. The city, there\u2019s something they\u2019re not seeing. When you have a city that had three big-name professional sports teams, and you can\u2019t keep any of them, something\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Eckersley took his 5-year-old twin grandchildren to the Coliseum last weekend. They got a kick out of the big-head mascot race between innings. It dawned on Eckersley that they, and so many young fans like them, will never have a chance to build their own memories at the old ballpark where he spent so many great seasons. He\u2019ll tell the twins, \u201cRemember when we went that one night?\u201d And he\u2019ll hope they do.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it helps people to be mad,\u201d added Eckersley, who said he\u2019s especially sad for the stadium workers he\u2019s seen there for decades. \u201cI\u2019ve got that tendency where I get pissed off and just don\u2019t want to deal. But it is what it is, and it\u2019s sad. And I\u2019m going to feel it. And I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Saying goodbye to the Coliseum with one of the greatest who ever played. A lot of great memories in Oakland. #athletics<\/a> \u2066@Athletics<\/a>\u2069 \u2066@baseballhall<\/a>\u2069 pic.twitter.com\/jENitxOuO9<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Dennis Eckersley (@Eck43) September 22, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n For La Russa, Thursday\u2019s finale will bring him back to standing there for the home opener in 1968. He was there when it all began. Now he\u2019s forced to watch it end.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get through,\u201d La Russa said. \u201cThe franchise had a great history and deserved a better fate.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week at Oracle Park \u2014 home of the San Francisco Giants<\/a> \u2014 Green Day stepped onto the stage. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong paced up and down holding a microphone close to his face. He touted the band\u2019s East Bay roots, its eternal connection to the Bay Area. And then \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t take no s\u2014 from people like John f\u2014\u2014 Fisher, who sold out the Oakland A\u2019s to Las f\u2014\u2014 Vegas,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI f\u2014\u2014 hate Las Vegas. It\u2019s the worst s\u2014hole in America.\u201d<\/p>\n Armstrong was born in Oakland and raised in Rodeo. He attended last season\u2019s \u201creverse boycott\u201d at the Oakland Coliseum. He is an investor in the independent Oakland Ballers, and earlier this year during a show at Toronto\u2019s Rogers Centre, he posted a video of himself spray-painting over the A\u2019s logo inside a stadium tunnel. He painted a \u201cB\u201d over the \u201cA\u201d and crossed out the word \u201cAthletics.\u201d<\/p>\n Armstrong declined an interview request. \u201cNothing more to add,\u201d his publicist wrote in an email. (A few days later, at Oracle Park, Armstrong evidently had more to add.)<\/p>\n A long list of musicians with Oakland roots have stayed loyal to the team\u2019s last remaining major pro sports franchise. MC Hammer (real name: Stanley Burrell) grew up dancing, singing and performing outside the Coliseum. He caught the eye of then-owner Charlie Finley, who hired the young Burrell to work as a bat boy. Legend has it Jackson<\/a> first gave Burrell his \u201cHammer\u201d nickname because he resembled Hammerin\u2019 Henry Aaron. Years later, per a Rolling Stone cover story<\/a> at the peak of Hammer\u2019s fame, A\u2019s players Dwayne Murphy and Mike Davis gave Burrell a loan as he worked toward releasing his first album.<\/p>\n That\u2019s my Big Brother Chris celebrating our 3rd consecutive World Championship next to Reggie Jackson. \u2014 MC HAMMER e\/acc (@MCHammer) September 22, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n The Bay Area rapper Too $hort (real name: Todd Shaw) often posts photos of himself in A\u2019s gear on X, and recently posted on the site<\/a> that he grew up selling sodas at the Coliseum. \u201cDay one fan over here,\u201d he wrote, \u201cno bandwagon!<\/p>\n Adam Duritz, lead singer of Counting Crows, moved to California as a child. His father had been a fan of the Philadelphia A\u2019s. The franchise was in the midst of its 1970s golden era, and Duritz was hooked. He cut school, took BART to the Coliseum and sat in the bleachers with a $2.50 ticket. (He learned recently that Counting Crows drummer Jim Bogios did the same.) By the late 1980s, Duritz was going to 50 games a year. He saw Henderson break the stolen base record and watched Nolan Ryan twirl his sixth no-hitter. Duritz identified with the underdog A\u2019s in the Moneyball era and cherished every minute.<\/p>\n Now living a much different life, Duritz still gets nostalgic any time he walks out of a tunnel and into an open stadium. Green grass. Green seats. The sense of awe. \u201cIt reminds me of the Coliseum when I was a kid,\u201d he told The Athletic last week, \u201cand you could look up before they built Mount Davis, you could see the hills behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n A few weeks ago, Counting Crows was on tour with Santana. Karl Perazzo, Santana\u2019s percussionist, walked into Duritz\u2019s dressing room one day and said, \u201cHey, I\u2019ve got someone for you to talk to.\u201d La Russa was on the phone. \u201cIt was just very cool for me as a huge fan,\u201d Duritz said, \u201cto talk to him for a little while about those days.\u201d<\/p>\n Duritz, who followed the team\u2019s elongated stadium saga, briefly hoped the A\u2019s could complete their plan to build a ballpark at Howard Terminal. More than anything, he felt as powerless as any other A\u2019s fan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s completely outside your purview as a fan,\u201d he said. \u201cYou do feel that distance too, because, like, one day it\u2019s gonna be fine, and then it\u2019s not, and then they have a plan, and they don\u2019t, and I\u2019m kind of used to that with sports in the Bay Area.\u201d<\/p>\n Duritz says he will still love the A\u2019s even when they are gone. But there are parts of him that loathe Las Vegas, and parts that miss the A\u2019s colorful characters from bygone years, and parts that wish time could be frozen when he was a kid sitting in the bleachers at the Coliseum.<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s pretty heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the past five decades, A\u2019s fandom has reached far and wide, even to the highest level of public office in the United States. President Barack Obama is an outspoken Chicago White Sox fan<\/a>, for which Theo Epstein offered a \u201cmidnight pardon\u201d when the World Series champion Chicago Cubs visited the White House in 2017, but long before he ever supported the South Siders Obama had another favorite team.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t become a Sox fan until I moved to Chicago,\u201d Obama once said on a Washington Nationals broadcast<\/a>. \u201cI was growing up in Hawaii, so I ended up actually being an Oakland A\u2019s fan.\u201d<\/p>\n Obama was 11 when the A\u2019s won Oakland\u2019s first World Series in 1972.<\/p>\n Two thousand miles away from Obama in Honolulu, and not far from Hanks in the Lower Hills, two girl friends from Mills College were in the back of a convertible as it cruised along Grove Street in Oakland that night.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just rolled down the streets honking horns,\u201d Representative Barbara Lee, from Oakland, recalled. \u201cYelling, screaming, applauding and congratulating the A\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n The celebration continued as the A\u2019s captured back-to-back-to-back World Series titles. The A\u2019s became a source of booming public pride. As Oakland emerged as a center of Black culture, its baseball team was led by Black stars such as Jackson, Henderson, Stewart, Blue Moon Odom, Bill North, Claudell Washington and Blue, who Lee came to know through activism work.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many ways, Oakland is a city that has always exemplified Black excellence,\u201d Lee said. \u201cBlack culture. Black power. Leadership. The A\u2019s were a part of that milieu. It was our team. There were so many African-Americans who saw these players like I did \u2014 as icons and heroes \u2014 and were proud.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Rep Barbara Lee represents Oakland, and is a longtime fan of the A\u2019s. (Courtesy of Barbara Lee)<\/p>\n Last year, as Lee ran against former 10-time MLB All-Star Steve Garvey in a U.S. Senate special election primary, she was endorsed by Henderson, Stewart, Dusty Baker, Shooty Babitt and Tye Waller, all of whom played or coached for the A\u2019s.<\/p>\n As the A\u2019s and the City of Oakland haggled over stadium deals for years, Lee occasionally welcomed A\u2019s executives to her office in Washington D.C. for conversations about how to keep the A\u2019s in Oakland. \u201cIt was a long process,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a grueling process.\u201d And, in the end, a hopeless one.<\/p>\n After the A\u2019s announced their intentions to relocate to Las Vegas, Lee introduced a bill, the \u201cMoneyball Act<\/a>,\u201d requiring that the owners of a relocating club compensate the city they left. But the Oakland A\u2019s could not be saved.<\/p>\n \u201cIt still hasn\u2019t settled in,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThat\u2019s just how difficult it\u2019s been for me and for a lot of people in Oakland. The Oakland A\u2019s are us, and we are them. You feel in many respects abandoned.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee recited the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever get to the fifth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Acceptance.<\/p>\n When Hanks was in Los Angeles last year to promote his novel, a former A\u2019s employee in the audience at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre asked Hanks if he would buy the A\u2019s to keep them in Oakland.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t done that well, guys,\u201d Hanks joked.<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t stop him from airing his frustration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve lost the Raiders. The Warriors moved to San Francisco. Now they\u2019re going to take the A\u2019s out of Oakland,\u201d Hanks said. \u201cDamn them all to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked Tom Hanks if he would buy the A\u2019s to keep them in Oakland\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/fhMU2y7v0H<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mike Ono (@skoshi_tiger) June 14, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n That sentiment is shared by fellow actor Blake Anderson, star of the show \u201cWorkaholics.\u201d Anderson grew up in Concord, in the East Bay. He shrugged off so many rumors of the A\u2019s relocating that he eventually became numb to them. A\u2019s fans were \u201cstrung along and teased\u201d for so many years, Anderson said, and all that false hope led to a feeling that they\u2019d lost the A\u2019s long before they left.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Oakland fandom,\u201d he said, \u201cyou just know what it\u2019s like for teams to evacuate.\u201d<\/p>\n There are two reasons Anderson became an A\u2019s fan.<\/p>\n The first is Henderson. As a kid, warring factions within Anderson\u2019s family would try to sway him toward the Giants or the A\u2019s. Then Henderson came back and won MVP.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody was cooler than Rickey Henderson, man,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThat sold it for me. I was such a young, impressionable kid, and there was so much more swagger on that side of the bay.\u201d<\/p>\n The second reason was Will Clark. But not that Will Clark. Anderson had a youth baseball teammate with the same name as the Giants first baseman. Anderson was not a strong hitter, and he remembers stepping to the plate and hearing his teammate say, \u201cHere comes another strikeout.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was f\u2014ing Will Clark, dude,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n Needless to say, he was all in on the A\u2019s. In high school, he and his friends waited at the exit of the players parking lot at the Coliseum. His favorite player, Terrence Long, autographed the bill of Anderson\u2019s black A\u2019s cap. Then came Jason Giambi, whose walk-up music was the nWo Wolfpac theme song.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re like, if we yell, \u2018nWo for life,\u2019 he\u2019s going to stop the car,\u201d Anderson recalled. Giambi hit the brakes and signed.<\/p>\n Anderson was 5 when the A\u2019s won the 1989 World Series. He doesn\u2019t claim that one.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel like as an A\u2019s fan I got my championship,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThat was going to be my crowning achievement as a fan, living through one of those. That\u2019s where I get super bummed out. I was always imagining being like those Cubs fans who waited 100 years and were like, finally, we can hoist the trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get weird!<\/p>\n Thank you @UncleBlazer<\/a> for throwing out today\u2019s first pitch! #DrumTogether<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/mH0MnElnTm<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Oakland A\u2019s (@Athletics) April 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n Only one emotion has surprised Anderson throughout this A\u2019s saga: He still cares. He told himself he\u2019d stop following, but he couldn\u2019t. He\u2019s grown to love the newest cast of A\u2019s \u2014 Brent Rooker<\/a>, J.P. Sears, Lawrence Butler<\/a>, Mason Miller<\/a>. He likes that they didn\u2019t throw this season away. \u201cI felt pride for the team again,\u201d he said. As the team heads to Sacramento, he\u2019s sworn to invest in the A\u2019s at least until these guys disperse.<\/p>\n Anderson drove from Los Angeles to Oakland to watch Wednesday\u2019s game with his mother, step-father, brother and a high-school buddy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got to go before it\u2019s gone,\u201d he said beforehand.<\/p>\n Anderson didn\u2019t get tickets for the final game Thursday<\/a>, but since he\u2019d already be in town, he said, \u201cmaybe I\u2019ll just BART in and kick it in the parking lot.\u201d Those lots were where he made some of his best memories, where he met friends, where they shotgunned beers<\/a>, where they reveled and toasted the green and gold.<\/p>\n Anderson wondered how he\u2019d feel on the A\u2019s last day in Oakland. He\u2019d felt almost every emotion at the Coliseum before. He was there when Jason Isringhausen clinched the AL West in 2000. (\u201cNothing matched that kind of joy.\u201d) He was there when Derek Jeter\u2019s flip turned the 2001 ALDS. (\u201cThat was our year.\u201d) But this would be different. Not euphoria or anguish. Just emptiness. Anderson figured he\u2019d take a few laps around the old place, remember the good times, then give the filthy cement floor a kiss goodbye.<\/p>\n \u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Evan Drellich, Chad Jennings and Eric Nehm contributed to this report.<\/p>\n (Illustration by Meech Robinson, The Athletic; Photos: Michael Zagaris \/ Oakland Athletics \/ Getty Images; Andrew D. Bernstein \/ NBAE via Getty Images; Lachlan Cunningham \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AP09050803826-scaled.jpg\")
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I spoke with my other brother Big Lou earlier whom was the assistant clubhouse manager. We lived at the Coliseum !!!
We shed a collective tear for the Eastbay.
The team is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/nodsoBjXxY<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/BarbaraLeeCrop.jpg\")
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