Today it’s a heavy heart situation for me personally. Growing up in the Northern California Bay Area in the 1980’s, it was a grand time to be a sports fan. Full disclosure, I am a San Francisco Giants fan–yes a glutton for punishment. But today, the Oakland Athletics play their final home game after 57 years in Oakland.
Baseball in the Bay Area has a rich history. The Giants and A’s even more so. In 1989, I was still a young pup. We had season tickets to the Giants. To people not from the Bay, you don’t understand this fully. In Little League out there, you wanted to play for the Giants or A’s depending on your allegiances. If you didn’t get your first choice, you wanted the other–nobody else.
When the Giants and A’s matched in the 1989 World Series, my Dad got tickets to the series. We went to the first two games in Oakland. Pre game dinner on Hegenberger Road, where Night Time was never the right time and away we went. That year, they were giving away Rickey Henderson’s replica batting gloves upon entry. Yes, the obnoxious neon one’s. They handed me a pair. I said “I don’t want those, I’m a Giants fan.” Then Loma Prieta happened. My dad had tickets to game 3 but had given them to a friend. That’s when I really grew to have a love for Bay Area baseball as a whole.
Before the monstrosity that would be known as Mount Davis was assembled, The Oakland Coliseum had some of the best sightlines in all of baseball. I remember taking a trip back home to the bay when the Giants opened what is now, Oracle Park. It was an 11 game homestand and we sat in 11 different spots. There were a couple of off days mixed in, and while my friends wanted some baseball off days, I wanted to go watch the A’s, and I did. This was something that I would frequently do when visiting back home. I always did everything I could to catch at least one A’s home game on every trip.
Some of the very best of all time in the Bay Area have stated their thoughts over the last few months. Larry Beil, Brodie Brazil, Damon Bruce, and so on–Bay Area sports broadcasting legends. Our friends over at Last Dive Bar, have led the anti-Fisher charge for a few years now. Everything they have all said is 100% correct. I figured I could offer an interesting perspective from a Giants fan.
When John Fisher announced the team’s temporary move to Sacramento, he mentioned the uniqueness of Sutter Health Park and how the greatest in the game like Aaron Judge would be so close, in an intimate setting. That’s the statement that really got me.
Fisher is such a giant ass clown, he doesn’t even realize the great players that they have on his own team. Brent Rooker is having a career year. Lawrence Butler has been one of the hottest hitters, post All-Star Game in the entire league. Mason Miller has been pitching with a flamethrower attached to his arm all season. Spending money to make money is not a concept that cheap John and his army of yes men will ever understand. I had the unfortunate displeasure of working for one of his biggest yes men clowns, Dave Kaval. A guy who started his own baseball league that was centered on the “fan experience.” Funny how easily that was forgotten. Let’s not forget about the deferred money to “keep” Marcus Semien in town. The biggest contract this group ever gave out was to Eric Chavez. Yes you read that right.
So today, I’ll be watching and remembering the memories of my entire childhood of how cool it was to grow up in an area that had TWO professional baseball teams. I’ll remember the Scott Hatteberg homer in September of 2002 in one of the craziest baseball games I have ever seen. I’ll remember the ‘89 series for everything it was, is and, will always be to the Bay Area. The earthquake, and the Stewart/Welch buzzsaw, and how the Giants never stood a chance. I’ll think about my friends and colleagues that are directly affected by this move.
I’ll remember that sports are a business and things like this happen. Then I’ll remember that there are incompetent bags with mommy and daddy’s money that could care less about anyone but themselves, like John Fisher.
To the fans, especially those in attendance today, I’ll echo the same sentiment. Stay in your seats, and soak it all in. Be respectful of the Oakland Roots and other teams that will utilize the Coliseum. Don’t let these evil pieces of human scum win by trashing the place.
Remember, the people that are about to be unemployed have made the coliseum such a friendly place to visit for so many years, not the ownership. They’re hurting just like you, and the last thing they want to do is be forced to clean up a trashed stadium or have their paychecks be held.
For the players, the ones that have endured this tenure of trash by Fisher and company–thank you. To play day in and day out in those circumstances isn’t easy.
Leave the possum, don’t worry about the lights, Fisher probably won’t pay that bill either.
I really can’t wait to see baseball back in Oakland again someday. Oakland has some of the best fans in baseball. I’m watching with you guys today…and by the way;
Screw you John Fisher.
