Thursday, September 26, 2024, will go down in history as the last game of the Athletics in Oakland: it was a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, in front of 46,889 fans who filled the Coliseum, which will remain as a mere anecdote for the statistics. What really mattered was the mutual feeling of sadness from fans and players facing the owner’s decision to move the franchise to Las Vegas.
Mark Kotsay, the A's coach, tried to hold back tears at the end of the game, while player Max Schuemann grabbed a huge team flag and ran waving it across the field, stopping to wave it in front of different sections.
Both lifelong fans and children set aside work and school to attend the final matinee under a cloudless September sky. It was the last team in Oakland standing, as the Athletics follow the NFL's Raiders and the NBA's Golden State Warriors in the list of teams that have fled the city.
"Many stadiums have become less about baseball parks and more about entertainment products," said outfielder Brent Rooker. "What the Coliseum offers is: a bunch of seats, a field, and a baseball game. And that was really cool."
What Rooker values about the Coliseum, a stadium built in 1966, is what led Athletics and Raiders to flee, in search of modern stadiums, according to the level demanded by Major League Baseball or the NFL.
The A's will arrive in Las Vegas in 2028, and in the meantime, while their new stadium is being built, they will play their home games in Sacramento.
What were the incidents caused by the fans?
For eight innings, there were no major incidents in the game between the Athletics and the Rangers, except for the usual chants for owner John Fisher to sell the team, a measure that was seen by fans as a last resort to keep the team in Oakland.
But in the ninth inning, two fans ran onto the field and were removed by security guards. Additionally, some smoke bombs fell in right field and some fans threw cups and trash onto the field after the final out.
It was their way of expressing their anger because they are taking away the team that was in the city for 57 years and where they won four World Series.
After the game, players from both teams picked up pieces of dirt from the infield to take as a memento of the last baseball game in the city of Oakland.