It was a celebration of 57 years of Athletics baseball as only Oakland fans could make happen.
A raucous sellout crowd of 46,889 said goodbye to the A’s on Thursday during an emotional afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum that saw the home side beat the Texas Rangers 3-2.
The tears started flowing quickly, as former A’s great Barry Zito stopped by to sing the national anthem.
Franchise legends and Oakland natives Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart then came out for the final ceremonial first pitch. Henderson’s name adorns the Coliseum’s field.
The A’s scored their runs on a variety of bloops and bleeders. Jacob Wilson scored their final run at the Coliseum when Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford muffed JJ Bleday’s fly ball and lost it in the sun.
Longtime A’s fan Krazy George used the moment to fire up the crowd one last time in his trademark fashion. Others were a bit more nostalgic.
Rookie closer Mason Miller sent the Coliseum out a winner with a clean save in the ninth. The A’s saluted the Oakland faithful after the game. Manager Mark Kotsay, who also played for the team, addressed the fans and started one final “Let’s Go Oakland!” chant.
“I’m still kind of reeling (emotionally). This win was big for us,” Kotsay told reporters postgame, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
A’s broadcaster Dallas Braden grew up near the Bay Area and threw a perfect game for the team at the Coliseum. He was overcome with emotion during the postgame ceremonies.
Oakland’s Seth Brown recorded the final hit at the Coliseum with an eighth-inning single. The last home run at the ballpark belongs to Texas’ Adolis García, who hit it on Wednesday.
The Athletics will finish their 57-year tenure in Oakland with three games in Seattle over the weekend. Next year, the club will move to Sacramento for at least three seasons ahead of a permanent relocation to Las Vegas.
The A’s franchise began in Philadelphia as a charter AL team in 1901 before moving to Kansas City in 1955 and then to Oakland in 1968. The club won four of its nine World Series titles and six AL pennants during its nearly six-decade stint in the East Bay, reaching the playoffs 21 times.
The A’s are the first MLB team to relocate since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington 20 years ago, and they will soon be the first to have called four different cities home.
