Pitchers and catchers are three weeks away from reporting to their respective camps for spring training, which means it is that special time of the year when everyone starts fresh, and fanbases are filled with hope and excitement for their teams. Well, almost every fanbase.
This upcoming season marks the first time in 68 years that major league baseball will not be played in Oakland. The Athletics will play in Sacramento for three seasons before moving yet again, this time to Las Vegas in 2028.
Oakland Athletics fans are left with only memories of their favorite players and moments they’ve experienced at the infamous Oakland Coliseum, which are endless.
For the last 24 years, it has been challenging to have a favorite Oakland A’s player because you know they aren’t going to be with the team for too long before they are traded away for prospects. Fans knew that players were here for a good time and not a long time and embraced every single one of them.
For Dylan Kane, a Bay Area native and lifelong Oakland A’s fan, The player he embraced the most was the electric Josh Donaldson.
“Donaldson was the most exciting player I’ve ever watched,” Kane said. “He was so clutch, all the game-tying and walk-offs he hit.”
One of Kane’s favorite memories of being an A’s fan was a September 29th game during the remarkable 2012 season where the Oakland Athletics had 14 walk-off victories. Kane was in attendance for the fourteenth and final walk-off that season.
In the game, his favorite player, Donaldson, hit a game-tying 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th. Brandon Moss capped off the comeback the very next inning when he turned on a 92 mphfastball from Mariners pitcher Stephen Pryor for a three-run no-doubter into the concrete staircase in rightfield.
“The centerfield bomb by Donaldson followed by the Moss walk-off in the 10th,” Kane said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
I’ve been fortunate enough to attend A’s games for more than 27 years, from the first game my father took me to when I was seven years old to my final game this past September when I attended the last Saturday home game at the Coliseum when the A’s lost to the New York Yankees 10-0.
I don’t recall watching a single pitch from that game; I was too busy reminiscing about every moment I’ve had at this magical place.
I was in attendance for games 17, 18 and 20 of “The Streak” when the A’s set the American League record for consecutive wins in 2002. I’ve seen walk-offs from Milton Bradley, Scott Hatteberg, Marco Scutaro, Emil Brown and Brent Rooker, just to name a few.
For fans like Dylan Kane and myself we have a lifetime of memories of our favorite team at the place we called our second home for so many years. But that is what they are now, just memories.
With so many fans going into next season with new life, it couldn’t feel farther from that for former Oakland A’s fans as we are still mourning.
