Thanks for all the times, Oakland
The Texas Rangers scored two runs but the Oakland Athletics scored three runs.
Fitting is it not? The deciding run of this contest came because Wyatt Langford misplayed a ball that he couldn’t see in the bright Bay Area sun during a day game at Oakland Coliseum. The ghosts got ‘em one last time.
Was Oakland Coliseum a decrepit dump unfit for Major League Baseball nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century? Yeah, probably. It had its charms, though, believe it or not. The lush field grass in particular, when not ruined by the Raiders, was some of the finest in the league. The fans themselves were as eccentric as you can find, adding to the character in what had become an obsolete-by-decades concrete house of horrors of the Rangers through the years.
Nevertheless, I have a lot of fond memories of being at the Coliseum from my time living in Oakland. I remember Darren O’Day coming up to the old bullpen shack they keep relievers in down the right field line parked right up against the stands as I leaned over and said “Hey Darren, thanks for taking the time to chat with me for Lone Star Ball!” To which he replied, wide eyed, “That was you?!”
It was there that Neftali Feliz, the day after his debut, flipped a ball to a kid near where I was sitting and the drunk guy next to me yelled, “Hang on to that one, kid! He’s the next Pedro Martinez!” Earlier that same night, there was Derek Holland looking all of 14 years old dragging the stash of drinks and snacks to the bullpen while the veterans yelled “Hurry up, Wonderboy!”
I saw Colby Lewis pitch for the Rangers against Trevor Cahill an untold number of times. I laid on the outfield grass singing Beatles songs during firework night. Jim Sundberg saw my Rangers cap while waiting for the BART and shook my hand, cigar in the other hand, after Texas had clinched in 2010.
John Rhadigan interviewed me at the Coliseum during a game because Tom Grieve found the TAG Don’t Tweet parody account so funny. Jon Daniels graciously signed the Lone Star Ball Claw and Antler banner that NorCalRangers made when we called ourselves the BARFers (Bay Area Rangers Fans).
A day later, we all stood watching JD look on at his team clinch the first division title in over a decade. Someone even stole my beloved vuvuzela at the Coliseum!
So if I had all of these memories from attending a few Rangers games each summer in the half decade I lived in the area, imagine the memories the fans of the club made with their team in the near-sixty years that they were in Oakland, firmly entrenched in the community.
The fact that that ends today leaves me profoundly sad. We can all sit and imagine if it were us and our team and empathize but this really happened to these folks. The Athletics of Oakland, a vibrant and fun collection of weirdos have been quite literally disenfranchised.
Shame on John Fisher. Shame on the city of Oakland. Shame on Nevada and Las Vegas and Sacramento. Shame on you Rob Manfred.
I never want the Rangers to lose, but I’m glad the Oakland A’s won today.