The Day Oakland Athletics Died

FJF, always and forever

I attended a 46,889 person funeral yesterday.

Shortly after noon, a U-2 buzzed East Oakland and baseball legends Dave Stewart and Rickey Henderson threw out simultaneous first pitches. Then the final upper-level professional sports contest in Oakland got underway.

What John Fisher, the other 29 owners, Bud Selig and Rob Manfred, and Major League Baseball as a whole have done to Oakland is unconscionable. Just five years after the Oakland Raiders decamped for Las Vegas while the Warriors¹ commuted across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco, the green and gold were ripped from Oakland. The teams 56-year residency came to a close against in an afternoon game against the Texas Rangers, and the A’s will supposedly join the Raiders in Las Vegas in 2028.

I have little to add to the excellent reporting that has been done on the various failures…