SAN FRANCISCO — The tears that flooded the Coliseum last Sept. 26 have given way to grim resignation as the Athletics return to the Bay Area without a city officially attached to their nickname.
The A’s begin a three-game series against the Giants Friday night at Oracle Park but it will lack the fervor of the final game in Oakland before 46,889 fans against the Texas Rangers.
That’s what some of the main protagonists from the 2024 A’s drama believe. There will be a smattering of green “Sell” T-shirts and “Oakland” gear. Maybe a “Sell the team” chant will spring up.
But it won’t be like it was on Sept. 26, when the late Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart threw out the first pitch, Barry Zito sang the national anthem and manager Mark Kotsay addressed a nostalgic and emotional crowd after a 3-2 win over the Rangers. It concluded 57 years of baseball at the Coliseum.
Will MacNeil, otherwise known as “Right Field Will” to the fan base and even players and coaches, will be there even if his heart is not in it. The 45th game of the A’s season will be his first in attendance.
“I got a free ticket,” MacNeil said this week. “It’s the deepest I’ve gone into a season without going to see them play since elementary school.”
The protest efforts organized largely by independent support groups such as Last Dive Bar and the Oakland 68’s won’t be replicated.
“I’m not planning on going to any A’s games anytime soon,” said Anson Casanares of the 68s. “I honestly didn’t know they were playing the Giants this weekend. I haven’t heard (about) any of my friends attending. Everyone is detached from the team since they left Oakland.”
Jorge Leon of the 68s compared it to a breakup with a girlfriend at an Oakland Fans Fest in early March.
“You don’t want me? I’ll move on,” Leon said.
And now, with the A’s actually returning to the Bay Area against the Giants?
“We will not be going to any of those games as the 68’s or personally,” Leon said. “No protests from our side. We support Oakland teams and the A’s are no longer here.”
Like the 68’s, Last Dive Bar is giving its support to the Pioneer League’s Oakland Ballers, who open their season next Tuesday, May 20, at Raimondi Park, as well as the Oakland Roots (men) and Soul (women) pro soccer teams, which play at the Coliseum.
Bryan Johansen, right, founder of A’s fan group Last Dive Bar, sells merchandise during a boycott opening day block party in the parking lot before their MLB opening day game against the Cleveland Guardians at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Bryan Johansen, owner of Last Dive Bar, still dutifully posts whatever snark he can find regarding reviled owner John Fisher about the A’s minor league setup on the LDB website. He’s going Friday, but like MacNeil, it will be with a free ticket. He believes the A’s departure impacted the fans of the team and is a black eye for the sport as a whole.
“After what Major League Baseball allowed the move to happen, and with what the A’s themselves did and how they treated fans, employees and players on their way out, a lot of people are just detached from MLB as a whole,” Johansen said. “If something organically were to happen — I could see a ‘Let’s Go Oakland’ chant — I’d like to see that. That’d be pretty cool. I think Giants fans are angry too. They were stripped of a nostalgic matchup for the Bay Area. They’re deprived as well.”
Last Dive Bar is associated with the Stockton Ports, an Athletics Single-A team. MacNeil is a part-time stadium P.A. announcer for the Ports and other independent league teams in the area. He can’t give up the sport he loves even though the team he loves has left town, although he fears his feelings for the A’s will recede over time.
Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay, center, and his team aknowledges fans after the A’s played the last home game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. The Oakland Athletics won 3-2 against the Texas Rangers. The A’s will move to Sacramento next season. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
He’s been to Sutter Health Park, the A’s temporary home in West Sacramento, but to see the Giants’ Triple-A team, the River Cats, to get his baseball fix without giving Fisher any of his personal income. He’ll go on occasional road trips to see the A’s, with Kansas City up next.
As much as he detests Fisher, MacNeil can’t totally break away because he has formed personal relationships not only with fans, but players and coaches. The A’s are 22-21 entering their game Thursday night at Dodger Stadium and more competitive than the recent Oakland teams, which lost 307 games from 2022 through 2024.
MacNeil has a whole catalogue of selfies taken with players who have bonded with him in Oakland and at road games.
“Trust me, it’s weird,” MacNeil said. “I hate it because I’m proud of the players. I love watching what Jacob Wilson is doing and seeing Nick Kurtz in the big leagues. It’s just so unfortunate they’re doing it in a different city and in a minor league park. A part of me thinks I should stay home Friday, but I want to hopefully see some of the guys like Lawrence Butler before the game.”
It has been duly noted that the Athletics, for all their improvement, are 7-14 at the new “home”, where they plan to play three seasons before relocating to Las Vegas. Rumors of a string of sellouts have given way to an average attendance of 10,166 with a capacity of 14,014. That’s ahead of only the Tampa Bay Rays, who are also playing in a minor league park while their home is undergoing repairs from hurricane damage. It’s also behind the 11,528 they averaged last season at the Coliseum, the league’s lowest in 2024.
“It’s just crazy, look at the A’s home and road numbers and it speaks to the situation they were placed in by John Fisher,” Johansen said.
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But at least Fisher achieved his goal of seeing Aaron Judge hit home runs in an “intimate” setting.
“We’re excited to be here for the next three years playing in this beautiful ballpark,” Fisher said at Sutter Health Park last April when the A’s officially announced their intentions. “But also being able to watch some of the greatest players in baseball, whether they be Athletics players or Aaron Judge and others launch home runs out of this very intimate, the most intimate ballpark in all of Major League Baseball for the next three years.”
Judge hit two home runs, two doubles and drove in five runs in a three-game series in West Sacramento last weekend.
“John Fisher is probably elated,” MacNeil said. “He got made fun of on SportsCenter for that quote.”
A’s fans will take their small victories any way they can.
Athletics owner John Fisher speaks at a press conference on April 4 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. File