Swan Song In Oakland – Goodbye To The Oakland Athletics

Around 6:20 P.M. eastern daylight savings time, Oakland Athletics closer, Mason Miller, got Texas Rangers outfielder ,Travis Jankowski, to ground out to end the game, securing an Oakland win.

If that was the main headline, nobody would care. For the third straight season, Oakland will finish under .500, and for the fourth straight season, they’ll miss the playoffs. It’s just another season of poor performances for Oakland, something that has seemingly become common place since 2000.

However, there’s a bigger story here: the end of the Athletics (and the big four sports) in Oakland. After 56 years, the Athletics will leave Oakland Coliseum and the city of Oakland and head to Sacramento for three years before opening up shop in Las Vegas.

In that time, the coliseum hosted six World Series (four of which led to championships for Oakland) and saw 21 playoff appearances. It also played host to three AFC and AFL Championship games when the Raiders played there, as well as several notable concerts including the final American show Led Zeppelin performed, Marvin Gaye’s comeback show and “Amnesty International’s Human Rights Now!” Benefit Concert.

So with the festivities of the final game at the Coliseum over, what is the Athletics’ legacy in Oakland?

It’s really split into two parts: pre-John Fisher and what came after he purchased the team.

Prior to 2005, when Fisher bought the team, is when the Athletics had their most success in Oakland. All of the cities’ World Series appearances and all but four divisional titles came before 2005.

Post 2005 is where that legacy gets tarnished. Since Fisher purchased the team, the Athletics not only hadn’t seen the same success but they had garnered an even deeper reputation for not willing to spend on making the team better.

This was made even worse when in 2020. In the midst of the pandemic, he had decided to freeze minor league players’ salaries and furlough temporary employees, despite being the eighth richest owner in the league at the time.

Then came the move. When these rumors started, Fisher assured fans that they would do everything they could to keep the team in Oakland. Over time, this would turn out to be more fiction than fact. As more came out, the fans started calling for Fisher to sell the team.

Protests at the All-Star game, outside the stadium, even a reserve boycott have happened in that time since. Sadly, it was too late and now they mourn the loss of their team.

So what is the legacy of the Athletics in Oakland? It’s one of good times, deception and a painful ending.

Oakland, here’s to the memories and we mourn with you.