'Grateful for the Memories': Oakland A's Fans Process Feelings During Final Home Games

For Tanya Vargas, going to A’s games encompassed so much more than baseball. Many of her first dates with her husband were at A’s games. He proposed to her on the jumbotron. Their two sons, ages 6 and 8, attended every opening day of the season other than one during the pandemic.

“Bittersweet,” she said when asked how she felt on Saturday during one of the final A’s home games against the New York Yankees. “We’re making the best memories for the last few games that we can be here and just enjoying it with the family.”

Vargas’s family were among the thousands of fans who packed the Coliseum for the baseball club’s last home games before they depart for Sacramento next year after 57 seasons in Oakland.

KQED spoke with fans at the game on Saturday and on Tuesday’s 9 a.m. Forum show. Many said they were feeling a mix of sadness and anger but also joy associated with decades of memories. Check KQED’s guide to processing the loss of the team. 

Team owners have talked about relocating for nearly two decades, but to see them go has been “devastating,” said Carol Giesler of Castro Valley.

“Anyone that you talk to who is a true Oakland fan, we’re all devastated,” she said. “Baseball, of all sports, is the heart and soul of America. And, to have the heart and soul of America ripped out of Oakland is wrong.”

Giesler has been bringing her 15-year-old son to games for most of his life. During a recent game, they stocked up on merchandise and jerseys that read “Oakland.”

“We refuse to buy anything that says ‘Athletics,’” she said.

Brian Hernandez of Novato also attended Saturday’s game and brought a yellow poster board that read, “I’ll Miss You All.” The A in “all” was written in the A’s font. He said he was done being angry about the team’s upcoming departure.

“This is what I’m going to miss,” he said, gesturing to a crowded corridor in the Coliseum near the concession stands. “I’m going to miss the team and the winning and all of that, but more than anything, I’ll miss coming here and seeing all these people.”

On Forum, listeners shared fond memories at the Coliseum: going to games as kids, arriving early for an elephant Beanie Babies giveaway, and enjoying the party atmosphere during pregame tailgates in the parking lot.

John from Oakland, a lifelong A’s fan, called in to talk about the time he lived in New York five years ago and went to an A’s game at Yankee Stadium. A Yankees fan poured beer on his head and threw the empty cup at him — a moment that turned into a viral video.

“Honestly, I was just so proud to rep Oakland and rep the A’s at that moment,” he said. “And then I moved back here a couple years ago and was so excited to go to games. Now I’m devastated at the situation we’re in. What can you do?”

One caller, Robin, said she remembered attending the first game the A’s played in the Coliseum in 1968 when then California Gov. Ronald Reagan threw the first pitch. After she retired 10 years ago, she took a part-time job at the stadium and will be one of several hundred people who will lose work after the team leaves.

When the A’s came to Oakland, she said, “I fell in love. And the saddest thing is the kids. (Team owners) are taking (the team) away from the young kids. They’re not going to have them.”

Sports teams become an idea and a brand for a city, said Pendarvis Harshaw, KQED columnist and lifelong A’s fan who spoke on Forum.

“Culture is a tool, and civic engagement comes from a common shared identity,” he said. “I understand that fully … but it makes me scratch my head. Like, maybe the foul is on us where we are supporting this franchise?”

The Coliseum also functioned as a town square where different groups of people could come together to root for the same banner, whether it was the Raiders, the A’s or the Warriors. Within a decade, all three teams have left.

Margaret from Redwood City wrote in to say, “What is lost goes far beyond just high-fiving a stranger or neighbor. It is actually more cynical than that. The wealthy white owner following the wealth and taking away a financial, community-building resource from a historically Black community is just an example of the continuing inequity that still, in this day and age, leaves underserved communities struggling just like they always have.”

Another fan wrote in, “My two older kids basically grew up at the Oakland Coliseum, watching the A’s. My husband and I married young and money was tight. But, we always managed to save a few bucks to go to at least a couple of games a season. Our holiday email always included a family photo at an A’s game at the Coliseum … It’s sad. The whole situation is tragic and wrong and selfish. Yet, I’m so grateful for the memories that this team has gifted my family.”

The A’s final home game in Oakland is scheduled at 12:37 p.m. on Thursday against the Texas Rangers.