since my Dad is such a big As fan, but I didn’t really start actively following until 2006. Sure, I kept up and watched the playoff games/crucial games, but 2006 was when I started having fun watching baseball and planning trips to the ballpark. It helped that I won season tickets to the As by winning a super-regional tournament of the now defunct MLB Showdown trading card game, but thats what really spurred me on to claim the As as my own.

Moved to Sacramento when my dad got stationed at McClellan AFB. I was in first grade. My next door neighbor Duane couldn’t stop talking about Campy Campaneris and Reggie Jackson. I was hooked.
I used to wait for the Sacramento Bee every afternoon (not sure why we didn’t get it in the morning), just to see if the A’s had won the day before. The box score was the first thing I checked, and then the “Standings” to make sure Oakland stayed on top.
When the A’s lost in the ‘75 playoffs to Boston - hmm, go figure — I was crushed. I didn’t know the A’s could not win the World Series.
Wow, that’s 38 years. Man, they fly by fast.

I had just started little league. My dad took me to an A’s game for my first MLB experience. I will never forget my first look at a Major League field. When we walked up the stairs, past the concession stands, and back into the sunlight, I got my my first look at the perfectly cut, deep green bluegrass. The infield mixture of sand and clay, was a even orange/red, and perfectly uniform. It was beautiful. To me, at such a young age, it was like going into an outdoor cathedral.

Went with my T-Ball team to an A’s game. Was hooked after that. I used to go to this daycare center every day, and all day my friend and I would draw A’s symbols and stuff. Then one day he said to me “I don’t like the A’s anymore, I like the Giants, they’re better”. :( I remember I cried when the league went on strike. I lost interest in the mid to late 90s I think mostly cuz they sucked, and every time I went to a game they lost. But once the Big 3 came up I was hooked again, and have been hooked ever since!

Growing up in LA, all my friends were Dodger fans. And on my block, baseball was king. Baseball was wii. Everyday after school, every weekend, we played baseball in the street. Many a window was broken by deep shots to Chavez Ravine. Since my parents were pretty much non-existent in my upbringing, I spent most of my time collecting bottles, taking them to the liquor store to cash in on the recycling and took that money to buy baseball cards. I liked the colors of the team. That was the main reason. Then they were in the newspaper everyday, crazy colored uniforms, and names just as garish and colorful. That year I went to an Angels game with my dad and begged, pleaded, for an A’s plastic batting helmet. I think I wore that thing to bed! And on rainy days I would dump all my baseball cards out on my bedroom floor and spend the next 6 hours organizing them. The A’s stack far, far outpaced the rest of the teams. And now I live, by choice, one BART stop away from the Coli! I bleed Green and Gold!

My dad grew up a big Dodgers fan, living down in the LA area and all. But after college he got a job and relocated to the Bay Area. I came along in 1983, when the Dodgers were in the playoffs (they lost, sadly), but my dad was still a Dodgers fan. Thus I was raised to be a Dodgers fan.

How does this translate to me being an A’s fan? Well, living in the Bay Area, we had two different choices of games to go see. And since my dad hated the Giants, being a Dodgers fan and all, we went to A’s games. Thus my love affair with the A’s began. As I got older and could take myself to games, I went to A’s games, and I’ve been a fan ever since. I’m still a Dodgers fan in the NL, but the A’s are my one true team.

I was a Dodger fan in the early 70s because the A’s were good and everybody else jumped on the bandwagon and liked them.

I switched to the A’s in 1977 when they started to suck and everybody else jumped ship. As I got older and matured a bit I realized that even when they’re good the A’s are still something of an underdog… plus I then understood the virtue of sticking with one’s team through thick and thin… and have stayed an A’s fan ever since. Now, when they win, it’s just that much sweeter.

Doesn’t hurt that my first MLB game was an A’s game, and was fun, and my first Giants/Candlestick experience later the same year (1972) was a cold miserable experience.

Side note: The Giants have NEVER been an option.

Side note #2: I consider myself a “hindsight fan” of the early 70s A’s, and regret my youthful indiscretion of the time.

I was 14 in 1988, growing up in Fremont, and for some reason my parents (who were generally pretty restrictive/conservative) allowed me to hop on an AC Transit bus and transfer to BART to get to a game and sit in the nosebleed seats for something like $3.50, all by myself sometimes, and with a friend occasionally. It was a compelling time for the A’s, and easily accessible for me as a kid.

I still have my Blues Brothers – style Bash Brothers poster hidden away (in terrible condition) somewhere.

Oh — all that, plus Lon Simmons and Bill King (and Ray Fosse).

Ever since I can remember my family has been going to A’s games so naturally I grew into it. It was mostly my dad and I who went to games in the late 90’s and early 00’s but over the past few years my dad’s interest has died down (though he still considers himself an A’s fan only) while mine has increased exponentially.

 I remember going to games earlier in my life and being so mad when ever the A’s won and my dad would always remind me that we were there because we were fans of the game so as long as we saw good baseball it was worth going. I never bought into that line of reasoning.

In any case I’d say my love for the A’s and overall knowledge of the team wouldn’t have ever evolved in fanaticism were it not for my discovery of AN so I’m truly grateful for the experience I have gained from this site over the past however many years.

was a fan of both the Giants and A’s, and was 50-50 for a little bit. Then in 89 (i was 9 years old) … I started to side with Oakland, but would still follow the Giants (Will Clark was my favorite player.)

Then I realized that the Giants are dumb, and Eck was cool as hell. Been a die hard ever since.

All my role models did steroids so naturally I did as well…

Many thanks to Canseco, McGwire, Giambi, Tejada, Cust (Harden??? i’d be willing to bet he is guilty) etc…

He became an A’s fan after getting tired of the Giants losing all the time (not sure when, but it must have been sometime that the A’s were good. I’m certain that it was before I was born in 83’ though).
     I remember going to an A’s vs Tigers game and getting a baseball during the Tigers batting practice. I also remember being bummed that it wasn’t a A’s player. That is the only thing I remember from the game. I don’t remember what year it was but I’m fairly certain it was after or during the Mt. Davis construction (I remember the construction workers dancing to the YMCA at a different game).
    I think I sort of followed the A’s in 95 and 96 but my first vivid memory of an A’s game was opening day 1997. My Dad took my two sisters and myself and we sat 1st base side on the 1st deck close to the foul pole but we were under the overhang and couldn’t see most of the flyballs. The A’s lost but I remember being mostly satisfied because one of the A’s hit a HR and I think there were post-game fireworks. After reading the box score just now it turns out that both Ernie Young and Geronimo Berroa hit HRs. I think this was the time that I feel in love with the A’s and started following the team in the newspaper and on TV (when I could because my family didn’t have a TV until 1998). I remember reading about Berroa being traded while I was at my Grandma’s house in Oregon for the summer.
    My Dad and I have been going to A’s games together ever since.

but they let me play little league, and at the end of a game, we’d get a ticket good for 50 cents at the snack bar.

My teammates collected baseball cards, and I didn’t give a rat’s ass, until I actually looked at the back of one, and saw all those beautiful numbers on the back. (I was much more left-brained back then) I was fascinated, and bought a pack.

I took them home, and there was one guy from the A’s… Ray Burris. Coincidentally, there was an A’s game on TV, so I turned it on, hoping to see Ray Burris. He didn’t pitch that night, and I didn’t understand why, so I asked my coach a couple days later at practice.

He told me that big league teams have 10-12 pitchers, and not only that, but Burris had gone to the Brewers and wasn’t even on the A’s any more. I was blown away. It seemed so weird that the cards didn’t represent the current season. In my youthful logic, I figured baseball cards had print runs every week or so, to keep up with trades and stats and such… like a little cardboard newspaper…

All this information was very fascinating, and I started to watch baseball on TV in the spare room (parents couldn’t much tolerate it on the main TV), and either the A’s or the Giants were on every night, so they became my favorite teams.

Then, a few years later, the personalities of the teams changed, with Weiss and Eck and McGwire and Hendu and Stew for the good guys (although it can be argued that Dave Parker and Canseco were not good guys), and the unfounded arrogance of Will Clark and Matt Williams and Kevin Mitchell turning me off from the Giants.

Later on, getting into punk rock and other sordid underground activities, combined with the decline of the A’s and the strike, turned me away from the game for a number of years.

I started following the A’s again when I found out that Billy Beane had been hired as GM. He had been one of my favorite scrubs on the 89 club, and I was interested to see if he could turn the team around.

Well, 1998 turned into a very interesting season to watch, and I knew that McGwire and Sosa were on the juice, and I didn’t care. I still don’t.

Anyway, as we all know, the next few years were good for the A’s, and they were good for me, too, because all of a sudden, I went from scrimping and saving to go to a game or two a year, to having a Triple-A stadium within walking distance of my apartment. I went to a lot more Rivercats games then than I do now, having moved to the burbs, but I still go to about 10 games a year, and a couple in Oakland (although not this year).

I have to admit, that after 20 years of disliking the Giants due to one asshole or another stinking up the roster, there are six or seven players on the club that I really enjoy watching, and no one I truly dislike (Edgar Renteria is an overpaid packing peanut, but not worthy of contempt). I guess I’m sort of drifting back towards my childhood, embracing both teams.

Now if I can only catch Ray Burris at an old timers’ game or senior softball tournament, I can die happy!

I guess I’m older than just about everyone posting. Before the A’s I walked from my North Oakland home to see the Oakland Oaks play. When the A’s arrived I was an instant fan. How time flys by.

I also attended Oakland Tech where I was in same graduating class with Curt Flood. I’ve always been pleased by the fact that one of our very best players ever (Rickey Henderson) also went to Tech. Being a native Oaklander I learned to hate the Giants because they think they’re such hot stuff over there.

I was at an A’s v. Giants game in SF in 2004. I was decked out in my A’s gear to stick it to my friends who were all in Giants gear. I was sitting by an older guy who seemed nice enough. He was decked out in his A’s gear and after Bobby Crosby made a nice play at short, he leaned over to me and said, “That guy there is going to be the rookie of the year.”

Low and behold, he was, and because of that being an A’s fan just stuck. Since then I’ve gotten season tickets, moved off-campus mostly for the benefits of having CSN CA, read Moneyball, and hate Bobby Crosby’s guts.

Who’d a thought

My first A’s game was in 1971. Catfish threw a complete game win and Reggie hit a bomb.

In those days, whenever we would pretend to be our favorite players, I wanted to be Vida Blue. My brother had to break the news to me that I couldn’t be Vida, because I’m right-handed.

Just moved out from Chicago, spent a whole boring summer listening to Monte Moore, went to my first game at the Coliseum, saw a series game at Dodger Stadium. It wasn’t till 30 years later that I finally considered myself a bigger A’s fan than Cubs fan. Like Uncle Leo, I’m one of those people who likes rooting for a team on the way up better than a favorite — 1981, 1988, 1999-2001 are my favorite seasons, not 1989 when we were clearly the best team.

when I was still in the womb.

I remember her saying, “Someday we (Oakland) will have a baseball team, and our family will follow it for many generations to come.”

Seems like everyone liked it and had fun reliving some fond memories.

I grew up watching Canseco, Giambi, Mcgwire, etc. Not sure when my fandom officially started. Growing up in Ohio, I had little interest in specific teams, just sports and their stars. All I know is I love my A’s now, and have as long as I can recall.

Was the year I went to my first game, an A’s game (vs Texas, we won in 14 innings!). I loved every single moment I was in the Coliseum and knew I was going to be spending a lot of time there in the future. The success of 88-90 sealed the deal.

I was born, raised and sadly still live in Greenville, South Carolina. During my formative years, family vacations were always a combination Atlanta trip: Six Flags and some Braves games. My favorite player was Ron Gant because of his ‘awesome batting stance’. Also, he hit home runs (He was probably on the juice. Whatever).

In ’94, he broke his right leg in an ATV accident and the Braves ditched him. I was furious. At 11, I had no team loyalty. Only baseball card loyalty. And Ron Gant – well, I had 53 of his. And an autographed baseball. So screw you, Atlanta.

Ron went on to play for roughly 620,000 teams which included 2 stints with the A’s. The early 2000’s A’s were a very likeable bunch, and I grew attached. The big 3. Byrnesy. Pre-death Chavey. Erubiel Freaking Durazo.

So after Ron’s retirement, I decided to stick to my guns. Go A’s. ’03-present.

One of these days I’ll set foot in California.

I bleed Green and Gold
And shit Orange and Black
GO A’S

My Dad and Uncle took me and my cousin to a game way back in 1981 and once I saw Rickey Henderson play my little 7 year old brain knew this was the team for me.

I was brainwashed into becoming a Raider fan by my Dad but I chose to become an A’s fan on my own and that’s always given the A’s a special place in my heart.

Even though I haven’t lived near the A’s for a long time for years I’ve come out every July and seen as many games as I could (I say I’m there to visit family and friends) and I’ve seen countless A’s games in Kansas City and Dallas.

For all you younger fans who like Twan haven’t seen the A’s win the World Series I sure hope you get that chance as it’s a wonderful feeling.

Though my first baseball game was in 1980 and it was the gnats. I went to the game, I don’t remember who won, and it didn’t stick.

The next year, I remember seeing the A’s starting off 11-0 and seeing some guy named Rickey Henderson run the bases like crazy. I was hooked. When I went to my first A’s game that year, it was Billy Martin cowboy hat day. I had fun. A hell of a lot of fun.

In 1982, my dad brought me to the game for my b’day. He knew one of the security guards there from working with him at GM, and he somehow (I never asked and never wanted to know) got me a cool ass all white, satin A’s jacket and a couple other things. That also happened to be the day that Rickey stole his first two bases of the year and went on, of course, to swipe 130. He became my hero officially that year. My favorite players then were Rickey, The Murph and Armas. Damn, what an outfield.

I ended up moving to Oklahoma in 1983 (thanks to GM) and still followed them, even traveling down to Fort Worth to see them take on the Rangers. I was so hooked ( and because there was nothing else to do in OK), I read every book on baseball I could get my hands on til I finally moved back to civilization in 1987 and just in time to watch Mark McGwire start launching baseballs all over and seeing some castoffs named Eckersley and Stewart become stars.

I love this team no matter what happens. It makes me so happy to remember all the great games I’ve been to and the players I’ve seen, both on the A’s and visiting.

I remember going to A’s games back in the early ’70’s. I was born in Vallejo and my parents took me to A’s games all throughout the ’73, ’74, ’75, and the 1976 season; Until my mother and I moved to Portland, OR in late ’76. Now considering that I was born in ’72, I have no idea how I remember those early days. I remember in detail things that happened, so when I recant specific things that happened, she looks at me kinda funny sometimes.

The most specific thing I remember though, is the Green and Gold. I remember having a Raggy Ann doll and it had on an A’s uniform. I remember the small baseball bat pen with the A’s logo on it. I think it was a promotional give away item. I remember the Green and Gold jacket my Dad bought me and I PROUDLY wore it to every game we went to! I remember sitting in the seats, not fully knowing what was going on, or where I was at, but, I do remember the green and gold! Wow, those striped socks back them were awesome!

This was fun, thank you! GO A’S!!!!

I remember BART. That thing had the ugliest huge windows a 3 yr. old had ever seen!

I am noticing alot of young A’s fans on here…

I grew up in the Tri-Valley area which was only 30 minutes from the Coliseum. My mom was the baseball fan – but she had been a lifelong Pirates fan. It was OK for her to be an A’s fan b/c they were an AL team. My dad was not much of a sports fan – but he coached little league in order to give my brother the chance to play. That was the kind of dad he was. So it was all my mom who wanted to sit in the sun, relax with a beer and watch a game. Dad went along for the ride!! Back in the day – I think it was an inexpensive form of entertainment for our family with 5 kids.

We went to plenty of games at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum when it was all shiny and new. I liked to play softball so enjoyed seeing the game played right!! Over the years – it was an activity that foretold of the beginning of SPRING my favorite time of year and it is inextricably tied to many favorite family memories where fun was the order of the day.

I sort of forgot about my love of baseball and the excitement of championship baseball until the ‘89 series – I was in college and beginning my career and my own family. During the ’88 campaign, one of my cherished memories was attending a game with my mom – at the time I was pregnant with my daughter – it was becoming a generational thing!! AS a new mom – I did not attend many games when she was a baby – BUT she was decked out during the Bay Bridge series that year. My daughter is now a rabid fan as well – thanks to my lifelong love for all things A’s. We just decided to begin attending games and our fate was sealed when I decided to buy season tickets. I may not have been able to afford big vacations, but I could afford a small season ticket package.

So here I am……my journey this year extended to visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame and becoming an active participant at AN. I love this community, I love this team, and I love the colors of green and gold. Go A’s!!

The place: Miami Florida … Do you have any idea how impossible it was to buy an A’s cap in Florida in the early 70’s? Like Hens teeth. I made one from a Brave’s cap with spray paint and it looked like shite. I wish I still had it, people used to ask me, “What’s that on your head?” and I’d say it’s my team, The Oakland A’s …
A network news program has a tidbit on a California team with really racey colors and their mascot is a donkey. That was totally cool. And the players are amazing … Kenny Webster (my best friend at the time) says Reggie Jackson is one of the best players in the league. Campy Campaneris, Sal Bando, Gene Tennace, Joe Rudi, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter … These were names on the baseball cards I had and tried to follow. It is nearly impossible to follow them … the Miami Herald always says, “Late Game” in the box score results … you’d have to follow them by standings. Thrilling to have them on TV for playoffs and eventually the World Series. The only club on TV was the Braves and don’t get me wrong … they were a different state (GA), just the like the A’s, They might as well been from the Moon. I tried, but I just couldn’t get behind them. Kids like me had spent some spring breaks at various Citrius League games … I saw enough Yankees and Red Sox games to make me want to throw up. My father (although, from Ireland) is a life long Red Sox fan. He was happy that I picked a team for myself, although he couldn’t understand why. They were a team, but they were also individuals … everyone could be themselves and still be part of the whole … man, what a concept … I think this, although too young to understand it, endeared me to the A’s. After we moved to Ireland, it was impossible to follow the A’s. I didn’t get back to them until ‘78 when we moved back to the States. We came back to North Carolina, which was another United State bereft of Baseball, so again, it was the A’s for me. I left North Carolina because, I could not believe I lived in a State where that many people could be that stupid and still walk upright. (I apologise to A’s fans from NC, but your State rubbed me the wrong way.) Part of the reason I moved to California was to be nearer to my beloved A’s. The closest duty station I could pick was Concord Naval Weapon Station. I was there throughout my Naval career of six years. I have been a season ticket holder for all but three years since to moving to California in late 1982. I normally sit in the right field bleachers up in the top right hand corner (as viewed from the field)… come by sometime and say hi. I’ll be there with my three kids, who, even after being told, “Look, pick your own team. There are two in this area,” are A’s fans. My daughter is diehard like her old-man and even writes stories about them for school, which reminds me of GGG. She doesn’t rock the high sox, but she still writes about them, which I find pretty cool.

Cheers!

All I know is it hurt.

Signed,

’Nuff said.

I was 8 during the 1989 world series and do remember the 88 battle against the Dodgers as well. I have always been an A’s fan as i am a Northern California native. But for a while there when i was really young about 6 and 7 i started to follow the Atlanta Braves as well, this because of TBS and the fact that almost every game was aired nationally, also my neighbor who got me into baseball was a minor league player for the Braves. But it all changed in 1989 when i really because a true A’s fanatic. I went to a game in May with a friend of mine and his father. Jose Canseco had always been my favorite player up to that point but what happened that day changed my opinion of him, obviously at 8 i was impressionable. I swarmed down to the A’s dugout as the pregame warm ups were winding down in hopes of getting a Canseco autograph, instead he avoided all fans and said he didn’t have time. At this point Mark Mcgwire took autographs, i passed my card down through a couple rows only to have a man attempt to keep it for himself. I guess Mcgwre noticed that and told the man to give him the “damn” card and don’t act like a jerk. He did. The card came back to me signed, and as i started to walk away Mcgwire said “hey kid, come here” i looked back and he was talking to me. I walked towards the dugout and he said “sorry about that” and asked me whose autograph i was seeking? I answered honestly and said “Canseco” He laughed and said “well i hope mine works for you” i said of course your my second favorite player. Mcgwire then took his hat signed it and handed it to me.

             That was a great moment for me and made me a true A’s fanatic