My OAKLAND A's

When most of us became fans of the team, Lew Wolff wasn't the Managing Partner, Billy Beane wasn't the GM, (insert name here) wasn't the Manager, Curt Young wasn't the pitching coach, Steve Fanelli wasn't in charge of tickets, Mike Crowley wasn't the president, not a single player on the 40-man roster was in the organization, and likely not a single player or coach in the entire system was with the team.

My point is, "WHO" was supposed to be loyal to you, Devo?  The world is made up of people making decisions, and you're making the "Oakland Athletics Baseball Club" into a living breathing entitiy that can make decisions.  It can't, only the people can.

So, if you don't want to be a Lew Wolff fan that's fine.  But don't blame the "Oakland Athletics" for moving.

For all of us die hard fans, we know its a perfectly safe place to go see a game but I'm sure Oakland's repuatation hurts attendance to some degree.  

I know anyone from Oakland will defend their city and not want to hear this type of thing, but I'm just wondering if you think that affects attendance at all and if so to what degree?

doesn't even need to be approved by MLB. It is just a change of neighborhood and really a function of the the way municipal boudnaries are defined. Both Yankees and Mets play in New York City  but that is a determined by the way NYC is defined -- 5 counties/boroughs which make up 1 city. Ask the die hard Brooklyn Dodger fans if they would rather have the Dodgers in LA or in Queens?

It is not like they are moving from a location that was identifiable as part of Oakland, like Lake Merritt. IMO, there is nothing distinctiveley Oakland about 66th Ave. Besides the Coliseum left the A's when they crapped it up for the return of the Raiders.

Look at it this way, if it helps at all:  The team felt they had to move, and that sucks, but they are not moving that far and maybe some of that is because they couldn't bear to leave completely.  If the team has to move to Fremont to keep from moving to Portland, then that's a lesser evil.  In any event, no move can change what happened here: all the history, the games watched, the championships won, the characters that played under the title Oakland Athletics.  That gets to stay.  It has to stay.  Because it's ours.

My question to you is this.  Is it fair that you hold the Oakland A's to a standard you weren't willing to meet yourself?  You yourself have fled the city, be it for noble purposes and pursuits I'm sure.  But none the less, you left also.  And you mention that you are not opposed to the thought of straying even farther from your ancestral roots.  I assume that you intend of relocating yourself with an eye towards improving your lot in life.  Are the Oakland A's doing any less?  While I understand your sentiment towards the Oakland A's, it's my sincere wish that should you find your way back home if a few years with a little Devo of your own, I hope that the two of you pass the time together in a ballpark in Fremont and build a lifetime of memories together.  And perhaps in time, when he or she is much older, they will feel the same way when the new park has reached the end of its usefullness.  

I enjoyed your Diary.  I hope it inspires people to share their memories of the Coliseum and what its passing as a baseball venue means to them.

The Coliseum and the Raiders told the A's, loud and clear, that the A's were no longer wanted at the Coliseum.  They turned an excellent baseball park -- as good as or better than any baseball venue in California -- into the Mt. Davis abomination that exists today.  On top of that, attendance is, shall we say, underachieving in light of the consistent success of the last several years.

Any reasonable MLB ownership/management would want out of the current stadium situation.

The A's belong in the Bay Area, and I'm very happy that they are going to stay there. If Fremont works, great. If the final location is Santa Clara or San Jose after Magowan gets his ransom money, that's fine as well. If a Camden/Coors/Jacobs-type downtown ballpark were miraculously built on the waterfront in Oakland, even better -- but it's not a prerequisite for me following the team.

baseball, i think, lets us all relive our childhood in many ways...the world is a complex place now...bills...kids (my wife is pregnant)...work...work politics....

but for 9 innings, you can retreat into this special place, a special world where there is just a bat and a ball and 9 people working together like a synchronized swimming team for one goal....

a little bit of that innocence is going to die for me when the A's move to Fremont. I won't walk the Bart ramp when I was a kid on my way to the old stadium (pre-mount davis) seeing those lights in the distance...the field through the green slits of the back fence behind that ivy...the roaring sound of the metal beachers that echoed through the stadium....the fun of playing "ditch" in the hall way of the bleachers...

sigh

This is a really emotional issue for me.  But thanks Devo.

As a third generation Oaklander, I love this community and, as a sports fan, I feel so priviliged to have professional sports teams that are in my city. I hope that this comes off in the way that I intend because I certainly don't mean to demean any A's fans from outside of Oakland. However, I find that there is something special, something unique about being and A's fan in Oakland. An Oaklander doesn't just root for the A's because of the team itself, we root for our city. We root for our communal identity to be seen in an positive light that is all to rarely portrayed.

That said, I wish the A's and the communtiy of Fremont well. I hope that the privilege of having a pro baseball team can spark the same sort of civic pride for those kids that will grow up with the (gulp) Fre - (ouch it hurts ) - mont A's.

So I say "Go East Bay A's".