Elephant Rumblings: Coliseum continues to court wildlife

Happy Tuesday, Athletics Nation!

During the weekend the Oakland Coliseum featured Angels against Athletics, but in another alliterative note it also had possums pestering press boxes. After all the fuss has been made around the Coli’s new population of feral cats earlier in the season, a return of a resident marsupial has some talk stirring again.

This all started during Sunday’s game, as recorded by writers Michael Wagaman and Matt Kawahara on twitter:

This isn’t the first time the Coliseum’s possum population has shown up; in the summer of 2014 one possum made its presence known. Dubbed the Rally Possum by press and fans, it first appeared during extra-innings on an August 4 game against the Rays, trotting through foul territory in right field. During the next season, Rally Possum appeared again on July 21 2015, hanging out by the visiting Blue Jays’ bullpen. Then, almost exactly a year after its debut, Rally Possum decided to take a seat on the left field wall to watch the late innings of an August 3 game against the Orioles. In all of these clips note Glen Kuiper’s vehement reaction to the marsupial, stating time and time again “I do not like those animals”.

There have been possum sightings in the Coliseum since Rally Possum first appeared on camera, largely by fans seeing the nocturnal animals pass through parts of the concourse.

Glen and Dallas Braden didn’t comment on the new possum during Sunday or Monday’s games, but you can expect Glen’s reaction to be the same. Dallas did catch a glimpse of his new broadcast partner on Monday.

As of Monday afternoon the press box was temporarily evacuated to allow animal control to try and remove the visitor according to longtime Twins broadcaster Dick Bremer:

With such a quick action for removal, you have to assume that the possum simply didn’t have the right press credentials to be in the booth.

A’s Coverage

• Ashford: Game #38: Offensive woes continue in 3-1 loss to Twins
• Hall: A’s try some small-ball to spark slumping lineup
• Kawahara: From bashing to bunting? A’s turning to the sacrifice more frequently ($)
• MLB.com: Not a stunner as Tony Kemp wins Play of the Week
• Brown: Yankees’ Bernie Williams returns to Oakland for anthem, recalls when the A’s were rockin’ ($)
• Kawahara: How A’s left-hander Zach Logue uses deception to his advantage ($)
• Snowden: Paul Blackburn’s Changes Leading To Success for Oakland

MLB News & Interest

• Shusterman: Albert Pujols on the mound: Position players we want to see pitch
• Doolittle, Schoenfield: MLB Awards Watch: An early look at the battle of the Angels for AL MVP and a tight NL Cy Young race
• Law: 2022 MLB Draft prospects scouting notes: Arkansas’ Cayden Wallace on the rise? ($)
• Jaffe: Hunter Greene and the No-Hitter That Wasn’t
• AP: Struggling Kansas City Royals fire hitting coach Terry Bradshaw, promote Alec Zumwalt to role
• Today in Baseball History

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