The Slow Death of an A's Fan

Wanted to tell my A's fan story. I am not a writer and it was too difficult to tell as a story, instead I've just listed the memories I had off the top of my head in chronological order.


I remember:

• Becoming baseball aware when my parents signed me up for T-Ball in 1994.

• It was fitting after learning about Mark McGwire that our largest/best hitter was number 25.

• Going to my first game at the Coliseum with my dad and my T-Ball team. It was a night game.

• Being obsessed with the A's after that first game. Another kid and I bonded over them as we drew the A's, Athletics script and elephant logos all over the chalk board at the daycare center.

• That same kid came up to me one morning saying he didn't like the A's anymore, he liked the giants. Because they were "better". I didn't know what to think at the time, I just knew I loved the A's.

• The Voice of God booming over the speakers announcing Rickey Henderson as the crowd went wild and just knowing that ‘this is the guy!'

• As a shy kid, enjoying cotton candy at a day game and refusing to let the cameraman put me on the jumbotron

• Feeling frustrated going to games in the mid 90s as it seemed like they never won

• Attending an early A's-Giants interleague game at Candlestick with my summer camp, where I tried to fit in by pretending to be a Giants fan. I recall some of the kids teasing an A's fan. The A's dominated the Giants.

• My love of the A's reaching new heights when they finally made the playoffs for the first time since I had been a fan

• Giambi's dominance, Chavy's glove, Hudson, Mulder Zito, the promise of Rich Harden, Tejada's clutch, and Byrnesies unnecessary but entertaining diving catches

• 102 wins in 2001 but still 14 games out of first place

• All the painful game 5 losses

• The 20 game win streak

• Confidently declaring the A's 20th win was in the bag when they were up 11-0, My dad giving me grief for jinxing the game as the lead eroded. Tired of it, I defiantly responded, "You want me to jinx it?? A's are going to win!"

• Tailgating with friends in the parking lot as we listened to Jimi Hendrix

• Zero splash hits t-shirts

• Eric Byrnes being traded within months of buying his jersey

• Reading Moneyball

• Listening to the game in the break room with my coworker in 2005. The A's had gone from 15 games below .500 to 15 games over and were finally tied with the Angels for first place. Bill King going nuts on the radio as Jason Kendall scampers home to win the game after K-Rod drops the throwback from the catcher. We were screaming, trying to figure out what the heck happened.

• Frank Thomas hitting monster shots to get the A's back in the post-season

• Marco - - - Scu - taro chants as his clutch doubles end the Twins season

• Kotsay's inside the park HR against gold glover Torii Hunter

• Attending my first post-season game with my Dad in the ALCS against the Tigers

• The anger after a finally healthy Rich Harden was traded when the A's were 8 games above .500 and the extreme suck the rest of the season

• My mom finally getting on board with watching the A's with my dad and I because she loved Nick Swisher and Swisher being traded shortly after.

• Esteban Loaiza going on the DL with a bulging dick in his neck.

• Attending a packed late season double play wednesday game in the upper deck against the Angels in a pennant chase. Friends going on an adventure for dollar dogs in the 2nd inning only to finally get back when Huston Street came out for the save.

• Marco Scutaro hitting a walkoff home run off the foul pole, off Mariano Rivera.

• Still loving the A's during the lean years of the late 2000s with some nice players to remember(some of which laid the foundation for the next great A's team): Cust, Suzuki, Sweeney, Hannahan, Cahill, B Anderson, Braden, Gio Gonzalez, A Bailey, Ziegler, Coco, Sogard, Willingham, Pennington

• Being on AN almost nightly - mostly as a lurker but commenting here and there.

• Being impressed with how active AN was considering the A's were apparently "small market"

• Hating the slegnA, Yankees, and FTG

• Nico goat jokes

• When AN fan posts (Diaries) were front and center which encouraged more community created research articles

• Daric Barton.

• Some rookie named Donaldson making a lasting impression in my head (single A toss-in with the Harden trade) when he crushed his first career home run in Toronto.

• Staying up late with friends to watch the season openers in Japan

• Ryan Sweeney manning all 3 outfield positions

• My first date with my now wife. Early 2012 firework night.

• 2012 A's walkoffs

• 4 game sweep against the Yankees

• Pulling out my wallet calendar with about 1.5 months left in the season, seeing Texas as the final series and thinking to myself "That could be epic".

• Going to each game against Texas in that final 2012 series.

• Being frustrated when the A's allowed 5 runs in the 3rd to blow their lead in game 162, deciding to grab food.

• Seeing Reddick's double drop while standing in line as the Coliseum roared

• Finally getting back to my seat as Hamilton drops the ball

• Watching the balfour rage grow from a single fan early in the season, to the entire section, to the entire stadium.

• Sitting at the back of the field level for ALDS game 4, grabbing a beer real quick to discover a deserted concourse and imagining that it must always be like this for the playoffs in the well experienced Coliseum. The structure rumbled as I thought to myself, "This is Athletics baseball"

• The 9th inning rally and the Coco walkoff

• Fosse's scream

• Attending game 5 as Verlander shut the door

• knowing I would give a standing ovation to the 2012 Athletics as the final outs were being made as it had been the best week of baseball I'd ever experienced. After the collective sentiment shared by the rest of the stadium was revealed, I knew this fanbase was special.

• The 2013 season confirming that 2012 was no fluke

• Fosse's run-on sentence questions?

• Attending the 2013 game 2 duel between Sonny Gray and Verlander and believing in Stephen Vogt as he walks it off.

• Attending game 5 yet again against Verlander...

• Having the best record, run differential, and most All-Stars in baseball at the 2014 AS Break.

• Cespedes putting on a show at the HR Derby

• Watching the 2014 season fall apart and barely squeak in the Wild Card

• Trading Cespedes during a pennant race

• The A's blowing the lead in the Wild Card game. Donaldson's dive just out of reach.

• Trading Josh Donaldson

• The disappointment of the 2015 A's

• The Billy Butler era, the first time I slowed down my A's consumption. I was angry and frankly it was just kind of a boring team.

• My mother telling me a story over the years of when I was a baby. They were watching the World Series at my dad's restaurant in Isla Vista. The Dodgers(My dad grew up a Dodger fan) hit a game winning home run. In excitement my mother tossed me in the air-€”not realizing how near the hood vent was... Over the years more details had come to light-€”it was against the A's and-€”OH, it was THAT home run! I then realized I must have been born an A's fan since getting my head slammed into a hood vent the same time Eck gives up a walk-off home run in the World Series seems par for the course.

• Became a NRAF in 2016

• Marcus Semien going from liability in the field to stud.

• Knowing that the club was on the rise yet again with the arrival of the Matts.

• Living in San Diego and attending when the A's came to town in 2018.

• Down to the final strike, Piscotty hitting a game tying home run leading to A's victory in 10

• Attending the second game as the A's dominated the Padres 12-4

• Feeling like the short series was a turning point for the season, the A's went on a tear during the rest of the year to make it back to the post-season.

• Khris Davis ownage of the Texas Rangers

• Losing the 2018 and 2019 Wild Card games

• Feeling hopeful that a stadium deal was going to get done in Oakland

• The strangeness of the 2020 season but yay we won the division and a playoff series

• The stupidity of the Marcus Semien contract offer

• The disappointment of the 2021 season down the stretch

• Fosse's death

• The feeling of the writing being on the wall when Melvin leaves the club with a year still left on his contract

• Knowing the team was about to be blown up, but hoping that at the very least they will keep Chapman for a potential bounce back year

• Feeling done and dejected after the team was blown up, especially after Chapman was dealt

• Josh Donaldson being asked about his thoughts on the Athletics and stating "You can only be a punching bag for so long. You can only watch your favorite players get traded for so long."

• Barely consuming any baseball in 2022. Didn't even care if anyone else was traded.

• As the 2023 season was starting up, I decided I would start watching again. It was odd, because I didn't really recognize anyone. Within a few weeks the A's had announced their "Binding Agreement" in Las Vegas. It was a gut punch.

• In the morning following the announcement looking at my 2 year old son and realizing I won't be able to share the Coliseum experience with him. I cried on my way to work.

• Feeling extreme sadness throughout the 2023 season as something I have loved almost my entire life seemed to be dying. I no longer consumed A's games and hardly any on the field news.

• Visiting the Coliseum for the last time with my dad and my son last weekend. My son's first and only game. Seems fitting that it's been 30 years since my first. It felt like the good times with a crowd of 25k+, even though two thirds were Dodger fans.

• Realizing that 80% of A's news I've consumed since the announcement has been about the move rather than the baseball. I miss the good times when I actually cared about the happenings on the field. I wish they would make baseball fun again.