At 7:43 last Tuesday night, the Oakland Coliseum went silent. ... For the most part. In the middle of the A’s eventual 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the crowd at the Coliseum stopped making noise. It had nothing to do with the crowd size. Over 27,759 rabid A’s fans packed the Coliseum that night, far more than the 9,292 average that usually attended A’s games.
The silence was punctuated by a steady hiss that wafted over the crowd, from thousands of fans telling thousands of other fans to shut the hell up as A’s fans used this moment to honor the team's 55 years they spent Rooted in Oakland. It was a powerful, fan-driven moment where A’s fans came together to let the team's owner John Fisher and the rest of the Major League Baseball, that this passionate fanbase was truly united behind their team and its history. For a very brief moment, there was silence, but A’s fans are a different breed, and a few of them used the quiet to let their true feeling known.
“F*ck John Fisher!” a few yelled.
A few “John Fisher sucks!” rang out as well.
Then Rays' center fielder Jose Siri roped a double down the left field line and the damn burst. 27,759 fans immediately, as if on cue, broke into a raucous chant of “sell the team” directed right at the A’s miserable owner John Fisher, who is attempting to move the team to Las Vegas. In that moment, A’s delivered one of the most surreal and sublime moments I had ever witnessed at a baseball game.
In that moment, A’s fans let the world know that, contrary to what baseball commissioner Rob Manfred may want you to believe, these fans are not the problem. They are true baseball fans in every sense a human could be, and ripping this team away from this fanbase would be a disservice to the A’s and the sport of baseball as a whole.
That was freaking amazing,” said Carlos from Phoenix this past Saturday during the A’s afternoon tilt with the Philadelphia Phillies, who was also in attendance for Tuesday night's festivities. “That was fun. That was you know you playoff atmosphere and given a big finger to MLB and the powers that be it was it was fun.”
Carlos was one of several A’s fans who decided to bring back the tradition of drumming on this sunny Saturday afternoon. A native of San Leandro who currently lives in Phoenix, Carlos uses his vacation time to drive up from Arizona to take in his beloved A’s, whom he has been a fan of since the 1970s, and has been a drummer in right field since the late 2000s, joining when the area in the outfield was known as “Matusi-land” for once A’s designated hitter Hideki Matsui.
He was joined on this afternoon by Andy, sporting a jersey that read “OG Drummer,” Dennis Biles from Hayward, Mike Davie, an Oakland native but was sporting a Phillies jersey due to his family roots in the Philadelphia area, Will McNeil, aka Right Field Will, from Hayward, and Nina Thorson of Alameda.
Each of them hardcore, green and gold bleeding A’s fans, refusing to let the ugliness that Fisher has created prevent them from enjoying what they love in attending these games, spending afternoons with their summer family, and wailing away on their drums in the long-standing A’s tradition. Each of them providing more and more evidence that A’s fans are true baseball fans deserving of their team.
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Thorson has been going to A’s games since 2000 and is considered the rock of this group, keeping everyone on beat and letting them know which beats to play for each player and moment in the game. She of course was also in attendance for Tuesday night's game, and she said that Tuesday night's game was proof of the passion A’s fans bring, as well as highlighting how intelligent a baseball fanbase this is.
“We're loyal,” said Thorson. “We're creative. And we're generous, financially, but we're also generous with our time. There was a lot of time that went into putting [the Reverse Boycott] together. And people worked very hard. And I think the thing that it shows in a larger way is that people are not happy with the model of the fan as a passive consumer.”
A’s fans are a loud bunch. Almost obnoxiously so, but in a good way. They love making noise, especially on the road. Whenever the A’s would head across The Bay Bridge to face the Giants in Oracle Park, the A’s fans who followed seemed to rejoice in making more noise at the corner of Third and King Street than they do back in Oakland. It is as if to say “We are going make noise, but we are going to make MORE noise in your house, because making noise is what we do best!”
While A’s fans specialize in noise, they also do not take crap from anyone. They are amongst the best trash talkers in the sport, and they do not back down from anyone. And that includes Rob Manfred, whose backhanded comments this past Thursday did not go unnoticed by A’s fans, or baseball fans in general.
“It was great,” Manfred said on Thursday regarding the Reverse Boycott. “It’s great to see what is, this year, almost an average Major League baseball crowd in the facility for one night. That’s a great thing.”
The comments were as snide as it was uncalled for, but not surprising for a man who once called the World Series trophy a “piece of metal” and who has had fans questioning whether or not he actually enjoys the game he presides over.
“Nobody could ever say something like that to a fan base,” said McNiel, who noted that he had other words he wanted to use to describe Manfred that might not be safe to print. “It’s the biggest slap in the face, kick in the nuts, every dang bad terminology you could use. That's how it felt. I've never been that ticked off yelling at my computer screen on my phone over somebody saying some idiotic and being that tone-deaf...”
To call Manfreds comments a disgrace would be an understatement, and McNeil is right, the right words to describe him really would not be suitable for print. But one cannot be surprised that he thinks so little of a fanbase that it is clear he knows nothing about.
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Amidst a historically awful season, A’s fans rallied for the first-ever fan-sponsored giveaway, raising enough money to give away over 7,000 t-shirts that said “Sell,” a simple word that carried a big message. Manfred thinks he is slick to mock A’s fans, even though they showed on Tuesday that they could be a force amongst MLB fan bases - if they wanted to. The same way that John Fisher and his $2.2 billion net worth could commit to putting a winning club on the field - if he wanted to. How Rob Manfred could use his voice in support of keeping the A’s in Oakland with their rightful fanbase - if he wanted to.
For Manfred to blame the A’s fanbase for the team's move, and dismiss the energy and passion they bring is not just an insult to this proud fanbase, but an insult to the game of baseball itself. Perhaps if he actually spent some time around A’s fans, or just baseball fans in general, one would hope such an experience would open his eyes. Sadly, Manfred, or ManFRAUD, as the sign hanging in right field reads, seems so far gone into his own narrative that any hope of a commissioner who cares seems beyond reach.
Which is a shame, because if he did care enough to see the passion of A’s fans up close, he would see just how badly they yearn for their team to be relevant again, as well as see their team in the hands of someone who truly cares about winning, and providing happy memories for this fanbase.
Davie is hopeful that a path still exists for the A’s to stay in Oakland, and dreams of a scenario where Fisher still get’s Las Vegas, but without the A’s.
“Sell the A's have to make the new owner of the Oakland A's pay the expansion team fee,” suggested Davie. “Fisher gets his money built a stadium out there. He doesn't have to worry about where to play the A's in two years.”
Davie suggested someone like Joe Lacob be the one to save the A’s. We know Lacob has had an interest in buying the A’s in the past, and the Golden State Warriors are a testament to his desire to win.
12,015 people showed up this past Saturday, a beautiful sunny Oakland day with maybe a cloud or two in the sky, and saw the A’s play tough but fall to the Phillies in 11 innings, their fourth straight loss after winning seven in a row.
The love these fans have for their team is still there. The desire to see the A’s win is still very much there. The passion these fans bring to every game is still there, whether the attendance is 2,000 fans, 12,000 fans, or 27,000 fans.
Every team says they have the best fans in baseball, but the Oakland A’s may be one of the few teams in North American professional sports who can actually say they truly have the best fans. Fisher and his minion, Dave “The Human Bobblehead” Kaval, have gone above and beyond in trying to push fans away. Manfred has made it clear his disdain for the Oakland-based fans as well. And as the losses pile up, these A’s fans still show up. Because contrary to what the league offices may want you to believe, these fans truly care. It is a shame that the powers that be are too apathetic to see that.
The A’s move to Las Vegas seems inevitable, but there is still a glimmer of hope that Fisher and friends could fumble it away at the goal line. They have done it before. And there will be a long list of reasons this move happened. But do not for one second let anyone try and tell you that A’s fans are the reason the A’s are moving.
But should the miracle happen and Oakland does get to keep the A’s, then you can blame the fans. Because if Fisher's move does fail, and if the A’s do stay Rooted in Oakland, and if they do one day get a new stadium, whether it be at Howard Terminal or the Coliseum site, it will be because of fans like Andy, Carlos, Mike Davie, Nina Thorson, Mike McNeil and Dennis Biles, and the thousands of other loyal, green and gold clad, drum banging, noise-making A’s fans who showed what Rooted in Oakland truly means.
A's fans are not the problem. They are the solution. Hopefully, MLB will realize that.
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