SAN FRANCISCO — A’s fans won’t go down quietly.
First came the June 13 reverse boycott at the Oakland Coliseum. Then came the “SELL THE TEAM!” chants that were broadcast to a nationwide audience at the All-Star Game in Seattle. On Tuesday night, A’s fans and Giants fans united to chant “SELL THE TEAM!” and “STAY IN OAKLAND!” during the fifth inning of the Bay Bridge Series opener at Oracle Park.
The Oakland 68s, an independent supporter group behind the reverse boycott and the subsequent public displays, passed out a cheer card before Tuesday’s game instructing fans to stand up in silence for the first batter of the fifth inning, in a nod to the A’s 55 years in Oakland. The “SELL THE TEAM!” chants were supposed to start with the second batter of the inning, but they started during the leadoff man and couldn’t be stopped.
More than 100 A’s fans gathered in the left field bleachers for the game and handed out 1,000 black “SELL” shirts. They could hear the chants coming from behind home plate early in the fifth inning and the drummers joined in to provide the beat.
Oakland 68s president Jorge Leon said he was happy to see the reaction from the fans at McCovey Cove.
“It got super loud,” Leon said. “I feel like it started super early, but obviously you’re not in your home stadium so you gotta go with what’s going on. … Two pitches in, they just started going crazy. It was amazing.”
The group held a spirited rally before the game nearby the ballpark. Another “SELL THE TEAM!” chant broke out in the top of the eighth inning, when JJ Bleday singled home Aledmys Díaz to tie the game at 1-1. This is just the latest display of support for A’s fans at an MLB stadium beyond the Oakland Coliseum.
According to the account @AsSellShirts on Twitter, the iconic kelly green SELL shirt has been spotted at 27 of 30 MLB ballparks since June 13. Even the Hall of Fame requested a SELL shirt, so 2023 A’s fans have been immortalized in Cooperstown.
“It’s bittersweet, because we’ve been asking for this since 2015,” Leon said of the league-wide support, when the first batch of SELL shirts was ever created.
After the A’s lost 2-1 to the Giants Tuesday, punctuated by a clutch eighth-inning RBI from Mike Yastrzemski, Oakland manager Mark Kotsay acknowledged the chants from fans.
“It’s not uncharted territory for us,” Kotsay said. “We understand the fans’ frustration and emotion behind the chants. We continue to move on and play the game and not let it be a distraction.”
It seems like a lifetime ago, but only about three months have passed since April 19, when the A’s announced they had ceased negotiations with Oakland and were seeking a new stadium site in Las Vegas. Though Nevada legislators approved a stadium bill on June 14, the A’s still haven’t finished submitting their relocation paperwork to MLB to put their move to a vote for the league’s owners.
On the field, Oakland (28-75) has the worst record in baseball. A’s fan Gabriel Hernandez, who runs a popular YouTube channel @Gamer_Athletics, said this season has been a roller coaster of emotions.
“As an A’s fan it’s been very difficult, very challenging,” Hernandez said. “My world’s been turned upside down.”
It’s also worth noting that the Giants have been responsible for trying to stymie the A’s efforts to stay in the Bay Area – most notably claiming territorial rights in San Jose when the A’s were focused on building a stadium there about a decade ago.
Ronald Van Buskirk is a high-profile lawyer with Pillsbury, a powerful local law firm that helped the Giants get Pac Bell Park constructed. Van Buskirk has also represented Stand For San Jose – an organization opposed to the A’s stadium efforts and reportedly backed by the Giants financially – and the East Oakland Stadium Alliance, which was the lead opposition to the A’s proposed Howard Terminal project.
It doesn’t take too much connecting the dots to see that the Giants have an interest in taking sole control of the top 10 Bay Area media market.
So, how do A's fans reconcile that opposition from the Giants while trying to rally with their fans on Tuesday night?
“There’s two things with that. First, ‘F–k the Giants’” Leon said. “The second part is that I can separate the two – the organization and the fans. … But I think for the most part, given the response that we got tonight, is that most Giants fans want to keep the team in Oakland.”
The Oakland 68s aren’t done doing publicity stunts and events to spread their message. On Aug. 5, they will be handing out rally towels at the A’s game against the Giants at the Oakland Coliseum.
“Until there’s a shovel in the ground and they’re officially gone, we’re not stopping,” Hernandez said.
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