The Oakland A's fans have made their feelings clear about the MLB team's departure from the Bay Area. Some have put extra emphasis on this point with physical action.
The A's hosted the Rangers on Wednesday, one of the two final "home" games for the MLB team. The longtime Oakland team lost 5-1 as Wyatt Langford and Adolis García both hit home runs for the visiting Rangers. Video then surfaced after the game showing A's fans ripping the seats out of the ground and holding them in the air.
This A’s fan pulled seats out of the ground at tonight’s game pic.twitter.com/H1nEtLeRbo
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 25, 2024
"To be fair, it probably didn't take much effort to rip them seats out," one fan posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "And he's probably the season ticket holder so them seats are his."
Many other MLB fans weighed in after seeing the video. Some recommended a trip to the doctor for a Tetanus shot after seeing the state of the seats. Others said that team owner John Fisher would probably send an invoice to the fans.
While one fan ripped seats out of the ground, others secured a different type of memento. A member of the A's used a shovel to scoop dirt into water bottles, bags, and cups for fans so that they could forever have something from the stadium.
I mean look at this pic.twitter.com/rDOB66y4BU
— Ben Ross (@BenRossTweets) September 26, 2024
Fisher, the heir to the Gap fortune, is not a popular figure in the Bay area as the A's play their final home game on Thursday afternoon. He is moving the team to Las Vegas while ending an Oakland tenure that began in 1968.
However, Fisher will first move the A's to a minor league facility in Sacramento for three seasons while construction of the Las Vegas stadium takes place.
The A's are the third pro franchise to leave Oakland. The Raiders moved to Las Vegas after the 2019 season and the Warriors moved back to San Francisco in 2019.
Fisher had talks with the city of Oakland about a possible waterfront stadium. This venue would have provided seating for 35,000 fans. It would have led to additional development featuring 3,000 residential units, 270,000 square feet of retail space, and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space. An additional 400 hotel rooms were also possible, according to NBC Bay Area.
However, Fisher reached a binding deal with Las Vegas, a move that Oakland mayor Sheng Thao called a "blindside." The negotiations for the waterfront park officially ended.
This move to Las Vegas, as well as Fisher's use of money, led to fans wearing "Sell the Team" shirts in A's colors. They chanted this message during games at the Oakland Coliseum while continuing to voice their dislike of the MLB team's owner.
ABC Bay Area reporter Larry Beil even called Fisher's "farewell letter" to A's fans and the city of Oakland "a work of fiction" while pointing out specific lines of copy.
“You destroyed your family’s great name and legacy because of your cheapness… I would love to see another massive failure by this ownership group and then maybe MLB would force a sale.”
This Oakland reporter went scorched earth on A’s owner John Fisher pic.twitter.com/kbx8pIi9Hp
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 24, 2024
