4 World Series titles. 6 Pennants. 17 Division Titles. 7 Hall of Famers. A special era in Oakland has come to an end. From legends like Reggie Jackson and Rickey Henderson, the Oakland Athletics were an iconic baseball franchise. Many historic moments in the Oakland Coliseum like Derek Jeter's flip play to get Jeremy Giambi out at home in the 2001 ALCS and Scott Hatteberg's game winning home run to make the A's win 20 straight games. This means the city of Oakland has lost all 3 of their Pro Sports franchises, with the Warriors moving out of Oracle Arena to San Fransisco in 2019, the Raiders moving to Las Vegas in 2020, and now the Athletics leaving for Sacramento while their new home in Las Vegas will be finished by 2027. In this article, we will talk about the Athletics and the Oakland coliseum in its glory days, before everything went downhill.
The Athletics originally started in Philadelphia in 1901. However, the origin of the team's name dates all the way back to the 1860s, when it was adopted by the Athletic club of Philadelphia's amateur baseball team. In 1954 the Mack Family sold the team due to financial issues and relocated to Kansas City. In their time in Philadelphia, the A's would win 5 World Series titles. The Athletics were not very successful in their time in Kansas City, winning 0 World Series titles. In 1967, Arnold Johnson would sell the A's after only playing 12 seasons in Kansas City. The team would be sold to Charlie Finley and relocated once again to Oakland.
The Athletics would play their first game in Oakland on April 17, 1968. It was also the first baseball game in the Oakland Coliseum. A few years would go by, and the A's would begin a dynasty in Oakland with star players like power hitting right fielder Reggie Jackson, and ace pitcher Catfish Hunter, winning 3 straight world series titles in 1972, 1973, and 1974.
All though the Athletics would lose their star players in the franchise due to Free Agency, there was already a new legend in the making for Oakland. Rickey Henderson, a speedy left fielder and one of the greatest lead-off hitters of all time. Henderson would lead the Athletics to a World Series appearance in 1989 facing their archrivals, the San Fransisco Giants in the battle of the bay. On October 17, 1989, A magnitude 6.9 Earthquake struck the whole bay area. The Athletics were the visiting team at Candlestick Park in San Fransisco for game 3 of the 1989 World Series. According to scientists, many lives in the bay area were saved due to Candlestick Park having no damage from the earthquake, and no fans were seriously injured or killed. The Athletics would go on to winning the World Series in 4 games sweeping the giants. This would be their ninth World Series in franchise history, and their fourth World Series in Oakland. In 1991, Henderson would pass Lou Brock for the most stolen bases in MLB history with 938 stolen bases. Henderson would finish his career with 1,406 stolen bases, and still holds that record to this day.
Following the 2001 season, the Athletics would lose to the New York Yankees in the ALCS. That offseason the Athletics would lose star player and face of the franchise, first baseman Jason Giambi to the Yankees. General Manager and former major leaguer Billy Bean and Paul DePodesta, a graduate out of Harvard with an economics degree, came up with a genius way to build a successful team on a low budget by signing under value players and make strategic trades. The 2002 Oakland Athletics would have a successful season. Scott Hatteberg would hit a one out walk off solo home run over Kansas City Royals reliever Jason Grimsley to set an AL record-20 game winning streak. The streak would end on September 6 with a 6-0 loss to the twins. the A's would finish off the year with a record of 103-59, winning the AL West. However, Oakland would lose the ALDS to the Twins in 5 games. Shortstop Miguel Tejada would win AL MVP and starting pitcher Barry Zito would win AL Cy Young. This story would later turn into the hit film "Moneyball" released in 2011.
In 2005, John Fischer would buy the Athletics to become the new owner of the team. Throughout the 2010s and early 2020s the A's had stars like Josh Donaldson, Matt Chapman, Matt Olsen, Yoenis Cespedes, Marcus Semien, Sean Manea, etc.
Shortly after the 2021 season, the A's would have a fire sale, losing many of their best players such as Matt Olsen, Matt Chapman, Marcus Semien, Mark Canha, Chris Bassitt, and Starling Marte in free agency. This would upset many Oakland fans. In the 2022 trade deadline, the Athletics would trade Frankie Montas to the Yankees. In the 2022 offseason, the Athletics would lose star catcher Sean Murphy to the Braves.
2023 would be the worst year in Athletics History. Owner John Fischer reached an agreement for the team to have a new stadium in Las Vegas by 2027. This caused many Athletics fans not to attend the games. The A's had a season attendance of 832,342 in 2023, the lowest in franchise history. Even a minor league baseball team had a higher attendance. The only larger-then-average crowd in 2023 was only one game, which was opening day. The Oakland Coliseum was the worst stadium in the MLB and was in poor condition. The seats were old and rusty, and the stadium looked like it hasn't been renovated in years. The A's would finish with the worst record in the MLB with a record of 50-112.
2024 would be the last season the Athletics would play in Oakland. During the season, the A's would call up Mason Miller, a young closer from the minor leagues. Miller had a great year and was named to the AL All-Star Team. Miller proved that the future is (somewhat) bright for the Athletics. He is currently in the running for AL Rookie of the year. On September 26, 2024, the Athletics would play their final game at the Oakland Coliseum against the Texas Rangers. All fans gathered to see their beloved A's play their final game in Oakland. The A's would get a 3-2 victory over the rangers as they gave an emotional farewell to the fans in Oakland. Next year, the Athletics will be playing the 2025 season at Sutter Health Park, a minor league ballpark in Sacramento. Then in 2027, they will have a new home built in Las Vegas as that will be their permanent home.
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