As Oakland Athletics fans bid farewell to the Oakland Coliseum, Athletics manager Mark Kotsay could feel the ambiance. The Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 in walk-off fashion on Tuesday, the first of a final three-game series before Oakland moves to Sacramento ahead of its final destination, Las Vegas, in 2028. It’s the franchise’s first move in 57 years. Fans ripped Athletics owner John Fisher for his open apology letter, addressing the team’s decision as difficult but inevitable ahead of hosting its last series of the regular season.
Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson hit an RBI walk-off single that scored second baseman Zack Gelof in the bottom of the ninth. Tuesday’s walk-off victory was a bittersweet moment for Athletics fans, which Kotsay addressed after beating the Rangers, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
“You can feel the sadness as opposed to the anger,” Kotsay said about the A’s fans at Oakland Coliseum on Tuesday.
In his open letter, Fisher addressed the team’s longstanding history in Oakland and claimed he approached five new potential locations in the area, doing his best to secure a deal that never materialized over the years.
“We’ve had it all. And that, I know, is what makes our departure so very hard,” Fisher said. “The A’s are a part of the fabric of Oakland, the East Bay, and the entire Bay Area. When Lew Wolff and I bought the team in 2005, our dream was to win world championships and build a new ballpark in Oakland. Over the next 18 years, we did our very best to make that happen. We proposed and pursued five different locations in the Bay Area. And despite mutual and ongoing efforts to get a deal done for the Howard Terminal project, we came up short.”
Fisher added that after pursuing locations in the Bay Area, the Athletics faced a binding MLB agreement to find a new home by 2024. He began the process of taking the team to Las Vegas in 2021.
Bay Area sports anchor goes off on John Fisher
California Bay Area Sports anchor Larry Bell verbally attacked Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher in response to the owner’s letter to the Athletics’ fans as the team prepares for its three-year stay in Sacramento before ultimately relocating to Las Vegas.
Bell lashed out at Fisher’s failed attempt to keep the team in the Bay Area during a live report on ABC7 News TV in Oakland.
“John, you’re a serial penny pincher. You have destroyed your family’s great name and legacy because of your cheapness,” Bell said. “Anybody who says there is no fan base, or no money in Oakland, that’s total nonsense.”
Mark Kotsay and the Athletics will play their final game at Oakland Coliseum on Thursday.