OAKLAND – Disgust. Disappointment. Indifference.
A’s fans expressed those feelings and more after news broke that the Oakland franchise would move to Sacramento for the 2025 season, ending a 56-year run in Alameda County.
Jorge Leon has spent years supporting the A’s as the president of the fan club Oakland 68s. A few hours after the team’s move from the East Bay to the state’s capital became official on Thursday morning, Leon was despondent.
“I’m done with MLB,” Leon told the Bay Area News Group.
The A’s will play in Sacramento from 2025 through 2027, with plans to move to their yet-to-be-built stadium on the Las Vegas Strip in 2028.
Even though Leon is “done” with Major League Baseball and has no intention of supporting another team, he said the 68s will remain active throughout the rest of this season.
“We’re going to do the same thing we’ve been doing,” Leon said. “Signs, advertising, marketing, being loud and letting our displeasure be known. And dragging their names in the mud.”
Bryan Johansen, the leader Last Dive Bar, another A’s fan group, put out the following statement on social media:
“This news, although expected, still hurts many fans,” he wrote on X. “Take today to reflect and process through the many emotions this announcement brings up.”
The fact that the A’s are moving to Sacramento, of all cities, especially irked some fans.
Roughly a decade ago, Sacramento’s NBA team was in talks to move to Seattle before current owner Vivek Ranadive bought the franchise and kept it from leaving.
“I keep going back to the hypocritical nature of what happened. There were literally people on TV in tears who are now celebrating,” said Stu Clary, who came up with the idea for last year’s reverse-boycott in Oakland. “It was, ‘Oh gosh, we almost had our beloved basketball team ripped away from us.’ And now 10 years later, it’s, ‘Hell yeah, let’s rip this baseball team away. Let’s do the very same thing.’
“It’s very slimy and hypocritical.”
Clary, who coaches Vacaville High School’s baseball team, said he has fond memories of taking his children to the Coliseum.
He was not the only one who bemoaned the fact that future generations and families will not be able to experience the ballpark with their kids.
Gilbert Morin III hails from San Jose but is a diehard A’s fan who attends dozens of games each season. He too spent many summer days taking his children to games, and now has to watch yet another team leave.
The A’s are following the Warriors and Raiders out of Oakland.
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“For one geographic location to lose three teams in the span of five years is unheard of,” Morin III said. “That’s like cutting a person’s arms, legs and then head off. Just taking the whole thing and having nothing left.”
Morin was saddened by the news, but said he doesn’t begrudge fans who want to drive up to Sacramento and make new memories with their families.
He plans to go to the last Oakland A’s home game in September, too.
“If you want to miss out on the last A’s game, and you say, ‘I didn’t go because I was mad,’ then that’s your choice,” Morin said. “But I will absolutely be there. People may say that I’m giving the team and Fisher my money, but I don’t care. I’m making my last memories of the A’s being there.”