Music blared from the audio system as a DJ spun well-liked sounds. A line about 30 deep stood ready to order beer from faucets connected to an previous Greyhound bus. A din of noise rumbled like vehicles on a freeway amid the music and features.
In case you didn’t know any higher, you’d have thought it was simply any early night at any well-liked consuming institution.
It wasn’t.
“I just really felt the need to be here and be around others who are feeling the same emotions,” Clovis resident Jess Brooks, 42, stated Thursday amid the gang at The Terminal at Line 51 on Castro Avenue in Oakland, the place members of a well-liked Oakland A’s fan group gathered for what they dubbed “The Wake.” The group, named the Final Dive Bar out of affection for the A’s Oakland residence, within the phrases of Bryan Johansen “celebrates the Coliseum and its rich history.”
The group introduced followers collectively Thursday following the group’s last recreation on the Oakland Coliseum. For the report, it can go down as a win: 3-2 over the Texas Rangers. That type of lifted the temper.
Type of.
“More than anything, I just feel really sad,” stated Louis Quindlen. “I attended my first game in 1981 and have been coming ever since. Season-ticket holder for a lot of years. You’d like to think the owner would have a change of heart. But it’s hard to have a change of heart when you don’t have a heart.”
The tales about A’s proprietor John Fisher and his plans to construct a brand new ballpark in Las Vegas with a detour in Sacramento till it occurs have been plentiful. The injury to a neighborhood left behind has but to be.
“A lot of people are feeling a lot of pain,” Johansen stated, including that he wished to assist folks with grief that he stated at occasions will be overwhelming.
“So this is like you just watched your mother die,” Johansen stated. “Not only that, your father murdered her. Not only that, you had to go to 81 open-casket funerals, while your father justified and seemed proud of his actions. Not only that, 29 other family members (MLB owners) watched all of it and said, ‘This is fine.’ So that’s what it is. I didn’t want people to have to go home after the last game and have to sit with this by themselves.”
Oaland A’s fan Kyle Brown, middle, shares a second together with his daughter Marureen, left, throughout a gathering remembering the A’s tenure on the Oakland Coliseum at Line 51 Brewing in Oakland, CA on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. The A’s will play future video games in Sacramento earlier than their transfer to a everlasting residence in Las Vegas. (Don Feria for Bay Space Information Group)
In order that they sat and stood with it amongst a gaggle of like-minded folks. A plastic tombstone studying “RIP Oakland A’s Fandom. April 17, 1968 – Sept. 26, 2024” sat on a small stage the place folks laid inexperienced and gold flower petals. Additionally on the stage have been two large Styrofoam forearms, commemorating the Bash Brothers period, a extra superb time within the group’s Oakland historical past.
Somebody impersonating A’s president Dave Kaval, an object of fan angst, made a speech that elicited a rousing spherical of boos.
A inexperienced signal on the wall illuminated the underlying message, saying merely: “SELL!”
Even former workers and their sons have been there. Longtime A’s gear supervisor Steve Vucinich was among the many patrons, which numbered barely a dozen when the ultimate out was made however was overflowing with at the least 300 two hours later. Trent Henderson, son of longtime A’s centerfielder Dave Henderson, additionally was there.
“It did not need to happen,” Vucinich stated. “It did not need to happen. Did anybody tell Fisher about any of this or did he read about how fans are reacting? How can you see all of this sadness and be OK with it?”
“I’m heartbroken like you all are,” Henderson stated. “All in the name of greed, too. It’s terrible.”
One fan carried round an indication that stated, “Oakland Forever.” One other wore a shirt that stated “Sell John Fisher.”
“I can say this,” Johansen stated. “If John Fisher thinks we’re going away, he’s crazy. One thing he’s proven he can do exceptionally well is not get a stadium built. So we are gonna keep the spotlight on him, expose what’s going on, and keep our hopes that maybe down the road we’ll be celebrating their return.”
Final Dive Bar Founder Bryan Johansen thanks A’s followers for his or her assist at Line 51 Brewing in Oakland, CA on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. After virtually 60 years on the Oakland Coliseum, the A’s will play future video games in Sacramento earlier than their transfer to a everlasting residence in Las Vegas. (Don Feria for Bay Space Information Group)
